Romania–Serbia border
Two borders in one: a land line across the flat Banat, divided after the First World War, and then the Danube through the Iron Gates, one of Europe’s great river gorges. In 1972 Romania and Yugoslavia finished a joint dam there and split its power equally.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 30 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Romania →Serbia →
Dividing the Banat
The Banat is a historic region bounded by the Mureș, the Tisza and the Danube. Conquered by the Ottomans in the 16th century and taken by Austria in 1718, it drew settlers from the Rhineland, Lorraine and Luxembourg, and many Serbs had settled there earlier. For most of the period from 1779 to 1920 it was attached to Hungary.[1]
After the First World War the Allies divided it by the Treaty of Trianon of 4 June 1920. Romania took the large eastern part, Hungary kept the district of Szeged, and the rest, largely today’s Vojvodina in Serbia, went to Yugoslavia. The land border between Romania and Serbia runs across that divided plain.[1]
The Iron Gates
Further south the border follows the Danube through the Đerdap gorges, where the river cuts between the Carpathian and Balkan mountains. The name Iron Gate is used for the whole 145 km gorge system, and strictly for its last gorge, about 3 km long and 162 metres wide between towering cliffs. Near Sip a rock reef blocked nearly the whole river until a canal was cut in 1896.[2]
Romania and Yugoslavia built a dam and hydroelectric power station on the river as a joint project, completed in 1972. It gives each country equal amounts of power and quadrupled the annual tonnage of shipping through the gorge.[2]
Timeline
More borders
Sources
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.