Dacia
is in an area of Central Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathians,
on the south by the Danube and on the east by the Black Sea, corresponding
to modern Romania and Moldova. With its temperate climate and varied
natural environment, the Dacian territory has been inhabited since Lower
Paleolithic (1.000.000 b.C. - 120.000 b.C.).
At
the beginning of the Neolithic, a relatively stable population can be
found, like the the Hamangia (Tulcea County, 6000 - 5000 b.C.) and Cucuteni
(Iaşi County, 4500 b.C. - 3000 b.C.) cultures.
They
were supplanted by Indo-European tribes. The Indo-European migrations
had been dated between the end of the Neolithic and the late Palaeolithic.
At the beginning of the Bronze Age (3300 b.C.) the Indo-European people of
the Thracians settled in the Carpathian-Balkan region. In the first
half of the first millennium b.C., the Thracian tribes of the Dacians
were located in Transylvania and the Getae in Wallachia and
Moldavia.
The Greeks first encountered the Getae by means of the colonies created on the Black Sea shore in 7th century b.C., like Istros (Histria), Callatis (Mangalia) and Tomi (Constanţa), and they used their name for the whole population to the north of the Danube. The Romans first encountered the Dacians, extending this name to cover all the other tribes on the Dacia province, roughly the present-day Romania.
In 512 b.C. the Persians leaded by Darius reached the regions of the Danube during the expedition against the Scythians, came in the region from the North of the Black Sea. In 335 b.C. the Macedonians with Alexander the Great conquered Dobruja, but in 300 b.C. and 292 b.C. the Macedonian general Lysimach was defeated by the Getas' king Dromichaites. an invasion in Transylvania by the Celts took place in 300 b.C. too.
One
of the greatest king of Dacia was Burebista, who ruled between 82
b.C. and 44 b.C.; he succeeded in unifying the Geto-Dacian tribes in a
powerful kingdom. The fortifications and the sanctuary raised in the area
of Sarmizegetusa (in the national park of Grădiştea
Muncelului-Cioclovina, in Southern Transylvania) prove the development of
an advanced civilization. The Sacred Mountain of Kogaion is identified
with the Hill of Gradistea of the Orastie Mountains area.
In 60 b.C. and 48 b.C. Burebista leaded successful campaigns against the Celts on the West side of the kingdom.
A first contact of the Dacians with the Romans was in 48 b.C., when Burebista took part in the dispote between Caesar and Pompeius offering his military support to Pompeius, who was defeated by Caesar.
After Burebist�s death, the Geto-Dacians kingdom was split into several parts under separate kingdoms, as the Greek cities on the Black Sea and the Celtic tribes no longer accepted the authority of a Dacian state.
