MoldovaEarly History
Figure 13. Historical Romanian-Speaking Regions in Southeastern
Europe
Moldova's Latin origins can be traced to the period of
Roman
occupation of nearby Dacia (in present-day Romania,
Bulgaria, and
Serbia), ca. A.D. 105-270, when a culture was formed from
the
intermingling of Roman colonists and the local population.
After
the Roman Empire and its influence waned and its troops
left the
region in A.D. 271, a number of groups passed through the
area,
often violently: Huns, Ostrogoths, and Antes (who were
Slavs).
The Bulgarian Empire, the Magyars, the Pechenegs, and the
Golden
Horde (Mongols) also held sway temporarily. In the
thirteenth
century, Hungary expanded into the area and established a
line of
fortifications in Moldova near the Siretul River (in
present-day
Romania) and beyond. The region came under Hungarian
suzerainty
until an independent Moldovan principality was established
by
Prince Bogdan in 1349. Originally called Bogdania, the
principality stretched from the Carpathian Mountains to
the
Nistru River and was later renamed Moldova, after the
Moldova
River in present-day Romania.
During the second half of the fifteenth century, all of
southeastern Europe came under increasing pressure from
the
Ottoman Empire, and despite significant military victories
by
Stephen the Great (Stefan cel Mare, 1457-1504), Moldova
succumbed
to Ottoman power in 1512 and was a tributary state of the
empire
for the next 300 years. In addition to paying tribute to
the
Ottoman Empire and later acceding to the selection of
local
rulers by Ottoman authorities, Moldova suffered repeated
invasions by Turks, Crimean Tatars, and Russians.
In 1792 the Treaty of Iasi forced the Ottoman Empire to
cede
all of its holdings in what is now Transnistria to the
Russian
Empire. An expanded Bessarabia was annexed by, and
incorporated
into, the Russian Empire following the Russo-Turkish War
of 1806-
12 according to the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest of
1812
(see
fig. 14). Moldovan territory west of the Prut River was
united
with Walachia. And in the same year, Alexandru Ioan Cuza
was
elected prince of Walachia and the part of Moldova that
lay west
of the Prut River, laying the foundations of modern
Romania.
These two regions were united in 1861.
Data as of June 1995
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