Valahia
Valahia is a traditional region in Muntenia. Since the region has no administrative function nor has any precise definition, the land included within the region varies somewhat between different sources. Most typically however it is said to be the land of the great plains between the Carpathian mountains in the north and the Danube river in the south, often said to consist of the whole mayor part of Muntenia that is west of the Danube (that is the nine counties of Argeş, Buzău, Dolj, Galaţi, Ialomiţa, Ilfov, Olt, Teleorman and Vlaşca). Sometimes the term Valahia is even used as a reference to all of the land between the Carpathians and the Danube and thus also includes southern Carpatia, that is the five Oltenian counties of Gorj, Mehedinţi, Muscel, Prahova and Vâlcea.
Using the most common definitiion of Valahia as to consist of the western and central part of Muntenia, it would mean the region has around 6.8 million people (2004 census) living on a land covering around 27 000 SI square miles (59 000 square kilometres). (If also southern Carpatia is included, this would make a total of around 7,3 million people million peole living on a surface of around 33 000 SI square miles).
The People
Most of the people living in Valahia are Romanians ('Muntenians') but there are however also some minor minorities, the most significant being the Bulgarians mainly living in the southern part of Dolj county followed secondly by the Serbs found in the westernmost part of the same county.
The Flag
The traditional flag of Valahia consists of three horisontal stripes in the colours blue - yellow - blue, most commonly in proposions 1:2:1. The upper blue stripe stands for the sky while the yellow stripe in the middle stands for the fields of the plains and the lower blue stripe stands for the Danube and other rivers flowing through the land. It is not officially recognized, but it's still sometimes seen in various places around the Valahian lands and it's colours is used in several circumstances such as sport teams.
