WALLACHIA elude wheat, barley, flax, hemp, rye, maize, peas, beans, and tobacco. The vine flourishes, and some of the wine is excellent. The spe- cies of buckthorn yielding the French or yel- low berry (rhamnus infoctorius) grows abun- dantly, and the berries are exported for dye- ing. Copper, mercury, gold, silver, iron, lead, rock salt, alum, bitumen, and marble abound ; but the great mineral resources are little de- veloped. Among animals are the wild boar, bear, badger, marten, wolf of great ferocity, fox, wild cat, several species of hare, beaver, squirrel, fallow deer, antelope, and chamois. There are many varieties of singing birds, on the rivers wading and aquatic birds, and in the mountains the partridge, buzzard, and other game birds. Fish are plentiful. Grain, cattle, sheep, goats, and horses are largely exported. The Greek church predominates, and is under the authority of the metropolitan at the capi- tal and of a bishop in each province. The state university is at Bucharest, and there are in Wallachia numerous schools, education being much improved. The completion in 1869 of the railway from Bucharest to Giurgevo, which connects with the Bulgarian line from Rus- tchuk to Varna, was followed by other lines connecting with Moldavia, Austria, and Russia. The entrances at Braila in 1874 were 3,629 ves- sels, of 634,657 tons, and the clearances 3,517, of 618,304 tons. In 1876 the Roumanian le- gislature provided for the establishment of an exchange at the capital. The early history of Wallachia is almost identical with that of Mol- davia (see DA CIA, and MOLDAVIA) till near the close of the 13th century, when Radu the Black of Transylvania gradually became master of the country, and it remained a separate state de- spite Hungarian encroachments. Under Mar- cus I. (Mircea), hospodar or prince from 1383' to 1416, the Turks were pursued to the walls of Adrianople; but in 1391 he was obliged to acknowledge Sultan Bajazet as his suzerain, Wallachia retaining under the capitulation its autonomy as a tributary state of Turkey. Vlad III. concluded in 1460 a second series of capit- ulations with Mohammed II., and the two com- pacts formed the main basis of subsequent trea- ties affecting the regulations with the Porte down to those of Paris of 1858. Michael the Brave (1593-1601) united Wallachia with Mol- davia and invaded Transylvania, but was assas- sinated during his negotiations with Austria aiming at the foundation of a Dacian realm of the extent of the ancient Roman province ; and his successor retained only Wallachia. The hospodars were elected by the people in accor- dance with the capitulations till the close of the 17th century, when the Porte began to make arbitrary appointments, first of Roumans and after 1716 of Fanariotes, who remained in power till 1821, except during the Russian occupations of 1770-74, 1788-'91 (jointly with Austria), and 1809-'12. The deplorable rule of the Fanariote hospodars, whose appoint- ment was generally venal, was not broken up WALLACHIAN LANGUAGE, &o. 433 until the outbreak in 1821 of the movement projected by the Hetroria, the secret society for promoting Greek independence, which be- gan in the Danubian principalities. Alexander Ypsilanti, whose father and grandfather had been hospodars of Wallachia, was the leader of this movement. His principal follower in Wallachia was Theodore Vladimiresco, who however opposed both Russian and Greek su- premacy, and advocated national independence. His enemies put a violent end to his life, and the Porte, after quelling the insurrection, ap- pointed a Wallachian as hospodar in 1822, to reconcile the people. The Russians reoccupied Wallachia in 1828 during their war with Tur- key ; they evacuated it in 1829, but the treaty of Adrianople, which fully restored the ancient capitulations, gave to Russia a protectorate over the country. A constitution was framed under Russian auspices, but its provision for the pop- ular election of a prince was set aside in 1834, when Alexander Ghika was selected. He was deposed in 1842, on account of his complicity with Russian reactionary measures. His suc- cessor, George Demetrius Bibesco, was over- thrown by the rising in 1848, when Bratiano and other patriots attempted to form a gov- ernment ; but the movement was suppressed by Russian and Turkish forces. The consti- tution was abolished from 1849 to 1856, and Bibesco's brother, Barbo Demetrius Stirbey, appointed hospodar. He withdrew from Bu- charest during the Russian invasion of 1853-'4, and Alexander Ghika directed affairs until the speedy organization of a committee of three members for the formation of a government and the election of a prince, in accordance with the terms of the convention of Paris of Aug. 19, 1858. Alexander Cuza, then minister of war, and since Jan. 17, 1859, prince of Mol- davia, became on Feb. 5 also prince of Wal- lachia and the first ruler of the united princi- palities, under the title of prince of Roumania. (See ALEXANDER JOHN I.) The union, recog- nized by the Porte in 1860, was proclaimed by Prince Alexander, Dec. 23, 1861. (See ROU- MANIA.) See Engel, Geschichte der Moldau und Walachei (2 vols., Halle, 1804); Dickinson, "Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia " (London, 1820) ; Neigebaur, Die Donavfnrstenthumer (3 parts, Breslau, 1854- '6) ; Edgar Quinet, Les Poumains, reorganisa- tion des provinces danuMennes (Paris, 1857); and Rosier, DieAnfdnge des walachischen Fur- steiitlmms (Vienna, 1867). WALLACHIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. Wallachian is spoken in Wallachia and Mol- davia (the modern Roumania), in a large por- tion of Transylvania, in the adjacent districts of Hungary, and in Bessarabia, and S. of the Danube in parts of ancient Thrace and Mace- donia, and even as far as Thessaly. The num- ber of people speaking the language is esti- mated at about 8,000,000. The name is of foreign origin, probably German (Serb. Via, Hung. Oldh}, and corresponds to the German
