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CONSTANTA |
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Tomis was founded 2500 years ago, as part of the Greek colonisation of Pontus Euxinus (the Black Sea), was founded Tomis. Tomis sees great prosperity due to the commercial exchange between Greek colonists and the native Gaeto-Dacians. From the 3rd century BC, the city developed rapidly in all areas of civilisation. Thus, around 300 BC, the Tomis settlement was the battlefield of wars between Lysimachus, the Macedonian king, and Dromichaetes, the Gaeto-Dacian king of the Danubian plain. Then, under the Roman domination, set up around 29 BC, Tomis made substantial progress. The history of the first years of our era was marked by the presence of Publius Ovidius Naso, a Roman poet exiled at Tomis between 9 - 17 AC, at Octavius Augustus's orders. During the 2nd century, Tomis became the residential city of the province, being called the biggest metropolis of entire Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea). In the middle of the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th century considerable efforts were made in order to restore the town. It was then when remarkable monuments were built: the Roman building with the mosaic, thermae, residential districts with paved streets, portals and sewers, underground galleries, etc. The precinct wall was built in the same period and was subsequently restored several times, the last time in the 6th century AC. Between 4 - 6 centuries AC, the fortress becomes an archbishopric. The inscriptions, the Christian monuments and the four huge basilicas illustrate this period of history. During the 6th and even at the beginning of the 7th century, Tomis was violently attacked by the Slavs and the Avars. In the 9th century, the region is re-organized as part of the Byzantine Empire. Tomis is renamed Constantia or Constanta by several Byzantin writers. The town is marked on medieval nautical projection and can be found on the maps of the Genovese traders. The city's economical and cultural role during the Mircea cel Batran's reign (Romanian's ruler between 1386-1418) is not significant. During the ottoman domination, when it was called Kostendje, the city played a minor role in the region. The city's lethargy continues until the 19th century, when some harbour arrangements were started and the railway Constanta-Cernavoda was laid out, which was crucial moment for the further development of the town. After the Independence War (1877-1878), the town emerges out of the Ottoman domination, regains its name of Constanta, and becomes residence of the Constanta region, an integral part of Romania. Harbour arrangements are made, as well as the construction of roads, bridges, railways, town-planning modernisations structures. Constanta was affected by the two World Wars, the town being reconstructed each time; after 1945 the rising advance continues and Constanta becomes one of the most developed towns in Romania. Nowadays, Constanta is the largest port in Romania, a powerful industrial commercial and tourist centre, a wide gate towards the world.
Constanta it is situated in the south-eastern part of Romania,
between the Danube and the Black Sea, in the south of Dobrudja;
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