Principality of Moldavia Moldova (Ţara Moldovei) (ro)
Vassal of the Ottoman Empire (1514-1859)
1346–1859 →   →   →
Flag Coat of arms
Moldavia under Stephen the Great, 1483
Capital	Baia, Siret 1343-1388 Suceava 1388-1564 Iaşi (Jassy) 1564-1859
Language(s)	Romanian (commonly used, later official), Church Slavonic (in early official use)
Government	Absolute monarchy
Princes of Moldavia (Voivodes, Hospodars)
- 1346-1353 (first)	Dragoş
- 1859-1862 (last)	Alexander John Cuza
History
- Foundation of the Moldavian mark	1346
- De Jure Union with Wallachia	1859
Currency	Taler

History of Moldova
This article is part of a series
Antiquity
Chernyakhov culture
Dacia, Free Dacians
Bastarnae
Early Middle Ages
Origin of the Romanians
Tivertsi
Brodnici
Golden Horde
Principality of Moldavia
Foundation
Stephen the Great
Early Modern Era
Phanariots
United Principalities
Bessarabia Governorate
Treaty of Bucharest
Moldavian Democratic Republic
Sfatul Ţării
Greater Romania
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
The Holocaust in Romanian-controlled territories
Moldavian ASSR
Moldovenism
Moldavian SSR
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
Soviet deportations
Republic of Moldova
Independence of Moldova
War of Transnistria
History of independent Moldova
Moldova Portal v t e

History of Romania
This article is part of a series
Prehistory
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
Hamangia culture
Bronze Age in Romania
Prehistory of Transylvania
Dacia
Dacian Wars
Roman Dacia
Thraco-Roman syncretism
Early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
History of Transylvania
Foundation of Wallachia
Foundation of Moldavia
Early Modern Times
Principality of Transylvania
Phanariotes
Danubian Principalities
National awakening
Transylvanian School
Organic Statute
1848 Moldavian Revolution
1848 Wallachian Revolution
United Principalities
ASTRA
War of Independence
Kingdom of Romania
World War I
Union with Transylvania
Union with Bessarabia
Greater Romania
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
World War II
Communist Romania
Soviet occupation
1989 Revolution
Romania since 1989
Topic
Timeline
Military history
Christianity
Ethnogenesis
By region
Banat
Bessarabia
Bukovina
Dobruja
Crişana
Maramureş
Moldavia
Muntenia
Oltenia
Transylvania
Wallachia
Commons
Centuries in Romania
Romania Portal v t e

Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova pronounced [molˈdova]) is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river. An initially independent and later autonomous state, it existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it united with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, the state included the regions of Bessarabia (with the Budjak), all of Bukovina and (under Stephen the Great) Pokuttya. The western part of Moldavia is now part of Romania and the eastern part belongs to the Republic of Moldova, while the northern and south-eastern parts are territories of Ukraine.

Name and etymology[link]

The original and short-lived reference to the region was Bogdania, after Bogdan I, the founding figure of the principality. The names Moldavia and Moldova are derived from the name of the Moldova River; however, the etymology is not known and there are several variants:^[1][2]

• a legend mentioned in Descriptio Moldaviae by Dimitrie Cantemir links it to an aurochs hunting trip of the Maramureş voivode Dragoş, and the latter's chase of a star-marked bull. Dragoş was accompanied by his female hound called Molda; when they reached shores of an unfamiliar river, Molda caught up with the animal and was killed by it. The dog's name would have been given to the river, and extended to the country.
• the old German Molde, meaning "open-pit mine"
• the Gothic Mulda (Gothic: 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰, Runic: ᛗᚢᛚᛞᚨ) meaning "dust", "dirt" (cognate with the English mould), referring to the river.
• a Slavic etymology (-ova is a quite common Slavic suffix), marking the end of one Slavic genitive form, denoting ownership, chiefly of feminine nouns (i.e.: "that of Molda").
• a landowner by the name of Alexa Moldaowicz is mentioned in a 1334 document, as a local boyar in service to Yuriy II of Halych; this attests to the use of the name prior to the foundation of the Moldavian state, and could even be the source for the region's name.^{[citation needed]}

In several early references,^[3] "Moldavia" is rendered under the composite form Moldo-Wallachia (in the same way Wallachia may appear as Hungro-Wallachia). Ottoman Turkish references to Moldavia included Boğdan Iflak (meaning "Bogdan's Wallachia") and Boğdan (and occasionally Kara-Boğdan - "Black Bogdania"). See also: Name in other languages.

The name of the region in other languages: French: Moldavie, German: Moldau, Hungarian: Moldva, Russian: Молдавия, Moldaviya, Turkish: Boğdan Prensliği

History[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011)

Early Middle Ages[link]

In the early 13th century A.D., the Brodniks, a possible Slavic–Vlach vassal state of Halych, were present, alongside the Vlachs, in much of the region's territory (towards 1216, the Brodniks are mentioned as in service of Suzdal). On the border between Halych and the Brodniks, in the 11th century, a Viking by the name of Rodfos was killed in the area by Vlachs who supposedly betrayed him.[1] In 1164, the future Byzantine Emperor Andronicus I Comnenus, was taken prisoner by Vlach shepherds around the same region.

High Middle Ages[link]

Neamţ Citadel

Outline of an image on stove remains excavated at the Piatra Neamţ Citadel, showing the Wisent/Aurochs coat of arms of Moldavia.

Căpriana Monastery (1429)

Later in the 13th century, King Charles I of Hungary attempted to expand his realm and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church eastwards after the fall of Cuman rule, and ordered a campaign under the command of Phynta de Mende (1324). In 1342 and 1345, the Hungarians were victorious in a battle against Tatars; the conflict was resolved by the death of Jani Beg, in 1357. The Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians (under the name Wallachians) as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I, against the Margraviate of Brandenburg.^[4]

In 1353, Dragoş, mentioned as a Vlach Knyaz in Maramureş, was sent by Louis I to establish a line of defense against the Golden Horde forces on the Siret River. This expedition resulted in a polity vassal to Hungary, centered around Baia (Târgul Moldovei or Moldvabánya).

