Galați County

Galați () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați, between 45°25'N and 46°10'N latitude, 27°20'E and 28°10'E longitude. It borders the counties of Vaslui, Vrancea, Brăila, Tulcea. To the east it borders the Republic of Moldova, the border crossing points being Galați–Giurgiulești (road and broad-gauge railway) and Oancea–Cahul (road). The county was established in 1968, through the territorial reorganization of the former , which included a territory similar to that of the current Brăila and Galați counties, plus the northern part of Tulcea County.

Galați County is part of the South-East Development Region (together with the counties of Vrancea, Buzău, Brăila, Constanța and Tulcea), of the Lower Danube Euroregion (together with the counties of Brăila and Tulcea, with the Cahul and Cantemir districts in the south of the Republic of Moldova and with the Odesa region in the west of Ukraine) as well as the Free Economic Zone Galați–Giurgiulești–Reni (Romania-Moldova-Ukraine).

Toponymy

Codex Latinus Parisinus from 1395 mentions a "Caladda at the bend of the Danube", a Genoese port of call where it could dock. The name Galata, a neighbourhood of Constantinople and another former Genoese port of call, has the same origin. The Romanian academic world mostly adheres to this Italian origin dating back to the 14th century: caladda in Genoese means "mooring hold", and the Genoese had numerous such places on the shores of the Black Sea and on the banks of the Danube, including, in present-day Romania, Giurgiu and Licostomo, near Chilia Veche.

The discovery of the thesaurus of Barboși (southern quarter of the city of Galați, on the left bank of the Siret river), composed of 3,700 silver coins bearing the Greek inscriptions Gallati and Kallatiasy, will tip the scales towards the theory supported by Vasile Pârvan and Carl Patsch, which is the basis of the name of the Roman province Galatia in Asia Minor. The name Galați is also known as Kalas in Turkish, Γκαλάτσι in Greek and גאלאץ in Hebrew.

[[File:Celtic expansion.PNG|thumb|left|Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples: <br />

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But the followers of protochronism (pseudohistorical current which became very influential in Romania under the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu) links the name Galați, even if it does not appear before the 14th century, to the Celtic root and Indo-European languages, [gall-] meaning "foreigner" (Gaul, gaulois, Gaulish, Galatia, Galicia, Galicia)" and being a derivation of Galatiens (the Greek name of the Gauls, on the grounds that this area, inhabited in antiquity by the Thracians from north (Dacians), also experienced the migration of the Celts. If ancient historians such as Herodotus really mention the presence of Celtic tribes in the Balkans and their migration to Anatolia in the 4th century BC, to found Galatia, Romanian protochronists, for their part, date the toponym Galați to the 23rd century BC, claiming that on the contrary, the proto-Celts would have migrated later from Anatolia to the Alps, where they developed Hallstatt culture in Europe. Also, they link the name Galați to the Tabula Peutingeriana from 1265 (map where, in addition to Galatia in central Anatolia, there is also Tanasia-Galatia north of the Black Sea) and state that the Celts of Galatia would be the population mentioned in the Bible in Paul the Apostle's Epistle to the Galatians. And according to them, genealogy studies with modern tools of molecular genetics would support their thesis.

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According to the 2011 census, the ethnic structure of Galați County was relatively compact, with a high percentage of residents who declared themselves Romanian (90.07%), respectively 482,932 out of a total of 536,167. The second ethnic group in the number of inhabitants was that of the Roma - 16,990 (3.17%), followed by all the others (which did not exceed 1% of the total): Russian-Lipovans - 180, Greeks - 156, Hungarians - 133, Turks - 78, Italians - 68, Germans - 62, Jews - 57, Ukrainians - 48, Armenians -  29, Tatars - 4, Serbs - 8, Bulgarians - 7, Macedonians - 6, Poles - 3, other ethnic groups - 477. For 34,916 inhabitants (6.51%), the information was unavailable.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: auto;"

! style="background:#ccc" |    

! style="background:#ccc" | Party

! style="background:#ccc" | Seats

! style="background:#ccc" colspan="23" | Current County Council

| Social Democratic Party (PSD)

| style="text-align: right" | 23

| National Liberal Party (PNL)

| style="text-align: right" | 8

| Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)

| style="text-align: right" | 3

Administrative divisions

<!--thumb|Galați

thumb|[[Tecuci]]

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Galați County has 2 municipalities, 2 towns and 61 communes

:Municipalities

Galați – capital city
Tecuci

:Towns

Berești
Târgu Bujor

:Communes

Bălăbănești
Bălășești
Băleni
Băneasa
Barcea
Berești-Meria
Brăhășești
Braniștea
Buciumeni
Cavadinești
Cerțești
Corni
Corod
Cosmești
Costache Negri
Cuca
Cudalbi
Cuza Vodă
Drăgănești
Drăgușeni
Fârțănești
Foltești
Frumușița
Fundeni
Ghidigeni
Gohor
Grivița
Independența
Ivești
Jorăști
Liești
Măstăcani
Matca
Movileni
Munteni
Nămoloasa
Negrilești
Nicorești
Oancea
Pechea
Piscu
Poiana
Priponești
Rădești
Rediu
Scânteiești
Schela
Șendreni
Slobozia Conachi
Smârdan
Smulți
Suceveni
Suhurlui
Țepu
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tulucești
Umbrărești
Valea Mărului
Vânători
Vârlezi
Vlădești

Institutions

Medical institutions

The health units under the authority of the Galați County Council are the County Emergency Clinical Hospital Sfântul Apostol Andrei Galați, the Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases Sfânta Cuvioasa Parascheva Galați, the Pneumophthisiology Hospital Galați, the Municipal Hospital Anton Cincu Tecuci, and Târgu Bujor City Hospital.

