Great Brăila Island

Great Brăila Island

The Great Brăila Island ("Insula Mare a Brăilei", formerly "Balta Mare a Brăilei", the "Great Brăila Pond") is an island on the Danube river in the Brăila County, Romania. It has on average 60 km length and 20 km width. The two river branches which separate it from the mainland are Măcin and Cremenea.

Currently, 681.3 km² (94.6% of the area of island) are occupied by agricultural terrains of which 70.84 km² are irrigated and is protected by a dam having a length of 23.5 km. On the island there are two communes, Frecăţei and Măraşu, which have about 5,000 inhabitants.

It used to be a series of swamps, until the Communist regime desiccated it and built dams using forced labour of political detainees (many of whom died there) and transformed it to an agricultural area. There were five "re-education camps" at Grădina, Lunca, Salcia, Stoieneşti and Strâmba Veche. The terrain proved to be fertile and it was declared a "success of Communism in Romania".

References

* Ediţie Specială, 26 July 2005 [http://www.editie.ro/mod.php?mod=stiri&idstire=14776 (part 1)] , [http://www.editie.ro/mod.php?mod=stiri&idstire=14778 (part 2)]
* Jurnalul Naţional, 4 August 2005, [http://www.jurnalul.ro/articol.php?id=3391 Bărăganul dintre braţele Dunării]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Brăila — For the village in Chişinău municipality, Moldova, see Băcioi. Brăila The Danube in Brăila …   Wikipedia

  • Great Morava — Not to be confused with Great Moravia. Velika Morava (Велика Морава) Drainage basin of Great Morava (without South and West Morava) Origin Stalać, central Serbia, from Zapadna Morava and Južna Morava …   Wikipedia

  • Margaret Island — The Water Tower, a famous landmark on Margaret Island. Margaret Island (Hungarian: Margit sziget[1][2]) is a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) long island, 500 metres (550 yards) wide …   Wikipedia

  • Csepel Island — Satellite picture of Csepel Island. Csepel Island (Hungarian: Csepel sziget) is the largest island of the River Danube in Hungary. It is 48 km long; its width is 6–8 km. Its area comprises 257 km². The word Csepel is pronounced CHE …   Wikipedia

  • Danube — This article is about the river. For other uses, see Danube (disambiguation). Dunărea redirects here. For other uses, see Dunărea (disambiguation). Coordinates: 45°13′3″N 29°45′41″E /  …   Wikipedia

  • List of islands in the Danube — This is a list of islands in the Danube River. Ada Kaleh Balta Ialomiţei Belene Island Csepel Island Donauinsel Great Brăila Island Great War Island Island of Vukovar Island of Šarengrad Koviljski Rit Kozloduy Island Krčedinska Ada Lupa Island… …   Wikipedia

  • Budapest — For other uses, see Budapest (disambiguation). Budapest   City   From top, left to right: view of the city with the Danube River, lion guarding the …   Wikipedia

  • Drobeta-Turnu Severin —   County capital   Theatre …   Wikipedia

  • Geography of Hungary — Satellite image showing the seven main geographical regions of Hungary (in parenthesis: major region): 1., Great Alföld (Great Alföld) 2., North Hungarian Mountains (North Hungarian Mountains) 3., Transdanubian Mountains (Transdanubia) 4.,… …   Wikipedia

  • Belgrade — For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation). Belgrade Београд Beograd   City   …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”