COUNTIES OF ROMANIA

The judeţe (translated to English as "counties") are administrative units of Romania.

Contents

List of counties

History

Historical counties

Merged or renamed

Lost during WWII

To Bulgaria

To Ukraine

To Moldova

In Transnistria occupied during WWII

See also

List of counties

As of 2003, Romania is divided into 41 counties and one municipality, as follows:

Name	Common Abbrev	Capital
Alba	AB	Alba Iulia
Arad	AR	Arad
Argeş	AG	Piteşti
Bacău	BC	Bacău
Bihor	BH	Oradea
Bistriţa-Năsăud	BN	Bistriţa
Botoşani	BT	Botoşani
Braşov	BV	Braşov
Brăila	BR	Brăila
Buzău	BZ	Buzău
Caraş-Severin	CS	Reşiţa
Călăraşi	CL	Călăraşi
Cluj	CJ	Cluj-Napoca
Constanţa	CT	Constanţa
Covasna	CV	Sfântu Gheorghe
Dâmboviţa	DB	Târgovişte
Dolj	DJ	Craiova
Galaţi	GL	Galaţi
Giurgiu	GR	Giurgiu
Gorj	GJ	Târgu Jiu
Harghita	HR	Miercurea Ciuc
Hunedoara	HD	Deva
Ialomiţa	IL	Slobozia
Iaşi	IS	Iaşi
Ilfov	IF	Buftea
Maramureş	MM	Baia Mare
Mehedinţi	MH	Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Mureş	MS	Târgu Mureş
Neamţ	NT	Piatra Neamţ
Olt	OT	Slatina
Prahova	PH	Ploieşti
Satu Mare	SM	Satu Mare
Sălaj	SJ	Zalău
Sibiu	SB	Sibiu
Suceava	SV	Suceava
Teleorman	TR	Alexandria
Timiş	TM	Timişoara
Tulcea	TL	Tulcea
Vaslui	VS	Vaslui
Vâlcea	VL	Râmnicu Vâlcea
Vrancea	VN	Focşani
Bucureşti	B	''(Bucharest municipality)''

History

The earliest organization into "judeţe" was in the 15th century and each judeţ was ruled by a "jude", a person who had administrative and judicial functions. The modern administrative division into "judeţe" was done during the 19th century using the French departments system as an example: for each judeţ there exists a "prefect", who is the representative of the government to the county and the head of the local administration. Until 1948 each "judeţ" was divided into a number of "plăşi" (singular "plasă"), with each administered by a "pretor" (from the Latin "praetor"), named by the "prefect".
In 1938, King Carol II modified the Constitution, and after that the law of administration of the Romanian territory. It resulted ten "ţinuturi" (approx. translation: "lands"), ruled by "Rezidenţi Regali", appointed directly by the King. Due to World War II, the Second Vienna Award, the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact and the loss of territory that Romania suffered, this style of administration did not last long, the "judeţe" being reintroduced, until the rise of communism, in 1948.

No. on map	Name	Alternative Name	Capital
1	Ţinutul Jiu	Ţinutul Olt	Craiova
2	Ţinutul Argeş	Ţinutul Bucegi	Bucharest
3	Ţinutul Mării	-	Constanţa
4	Ţinutul Dunării	Ţinutul Dunărea de Jos	Galaţi
5	Ţinutul Nistru	-	Chişinău
6	Ţinutul Prut	-	Iaşi
7	Ţinutul Suceava	-	Cernăuţi
8	Ţinutul Mureş	Ţinutul Alba-Iulia	Alba-Iulia
9	Ţinutul Crişuri	Ţinutul Someş	Cluj
10	Ţinutul Timiş	-	Timişoara

The Communist party changed it to the Russian model (in raions), but it reverted to the current system (in 1968). In 1981 the former counties of Ilfov and Ialomiţa were re-organised into the present-day counties of Giurgiu, Călăraşi, Ialomiţa and Ilfov. Until 1995 Ilfov was not a proper county, but instead a dependency of Bucharest (''"Sectorul Agricol Ilfov"'').

Historical counties

Merged or renamed

Originally (1927-1938) there were 71 judeţe

★ Baia - merged with Neamţ

★ Caraş - merged with Severin to form Caraş-Severin

★ Câmpulung - merged with Suceava

★ Ciuc - merged with Odorhei and renamed to Harghita

★ Covurlui - merged into Galaţi

★ Dorohoi - merged with Botoşani

★ Făgăraş - merged with Braşov

★ Fălciu - merged with Vaslui

★ Ialomiţa - divided between Ialomiţa and Călăraşi

★ Muscel - merged with Argeş

★ Odorhei - merged with Ciuc and renamed to Harghita

★ Putna - renamed to Vrancea

★ Rădăuţi - merged with Suceava

★ Râmnicu Sărat - divided between Vrancea, Buzău and Brăila

★ Roman - merged with Neamţ

★ Romanaţi - merged with Olt

★ Severin - merged with Caraş to form Caraş-Severin

★ Someş - divided between Maramureş, Cluj, Sălaj and Bistriţa-Năsăud

★ Târnava Mică - divided between Alba, Sibiu and Mureş

★ Târnava Mare - divided between Braşov, Sibiu and Mureş

★ Tecuci - divided between Galaţi, Bacău and Vaslui

★ Timiş-Torontal - renamed to Timiş

★ Trei Scaune - renamed to Covasna

★ Turda - divided between Cluj and Alba

★ Tutova - merged with Vaslui

★ Vlaşca - renamed to Giurgiu

Lost during WWII

To Bulgaria

★ Caliacra Province (now Dobrich Province)

★ Durostor Province (now Silistra Province)

To Ukraine

★ Cernăuţi

★ Cetatea Albă (present name Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi)

★ part of Hotin

★ Ismail

★ Strojineţ

To Moldova

★ Bălţi

★ Cahul

★ Orhei

★ part of Hotin

★ Lăpuşna

★ Soroca

★ Tighina (old name ''Bender'')

In Transnistria occupied during WWII

Nowadays, they are dividied between the Republic of Moldova (in Transnistria) and Ukraine.

★ Ananiev

★ Balta

★ Berezovca

★ Dubăsari

★ Golta

★ Jugastru

★ Movilău

★ Oceacov

★ Odessa

★ Ovidiopol

★ Râbniţa

★ Tiraspol

★ Tulcin

See also

★ List of Romanian Cities

★ Etymological list of counties of Romania

★ Commune in Romania

★ Municipality in Romania