Editing Dacia (section)

==Geographical history==
{{Main|History of Dacia}}
[[File:Territorial_Evolution_of_the_Dacian_tribes_and_kingdoms_(Author_Portasa_Cristian)_(Platform_HistoAtlas_and_Wikipedia).webm|thumb|alt=Dacia|The territorial evolution of the Dacian tribes and kingdoms until the Roman conquest, according to ancient sources.]]
[[File:Daci Terra Getarum cf Strabo.JPG|thumb|200px|Dacia cf. [[Strabo]] ({{Circa|20}} AD){{sfn|Müller|1877|loc=tabulae XV}}]]
[[File:Harta Dacia Brue Adrien Hubert.jpg|thumb|The map of Dacia by [[Brue Adrien Hubert]] (1826)]]
[[File:Sarmizegetusa Regia 2011 2.jpg|thumb|200px|View of the sanctuary from [[Dacians]]' capital [[Sarmizegetusa Regia]]]]
[[File:Ptolemy Cosmographia Dacia+Danube.jpg|thumb|200px|Dacia map cf. Ptolemy (2nd century AD)]]
The extent and location of Dacia varied in its three distinct historical periods (see below):
[[File:Dacia after 100 AD..jpg|thumb|Dacia after 100 AD]]

{{For|earlier events|Prehistory of Transylvania|Prehistory of Romania|Celts in Transylvania}}

=== 1st century BC ===
The Dacia of [[Burebista|King Burebista]] (82–44 BC) stretched from the [[Black Sea]] to the river [[Tisza]].<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite encyclopedia|title=History of Romania – Antiquity – The Dacians |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=15 July 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508461/Romania/214504/History#ref=ref476941}}</ref> During that period, the Getae and Dacians conquered a wider territory and Dacia extended from the Middle Danube to the Black Sea littoral (between Apollonia and [[Pontic Olbia]]) and from the [[Northern Carpathians]] to the Balkan Mountains.{{sfn|Murray|2001|p=1120}} After [[Burebista]]'s death in 44 BC, Dacia plunged into internal strife, resembling a [[civil war]], as his unified kingdom split into several rival states. The constant power struggle weakened Dacia, but the Dacians remained a significant force, frequently making incursions into Roman territory. Stability was only restored when [[Duras (Dacian king)|Duras]] and later [[Decebalus]] managed to reunite the kingdom.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

=== 1st century AD ===
[[File:Dacian_Kingdom_under_Burebista.png|thumb|alt=Dacia under Burebista 45 BC|The biggest extent of the Dacian Kingdom under Burebista according to Strabo]]
Strabo, in his Geography written around AD 20, says:

<blockquote>″As for the [[Southern Germany|southern part of Germany]] beyond the [[Albis]], the portion which is just contiguous to that river is occupied by the [[Suebi|Suevi]]; then immediately adjoining this is the land of the [[Getae]], which, though narrow at first, stretching as it does along the Ister [<nowiki/>[[Danube]]] on its southern side and on the opposite side along the mountain-side of the [[Hercynian Forest]] (for the land of the Getae also embraces a part of the mountains), afterwards broadens out towards the north as far as the [[Tyragetae|Tyregetae]]; but I cannot tell the precise boundaries″</blockquote><ref name=Strabo1>[[Strabo]], ''Geography''</ref>

On this basis, Lengyel and Radan (1980), Hoddinott (1981) and Mountain (1998) consider that the Geto-Dacians inhabited both sides of the [[Tisza]] river prior to the rise of the Celtic [[Boii]].{{sfn|Taylor|2001|p=215}}<!-- STRABO IS A PRIMARY SOURCE: {{sfn | Strabo | VII.3.1 |ps=: As for the southern part of Germany beyond the Albis, the portion which is just contiguous to that river is occupied by the Suevi; then immediately adjoining this is the land of the Getae, which, though narrow at first, stretching as it does along the Ister on its southern side and on the opposite side along the mountain-side of the Hercynian Forest (for the land of the Getae also embraces a part of the mountains), afterwards broadens out towards the north as far as the Tyregetae; but I cannot tell the precise boundaries.}}<ref>Strabo (20 AD) v. 1.6; vii 1.3; vii 5.2</ref> --> The hold of the Dacians between the Danube and the Tisza was tenuous.{{sfn|Lengyel|Radan|1980|p=87|ps=: "No matter where the Boii first settled after they left Italia, however, when they arrived at the Danube they had to fight the Dacians who held the entire territory – or at least part of it. Strabo tells us that later animosity between the Dacians and the Boii stemmed from the fact that the Dacians demanded the land from the latter which the Dacians pretended to have possessed earlier."}} However, the archaeologist Parducz argued for a Dacian presence west of the [[Tisza|Tisa]] dating from the time of Burebista.{{sfn|Ehrich|1970|p=228}} According to [[Tacitus]] (AD 56–117) Dacians bordered Germania in the south-east, while [[Sarmatians]] bordered it in the east.{{sfn|Gruen|2011|p=204|ps=: Germany as a whole is separated from the Gauls and from the Raetians and Pannonians by the rivers Rhine and Danube, from the Sarmatians and Dacians by mutual fear or mountains; the ocean surrounds the rest of it}}

