Bender, Moldova

Bender ([benˈder]; de facto official name Bendery (Russian: Бендеры, [bʲɪnˈdɛrɨ]); also known by other alternative names) is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Transnistria Republic (PMR) since 1992. It is located on the right (western) bank of the river Dniester in the historical region of Bessarabia. Together with its suburb Proteagailovca, the city forms a municipality, which is separate from Transnistria according to the Moldovan law. Bender is located in the buffer zone established at the end of the 1992 War of Transnistria.

While the Joint Control Commission has overriding powers in the city, Transnistria has de facto administrative control.

Name

First mentioned in 1408 as Тягянякяча (Tyagyanyakyacha) in a document in Old Slavonic (the term has Cuman origins), the town was known in the Middle Ages as Tighina in Moldavian sources and later as Bender in Ottoman sources. The fortress and the city were called Bender for the most part of the time they were a rayah of the Ottomans (1538–1812), and during most of the time they belonged to the Russian Empire (1828–1917). They were known as Tighina (Тигина, [tiˈɡina]) in the Principality of Moldavia, in the early part of the Russian Empire period (1812–1828), and during the time the city belonged to Romania (1918–1940; 1941–1944).