Bessarabia Governorate

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Coat of arms of the governorate after 1877

The governorate of Bessarabia ( Russian Бессарабская губерния / Bessarabskaja gubernija ) was a governorate of the Russian Empire between the Black Sea , Dniester (Roman. Nistru , Ukrainian. Dniester ) and Prut (Roman. Prut ) - the latter was also the border with Moldova or Romania . At that time it also bordered on Bukovina and, within the Russian Empire, on the governorates of Podolia and Kherson . The largest part of the governorate is now part of the Republic of Moldova , the southern part is occupied by the Ukrainian Odessa Oblast , the extreme northwest of the Chernivtsi Oblast . The governorate covered 45,631 km². The capital had been Kishinev (Rum. Chișinău ) since 1818 , previously Bender . Administratively it was divided into eight circles (Russian Ujesd):

history

Administrative division (map from 1883)

The area of ​​Bessarabia came under Russian rule in the Treaty of Bucharest with the Ottoman Empire in 1812. It had previously largely belonged to the Ottoman vassal state of Moldova . For the time being as an oblast subordinate to the governor general of New Russia , it became a gouvernement in 1873. After the Crimean War , Russia had to cede areas at the mouth of the Danube ( Cahul, Bolgrad and Ismail ) in 1856 , but these were regained after the Russo-Ottoman War in 1878.

Like the other areas of New Russia, Bessarabia was treated as a colonization area, in particular Russians and Ukrainians, but also Germans ( Bessarabian Germans ) and Bulgarians were brought into the country. The policy was to establish ethnically uniform villages. The political supremacy of the Moldovan boyars was gradually pushed back from 1828, when their assembly was degraded to a mere advisory body; however, they were increasingly assimilated by the Russian nobility. As in the rest of the empire, attempts were made to russification , but they were not seriously pursued until the middle of the 19th century.

During the First World War , the area was occupied by the Central Powers from 1917 . The Sfatul Țării was formed as a provisional national assembly which (after some vicissitudes as a result of the civil war) declared unification with Romania in 1918.

statistics

The population was 1,935,412 in 1897. Of these, 920,919 Romanians and Moldovans, 155,774 Russians, 379,698 Ukrainians, 228,168 Jews, 103,225 Bulgarians, 60,206 German and 55,790 Turks and Gagauz .

The main livelihoods of the population were agriculture and livestock, mainly wheat , millet , maize , flax and tobacco (1883: 9 million kg) were grown. Fruit and especially wine were also harvested; in favorable years the wine yield was 22 million hectoliters. In terms of livestock there were 158,000 horses, 351,000 cattle, 1,895,862 sheep, of which 265,369 were fine wool. Otherwise salt, saltpeter, a little bit of coal and marble were mined. The industry was quite insignificant and was mainly run for local needs. In 1879 there were 130 factories with 894 workers. The trade took place mainly through the coastal towns of Kilija and Akkerman.

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