Bucharest is the capital of Romania and, at the same time, the largest city, industrial and commercial center of the country. The population of 1,944,367 inhabitants makes Bucharest the sixth largest city in the European Union. In fact, however, Bucharest gathers over three million people daily, and specialists predict that, in the next five years, the total will exceed four million. To these are added the fact that the localities near the city, which will be part of the future Metropolitan Area, have a population of approximately 430,000 inhabitants.
The first mention of the locality appears in 1459. In 1859 it became the capital of Romania. Since then it has undergone continuous changes, being the center of the artistic, cultural and media scene. Between the two world wars, the elegant architecture and the elite of Bucharest brought him the nickname “Little Paris”. Currently, the capital has the same administrative level as a county and is divided into six sectors.
Bucharest is located in the southeast of the country, between Ploiești to the north and Giurgiu to the south. The city is located in the Vlăsiei Plain, which is part of the Romanian Plain. To the east is Bărăganul, to the west the Găvanu Burdea Plain, and to the south it is delimited by the Burnazului Plain.
The Bucharest plain has altitudes between 100-115 m, in the north-western part, and 50-60 m, in the south-eastern part, in the Dâmbovița meadow. The city itself runs between 58 m and 90 m altitude. Over 50% of its surface falls within the hypsometric range of 80-100 m, and the slopes do not exceed the value of 2o. The fragmentation is more accentuated in the eastern half, where it reaches 1-1.5 km / km2.
The relief of the plain consists of a succession of fields (interfluves) and valleys (with terraces and meadows) that follow one another from north to south:
Bucharest is located on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, which flows into Argeș, a tributary of the Danube. Several lakes stretch along the Colentina River, in the perimeter of the city, such as Herăstrău Lake, Floreasca Lake, Tei Lake or Colentina Lake. And in the center of the city there is a lake, in Cismigiu Park. This lake, formerly a pond in the old medieval town, is surrounded by the Cismigiu Garden, inaugurated in 1847 according to the plans of the German architect Carl F. W. Meyer. In addition to Cismigiu in Bucharest, there are other large parks: Herăstrău Park (with the Village Museum) and the Botanical Garden (the largest in Romania and which includes over 10,000 species of plants, including exotic), Tineretului Park, Alexandru Ioan Cuza Park (known and like Titan Park or IOR Park), as well as many smaller parks and green spaces arranged by district town halls.
The climate in the capital is specific to Romania, respectively temperate-continental. Four seasons are specific, winter, spring, summer and autumn. Winters in Bucharest are quite mild with little snow and relatively high temperatures, while in recent years the summers are very hot, even hot (with very high temperatures of up to 45 degrees in the shade) and little rainfall. This makes the winter-summer temperature differences up to 60 degrees.
Legend has it that Bucharest was founded by a shepherd named Bucur. According to another more probable variant, Bucharest was founded by Mircea cel Bătrân at the end of the 14th century.
The settlement is documented on September 20, 1459 in an act issued by Vlad Țepeș, lord of Wallachia, which strengthens an estate of some boyars. The fortress of Dâmbovița, as the city still appears in the first years, had a strategic role, following to supervise the road that went from Târgșor to Giurgiu, in the last settlement there was an Ottoman garrison. In a short time, Bucharest asserted itself, being elected on October 14, 1465 by Radu cel Frumos as a royal residence. In the years 1558 – 1559, at the Old Court was built the Princely Church, founded by Mr. Mircea Ciobanul, which remains to this day the oldest place of worship in the city preserved in its original form. In 1659, under the reign of Gheorghe Ghica, Bucharest became the capital of Wallachia, by Turkish order, to have a capital in the plain area and close to the Danube, easier to control compared to Targoviste
There are currently two functional airports in Bucharest: Henri Coandă International Airport (originally Otopeni) and Aurel Vlaicu International Airport (originally Băneasa). Henri Coandă is the largest airport in Romania serving five million passengers in 2009 and being the main center for the national operator TAROM. From there, flights depart and arrive daily from other cities in Romania as well as numerous other airports in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. Aurel Vlaicu is also used by low cost airlines to serve charter aircraft