Culture of Romania in the context of "Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia"

Romanians (Romanian: români, pronounced [roˈmɨnʲ]; dated exonym Vlachs) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Romanians share a common culture, history, ancestry and language and live primarily in Romania and Moldova. There is a debate regarding the ethnic categorisation of the Moldovans, concerning whether they constitute a subgroup of the Romanians or a completely different ethnic group. The origin of the Romanians is also fiercely debated, one theory suggests that the ancestors of Romanians are the Daco-Romans, while the other theory suggests that Romanians are mainly the Thraco-Romans and Illyro-Romans from the inner balkans, who later migrated north of the Danube.

In one interpretation of the 1989 census results in Moldova, the majority of Moldovans were counted as ethnic Romanians as well. Romanians also form an ethnic minority in several nearby countries situated in Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, most notably in Hungary, Serbia (including Timok), and Ukraine.

Romania has been inhabited by humans since the paleolithic. During antiquity, the main population that lived in the area corresponding to modern-day Romania were the Dacians. Dacian civilisation prospered from the second century BC to the second century AD, resulting in the establishment of a Dacian kingdom as a regional power. Following several wars with the Roman Empire, Dacia was conquered in 106 AD, and the kingdom's core was turned into a Roman province. The province was abandoned by 276 AD following several invasions from various barbarian peoples. Many Romanian historians believe that the origin of the Romanians can be traced back to the Dacians and Romans intermixing, which in turn formed the basis of the Romanian ethnicity.

During the early Middle Ages, numerous migratory peoples moved across and settled the territory of Romania. A prominent Turkic population also settled Romanian territory, particularly the Cumans. Early Romanian culture was heavily influenced by these peoples, Vlachs – Romance-language speakers in the Balkans – were first clearly attested in the 10th century, inhabiting areas on both sides of the Danube. By the 13th century, numerous small Vlach political entities abounded in areas such as Muntenia, Oltenia and Transylvania. These political entities gradually unified, and by the mid-14th century, the two major historical Romanian principalities had emerged, Wallachia and Moldavia.

The folklore of Romania is the collection of traditions of the Romanians. A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations (the best known is the ballad Miorița) were the main literary genre until the 18th century. They were both a source of inspiration for cultivated creators and a structural model. Second, for a long time learned culture was governed by official and social commands and developed around courts of princes and boyars, as well as in monasteries.