Bacau

an administrative district in eastern Rumania. Area, 6,914 sq km. Population in 1968,606,200. The western regions of Bacǎu are located in the East Carpathians (including the Ceahlǎu Mountains, which reach 1,904 m, with Stinişoarei, Tarkǎu, and other peaks); the eastern regions lie within the Birlad Plateau; in between are zones of hillocked piedmonts. Rivers belong to the Danube basin (the Siret and its tributaries, the Bistrica, Trotuşul, and others). Mountain and forest landscapes predominate, with steppes in the east.

Bacǎu covers the southern half of the Western Moldavian industrial region. Petroleum is extracted in the Moinesti area, soft coal in the Komăeşti basin, rock salt and gypsum near Tîrgu-Ocna. There are thermal power plants in Bor-sásti, Bacău, Komăneti, and Dărmăneşti, and a hydroelectric power station in the lower course of the Bistrica River. The most important branches of raw-materials processing are oil refining (Dǎrmǎneşti and George-Georgiu-Dez), the petroleum chemicals industry (George-Georgiu-Dez), lumber processing (Komǎnesti, Agǎs, and elsewhere), pulp and paper (bacău), textiles (Buhuşj, Bacǎu), and food processing. Bacǎu also manufactures garments, shoes and leather goods, industrial chemicals, and machinery. Animal husbandry (cattle and sheep raising) predominates in the agricultural sector; sugar beets and other vegetables are grown in the Siret Valley; corn and sunflowers are grown in the Moldavian Highlands. Bǎlia-Slǎnik is a mineral spa.

a city in eastern Rumania, near the confluence of the Bistrica and Siret rivers. It is the administrative center of the Bacǎu district. Population in 1968,73,500; with suburbs, 87,500. It is the center of a petroleum and a lumber region. Bacǎu has a wood-processing combine; a pulp and paper mill; petroleum equipment manufacture; and leather and footwear, garment, chemical, and food-processing (a meat combine, dry-milk plant, and brewery) industries. Bacǎu is known to have existed since the 15th century.