Bogdan of Cuhea, another Vlach voivode from Maramureş who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathians in 1359, took control of Moldavia, and succeeded in removing Moldavia from Hungarian control. His realm extended north to the Cheremosh River, while the southern part of Moldavia was still occupied by the Tatars.

After first residing in Baia, Bogdan moved Moldavia's seat to Siret (it was to remain there until Petru Muşat moved it to Suceava; it was finally moved to Iaşi under Alexandru Lăpuşneanu - in 1565). The area around Suceava, roughly correspondent to future Bukovina, formed one of the two administrative divisions of the new realm, under the name Ţara de Sus (the "Upper Land"), whereas the rest, on both sides of the Prut River, formed Ţara de Jos (the "Lower Land").

Disfavored by the brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary (the latter was still the country's overlord), Bogdan's successor Laţcu accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without consequences. Despite remaining officially Eastern Orthodox and culturally connected with the Byzantine Empire after 1382, princes of the Muşatin family entered a conflict with the Constantinople Patriarchy over control of appointments to the newly founded Moldavian Metropolitan seat; Patriarch Antony IV even cast an anathema over Moldavia after Roman I expelled his appointee back to Byzantium. The crisis was finally settled in favor of the Moldavian princes under Alexandru cel Bun. Nevertheless, religious policy remained complex: while conversions to faiths other than Orthodox were discouraged (and forbidden for princes), Moldavia included sizable Roman Catholic communities (Germans and Hungarians), as well as non-Chalcedonic Armenians; after 1460, the country welcomed Hussite refugees (founders of Ciuburciu and, probably, Huşi).

The principality of Moldavia covered the entire geographic region of Moldavia. In various periods, various other territories were politically connected with the Moldavian principality. This is the case of the province of Pokuttya, the fiefdoms of Cetatea de Baltă and Ciceu (both in Transylvania) or, at a later date, the territories between the Dniester and the Bug Rivers.

Petru I profited from the end of the Hungarian-Polish union, and moved the country closer to the Jagiellon realm, becoming a vassal of Władysław II on September 26, 1387. This gesture was to have unexpected consequences: Petru supplied the Polish ruler with funds needed in the war against the Teutonic Knights, and was granted control over Pokuttya until the debt was to be repaid; as this is not recorded to have been carried out, the region became disputed by the two states, until it was lost by Moldavia in the Battle of Obertyn (1531). Prince Petru also expanded his rule southwards to the Danube Delta, and established a frontier with Wallachia^{[citation needed]}; his brother Roman I conquered the Hungarian-ruled Cetatea Albă in 1392, giving Moldavia an outlet to the Black Sea, before being toppled from the throne for supporting Theodor Koriatovich in his conflict with Vytautas the Great of Lithuania. Under Stephen I, growing Polish influence was challenged by Sigismund of Hungary, whose expedition was defeated at Ghindăoani in 1385; however, Stephen disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and the throne was soon occupied by Yury Koriatovich^{[citation needed]} (Vytautas' favorite).

Alexandru cel Bun, although brought to the throne in 1400 by the Hungarians (with assistance from Mircea I of Wallachia), shifted his allegiances towards Poland (notably engaging Moldavian forces on the Polish side in the Battle of Grunwald and the Siege of Marienburg), and placed his own choice of rulers in Wallachia. His reign was one of the most successful in Moldavia's history, but also saw the very first confrontation with the Ottoman Turks at Cetatea Albă in 1420, and later even a conflict with the Poles. A deep crisis was to follow Alexandru's long reign, with his successors battling each other in a succession of wars that divided the country until the murder of Bogdan II and the ascension of Petru Aron in 1451. Nevertheless, Moldavia was subject to further Hungarian interventions after that moment, as Matthias Corvinus deposed Aron and backed Alexăndrel to the throne in Suceava. Petru Aron's rule also signified the beginning of Moldavia's Ottoman Empire allegiance, as the ruler agreed to pay tribute to Sultan Mehmed II.

Late Middle Ages[link]

Suceava Seat Fortress

Under Stephen the Great, who took the throne and subsequently came to an agreement with Kazimierz IV of Poland in 1457, the state reached its most glorious period. Stephen blocked Hungarian interventions in the Battle of Baia, invaded Wallachia in 1471, and dealt with Ottoman reprisals in a major victory (the 1475 Battle of Vaslui); after feeling threatened by Polish ambitions, he also attacked Galicia and resisted Polish reprisals in the Battle of the Cosmin Forest (1497). However, he had to surrender Chilia (Kiliya) and Cetatea Albă (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi), the two main fortresses in the Bujak, to the Ottomans in 1484, and in 1498 he had to accept Ottoman suzereignty, when he was forced to agree to continue paying tribute to Sultan Bayezid II. Following the taking of Hotin (Khotyn) and Pokuttya, Stephen's rule also brought a brief extension of Moldavian rule into Transylvania: Cetatea de Baltă and Ciceu became his fiefs in 1489.

Early Modern Era and Renaissance[link]

Under Bogdan III cel Orb, Ottoman overlordship was confirmed in the shape that would rapidly evolve into control over Moldavia's affairs. Petru Rareş, who reigned in the 1530s and 1540s, clashed with the Habsburg Monarchy over his ambitions in Transylvania (losing possessions in the region to George Martinuzzi), was defeated in Pokuttya by Poland, and failed in his attempt to extricate Moldavia from Ottoman rule – the country lost Bender to the Ottomans, who included it in their Silistra Eyalet.

