Danube Delta
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How it came to be
After 2,860 km, the Danube splits into three arms before reaching the Black Sea, forming the Danube Delta. About 83 per cent of the delta lies in Romania and the rest in Ukraine. The World Heritage property covers 312,440 hectares on the Romanian side and is home to over 300 bird species and 45 freshwater fish species.
In 1862 work began on straightening the Sulina arm, the shipping route to the sea, shortening it from 92 km to 64 km so that large vessels could pass. The delta is home to the Lipovans, descendants of Old Believers who fled religious persecution in Russia in the 18th century; their main centre is Vilkovo, on the Ukrainian side.
Part of the delta became a reserve in 1938, but after 1960 the communist regime drained large areas, and by 1991 farmland exceeded 100,000 hectares. That same year the delta was inscribed as a World Heritage site and designated a Ramsar wetland.
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