In the 1st century AD, the [[Iazyges]] settled West of Dacia, on the plain between the Danube and the Tisa rivers, according to the scholars' interpretation of [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]'s text: "The higher parts between the Danube and the Hercynian Forest, as far as the winter quarters of Pannonia at Carnutum and the plains and level country of the German frontiers there are occupied by the Sarmatian Iazyges, while the Dacians whom they have driven out hold the mountains and forests as far as the river Theiss".{{sfn|Hrushevskyi|1997|p=93}}{{sfn|Bosworth|1980|p=60}}<!-- PLINY IS A PRIMARY SOURCE: {{sfn|Pliny's Natural History|2000|p=179}} -->{{sfn|Carnap-Bornheim|2003|p=228}}{{sfn|Shelley|1997|p=10}}

=== 2nd century AD ===
{{Main|Trajan's Dacian Wars|Roman Dacia}}

Starting with AD 85, Dacia was once again reunified under [[Decebalus|King Decebalus]]. Following an incursion into Roman [[Moesia]], which resulted in the death of its governor, [[Gaius Oppius Sabinus]], a series of conflicts between the Romans and Dacians ensued. Although the Romans gained a major strategic victory at [[Tapae]] in AD 88, [[Domitian|Emperor Domitian]] offered the Dacians favourable terms, in exchange for which Roman suzerainty was recognised. However, [[Trajan|Emperor Trajan]] restarted the conflicts in AD 101-102 and then again in AD 105–106, which ended with the annexation of most of Dacia and its reorganisation as a [[Roman province|Roman Province]], [[Roman Dacia|Dacia Felix]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Written a few decades after Emperor [[Trajan]]'s Roman conquest of parts of Dacia in AD 105–106,{{sfn|Mattern|2002|p=61}} Ptolemy's ''[[Geographia]]'' included the boundaries of Dacia. According to the scholars' interpretation of Ptolemy (Hrushevskyi 1997, Bunbury 1879, Mocsy 1974, Bărbulescu 2005) Dacia was the region between the rivers [[Tisza]], Danube, upper Dniester, and Siret.{{sfn|Hrushevskyi|1997|p=97|ps=: "Dacia, as described by Ptolemy, occupied the region between the Tisa, Danube, upper Dnister, and Seret, while the Black Sea coast – namely, the Greek colonies of Tyras, Olbia, and others – were included in Lower Moesia."}}{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=517}}{{sfn |Mocsy|1974|p=21}}{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|p=71}} Mainstream historians accept this interpretation: Avery (1972) Berenger (1994) Fol (1996) Mountain (1998), Waldman Mason (2006).{{sfn|Berenger|1994|p=25}}{{sfn|Mountain|1998|p=59}}{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=205}}{{sfn|Avery|1972|p=113}}{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}}

Ptolemy also provided a couple of Dacian [[toponyms]] in south Poland in the Upper [[Vistula]] (Polish: Wisla) river basin: [[Susudava]] and [[Setidava]] (with a manuscript variant [[Getidava]]).{{sfn|Dobiáš|1964|p=70}}{{sfn|Berindei|Candea|2001|p=429}}{{sfn|Schütte|1952|p=270}}{{sfn|Giurescu|Giurescu|1974|p=31}} This could have been an "echo" of Burebista's expansion.{{sfn|Berindei|Candea|2001|p=429}} It seems that this northern expansion of the Dacian language, as far as the Vistula river, lasted until AD 170–180 when the migration of the Vandal [[Hasdingi]] pushed out this northern Dacian group.{{sfn|Childe|1930|p=245}}{{sfn|Schütte|1917|pp=109 & 143}} This Dacian group, possibly the [[Costoboci]]/[[Lipitsa culture|Lipița culture]], is associated by [[Gudmund Schütte]] with towns having the specific Dacian language ending "[[Dava (Dacia)|dava]]" i.e. [[Setidava]].{{sfn|Schütte|1952|p=270}}

After the [[Marcomannic Wars]] (AD 166–180), Dacian groups from outside Roman Dacia had been set in motion. So too were the 12,000 Dacians "from the neighbourhood of Roman Dacia sent away from their own country". Their native country could have been the Upper Tisa region, but other places cannot be excluded.{{sfn|Opreanu|1997|p=249}}

The later Roman province ''[[Dacia Aureliana]]'', was organized inside former [[Moesia Superior]] after the retreat of the Roman army from Dacia, during the reign of emperor [[Aurelian]] during AD 271–275. It was reorganized as [[Dacia Ripensis]] (as a military province) and [[Dacia Mediterranea]] (as a civil province).{{sfn|Odahl|2003}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}