[citation needed] Similarly to most urban centers in Moldavia, Bacău emerged on a ford that allowed water passage.

[15] Archaeological finds, some surface or semi-buried dwellings from the second half of the 15th century, suggest that Hungarians started to settle in the region after 1345–1347 when the territory was under the control of the Kingdom of Hungary.

[18] Originally the town focused around the Roman Catholic community that settled near a regular local market frequented by the population of the region on the lower reaches of the river.

[8] The town was first mentioned in 1408 when Prince Alexander the Good of Moldavia (1400–1432) listed the customs points in the principality in his privilege for Polish merchants.

[24] Alexander the Good donated the wax collected as part of the tax payable by the town to the nearby Eastern Orthodox Bistrița Monastery.

[26][27] The letter also reveals that Hussite immigrants who had undergone persecutions in Bohemia, Moravia, or Hungary were settled in the town and granted privileges by Alexander the Good.

[29] In 1435 Stephen II of Moldavia (1433–1435, 1436–1447) requested the town's judges not to hinder the merchants of Brașov, an important center of the Transylvanian Saxons in their movement.

[35] The customs records of Brașov shows that few merchants from Bacău crossed the Carpathian Mountains into Transylvania after 1500, and their merchandise had no particularly high value which suggests that the town was declining in this period.

[37] According to Archbishop Marco Bandini's report of the canonical visitation of 1646, the șoltuz in Bacău was elected among Hungarians one year, and another, among Romanians.

[34] In 1670 Archbishop Petrus Parcevic, the apostolic vicar of Moldavia concluded an agreement with the head of the Franciscan Province of Transylvania on the return of the Bacău monastery to them in order to ensure the spiritual welfare of the local Hungarian community.

[38][40] Due to the frequent invasions by foreign armies and plundering by the Tatars in the 17th century, many of its Catholic inhabitants abandoned Bacău and took refuge in Transylvania.

[43] Bacău has a type of continental climate that falls short of permanent winter snow cover due days averaging above freezing.

Due to its mid-latitude location surrounded by a vast landmass, Bacău has a large temperature amplitude by European standards.

It replaced the local Provisional Committee (Romanian: Comitetul Provizori), which functioned from 1948 to 1950, based on the Law of the People's Councils, no.

It is served by George Enescu International Airport, located at 5 km (3.1 mi), which provides direct links with the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and with several cities in Europe.

The city is also located at the intersection of several national roads of secondary importance, and will be served in the future by the A7 motorway running from the border with Ukraine at Siret to Ploiești (junction with A3).

Around Christmas every year, a Festival of Moldavian Winter Traditions takes place, reuniting folk artists from all the surrounding regions.

The exhibition "Saloanele Moldovei" and the International Painting Camp at Tescani, near Bacău, reunite important plastic artists from Romania and from abroad.

In December 2015, the new headquarters of the Jewish community was opened at 2 Erou Costel Marius Hasan St.[51] Bacău is twinned with: Athletics Badminton Basketball Boxing Bridge Football Gymnastics Team Handball Judo Karate Fights Modelism Swimming Tennis