Bessarabia - History

History

Part of a series on the
History of Romania
Prehistory
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture Hamangia culture Bronze Age in Romania Prehistory of Transylvania
Dacia
Dacian Wars Roman Dacia Origin of the Romanians
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 Romanian language
By region
Banat Bessarabia Bukovina Dobruja Crişana Maramureş Moldavia Muntenia Oltenia Transylvania Wallachia
Commons Centuries in Romania
Romania portal

See also: History of Moldova and History of Moldavia

According to the traditional interpretation, the name Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian) derives from the Wallachian Basarab dynasty, who allegedly ruled over the southern part of the area in the 14th century. Recent research has however cast doubt on this view, as the name was first applied to the territory by Western cartographers, showing up in local sources only in the second half of the 17th century. Furthermore, the use of the term to refer to the Moldavian lands near the Black Sea was explicitly rejected as a cartographic confusion by the early Moldavian chronicler Miron Costin. The confusion may have been caused by Polish references to Wallachia as Bessarbia, wrongly interpreted by medieval Western cartographers as a separate land between that country and Moldavia. According to Dimitrie Cantemir, the name originally applied only to the part of the territory south of the Upper Trajan Wall, somewhat bigger than current Budjak.

In late 14th century, the newly established Principality of Moldavia encompassed what later became known as Bessarabia. Afterwards, this territory was directly or indirectly, partly or wholly controlled by: the Ottoman Empire (as suzerain of Moldavia, with direct rule only in Budjak and Khotin), Russian Empire, Romania, the USSR. Since 1991, most of the territory forms the core of Moldova, with smaller parts in Ukraine.