Romania ( roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated spellings Roumania and Rumania; Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ) is a country located at the intersection of Central and Southeastern Europe, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south. At 238,400 square kilometres (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the eighth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with more than 19 million people. Its capital and biggest city is Bucharest, the 11th largest city in the EU. The United Principalities emerged when the territories of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. In 1866 Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was called to the throne as the Ruling Prince of the Romanian Principate and in 1881 he was finally crowned as King Carol I the first monarch of the Kingdom of Romania. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania.