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During the Iron Age, the area was inhabited by a population identified with the Getae and the Dacians, who spoke an Indo-European language. The view that the two groups were the same is disputed, while the culture's latter phase can be attributed to the Dacians; small Dacian settlements—such as Herăstrău, Radu Vodă, Dămăroaia, Lacul Tei, Pantelimon...

Beginnings

Slavs founded several settlements in the Bucharest region, as pointed out by the Slavic names of Ilfov (from elha – "alder"), Colentina, Snagov, Glina, Chiajna, etc. According to some researches, the Slavic population was already assimilated before the end of the Dark Ages. According to some studies, the area was part of the First Bulgarian Empire between 681 and c.1000. While maintaining commercial links with the Byzantine Empire (as attested by the excavations of 9th–12th century Byzantine...

Early development

Bucharest was first mentioned on September 20, 1459, as one of the residences of Prince Vlad III Dracula. It soon became the preferred summer residence of the princely court – together with Târgoviște, one of the two capitals of Wallachia – and was viewed by contemporaries as the strongest citadel in its country. In 1476, it was sacked by the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great, but was nonetheless favoured as a residence by most rulers in the immediately following period and was subject to im...

Growth and decline

In tune with the increasing demands of the Ottomans and the growing in importance of trade with the Balkans, the political and commercial center of Wallachia began gravitating towards the south; before the end of the 17th century, Bucharest became Wallachia's most populous city, and one of the largest ones in the region, while its landscape became cosmopolitan.This was, however, accompanied by a drastic decrease in princely authority, and a decline of state resources. On November 13, 1594, th...

Late 1600s

Between Gheorghe Ghica's rule (1659–1660) and the end of Ștefan Cantacuzino's (1715/1716), Bucharest saw a period of relative peace and prosperity (despite the prolonged rivalry between the Cantacuzino and the Băleni families, followed by worsened relations between the former and the Craiovești). The climactic moment was reached under Șerban Cantacuzino and Constantin Brâncoveanu, when the city embraced the Renaissance under the original form known as the Brâncovenesc style and was expanded (...

Early Phanariotes

In 1716, following the anti-Ottoman rebellion of Ștefan Cantacuzino in the context of the Great Turkish War, Wallachia was placed under the more compliant rules of Phanariotes, inaugurated by Nicholas Mavrocordatos (who had previously reigned over Moldavia). These decisively marked Bucharest's development in several ways– the city was the unrivalled capital, being favoured by the decrease in importance of manorialism and rural centers, cumulated with the progress witnessed by the monetary eco...

Russo-Turkish Wars

Bucharest was twice occupied by Imperial Russian troops during the War of 1768–74 (initially aided by Pârvu Cantacuzino's anti-Ottoman boyar rebellion, and then stormed by the troops of Nicholas Repnin); the subsequent Treaty of Küçük Kaynarcawas partly negotiated in the city. Under Alexander Ypsilantis, large-scale works to provide the city with fresh water were carried out, and Curtea Veche, destroyed by the previous conflicts, was replaced by a new residence in Dealul Spirii (Curtea Nouă,...

The following non-Phanariote reign of Grigore IV Ghica, acclaimed by the Bucharesters upon its establishment, saw the building of a Neoclassical princely residence in Colentina, the expulsion of foreign clergymen who had competed with Wallachians for religious offices, and the restoration of bridges over the Dâmbovița River, but also high taxes and...

The new prince Gheorghe Bibescu completed a water supply network and works on public gardens, began constructing the National Theater of Romania building (1846; finished in 1852) and improved the chaussées linking Bucharest with other Wallachian centers. On March 23, 1847, the Great Fire of Bucharestconsumed around 2,000 buildings (about a third of...

The Paris treaty called for the creation of ad hoc Divans in Moldavia and Wallachia, the first venue for the advocacy of a union between the two countries. Bucharest returned only delegates from the unionist Partida Naţionala to the new forums, but the overall majority in Wallachia was constituted of anti-unionists conservatives; on January 22, 185...

Belle Époque

1. Kiosk in the Cișmigiu Park. Between years 1880s and 1900s, the societies of women and not only had the habit of erecting kiosks in the Cișmigiu Park, where raffles and exhibitions were organised 2. The Romanian Athenaeum on Victory Avenue by Paul Louis Albert Galeron(1886-1888) 3. The Filipescu-Cesianu House on Victory Avenue, now the Museum of Ages(late 19th century) 4. Middle-class family house with garden and two windows facing the street on Strada Mitropolit Nifon (1897) 5. Bourgeois h...

Inter-war

1. The Victory Avenuein 1923, on a sunday noon 2. The Marmorosch Blank Bank Palace on Strada Doamnei by Petre Antonescu(1923) 3. The Unification Square in 1926, with the Unification Hall (destroyed in 1986 by the systematization), the Bălașa Lady Church and the Palace of Justice(both still there) 4. The Low Priced Dwellings Society Building in the C.A. Rosetti Square by Virginia Andreescu Haret(1926) 5. The ASIROM Building on Bulevardul Carol I (1930s) 6. The Lido Hotel on Bulevardul Gheorghe...

1940s

Bucharest witnessed the birth of three consecutive fascist regimes: after the one established by Carol II and his National Renaissance Front, the outbreak of World War II brought the National Legionary State and, after the bloody Iron Guard Rebellion of January 21–23 (which was accompanied by a major pogrom in the capital), the Ion Antonescu government. In the spring of 1944, it was the target of heavy RAF and USAF bombings (see Bombing of Bucharest in World War II). The city was also the cen...