Hotin Fortress on the Dniester River, bordering the northern frontier

A period of profound crisis followed. Moldavia stopped issuing its own coinage circa 1520, under Prince Ştefăniţă, when it was confronted with rapid depletion of funds and rising demands from the Porte. Such problems became endemic when the country, brought into the Great Turkish War, suffered the impact of the Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire; at one point, during the 1650s and 1660s, princes began relying on counterfeit coinage (usually copies of Swedish riksdalers, as was that issued by Eustratie Dabija). The economic decline was accompanied by a failure to maintain state structures: the feudal-based Moldavian military forces were no longer convoked, and the few troops maintained by the rulers remained professional mercenaries such as the seimeni.

However, Moldavia and the similarly affected Wallachia remained both important sources of income for the Ottoman Empire and relatively prosperous agricultural economies (especially as suppliers of grain and cattle – the latter was especially relevant in Moldavia, which remained an under-populated country of pastures). In time, much of the resources were tied to the Ottoman economy, either through monopolies on trade which were only lifted in 1829, after the Treaty of Adrianople (which did not affect all domains directly), or through the raise in direct taxes - the one demanded by the Ottomans from the princes, as well as the ones demanded by the princes from the country's population. Taxes were directly proportional with Ottoman requests, but also with the growing importance of Ottoman appointment and sanctioning of princes in front of election by the boyars and the boyar Council – Sfatul boieresc (drawing in a competition among pretenders, which also implied the intervention of creditors as suppliers of bribes). The fiscal system soon included taxes such as the văcărit (a tax on head of cattle), first introduced by Iancu Sasul in the 1580s.

Moldavia (in orange) towards the end of the 16th century

The economic opportunities offered brought about a significant influx of Greek and Levantine financiers and officials, who entered a stiff competition with the high boyars over appointments to the Court. As the manor system suffered the blows of economic crises, and in the absence of salarisation (which implied that persons in office could decide their own income), obtaining princely appointment became the major focus of a boyar's career. Such changes also implied the decline of free peasantry and the rise of serfdom, as well as the rapid fall in the importance of low boyars (a traditional institution, the latter soon became marginal, and, in more successful instances, added to the population of towns); however, they also implied a rapid transition towards a monetary economy, based on exchanges in foreign currency. Serfdom was doubled by the much less numerous slave population, composed of migrant Roma and captured Nogais.

Trei Ierarhi Monastery, housed The Vasilian College, an institution of higher learning founded in 1640

The conflict between princes and boyars was to become exceptionally violent – the latter group, who frequently appealed to the Ottoman court in order to have princes comply with its demands, was persecuted by rulers such as Alexandru Lăpuşneanu and Ioan Vodă cel Cumplit. Ioan Vodă's revolt against the Ottomans ended in his execution (1574). The country descended into political chaos, with frequent Ottoman and Tatar incursions and pillages. The claims of Muşatins to the crown and the traditional system of succession were ended by scores of illegitimate reigns; one of the usurpers, Ioan Iacob Heraclid, was a Protestant Greek who encouraged the Renaissance and attempted to introduce Lutheranism to Moldavia.

In 1595, the rise of the Movileşti boyars to the throne with Ieremia Movilă coincided with the start of frequent anti-Ottoman and anti-Habsburg military expeditions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into Moldavian territory (see Moldavian Magnate Wars), and rivalries between pretenders to the Moldavian throne encouraged by the three competing powers. The Wallachian prince Michael the Brave deposed Prince Ieremia in 1600, and managed to become the very first monarch to unite Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania under his rule; the episode ended in Polish conquests of lands down to Bucharest, soon ended by the outbreak of the Polish-Swedish War and the reestablishment of Ottoman rule. Polish incursions were dealt a blow by the Ottomans during the 1620 Battle of Cecora, which also saw an end to the reign of Gaspar Graziani.

The following period of relative peace saw the more prosperous and prestigious rule of Vasile Lupu, who took the throne as a boyar appointee in 1637, and began battling his rival Gheorghe Ştefan, as well as the Wallachian prince Matei Basarab – however, his invasion of Wallachia with the backing of Cossack Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky ended in disaster at the Battle of Finta (1653). A few years later, Moldavia was occupied for two short intervals by the anti-Ottoman Wallachian prince Constantin Şerban, who clashed with the first ruler of the Ghica family, Gheorghe Ghica. In the early 1680s, Moldavian troops under George Ducas intervened in Right-bank Ukraine and assisted Mehmed IV in the Battle of Vienna, only to suffer the effects of the Great Turkish War.

Phanariots (1711-1822)[link]

The Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1786, Italian map by G. Pittori, since the geographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni.

Siege and capture of Jassy (Iaşi) in 1788 by the Russian army

During the late 17th century, Moldavia became the target of the Russian Empire's southwards expansion, inaugurated by Peter the Great during the Russo-Turkish War of 1710-1711; Prince Dimitrie Cantemir's siding with Peter and open anti-Ottoman rebellion, ended in defeat at Stănileşti, provoked Sultan Ahmed III's reaction, and the official discarding of recognition of local choices for princes, imposing instead a system which relied solely on Ottoman approval – the Phanariote epoch, inaugurated by the reign of Nicholas Mavrocordatos. Short and frequently ended through violence, Phanariote rules were usually marked by political corruption, intrigue, and high taxation, as well as by sporadic incursions of Habsburg and Russian armies deep into Moldavian territory; nonetheless, they also saw attempts at legislative and administrative modernization inspired by The Enlightenment (such as Constantine Mavrocordatos' decision to salirize public offices, to the outrage of boyars, and the abolition of serfdom in 1749, as well as Scarlat Callimachi's Code), and signified a decrease in Ottoman demands after the threat of Russian annexation became real and the prospects of a better life led to waves of peasant emigration to neighboring lands. The effects of Ottoman control were also made less notable after the 1774 Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca allowed Russia to intervene in favour of Ottoman subjects of the Eastern Orthodox faith - leading to campaigns of petitioning by the Moldavian boyars against princely policies.

