Romania

===Antiquity===
{{Main|Romania in Antiquity}}
{{See also|Legacy of the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Dacia 82 vChr.png|left|thumb|Maximum territorial extent of the [[Dacia|Kingdom of Dacia]] during [[Burebista]]'s reign (early 40s BC)]]

Greek colonies established on the [[Black Sea]] coast in the 7th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC became important centres of commerce with the local tribes.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=3}}{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=3}} Among the native peoples, [[Herodotus]] listed the [[Getae]] of the Lower Danube region, the [[Agathyrsi]] of Transylvania and the [[Syginnae]] of the plains along the river [[Tisza]] at the beginning of the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Rustoiu|2005|pp=32, 35–36}} Centuries later, [[Strabo]] associated the Getae with the [[Dacians]] who dominated the lands along the southern [[Carpathian Mountains]] in the 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=7}} [[Burebista]] was the first Dacian ruler to unite the local tribes.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=7}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=14}} He also conquered the Greek colonies in [[Dobruja]] and the neighbouring peoples as far as the Middle Danube and the [[Balkan Mountains]] between around 55&nbsp;and&nbsp;44 BC.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=7}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|pp=14–15}} After Burebista was murdered in 44&nbsp;BC, his kingdom collapsed.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=7}}{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=4}}
[[File:Sarmizegetusa Regia.JPG|thumb|alt=Remains of circular buildings in a glade|Ruins of sanctuaries at [[Sarmizegetusa Regia]] (Dacia's capital during the reigns of Burebista and Decebalus)]]

The Romans reached [[Dacia]] during Burebista's reign and conquered Dobruja in 46&nbsp;AD.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=4}} [[Dacia]] was again united under [[Decebalus]] around 85&nbsp;AD.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=7}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=15}} He resisted the Romans for decades, but the Roman army defeated his troops in 106&nbsp;AD.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=9–10}} Emperor [[Trajan]] transformed [[Banat]], [[Oltenia]] and the greater part of Transylvania into a new [[Roman province|province]] called [[Roman Dacia]], but Dacian, [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] and [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] tribes continued to dominate the lands along the Roman frontiers.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=6}}{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|pp=68–69, 97–98}} The Romans pursued an organised colonisation policy, and the provincials enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity in the 2nd&nbsp;century.{{sfn|Pop|1999|pp=22–23}}{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|pp=13–14}} Scholars accepting the Daco-Roman continuity theory—one of the main theories about the [[origin of the Romanians]]—say that the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in Roman Dacia was the first phase of the Romanians' [[ethnogenesis]].{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=10}}{{sfn|Pop|1999|pp=19–20}} The [[Carpians]], [[Goths]] and other neighbouring tribes made regular raids against Dacia from the&nbsp;210s.{{sfn|Hitchins|2014|p=14}} The Romans could not resist, and Emperor [[Aurelian]] ordered the evacuation of the province [[Dacia Trajana]] in the 270s.{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|pp=105–107}} Scholars supporting the continuity theory are convinced that most Latin-speaking commoners stayed behind when the army and civil administration was withdrawn.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|pp=8, 10}} The Romans did not abandon their fortresses along the northern banks of the Lower Danube for decades, and Dobruja (known as [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]]) remained an integral part of the Roman Empire until the early 7th&nbsp;century.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=10}}{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=108, 110–111}}