Everything about Bendery totally explained
Tighina or
Bender (
Romanian (
Moldovan):
Tighina or
Bender,
Moldovan Cyrillic:
Тигина or
Бендер;
Russian:
Бендéры/
Bendery;
Ukrainian:
Бендéри/
Bendery) is a city controlled by the authorities of
Transnistria, the breakaway region of
Moldova, although geographically on the right bank of the river
Dniester. Together with the village of
Proteagailovca, the city forms a municipality, which Moldova considers separate from Transnistria. Tighina is located in the
buffer zone established at the end of the
War of Transnistria. While the
Joint Control Commission has overriding powers, Transnistria has
de facto administrative control over the city and both Moldova and breakaway Transnistria have small police forces in the city.
Name
Known in the middle ages as
Tighina (in Romanian sources) and
Bender (in Turkish sources), it was called
Bender for the most part of the time the city belonged to the
Ottoman (
1538-
1812) and
Russian Empires (1812-
1917), and as
Tighina when it belonged to the
Principality of Moldavia (before 1538), in the early part of the Russian Empire (1812-[[1828]), and during the time the city belonged to Romania (
1918-
1940). During the
Soviet period the city was known in the
Moldavian SSR as
Бендер (Bender) in
Moldovan written then with the
Cyrillic alphabet, and as
Бендéры (Bendery) in
Russian. Moldova kept the name Bender after it became independent in
1991. The breakaway authorities of Transnistria (which currently have control over the city) use the names
Бендер/Bender,
Бендéры/Bendery, and
Бендéри/Bendery in Moldovan, Russian, and Ukrainian, respectively.
Population
Administration
Vyacheslav Kogut is the city's current
mayor.
History
Tighina was first mentioned as an important customs post in a commerce grant issued by the Moldavian
voivod Alexandru cel Bun the merchants of
Lviv on
October 8 1408. The document is written in
Old Slavonic, and the place is named
Тягянакача [Tyagyanacacha]. The name "Tighina" is found in documents from the second half of the 15th century. The town was the main Moldavian custom point on the commercial road linking the country to
Tatars'
Crimea.
In
1538, the
Ottoman sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the town from Moldavia, and renamed it
Bender. The fortress was re-built under the supervison of the Turkish architect
Koji Mimar Sinan, and was renamed the Bender Fortress (cf.
Turkish language:
Bender, Gate). The Ottomans used it to keep the pressure on Moldavia.
In the 18th century, the fort's area was expanded and modernized by the prince of Moldavia
Antioh Cantemir, who carried out these works under Ottoman supervision.
In
1709, the fortress, the town, and the neighboring village Varniţa were the site of a couple skirmishes (
kalabalik) between
Charles XII of Sweden, who had taken refuge there with the
Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa after their defeat in the
Battle of Poltava, and Turks who wished to take the Swedish king hostage and exploit the political difficulties of central Europe.
During the second half of the 18th century, the fortress fell three times to the Russians during the
Russo-Turkish Wars (in
1770,
1789, and finally in
1806 without a fight).
Along with
Bessarabia, the city was annexed to the
Russian Empire in
1812, and remained part of the Russian
gubernia of Bessarabia until
1917.
As a part of Bessarabia, Tighina belonged to the
Moldavian Democratic Republic (
1917-
1918), and
Romania (
1918-
1940,
1941-
1944).
Along with Bessarabia, the city was
occupied by the
Soviet Union on
June 28,
1940, following an ultimatum. In the course of
World War II, it was retaken by Romania in July
1941, and again by the
USSR in August
1944.
In 1940-41, and 1941-1991 it was one of the four "republican cities" (for example insubordinated to a district) of the
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the 15 republics of the
Soviet Union. Since
1991, the city is part of the independent
Republic of Moldova.
During the
War of Transnistria (
1992), because of the city's key strategic location on the right bank of
Dniester river, 10 km from left-bank
Tiraspol, it was the biggest of the three battlefields of that war.
Since
1992, Tighina is formally in the
demilitarized zone established at the end of the conflict, but is de facto controlled by Transnistrian authorities. Moldovan authorities control the village of
Varniţa, which fringes the city to the north.
Famous natives
Famous people born in the city include:
- Two Ottoman Grand Viziers known as Benderli Pasha
- Lev Simonovich Berg, Jewish Soviet zoologist and geographer
- Tamara Buciuceanu, Romanian actress
- Emil Constantinescu, former President of Romania
- Iuliu Filippovitch Edlis, dramatist, writer
- Evgenii Konstantinovitch Fiodorov, Russian geophysicist
- Jerzy Neyman, Polish statistician
- Michael Postan, British economic historian
- Anna Pavlovna Tanskaia, singer
- Constantin Andronic, artist
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bendery'.
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