Principality of Moldavia, 1793-1812, highlighted in orange

In 1712, Hotin was taken over by the Ottomans, and became part of a defensive system that Moldavian princes were required to maintain, as well as an area for Islamic colonization (the Laz community). Moldavia also lost Bukovina, Suceava included, to the Habsburgs in 1772, which meant both an important territorial loss and a major blow to the cattle trade (as the region stood on the trade route to Central Europe). The 1792 Treaty of Jassy forced the Ottoman Empire to cede all of its holdings in what is now Transnistria to Russia, which made Russian presence much more notable, given that the Empire acquired a common border with Moldavia. The first effect of this was the cession of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire, in 1812 (through the Treaty of Bucharest).

Organic Statute, 1848 revolution, and union with Wallachia[link]

The Princely Palace of Moldavia

Phanariote rules were officially ended after the 1821 occupation of the country by Alexander Ypsilantis' Filiki Eteria during the Greek War of Independence; the subsequent Ottoman retaliation brought the rule of Ioan Sturdza, considered as the first one of a new system – especially since, in 1826, the Ottomans and Russia agreed to allow for the election by locals of rulers over the two Danubian Principalities, and convened on their mandating for seven-year terms. In practice, a new fundament to reigns in Moldavia was created by the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, and a period of Russian domination over the two countries which ended only in 1856: begun as a military occupation under the command of Pavel Kiselyov, Russian domination gave Wallachia and Moldavia, which were not removed from nominal Ottoman control, the modernizing Organic Statute (the first document resembling a constitution, as well as the first one to regard both principalities). After 1829, the country also became an important destination for immigration of Ashkenazi Jews from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and areas of Russia (see History of the Jews in Romania and Sudiţi).

Obelisk of Lions (1834), dedicated to the Organic Statute

The first Moldavian rule established under the Statute, that of Mihail Sturdza, was nonetheless ambivalent: eager to reduce abuse of office. Sturdza introduced reforms (the abolition of slavery, secularization, economic rebuilding), but he was widely seen as enforcing his own power over that of the newly instituted consultative Assembly. A supporter of the union of his country with Wallachia and of Romanian Romantic nationalism, he obtained the establishment of a customs union between the two countries (1847) and showed support for radical projects favored by low boyars; nevertheless, he clamped down with noted violence the Moldavian revolutionary attempt in the last days of March 1848. Grigore Alexandru Ghica allowed the exiled revolutionaries to return to Moldavia cca. 1853, which led to the creation of Partida Naţională (the "National Party"), a trans-boundary group of radical union supporters which campaigned for a single state under a foreign dynasty.

Moldavia (in orange) after 1856

Russian domination ended abruptly after the Crimean War, when the Treaty of Paris passed the two principalities under the tutelage of Great European Powers (together with Russia and the Ottoman overlord, power-sharing included the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Austrian Empire, the French Empire, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and Prussia). Due to Austrian and Ottoman opposition and British reserves, the union program as demanded by radical campaigners was debated intensely. In September 1857, given that Caimacam Nicolae Vogoride had perpetrated fraud in elections in Moldavia in July,^{[citation needed]} the Powers allowed the two states to convene Ad-hoc divans, which were to decide a new constitutional framework; the result showed overwhelming support for the union, as the creation of a liberal and neutral state. After further meetings among leaders of tutor states, an agreement was reached (the Paris Convention), whereby a limited union was to be enforced – separate governments and thrones, with only two bodies (a Court of Cassation and a Central Commission residing in Focşani); it also stipulated that an end to all privilege was to be passed into law, and awarded back to Moldavia the areas around Bolhrad, Cahul, and Izmail.

However, the Convention failed to note whether the two thrones could not be occupied by the same person, allowing Partida Naţională to introduce the candidacy of Alexander John Cuza in both countries. On January 17 (January 5, 1859 Old Style), in Iaşi, he was elected prince of Moldavia by the respective electoral body. After street pressure over the much more conservative body in Bucharest, Cuza was elected in Wallachia as well (February 5/January 24). Exactly three years later, after diplomatic missions that helped remove opposition to the action, the formal union created the United Principalities (the basis of modern Romania) and instituted Cuza as Domnitor (all legal matters were clarified after the replacement of the prince with Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in April 1866, and the creation of an independent Kingdom of Romania in 1881) - this officially ending the existence of the Principality of Moldavia.

Slavery[link]

Slavery (Romanian: robie) was part of the social order from before the founding of the Principality of Moldavia, until it was abolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of Roma (Gypsy) ethnicity. There were also slaves of Tatar ethnicity, probably prisoners captured from the wars with the Nogai and Crimean Tatars. The institution of slavery was first attested in a 1470 Moldavian document, through which Prince Stephan the Great frees Oană, a Tatar slave who had fled to Jagiellon Poland.^[5]

The exact origins of slavery are not known, slavery being a common practice in Europe at the time. In the Byzantine Empire, they were slaves of the state and it seems the situation was the same in Bulgaria and Serbia until their social organization was changed by the Ottoman conquest. Historian Nicolae Iorga associated the Roma people's arrival with the 1241 Mongol invasion of Europe and considered their slavery as a vestige of that era, the Romanians taking the Roma from the Mongols as slaves and preserving their status. Other historians consider that they were enslaved while captured during the battles with the Tatars. The practice of enslaving prisoners may also have been taken from the Mongols. The ethnic identity of the "Tatar slaves" is unknown, they could have been captured Tatars of the Golden Horde, Cumans, or the slaves of Tatars and Cumans.^[5] While it is possible that some Romani people were slaves or auxiliary troops of the Mongols or Tatars, the bulk of them came from south of the Danube, making slavery a widespread practice. The Tatar slaves, smaller in numbers, were eventually merged into the Roma population.^[6]

