Murfatlar () is a town in

Constanța County Constanța () is a Counties of Romania, county (județ) of Romania on the Bulgaria–Romania border, border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2021, it had a population of 655,997 ...

Northern Dobruja Northern Dobruja ( or simply ; , ''Severna Dobrudzha'') is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube, Danube River and the Black Sea, bordered in the south by Southern Dobruja, which is a part of Bulgaria. ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the

Romanian rural systematization program The Romanian rural systematization program was a Social engineering (political science), social engineering program undertaken by Nicolae Ceaușescu's Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania primarily at the end of the 1980s. The legal framework f ...

Etymology

The name of the town originates from the Turkish word of Arabic origin ''murvet'' (meaning "generous man"). Between 1921 and 1965, and from 1975 to 2007, the locality was known as ''Basarabi''. On June 26, 2007 the lower house of Romania's Parliament, the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, approved a proposal to have the name changed back to Murfatlar, which was also ratified by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and promulgated by the president of Romania on December 20, 2007.

Administration

Murfatlar is a port on the

Danube–Black Sea Canal The Danube–Black Sea Canal () is a navigable canal in Romania, which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube river, via two branches, to Constanța and Năvodari on the Black Sea. Administered from Agigea, it is an important part of the waterway li ...

and has a population of 9, 173 as of 2021. A complex of caves was found carved in the hills nearby, see the Basarabi Cave Complex. The village of Siminoc (historical name: ''Turc-Murfat'') is administered by the town of Murfatlar. The name of the village comes from the flower Helichrysum arenarium (''siminoc'' in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

), which can be found abundantly in the area.Murfatlar's History
, Murfatlar City Hall, accessed on June 23, 2008 The Murfatlar Vineyard and Basarabi Cave Complex are located nearby.

Demographics

At the 2021 census, Murfatlar had a population of 9,173. At the 2011 census, the town had 9,634 residents; of those, 8,657 were Romanians (89.86%), 547

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

(5.68%), 236

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

(2.45%), 134

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

(1.39%), 9

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

(0.09%), 3

Aromanians The Aromanians () are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgari ...

(0.03%), 16 others (0.17%), and 32 with undeclared ethnicity (0.33%).

Natives

Murfatlar is the birthplace of the 4th Romanian president,

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

Image gallery

Image:MurtfaltalrDanubeChannel.JPG, Danube–Black Sea Canal at Murfatlar Image:MurfatlarDanubeChannel2.JPG, Danube–Black Sea Canal at Murfatlar Image:MurtfatlarBridge.JPG, Bridge over the Danube–Black Sea Canal at Murfatlar

References

{{Authority control Towns in Romania Populated places in Constanța County Localities in Northern Dobruja Place names of Turkish origin in Romania