Chief Romanian port on the Black Sea, capital of Constanta region, and second largest city of Romania; It has refineries, shipbuilding yards, and food factories.
It is the exporting center for the Romanian oil fields, to which it is connected by pipeline. It was founded as a Greek colony in the 7th century BC, and later named for the Roman emperor Constantine I (4th century AD). Ovid, the Roman poet, lived in exile here.