Traditionally, Roma slaves were divided into three categories. The smallest was owned by the hospodars, and went by the Romanian-language name of ţigani domneşti ("Gypsies belonging to the lord"). The two other categories comprised ţigani mănăstireşti ("Gypsies belonging to the monasteries"), who were the property of Romanian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox monasteries, and ţigani boiereşti ("Gypsies belonging to the boyars"), who were enslaved by the category of landowners.^[7][8]

The abolition of slavery was carried out following a campaign by young revolutionaries who embraced the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment. In 1844, Moldavian Prince Mihail Sturdza proposed a law on the freeing of slaves owned by the church and state. By the 1850s, the movement gained support from almost the whole of Romanian society, and, in December 1855, following a proposal by Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica, a bill drafted by Mihail Kogălniceanu and Petre Mavrogheni was adopted by the Divan; the law emancipated all slaves to the status of taxpayers (citizens).^[5][7]

Support for the abolitionists was reflected in Romanian literature of the mid-19h century. The issue of the Roma slavery became a theme in the literary works of various liberal and Romantic intellectuals, many of whom were active in the abolitionist camp. The Romanian abolitionist movement was also influenced by the much larger movement against Black slavery in the United States through press reports and through a translation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Translated by Theodor Codrescu and first published in Iaşi in 1853, under the name Coliba lui Moşu Toma sau Viaţa negrilor în sudul Statelor Unite din America (which translates back as "Uncle Toma's Cabin or the Life of Blacks in the Southern United States of America"), it was the first American novel to be published in Romanian, and it included a foreword study on slavery by Mihail Kogălniceanu.^[5]

Geography[link]

Geographically, Moldavia is limited by the Carpathian Mountains to the West, the Cheremosh River to the North, the Dniester River to the East and the Danube and Black Sea to the South. The Prut River flows approximately through its middle from north to south.

Of late 15th century Moldavia, with an area of approximately 97,000 km² (37,000 sq mi), the biggest part is located in Romania (47.5%), followed by the Republic of Moldova (30.5%) and Ukraine (22%). This represents 88% of the Republic of Moldova's surface, 19.5% of Romania's surface, and 3.5% of Ukraine's surface.

The region is mostly hilly, with a range of mountains in the west, and plain areas in the southeast. Moldavia's highest altitude is Ineu peak (2,279m), which is also the westernmost point of the region.

Population[link]

Historical population[link]

Contemporary historians estimate the populatian of the Moldavian Principality in the 15th century, at between 250,000 - 600,000 people,^[9][10] but an extensive catagraphy was first conducted in 1769-1774.^[11] In 1848, the northwestern part, annexed in 1775 by the Habsburg Empire, Bukovina, had a population of 377,571; in 1856, the eastern half of Moldavia, Bessarabia, annexed in 1812 by the Russian Empire, had a population of 990,274, while the population of Moldavia proper (the western half), in 1859, was 1,463,927.^[12]

Current population[link]

According to the latest Romanian Census (2002),^[13] Moldovan Census (2004)^[14] and Ukrainian Census (2001)^[15] data, the region has a total population of approximately 9,700,000 inhabitants, 48% of them living in Romania, 36% in Moldova and 16% in Ukraine, distributed among the ethnic groups as follows:

• In Romanian part^[16] - Romanians¹ (98%), Roma (1.3%), others (0.7%);
• In Moldovan part - Moldovans¹ (75.8%), Ukrainians (8.3%), Russians (5.9%), Gagauzians (4.3%), Romanians¹ (2.1%), Bulgarians (1.9%), others (1.7%);
• In Ukrainian parts:
  • Chernivtsi Oblast - Ukrainians (75%), Romanians¹ (12.5%), Moldovans¹ (7.3%), Russians (4.1%), others (1.1%);
  • Budjak (part of Odessa Oblast) - Ukrainians (40.1%), Bulgarians (20.9%), Russians (20.1%), Moldovans¹ (12.6%), Gagauzians (4%), others² (2.3%).

¹There is an ongoing dispute over whether Romanians and Moldovans are the same ethnic group, namely whether Moldovans' self-identification constitutes an ethnic group distinct and apart from Romanians or a subset. At the Moldovan and Ukrainian censa, citizens could declare only one nationality. Consequently, one could not declare oneself both Moldovan and Romanian.
²Includes people who declared themselves as Romanians.

Cities[link]

The largest cities (as per last censuses) in the Moldavia region are:

• Romania:
  • Iaşi (Jassy) (320,888)
  • Galaţi (298,861)
  • Bacău (175,500)
  • Botoşani (115,070)
  • Suceava (105,865)
  • Piatra Neamţ (104,914)
  • Focşani (101,854)
• Moldova:
  • Chişinău (589,446)
  • Bălţi (122,669)
  • Tighina (Bender) (97,027)
• Ukraine:
  • Chernivtsi (Cernăuţi) (236,700)
  • Izmail (Ismail) (84,800)

Flags and historical coats of arms[link]

• 

  Moldavian 15th century battle flag

• 

  Coat of arms of the Prince of Moldavia, in the Wijsbergen arms book

• 

  Coat of arms of the principality of Moldavia, at the Cetăţuia Monastery in Iaşi

• 

  Coat of arms of the Prince of Moldavia, on the Suceava bell

See also[link]

• Bessarabia
• Bukovina
• Budjak
• Hertza region
• History of Moldova
• History of Romania
• List of rulers of Moldavia
• Moldavian military forces
• Painted churches of northern Moldavia

References[link]

• Gheorghe I. Brătianu, Sfatul domnesc şi Adunarea Stărilor în Principatele Române, Bucharest, 1995
• Vlad Georgescu, Istoria ideilor politice româneşti (1369-1878), Munich, 1987
• Ştefan Ştefănescu, Istoria medie a României, Bucharest, 1991

