Cernavodă () is a town in Constanța County,

Northern Dobruja Northern Dobruja ( ro, Dobrogea de Nord or simply ; bg, Северна Добруджа, ''Severna Dobrudzha'') is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in the south ...

, Romania with a population of 20,514. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' (черна вода in

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded by some scholars as a calque of the earlier Thracian name ''Axíopa'', from IE *''n̥ksei'' 'dark' and ''upā'' 'water' (cf.

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''axšaēna-'' 'dark' and

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

''ùpė'' 'river, creek').

Economy

The town is a Danube

fluvial port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. It houses the

Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant The Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavodă ( ro, Centrala Nucleară de la Cernavodă) is the only nuclear power plant in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses CANDU reactor technology from AECL, using heavy water pr ...

, consisting of two

CANDU The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide ( heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. C ...

reactors providing about 18% of Romania's electrical energy output. The second reactor was built through a joint venture between Canada's Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and Italy's

ANSALDO Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa, Italy. The absorbed parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., started in 1853. It was taken over by Leonardo S.p.A. In 2011, Leonardo S.p.A. sold 45% stake in An ...

and became fully functional in November 2007. The Danube-Black Sea Canal, opened in 1984, runs from Cernavodă to

Agigea Agigea (; tr, Acıçay, ) is a commune in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The commune includes four villages: Agigea, Lazu (Turkish: ''Laz-Mahale''), Sanatoriul Agigea and Stațiunea Zoologică Marină Agigea, the last two being spe ...

and Năvodari. The outskirts of Cernavodă host numerous vineyards, producers of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

wine. The largest winery in the area is Murfatlar.

History

Cernavodă was founded (under the name ''Axiopolis'') by the ancient Greeks in the 4th century BC as a trading post for contacts with local

Dacians The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consid ...

. The railroad from

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

to Cernavodă was opened in 1860 by the Ottoman administration. Cernavodă was one of the capitals of the short-lived

Silistra Nouă County Silistra Nouă County was a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Northern Dobruja, with its capital city first at Rasova, later at Cernavodă and finally at Medgidia. It was established on 13 November 1878 and abolished on 1 April 1879. After t ...

(1878–1879). The town gives its name to the late

copper age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

Cernavodă archaeological culture, ca.

4000 4000 or ''variation'', may refer to: * 4000 (number) * 4000 BCE, a year in the 4th millennium BC * A.D. 4000, the last year of the 4th millennium CE, a century leap year starting on Saturday * 4000s AD, a decade, century, millennium in the 5th mill ...

– 3200 BC.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, Cernavodă had 14,969 Romanians (92.81%), 463 Turks (2.87%), 374

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

(2.32%), 106 Lipovans (0.66%), 40 Tatars (0.25%), 15 Hungarians (0.09%) and 162 others. Notable people born in Cernavodă include

Alexandru Claudian Alexandru Claudian (also rendered as Al. Claudian; April 8, 1898 – October 16, 1962) was a Romanian sociologist, political figure, and poet. A student and practitioner of Marxism, he worked as a schoolteacher, entry-level academic, field researc ...

(1898–1962) and Iosipos Moisiodax (1725–1800).

References

External links

Official site of the City of Cernavodă
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cernavoda Greek colonies in Scythia Minor Towns in Romania Populated places on the Danube Port cities and towns in Romania Populated places in Constanța County Localities in Northern Dobruja Place names of Slavic origin in Romania

Economy

History

Demographics

See also

References

External links