Moldavia

Principality of Moldavia Țara Moldovei  (Romanian) Землѧ Молдавскаѧ  (Church Slavonic) Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας  (Greek)
1346–1859
Flag (14th–15th cent.) Coat of arms (14th–15th cent.)
Location of the Principality of Moldavia, 1789
Moldavia under Stephen the Great, 1483
Status	Ottoman vassal[1] (1514–1572; 1574–1600; 1618–1859) Polish fiefdom[1] (1601–1618) Russian protectorate[2] (1829–1856) International protectorate[2] (1856–1859)
Capital	Baia/Siret (1343–1388) Suceava (1388–1564) Iași (1564–1859)
Common languages	Romanian[3][4] Church Slavonic[5][6][nb 1] Greek[7][nb 2]
Religion	Eastern Orthodox Minority Roman Catholic Armenian Judaism Old Believers
Demonym(s)	Moldavian
Government	Principality: elective absolute monarchy with hereditary lines
Princes of Moldavia (Voivodes, Hospodars)
• 1346–1353 (first)	Dragoș
• 1859–1862 (last)	Alexandru Ioan Cuza
History
• Foundation of the Moldavian mark	1346
• Union with Wallachia	5 February [O.S. 24 January] 1859
Currency	Moldavian gros [ro] Taler
ISO 3166 code	MD
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Hungary Golden Horde United Principalities Bukovina District Bessarabia Governorate
Today part of	Moldova Romania Ukraine

Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova, pronounced [molˈdova] (listen) or Țara Moldovei, literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: Молдова or Цара Мѡлдовєй; Church Slavonic: Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; Greek: Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and old principality in Central and Eastern Europe.^[8][9][10] It is the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the river Dniester. It used to be an independent state. It existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it united with Wallachia (Țara Românească) as the beginning of modern Romania. Sometimes the regions of Bessarabia (with Budjak), all of Bukovina and Hertsa were part of Moldavia. The region of Pokuttya was also part of it for some time.

The western half of Moldavia is now part of Romania, the eastern part is in the Republic of Moldova, and the northern and southeastern parts are in Ukraine.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Moldavia at britannica.com
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Protectorate at britannica.com
3. ↑ Ștefan Pascu, Documente străine despre români, ed. Arhivelor statului, București 1992, ISBN 973-95711-2-3
4. ↑ "Tout ce pays: la Wallachie, la Moldavie et la plus part de la Transylvanie, a esté peuplé des colonies romaines du temps de Trajan l'empereur... Ceux du pays se disent vrais successeurs des Romains et nomment leur parler romanechte, c'est-à-dire romain... " in Voyage fait par moy, Pierre Lescalopier l'an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople, in: Paul Cernovodeanu, Studii și materiale de istorie medievală, IV, 1960, p. 444
5. ↑ Panaitescu, Petre P. (1965). Începuturile şi biruinţa scrisului în limba română (in Romanian). Editura Academiei Bucureşti. p. 5.
6. ↑ Kamusella, T. (2008). The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe. Springer. p. 352. ISBN 9780230583474.
7. ↑ Olson, James Stuart; Pappas, Lee Brigance; Pappas, Nicholas Charles; Pappas, Nicholas C. J. (1994). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 550. ISBN 9780313274978.
8. ↑ Janowski, Maciej; Constantin, Iordachi; Trencsenyi, Balazs (2005). "Why bother about historical regions?: Debates over central Europe in Hungary, Poland and Romania". East Central Europe. 32 (1–2): 5–58. doi:10.1163/18763308-90001031.
9. ↑ Klaus Peter Berger (1 January 2010). The Creeping Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria. Kluwer Law International B.V. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-90-411-3179-9.
10. ↑ Radu, Sageata (February 2015). "România – Ţară Central-Europeană". Revista Română de Geografie Politică. IV. 15-20. ISSN 2065-1619.