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Moldavia

• Dimitrie Cantemir-Descrierea Moldovei
• The Princely Court in Bacău - images, layouts (at the Romanian Group for an Alternative History Website)
• Original Documents concerning both Moldavia and other Romania Principalities during the Middle Ages (at the Romanian Group for an Alternative History Website)
• Pilgrimage and Cultural Heritage Tourism in Moldavia
• Painted Churches in Bukovina
• Medieval Coins of Moldavia and Wallachia (Romanian) (English)

v t e Historical regions in Romania Banat (1918–)a Dobruja (Northern Dobruja (1878–) Southern Dobruja (1913–40) Moldavia (1866–) Bessarabia (1918–40; 1941–44)b Bukovinac Hertza (1866–1940; 1941–44) Transylvania (1918–)ad Crişanae Maramureş Wallachia (1866-) Muntenia Oltenia) aDe jure since 1920 bCahul, Ismail and Bolgrad in Romania, 1866–78 cSouthern Bukovina in Romania 1918–; Northern Bukovina, 1918–40; 1941–44 dNorthern Transylvania in Hungary, 1940–44. eOnly the eastern part.

v t e Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire   Eyalets (1363–1864) Africa Algiers Egypt Habesh Tripolitania Tunis Anatolia Adana Aidin Anatolia Ankara Archipelago Diyarbekir Dulkadir Erzurum Hüdavendigâr Karaman Karasi Kars Kastamonu Rum Trebizond Van Asia Aleppo Baghdad Basra Childir Cyprus Damascus Lahsa Mosul Rakka Sharazor Sidon Tripoli Yemen Europe Adrianople Bosnia Budin Crete Egir Herzegovina Kanije Kefe Monastir Morea Niš Yanina Podolia Rumelia Salonica Silistra Temeşvar Uyvar Varat Widdin Zigetvar   Vilayets (1864–1922) Anatolia Adana Aidin Ankara Archipelago Bitlis Diyâr-ı Bekr Erzurum Hüdavendigâr Istanbul Kastamonu Konya Mamuret-ul-Aziz Sivas Trebizond Van Europe Adrianople Bosnia Crete Danube Janina Kosovo Monastir Salonica Scutari Elsewhere Aleppo Baghdad Basra Beirut Hejaz Mosul Syria Tripolitania Yemen   Vassals and autonomies Cossack Hetmanate Cretan State Crimean Khanate Khedivate of Egypt Sharifate of Mecca Principality of Moldavia Republic of Ragusa Eastern Rumelia Principality of Samos Serbian Despotate Duchy of Syrmia Principality of Transylvania Principality of Wallachia See also the list of short-lived Ottoman provinces

Olia Tira
Olia Tira in Oslo 2010
Background information
Born	(1988-08-01) 1 August 1988 (age 23)
Origin	Potsdam, East Germany
Genres	Pop, Soul
Occupations	Singer
Years active	2002–present
Associated acts	SunStroke Project

Olia Tira (born 1 August 1988 in Potsdam, East Germany) is a singer based in Moldova.

Early life[link]

Tira was born in 1988 into a Soviet military family^[1] in Potsdam, East Germany.^[2] She spent a few years there and moved to Chişinău. She first appeared in festivals and concerts when she was 14 years old.^[3]

Tira attended school in Cahul and is currently a student in the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Chişinău.^[2]

Tira's first album, Your Place or Mine?, was released in December 2006 by Nordika Multimedia. The songs were all written by Ruslan Taranu.^[1][3]

Eurovision Song Contest[link]

After participating in the 2006 and 2007 Moldovan national finals^[3] and finishing fourth in the 2009 Moldovan national final with Unicul Meu,^[4] she was selected to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, along with SunStroke Project.^[4][5] They finished 22nd place in the Eurovision song contest final.

References[link]

v t e Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest   Participation 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012   Artists 2000s Zdob şi Zdub Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R Natalia Barbu Geta Burlacu Nelly Ciobanu 2010s SunStroke Project and Olia Tira Zdob şi Zdub Pasha Parfeny   Songs 2000s "Bunika Bate Toba" "Loca" "Fight" "A Century of Love" "Hora din Moldova" 2010s "Run Away" "So Lucky" "Lăutar" (Note: Entries scored out are when Moldova did not compete)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Olia Tira

This article related to the Republic of Moldova is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2006)

This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience. Please help relocate any relevant information, and remove excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia inclusion policy. (May 2012)

Front 242
Background information
Origin	Belgium
Genres	EBM, Industrial, Techno
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Another Side, Red Rhino Europe, Animalized, Wax Trax!, Epic, XIII Bis Records, Alfa Matrix
Members
Jean-Luc De Meyer Daniel Bressanutti Patrick Codenys Richard Jonckheere Tim Kroker
Past members
Dirk Bergen Jean-Marc Pauly Pierre Pauly Kristin Kowalski Eran Westwood John Dubs Jean-Marc Lederman

Front 242 is a Belgian electronic music group that came into prominence during the 1980s. They are known for being a pioneer of electronic body music, and as an influence on the electronic and industrial music genres.^[1]

History[link]

Formation[link]

When industrial music developed in England in the mid-1970s with Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, these groups used electronic instruments, percussion with found objects, and looped samples of "found" soundbites, elements later taken up by Front 242. These techniques can be seen as an extension of the use of electronic sources of sound as musical instruments and percussion with found objects by composer Edgard Varèse.^{[citation needed]}

