Balş

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Balş is also a commune in Iaşi County, see: Balş, Iaşi.

"Bals" redirects here. For the Japanese retails company see BALS.

Balş
Balş Location of Balş
Coordinates: 44°21′0″N 24°5′58″E / 44.35, 24.09944
Country	Romania
County	Olt County
Status	Town
Government
- Mayor	Vitalie Staicu (Social Democratic Party)
Area
- Total	37 km² (14.3 sq mi)
Population (2002)
- Total	21,195
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website: http://www.bals.ro/

Balş is a town in Olt County, Romania.

There are three hypotheses about its name:

1. The locality was named after the Balşiţa brook.
2. The name comes from the Turkish word "Baliş" (honey) as there is a large apiculture area there.
3. A boyar named Balş settled here in the 5th or 6th century.

[edit] Population

• 1864 - 1,700 inhabitants.
• 1884 - 2,500 inhabitants.
• 1921 - 5,000 inhabitants.
• 1938 - 5,300 inhabitants.
• 1948 - 6,128 inhabitants.
• 1973 - 11,578 inhabitants.
• 1992 - 24,560 inhabitants.
• 2002 - 21,195 inhabitants.

The composition from the last census, sorted by nationality:

* 20,552 Romanians

* 619 Romas

* 16 Hungarians

* 2 Germans

* 1 Ukrainian

* 1 Turk

* 1 Chinese

* 1 Bulgarian

* 1 Italian

* 2 other nationalities

The composition from the last census, sorted by religion:

* 21,043 Eastern Orthodox

* 47 Seventh-Day Adventists

* 36 Baptists

* 19 Pentecostalists

* 8 Roman-Catholics

* 5 Atheists

* 32 other religion

[edit] History

• 1450 - The estimated date when Balş was established.
• 1564 - First mention of Balş in a document.