Transylvania and Bessarabia are situated on the edges of the land inhabited by Romanians, the first towards the dynamic, Catholic and Protestant West, the second towards the meditative, Slavic and Orthodox East. Over the centuries, the Romanians in Transylvania and Bessarabia were under foreign rule, but preserved their language, belief, traditions and national consciousness. At the beginning of the 20th century, Transylvanian Romanians constituted only 53% of the population (in 1910), and Bessarabian Romanians formed half the population of Bessarabia. Although separated by borders, Romanian Countries, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania kept permanent links and the inhabitants have not lost their hope in the national unity of the Romanian people.