Front 242 was created in 1981 in Aarschot, near Brussels, Belgium, by Daniel Bressanutti and Dirk Bergen, who wanted to create music and graphic design using emerging electronic tools. The first single, "Principles", was released in 1981.^[2] The front part of the name comes from the idea of an organized popular uprising. Patrick Codenys and Jean-Luc De Meyer had separately formed a group called Under Viewer at around the same time, and the two duos joined together in 1982. Bressanutti, Codenys and De Meyer took turns on vocals at first, until they settled on De Meyer as the lead vocalist (early recordings with Bressanutti on vocals were subsequently released in 2004). De Meyer came to write most of the lyrics and Valerie Jane Steele also wrote several tracks including "Don't Crash". They decided not to use the regular waveform settings on their synthesizers, arguing that creating the waveform for each note was part of the creative process.^{[citation needed]}

Their next single, "U-Men", was released in 1982,^[2] followed by the band's first album Geography that same year.^[2] In 1983, Dirk Bergen left the band to pursue graphic design, and Richard Jonckheere, referred to as Richard 23, joined as vocalist.^[2]

Rising popularity[link]

Front 242 became a popular musical group in Belgium. Their next album, No Comment, released in 1984,^[2] was the first to introduce the term electronic body music in association with their sound. Front 242 signed with the Wax Trax! label in 1984, and started their first tour in the United States with Ministry. This tour led to the creation of Revolting Cocks by Richard 23, Luc Van Acker, Alain Jourgensen of Ministry and others.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987, Front 242 signed with Wax Trax! Records in the U.S. and Red Rhino in Europe, and released Backcatalogue and Official Version.^[2]

In 1988, Front by Front was released, and in December of that same year, "Headhunter" (with a video by Anton Corbijn),^[2] became the band's first club hit, reaching #13 on the US Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs chart.^[3]

1990s[link]

Tyranny (For You), released in 1991, became the band's highest charting album, reaching #95 on the Billboard 200.^[4] Tyranny (For You) was the first album they released under contract with a major corporate label, Sony/Epic,^[2] after the widespread popularity of Front by Front. Sony/Epic also acquired the rights to the band's back catalog from Wax Trax! and issued re-released versions of the albums with new cover art and bonus tracks taken from singles and EPs.^[2]

A broader public was exposed to Front 242's music in 1992 in the film Single White Female, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. In the film, obsessed roommate Leigh ties Fonda to a chair but leaves her with the television remote control. In order to attract attention, Fonda tunes in to a music video channel and turns up the volume. The video playing at the time is Front 242's "Rhythm Of Time",^[5] from the album Tyranny (For You). Also in 1992, the television commercials for the film K2 were set to the Front 242 song "Moldavia", from the same album.

In 1992, Bressanutti returned to combining graphic arts with music, taking his lithographs on tour to three U.S. galleries. Bressanutti also composed a solo half-hour atmospheric recording called Art and Strategy (or The Art Corporation) to play during viewings of the lithographs, and released it in a limited edition of 1,000 CDs.

Front 242's style shifted abruptly with each of their next two albums, released in rapid succession in 1993 on Epic's sub-label RRE (originally planned as a double-CD): 06:21:03:11 UP EVIL and 05:22:09:12 OFF (the numbers correspond to letters, spelling "FUCK UP EVIL" and "EVIL OFF"). The band describes the two albums as "based on the duality of good and evil."^[2] However, strains were emerging, with the band members apparently having different artistic views. Despite these tensions, they performed on the main stage of the 1993 Lollapalooza tour.^[6]

Neither of these albums had significant input from Richard 23, and 05:22:09:12 OFF only included their lead vocalist, Jean-Luc De Meyer, on a remixed track originally from Up Evil. On the other hand, a variety of new contributors were listed as members of Front 242 on these albums: Jean-Marc Pauly and Pierre Pauly (of the Belgian electronic group Parade Ground) on Up Evil, and 99 Kowalski and Eran Westwood on Off.^[7]

99 Kowalski is the stage name of Kristin Kowalski, making a tradition out of Richard 23's idea of number-as-name. Kowalski and Westwood were originally members of a New York City band called Spill who Bressanutti and Codenys had brought to Belgium to produce their debut album. After the recording sessions fell apart, they contributed to Front 242 on the Off release.

After the release of 06:21:03:11 Up Evil and 05:22:09:12 Off, there was no new material from Front 242 under any lineup. Instead, the band released a stream of live recordings and remixes. However, this period also saw a proliferation of side projects, an inordinate number of which involved De Meyer.

Earlier, Richard 23 played in the Revolting Cocks, and De Meyer had a side project doing vocals for Bigod 20 for their single, "The Bog" in 1990. In 1995, De Meyer met Marc Heal of Cubanate at a Front Line Assembly concert, and the two of them collaborated along with Ged Denton and Jonathan Sharp, to record as Cyber-Tec Project for the new (and short-lived) Cyber-Tec record label.^[8]

After the departure of Sharp and the demise of the Cyber-Tec label, the remaining group continued working under the name C-Tec. De Meyer also took over as vocalist for Birmingham 6 for their 1996 album Error of Judgment. 1996 also saw the debut album Elemental from Cobalt 60, which De Meyer formed with Dominique Lallement and Frederic Sebastien of Reims, France, members of Kriegbereit. This was the start of a number of releases from Cobalt 60, which also did the soundtrack for the video game Wing Commander V.^[5] Meanwhile, Richard 23 recorded with the groups Holy Gang, and later, LaTchak.

The four core members of Front 242 regrouped in 1998 to compose radically reworked versions of many of their songs, which they then performed on their first tour in five years, appropriately called the Re:Boot tour. They acknowledged the influence of The Prodigy and their Fat of the Land album in crafting the new, more techno style of Re:Boot.

The new tour material was the subject of Front 242's new recording contract in the U.S. with Metropolis Records. Front 242 also indicated at this time that they were recording new material. However, they had little activity after 1998, making occasional appearances in Europe and Mexico, while Codenys recorded under the name Gaiden with Steve Stoll in 2001.

