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BESSARABIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 821 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BESSARABIA , a See also:

government of See also:south-See also:west See also:Russia, separated on the W. and S. from See also:Moldavia and See also:Walachia by the Pruth, and on the E. and N. from the See also:Russian governments of See also:Podolia and See also:Kherson by the See also:Dniester; on the S.E. it is washed by the See also:Black See also:Sea. See also:Area, 17,614 sq. m. The See also:northern districts are invaded by offshoots of the Carpathians, which reach altitudes of Boo to 1150 ft., and are cut up by numerous ravines and See also:river valleys. Here, however, See also:agriculture is the prevailing occupation, the See also:soil being the fertile black See also:earth. The crops principally raised are See also:wheat and See also:maize, though here, as well as in other parts of the government, See also:barley, See also:flax, See also:tobacco, See also:water-melons, gourds, See also:fruit, See also:wine, See also:saffron and See also:madder are grown. The See also:middle of the government is also hilly (850—1000 ft.), and is heavily timbered, chiefly with See also:beech, See also:oak and See also:mountain-ash, and, though to a smaller extent, with See also:birch. The districts south of the old See also:Roman earthworks which See also:link the Dniester with the Pruth along the See also:line of the Botna, just south of See also:Bender, consist of level pasture-See also:land known as the Budjak See also:steppes. Here stock-breeding is the predominant calling, the See also:people owning large See also:numbers of See also:sheep, See also:cattle and horses, also goats, pigs and buffaloes. Lagoons fringe the See also:lower course of the Pruth and the See also:coast of the Black Sea, and marshy ground exists beside the Reuth and other tributaries of the Dniester. The See also:climate is rather subject to extremes, the mean temperature for the See also:year, at See also:Kishinev, being 50° Fahr., of See also:January 27°, and of See also:July 72°. The rainfall amounts to over 25 in. annually. See also:Salt, See also:saltpetre and See also:marble are the See also:principal See also:mineral products.

Manufacturing See also:

industry is only just beginning, wine-making (17,000,000 gallons annually), See also:cloth-See also:mills, See also:iron-See also:works, See also:soap-works and tanneries being the principal branches. Both the Dniester and the Pruth are important waterways commercially, the former being navigable up to See also:Mogilev and the latter to Leovo (46° 30' N. See also:lat.). Down the Dniester come See also:timber and wooden wares from See also:Galicia, and See also:grain and See also:wool from Bessarabia itself. Three branches of the railway from See also:Odessa to See also:Poland penetrate the government and proceed towards the Carpathians. The See also:population numbered 988,431 in 186o and 1,938,326 in 1897, of whom only 302,852 were See also:urban, while 942,179 were See also:women. In 1906 it was estimated at 2,262,400. It consists of various races, nearly one-See also:half (920,919 in 1897) being Moldavians, the others Little Russians, See also:Jews (37 % in the towns and 12.% in the rural districts), Bulgarians (103,225), Germans (6o,206), with some Gypsies(Zigani), Greeks, Armenians, See also:Tatars and Albanians. The Germans, who See also:form some See also:thirty prosperous colonies in the Budjak steppes west from See also:Akkerman, have been settled there since about 1814. The government is divided into eight districts, the See also:chief towns of which are Akker- See also:BESSARION 821 See also:man (pop. 32,470 in 1900), Bender (33,741 in 1900), Byeltsi (18,526 in 1897), See also:Izmail (33,607 in 1900), See also:Khotin (18,126), Kishinev (125,787 in 1900), Orgeyev (13,356), and See also:Soroki (25,523 in 1900). The See also:capital is Kishinev. Kagul, on the Pruth, and Reni on the See also:Danube (the See also:place to which See also:Alexander of See also:Bulgaria was carried when kidnapped by the Russians in 1886), are small, but lively, river-ports.

The See also:

original inhabitants were Cimmerians, and after them came Scythians. During the See also:early centuries of the See also:Christian era Bessarabia, being the See also:key to one of the approaches towards the See also:Byzantine See also:empire, was invaded by many successive races. In the 2nd See also:century it was occupied by the See also:Getae, a Thracian tribe, whom the Roman See also:emperor See also:Trajan conquered in Io6; he then incorporated the region in the See also:province of See also:Dacia. In the following century the Goths poured into this See also:quarter of the empire, and in the 5th century it was overrun one after the other by the See also:Huns, the See also:Avars and the Bulgarians. Then followed in the 7th century the Bessi, a Thracian tribe, who gave their name to the region, and in the 9th the Ugrians, that is to say the ancestors of the See also:present See also:Magyars of See also:Hungary, the See also:country being then known as Atel-kuzu. The Ugrians were forced farther west by the See also:Turkish tribe of the See also:Petchenegs in the Loth century, and these were succeeded in the I I th century by the Kumans (Comani) or Polovtsians, a kindred Turkish stock or federation. In the 13th century Bessarabia was overrun by the irresistible See also:Mongols under the leadership of See also:Batu, See also:grandson of Jenghiz See also:Khan. In this century also the Genoese founded trading factories on the See also:banks of the Dniester. In 1367 Bessarabia was subdued and annexed by the ruling See also:prince of Moldavia. During the 16th century it was in the See also:possession alternately of the See also:Turks and the Nogais or .See also:Crimean Tatars. From early in the 18th century it was a See also:bone of contention between the See also:Ottoman Turks and the Russians, the latter capturing it five times between 1711 and 1812. In the latter year it was definitely annexed to Russia, and in 1829 its frontier was pushed southwards so as to include the See also:delta of the Danube.

After the Crimean See also:

War, however, Russia ceded to Moldavia not only this later addition, but also certain districts in the south of the existing government, amounting altogether to an area of 4250 sq. m. and a population of 180,000. By the treaty of See also:Berlin (1878) Russia recovered of this 3580 sq. m., with a population of 127,000. See Nakko, See also:History of Bessarabia, in Russian (1873). (P. A. K.; J. T.

End of Article: BESSARABIA

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