Dniester - History

History

During the prehistoric Neolithic Era, the Dniester River was the centre of one of the most advanced civilizations on earth at the time. The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture fluourished in this area from roughly 5300 to 2600 B.C., leaving behind thousands of archeological sites of settlements of up to 15,000 inhabitants, making them some of the first farming communities in history.

In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of European Sarmatia, and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According to Herodotus (iv. 51) it rose in a large lake, whilst Ptolemy places its sources in Mount Carpates (the modern Carpathian Mountains), and Strabo (ii.) says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister (lower Danube), and formed part of the boundary between Dacia and Sarmatia. It fell into the Pontus Euxinus to the northeast of the mouth of the Ister; the distance between them being, according to Strabo, 900 stadia (Strab. vii.), and, according to Pliny, 130 miles (210 km) (from the Pseudostoma). Scymnus (Fr. 51) describes it as of easy navigation, and abounding in fish. Ovid (ex Pont.) speaks of its rapid course.

Greek authors referred to the river as Tyras (Greek: ό Τύρας. At a later period it obtained the name of Danastris or Danastus, whence its modern name of Dniester (Neister), though the Turks still called it Turla during the 19th century. The form Τύρις is sometimes found. Σκύφαι and Ποσειδώνιος.)

From the 14th century to 1812, part of the Dniester formed the eastern boundary of the Principality of Moldavia.

Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the Soviet Union. During World War II, German and Romanian forces battled Soviet troops on the western bank of the river.

After the Republic of Moldova declared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of the Moldavian SSR refused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol on the river.