The Background of Romanian History

Each country is interesting in it­self, but it is often more interesting to consider what is its significance for the development of mankind, for the culture of humanity as a whole. The older school of historical writ­ing concentrated on establishing in­dividual facts, while the broad lines of historical development were often neglected. For this reason the public, while buying the books, was but little impressed by them. Nowadays the main attention of the historian shall be directed towards tracing the great currents which penetrate and inspire national societies, and the syntheses created within their limits.
I will try to bring before my audi­ence the significance of Romania’s past in different ages: in antiquity, in the Middle Ages, and in the more recent periods of Continental history.
Firstly, Romania can show an un­broken continuity of those elements which dominated European prehis­tory. Her soil is rich in treasures belonging to the millennia which preceded the appearance of written language. The manner of construction of the small huts and of the better houses in the village – and such elements were transmitted to later forms of art —, the superstitions, the character of the popular arts, as dis­played in the rugs and carpets, in the shirts, in the woodcarving, the orna­mental spoons and spindles, the met-alwork, belts and the like – all go back to prehistoric times. >>>>>