Cluj-Napoca : Romania

Cluj-Napoca (Hungarian: Kolozsvar; German: Klausenburg; Latin: Claudiopolis), the seat of Cluj county, is one of the most important academic, cultural and industrial centers in Romania. Regarded as the historic capital of Transylvania, the city is located in northwestern Romania, and is approximately 480 km (200 miles) northwest of Bucharest in the Somesul Mic valley.
History
Cluj-Napoca has a very rich historical and cultural heritage. The city stands on the site of an ancient Dacian settlement, Napoca, which the Romans first made a municipium and later a colonia. From the 3rd century it was the seat of the procurator of Provincia Porolissensis. (more…)

Giurgiu (former names: Genoese:San Giorgio; Bulgarian: Giurgevo; Turkish:Yerkoekoe) is a city in Giurgiu county, Wallachia, Romania in the region once called Vlashca. It is situated amid mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube. Three small islands face the town, and a larger one shelters its port, Smarda. The rich corn-lands on North are traversed by a railway to Bucharest, the first line opened in Romania, which was built in 1869 and afterwards extended to Smarda.

Population
Now it has a population of 69,000. In 1900 its population was 13,977.

History
The area around Giurgiu was densily populated in the time of the Dacians as archeological evidence shows and even the capital of Burebista was in this area (it is thought to be in PopeÅŸti on the ArgeÅŸ river). During the Roman times this was the site of Theodorapolis, a city built by the Roman emperor Justinian (483-565).

The city of Giurgiu was probably established in the 14th century as a port on the Danube by the Genoese merchant adventurers, who established a bank, and a trade in silks and velvets. They called the town, after the patron saint of Genoa, San Giorgio (St George); and hence comes its present name. It was first mentioned in Codex Latinus Parisinus, in 1395 during the Mircea cel Batran and was conquered by the Ottomans in 1420 as a way to control the Danube traffic.

As a fortified town, Giurgevo figured often in the wars for the conquest of the lower Danube; especially in the struggle of Mihai Viteazul (1593-1601) against the Turks, and in the later Russo-Turkish Wars. It was burned in 1659. In 1829, its fortifications were finally razed, the only defence left being a castle on the island of Slobozia, united to the shore by a bridge.

Gherla (Hungarian: Szamosújvár; German: Armenierstadt) is a town in Cluj county, Romania, located 45 km from Cluj-Napoca, with a population of 24,232.

A reference to village was first recorded in 1291 under the name Gherlahida, probably derived from the Slavic word grle, meaning “ford�. Later, the name of Szamosújvár was used in official Hungarian records, meaning “the new town on the Someş�.

A fortress was built here and in 1785, it was transformed into a prison, which, during the Communist regime, was used for political detainees.

Gheorgheni (Hungarian: Gyergyószentmiklós) is a town in Harghita county, Romania. The town lies in the north of the former Székely county of Csíkszék.

It was first mentioned in 1332 and was part of Kingdom of Hungary, then to the Principate of Transylvania (1557-1765), to the Grand Duchy of Transylvania (1765-1867), later again to Hungary (1867-1918) and finally to Romania (since 1918).

Nearby are two spectacular natural sites, the Lacu Roşu (Gyilkos-tó) a beatutiful lake in the mountains, and in close proximity is the Cheile Bicazului (Békási-szoros) which is a dramatic narrow canyon through the Eastern Carpathian Mountains forming the border with Neamţ (Nemc) county.

Demographics
It has a population of 20,018, of which 87.6% (17,527) are Hungarians and is part of the traditional land of the Székely Hungarian people. (Census 2002)
1910: 8,905
2002: 20,018

Geoagiu : Romania

Geoagiu (Hungarian: Algyógy, German: Gergersdorf) is a town in Romania, located on the Mures river at an altitude of 217 meters over the sea level. The river with the same name (Geoagiu) flows in this place into the Mureş. The town has a population of about 6,500.
History
The first settlements in the area can be found in the time of the Dacians, in the 1st century BC, as shown by archeological discoveries. After the Roman conquest, the Romans the fort of Germinsana in the 2nd century, however, it kept the original Dacian name.
The name of Germisana meant hot water (germi=heat, sara=waterfall) and it showed that the Dacians already knew of the thermal springs of the area.
The first documentary citation of Geoagiu was in the year 1291, when it was used as a land in the vicinity of Bintini. (nowadays, the village Aurel Vlaicu).