As ruler of the Romanian Principalities, he supported a political and diplomatic activity for the recognition of the union of Moldavia and Wallachia by the suzerain Ottoman Empire and achieved constitutional and administrative unity between Moldavia and Wallachia in 1862. Alexandru Ioan Cuza (born March 20, 1820, Huşi, Moldavia [now in Romania]—died May 15, 1873, Heidelberg, Germany) was the first prince of united Romania, architect of national rural reform and peasant emancipation.