Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of the Brăila county, in the close vecinity of Galaţi. Brăila currently has a population of 216,929.
A settlement at this location on the left bank of the Danube appears with the name Drinago in a circa 1350 Spanish Libro de conoscimiento ("Book of knowledge"). This may have been an erroneous transcription of Brillago. In Greek documents of roughly that time the city is referred to as Proilabum or Proilava.
The town was controlled by Ottoman Turks from medieval times until 1878; the Turks called it Ibrail or Ibraila. The Turkish settlement was attacked, plundered, and burned by the forces of Stefan cel Mare February 2, 1470, repressing the forces of Radu cel Frumos, who was allied with the Turks.
During the 18th century, the port became one of the three most important ports on the Danube in Muntenia, the other two being Turnu and Giurgiu. The city's greatest period of prosperity was in the early 20th century, when it was an important port for merchandise coming and going from Romania.
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