General Information

Historical Summary
Petrila is an ancient settlement, located at 657 m altitude on the Eastern Jiu River bank, at the intersection of the Jiet Creek and Taia Creek. The town is certified in different documents in 1493 or 1499.

At the time the first Romanian feudal statal formations were being formed Jiu Valley was part of the kingdom stretched in Banat between Mures and Danube, reaching its climax under the Romanian leader Glad (IXth -Xth centuries).

Later these lands were part of Litovoi's kingdom stretched on both versants of the Meridional Carpathians, from Gorj to Hategului County.
The first known mention about the Jiu Valley is a donation document from 1493. The document was signed by the Hungarian King, Vladislav the first (1490-1516) and addressed to Mihai Cande, a Romanian prince. It is written in this document that the nobleman Mihail Cande rules over the lands where Petrila (Peterella), Maleia near Petrosani (Malee), Rotunda near Petrosani or by some Lonea (Ratond), Campul lui Neag (Nzakmezeu), Morisoara in Vulcan (Marisowar) are today. Later, in 1501, near these is reminded Kaprisowar (Caprisoara) in Vulcan, as being owned "ab antique". Even earlier in 1493 king Albert had admitted that Jiu Valley is the property of Niculae Cande, the father of Mihail.

During the ruling of Neagoe Basarab (1512 - 1521) a document traces the border (from peak to peak) on the course of the rivers, where Cande is mentioned as (nemes) from Hateg who put the border stone along with noblemen from Oltenia.

During the Middle Ages, the Jiu Valley wasn't very populated, the settlements were just a few, and there were no ogoare manoase and no arranged roads. Only in the second half of the last century, in the same time with the discovery of the coal existing in huge quantities in the underground, the Jiu Valley knew a strong demographic rise. The first confessional census was made by an orthodox priest, Micu Klein in 1733. It was registered in the census that in Petrila are an orthodox priest, Dumitru, a catholic priest, Stefan, and a church with 48 faithful families (with an average of 5 persons/family).

Subsequently, in 1750, there were 300 inhabitants and a church; in 1762, 2 unified priests, 194 orthodox families and 2 orthodox churches.
In the old documents, Petrila is mentioned in the year 1733 under the name "In Sij In Petrila" or "Dzij Petrila". They say that the name "Petrila" comes from the Latin word "petrinus", which means in English "of stone". In the area are lots of similarly names like Piatra Rosie (The Red Stone), Pietrele (The Stones), Petros.

At Jiet, locality depending on Petrila, traces of gold exploitation by the dacs and the romans were found at the place called Hududeu, where roman dinars were also found. But what was remarkable and illustrated in the Romanian language dictionary, edited by the Romanian Academy, "petrila" (common noun) means "gravel road, not asphalted".
Local people, shepards and cow raisers on the lands rich in pastures, used "black stone that burns" for heating and for commercial trade, layers of coal being met at the surface.

In the year 1840 the systematic coal exploitation in Jiu Valley began with rudimentary methods. Then the Hoffman brothers and Carol Medersparch, Austrina mine owners from Rusca Montana, attracted by the rich coal deposits set the basis of future exploitation amd mining enterprises, continuing to buy a great number of mines from owners and freed peasants.

The exploitation of coal depsits continued during the years, developing a mono-idustrial area, the main economic activity being that of coal exploitation and processing. The development of these activities had as a consequence the continual growth of inhabitants' number in Petrila, such as if in the year 1820 the population was of 3,326 inhabitants, in the year 1977 it was of 25,206 inhabitants. Now it has reached 33,319 inhabitants.

Geographical Features

The mountains within the county are part of two important mountain groups: The Meridional (Middle) Carpathians and the Occidental Carpathians. Each of the two has distinctive features.
The Meridional Carpathians are asymmetrical, they are steep in north and moderate in the South. They are made of crystalline rock formations, the medium altitude is of 1500m and the maximum one is of 2500m. The glacier landscape is common in the Meridional Carpathians. Godeanu and Parâng belong to the aforementioned group of mountains.
The Parâng Mountain got their name from their highest peak, Parângul Mare (Big Parângul - 2518m).

Natural resources

Underground Resources
The total surface of the coal bearing layers presenting economic interest from the Jiu Valley Basin is of about 170 km2. The coal here is of tertiary age and is found in Lupeni, Uricani, Vulcan, Petrila, Aninoasa, Lonea, Paroseni, Livezeni, etc.

Referring to the layers in this basin we mention that the sediments forming them are made of a basal horizon of conglomerates, lime stones, red clay sands coverd themselves with clay (sisturi) and stripped (grezoase). The thickness of this horizon is of about 100-125 m and shows up to date in the south and east of this basin. Above it there is the second horizon with a thickness of about 300 m, formed out of blocks of gritstone and clay, among these being found coal layers, especially in the inferior part. The superior horizon, which also has a thickness of about 300 m is formed out of gritstones, conglomerates, sands and clay and does not contain organic leftovers.

Therefor the total thickness of the sedimentary deposits from the Jiu Valley basin is of about 800 m. Situated in the middle horizon the layers of coal are found at depths varying from 100 to 600 m. The quality of the coal from this basin is not always the same, those in the inferior layers having greater quality than those in the superior ones, a direct consequence of the strong influence the pressure in the forming period had. Even in the same layer the quality differs, improving from eat to west wher (as it results from the basin's tectonic) the lateral pressure was greater and had bigger influence. The caloric power of this coal varies from 6200 to 7200 calories. Their verage content of ashes is 5.73% and in sulf 2.1%.

The coal in the Jiu Valley Basins, considered in the past as brown coal is nowadays considered according to the international classification in the class of pitcoal.

Forests
Petrila has a total of 18.883 ha of forests, almost 61.2 %. The exploitation programs are created by experts in the field and completed by plantation programs. Seven sawmills and two furniture factories exist in Petrila.

Demographics
Total Population: 33.123 inhabitants

Nationalities
There are no official recent data on this issue. However, the analysis run by Petrila City Hall shows that the majority of the population is Romanian. Other nationalities are Hungarians (about 6%) and Gypsy.

Source: DEEP