Balş is a town in Romania, Olt county.

There are 3 hypotheses about its name :

1. The locality was named after the Balşiţa brook.
2. The name come from the Turkish word "Baliş" (honey) as there is an large apiculture area.
3. A boyar named Balş settled here in V-VI century.

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.

Sorted by nationality :

* 20,552 Romanians

* 619 Gypsies

* 16 Hungarians

* 2 Germans

* 1 Ukrainean

* 1 Turk

* 1 Chinese

* 1 Bulgarian

* 2 other nationalities

Sorted by religion :

* 21,043 Ortodoxs

* 47 Adventists of 7th day (sp?)

* 36 Baptisti (sp?)

* 19 Penticostali (sp?)

* 8 Roman-catholics

* 5 Atheists

* 32 other religion

History

• 1450 - The estimate date when Bals was establish.
• 1564 - First mention of Bals in a document.

External Links

• [1] (in English and Romanian)