Cultural institutions

The cultural institutions under the authority of the Galați County Council are Paul Păltănea History Museum in Galați, the Visual Art Museum in Galați, the Răsvan Angheluță Natural Sciences Museum Complex in Galați, the County Library V. A. Urechia Galați, the Cultural Center Dunărea de Jos Galați.

In the strategic archaeological succession, settlements from the old Neolithic, belonging to the Starčevo–Körös–Criș culture, which appear in the form of unfortified settlements, were also located. Traces of this culture were discovered at Negrilești and north of Tecuci, in the Bârlad River valley, at Munteni. In Berești, traces of the pre-Cucutenian and Cucutenian cultures were highlighted. The pre-Cucutenian culture is represented by bichrome and trichome painted ceramics at Stoicani, Măstăcani, Smulți, Drăgănești, Băneasa, Suceveni. The citadel of Stoicani shows, through the remains of material culture, the occupations of hunting, animal husbandry and plant cultivation practiced by the inhabitants of this territory, as well as some household crafts, such as pottery, spinning, weaving. The continuity of the population is proven by the material cultures belonging to the period of transition to the Bronze Age, represented by the "shack" type settlements from Stoicani.]]

The Geto-Dacian culture is represented by settlements located on the current hearths of Galați and Frumușița and by the Piroboridava settlement (Poiana). Roman life was particularly intense. The Roman military fort from Barboși and the civilian settlement on the hearth of the city of Galați today maintained trade links with Lower Moesia, with Greece and Asia Minor on the Danube and the Black Sea. In the 10th-13th centuries, forms of early feudalism, closely related to Byzantine influence, were registered on the current territory of Galați County, a fact attested by the numerous Byzantine coins discovered.

At the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, Slobozia-type settlements appeared, which lead to the thickening of the network of rural settlements, of which Slobozia Blăneasa, Slobozia Oancea, Slobozia Conachi, and Slobozia Corni still exist. In the second half of the 19th century, new rural settlements appeared as a result of the increase in the production of grain goods after the unification of the Romanian Principalities of 1859, the agrarian reform of 1864 and after the Rural Law of 1878. The different forms of population growth - migrations, agricultural herding, slow infiltrations and colonizations, immigrations (Lipovans, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, Jews etc.) - contributed to changing the demographic structure of the county. Thus, the population growth was stimulated by the development of agriculture, by the liberalization of trade, by the intensification of transport, by the processes of free transfer by the state of land ownership rights to the peasants.

thumb|View of the Liberty Steel Works in Galați, its rail network and lake Cătușa

On the national economy as a whole, Galați county is the main producer of pig iron, crude steel, hot or cold-rolled sheets and strips, and the second in the production of maritime ships. The metallurgical industry in Galați (Liberty Steel Works) accounts for 55.6% of Romania's steel production, 55% of the production of rolled products and 90.4% of the production of cold-rolled sheets and strips. More than two-thirds of metallurgical production is exported. The naval industry (Damen Shipyard Galați), a branch of great tradition locally, produces river and sea vessels up to 65,000 tdw, as well as marine drilling platforms. The county also has of forests and other lands with forest vegetation, of lakes and ponds, as well as of other degraded and unproductive surfaces.

If during the years of the communist era, Galați County had become the 4th largest industrial center of Romania, in recent years it has registered a sharp decline, which led to its inclusion, along with 5 other counties in Romania (Mureș, Prahova, Dolj, Gorj, Hunedoara) in the Just Transition Mechanism financed by the European Union, which attempts to reduce the social and economic impact of the transition of mono-industrial and coal-intensive regions to a decarbonized economy.

According to the statements of the President of the County Council, Costel Fotea (May 2022), "the transformation of steel production is an approach that will be carried out in a context where, in recent years, technological developments and market conditions have determined a decline in the degree of employment in the metallurgical industry of the county. Thus, the number of employees decreased by more than 36% in the period 2011-2020. The territory showed a sharp downward trend, of 6.5%, in the period 2012-2020, of the global population, while the downward trend of the working-age population was in the same period of 10.5%. Between 2010 and 2020, the average net salary was, each year, below the national average by about 11%, but the downward trend is clear. Between 2016 and 2020, the difference to the national average was -14%. The territory has an energy poverty rate of 55% in winter and 40% year-round. In December 2021, 10,626 unemployed persons were registered in the territory, of which 4,681 women. The unemployment rate was 5.65% in December 2021, nearly double the national average of 2.69%".

Statistical data

On May 1, 2023, the natural increase of the county's population was negative, respectively -695, the 6th highest in the country. From the point of view of the workforce, 121,433 employees (2.16% of the national total - 16th place) and 10,192 unemployed people (4.22% - 4th place) were registered in Galați county, and the average salary net was 3,703 lei - 15th place nationally.

Regarding the balance of international trade (FOB/CIF balance), in 2022, Galați county recorded a deficit of 377.4 million euros, after in the two previous years it had recorded a surplus of 96 and 55.5 million euro respectively.

Regarding the classification of economic activities in the county according to turnover in 2019, the first place is the activities of wholesale and retail trade, repair and maintenance of motor vehicles and motorcycles (41.79%), followed by those in the manufacturing industry (32.95%) and those from agriculture (9.71%) and construction (8.89%).