2000s[link]

2002 saw the beginning of a wave of new material from Bresanutti and Codenys, and then from Front 242. In August 2002 a DVD/CD two-disc set called Speed Tribe was released by Dance.com. The DVD was a collaboration with experimental documentary filmmakers Rod Chong and Sharon Matarazzo, who filmed the 2001 24 Hour Le Mans. In the video, the racecars, clouds, rain and spectators form an impressionistic visual backdrop for the music.

Several months later, the first release from Male or Female, also known as Morf, a new project for Bresanutti and Codenys along with vocalist Elko Blijweert. In 2002 and 2003, Morf released an album, an E.P., a double album, and a DVD/CD two-disc combo, on the Belgian record label Alfa Matrix, and went on tour through the U.S.

Then, 2002 and 2003 also saw the release of the new material from Front 242 in a decade: the E.P. Still and Raw and the album Pulse, released on XIIIBis Records in Europe and Metropolis in the U.S. These represented another iteration of Front 242's explicitly stated goal of reinventing itself. The style of the two new releases is more mellow than some of their past work, using more "glitchy" and "bleepy" sounds. As well, it uses the manipulated voice as a musical instrument. The new releases have a much more emotional style from De Meyer, which was presaged in his later recordings with C-Tec and particularly Cobalt 60 on its album Twelve.

Front 242 promised a new U.S. tour to perform new material from these releases. They have made occasional appearances in Latin America and Europe, even being rejoined by Dirk Bergen for a reunion concert in Aarschot (De Klinker club) in 2004 under the original lineup of Bresanutti, Bergen, Codenys and De Meyer. This performance was kept secret until two days before the show but when the scene magazine Side-Line and the band's label Alfa Matrix launched the news, tickets were quickly sold out.

The band has now also set itself to re-release its entire back catalogue both as a normal CD and as a limited edition consisting of a 2CD set holding previously unreleased material. For this the band is working together with the Belgian label Alfa Matrix that already took care of releasing the albums of the Front 242 side-project Male Or Female. The first re-release is their debut album Geography, this time newly remastered personally by Bresanutti to surprisingly powerful effect and including 3 extra tracks (two hidden ones) on the normal CD format.

Meanwhile their enthusiasm for side projects has continued, as Patrick Codenys started appearing with a new group called Red Sniper, Bresanutti started recording with a new group called Troissoeur, and Codenys and Richard 23 formed a quasi-DJ project called Coder23 which toured in late 2004 and early 2005 as the opening act for VNV Nation. Jean-Luc De Meyer contributed vocals on two studio tracks for the Glis album Nemesis in 2005. The lyrical content of the two songs ("The Irreparable" and "La Béatrice") were based on the poems of Charles Baudelaire.

Front 242 toured through twenty venues in North America in November 2005, their first tour as a full band since 2000. The band performed at the Roskilde Festival in 2006. The band's sold out two day performance at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels has been recorded for a future release via Alfa Matrix.

In December 2006, Front 242 announced from their MySpace page that they were writing music for a video game called Cipher Complex and provided a link to a teaser trailer with a short sample of one of their scores.

In 2007 Jean-Luc Demeyer announced a new project: 32CRASH via the Alfa Matrix label. The band is preparing for an album release in October 2007 after the release of the EP Humanity.^[9]

In August 2008, Front 242 played live at the Infest Festival in Bradford, England.

In October 2008 Front 242 performed for the first time in Finland, at the Alternative Party 2008 media arts festival.

Moments[link]

On June 1, 2008, the Alfa Matrix label announced that Front 242 would make an ultimate statement towards abusive audio compression by releasing the free two-track download, First Moment. By June 15 the same year, the tracks were made available for free on Alfa Matrix's site in medium and high bit-rate MP3s, WAV, FLAC, and M4A formats.^[10] Contrary to what fans and some media speculated, the two-track download was not new studio material. Instead, First Moments consisted of two previously unreleased live tracks, "U-Men" and "Im Rhythmus Bleiben", in rather stunning sound quality. It is rumored that over 20,000 people downloaded the tracks within hours of being made available.^{[citation needed]} The label later confirmed that over 25,000 people downloaded the free tracks.

On June 4, 2008, Alfa Matrix announced the release of Moments... The album was a live recording encompassing the best of Front 242's compositions. The album was shipped in several formats including limited CD box sets, vinyl in different colors including 300-copy limited editions, and as a one-disc CD release.^[11]

Band members[link]

• Jean-Luc De Meyer - vocals
• Daniel Bressanutti - keyboards, programming, live mixing
• Patrick Codenys - keyboards, programming, guitars, samplers
• Richard Jonckheere, often credited as "Richard 23" - electronic percussion, vocals
• Tim Kroker - electronic drums

Occasional band members and collaborators[link]

• Dirk Bergen - credited as keyboardist on Geography
• Jean-Marc Pauly - credited for writing and composing vocals on 06:21:03:11 Up Evil
• Pierre Pauly - credited for writing and composing vocals on 06:21:03:11 Up Evil
• Kristin Kowalski - credited as writer, composer and vocalist on 05:22:09:12 Off, Animal, and Angels Versus Animals
• Eran Westwood - credited as writer, composer and vocalist on 05:22:09:12 Off, Animal, and Angels Versus Animals
• John Dubs - credited as writer and composer on Animal and Angels Versus Animals
• Jean-Marc Lederman - credited as remixer on Angels Versus Animals.

Discography[link]

• Geography (1982)
• No Comment (1984)
• Back Catalogue (1987)
• Official Version (1987)
• Front by Front (1988)
• Tyranny (For You) (1991)
• Live Target (1992)
• 06:21:03:11 Up Evil (1993)
• 05:22:09:12 Off (1993)
• Angels Versus Animals (1993)
• Live Code (1994)
• Mut@ge.Mix@ge (1995)
• Re-Boot: Live '98 (1998)
• Pulse (2003)
• Moments ... (2008)

Charts[link]

Albums[link]

U.S. Billboard 200[link]

^[4]

Singles[link]