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Moldova gives the impression to be an amphitheatre. In the west, it is limited by chain of Carpates Eastern, with the famous Ceahlau solid mass, the hills going down towards Prut.
 

With XIV century old middle, at the time of Bogdan 1er (1359-1365) The first independent prince, Moldavia becomes independent State at the time of the voïvode Alexandre the Good (1400-1432), and delimits its natural borders:
 

The Danube and Black Sea in the south, Dniestr in the east, Poland in north.
 

Moldavia reaches its economic, political apogee and cultural A the time voïvode Stefan Cel Mare (1457-15004) and are Pétrus wire rare, which had reigned twice: 1527-1838 and 1541-1546. Scepter of Moldavia had been also held by others voïvode such that Vasile Lupu (1634-1653) and by Dimitrie Cantenir (1693-1710).
 

Two tragic and indelible traces in the history of Moldavia. Continuation with the one of the wars Russo-Turkish, the empire ottomans recompense Austria of its neutrality in this conflict while yielding to him northern part of Moldavia.

It is in 1775 that Habsbourg calls their new conquest Bucovine.
With beyond these impressive forests of beeches, this area represented, in fact, the true cradle of the Moldavian State.

Princely residence city of Suceava, the city of Cernauti, superb churches painted of: Voronet, Moldovita, Sucevita, the monastery of Putna or puts back   Stefan Cel Mare entered all under foreign domination.
 

Always in compensation for war granted by the Turks (although they did not hold such a right), half is Moldavia, known today under the name of Bessarabia, was built-in in 1812, with Russia tsarist.

In this part of Moldavia along Dniestr, were more important fortresses: Hotin, Sorca, Tighina, Cetatea, Alba, and Set Up by the voïvode of Moldavia to defend oneself of the Tartar invasions, Mongol and Ottomans coming from the Black Sea.

Bucovine and Bessarabia was going to link itself in 1918 with Romania, but unfortunately for can of time.
 

Countered of Btosani the poetry of villages with hills represents, lakes and drills, admirably described by the large Mihai poet Eminescu. It is in this area that key figures of the Rumanian culture came in the world. The historian Nicolae Iorga, the Stefan painter Luchian, or the musician George Enescu.
 

Moldova nowadays
Romanophones, the Moldavians constitute two thirds of the population of the country and are as a large majority of Russian orthodox religion.
Ukrainians and the Russians are the principal ethnic minorities, representative each one approximately 13% of the population.

One also finds small minorities Bulgarian and gagaouzes. These last, which live in the south-west of the country, are Christian, they speak and assert highly a broader autonomy.

Their actions are however eclipsed by those of 520 000 Russian living in great majority in the east of Dniestr, in Transnistrie, and which proclaimed their independence, supported by the Russian army.

The mining resources miss except for limestone, the gypsum and sands which allowed the construction of gigantic cement factories.

The industry, whose site was dictated by Moscow, privileges them large cities Chisinau, Balti, especially those located on left bank of Nistru Tiraspol, Tighina, RîbniTa.

Production of TV, tractors, electric component and electric household appliances, and traditional industries wines, canning facility, textiles, sugar, oil, cigarettes cover 75 % of the potential industrial production.

The agriculture developed on rich person black cotton soils occupies 35 % of directed working population of start for the markets of the ex-USSR.
It is specialized in cultures of cereals, beets, sunflower, tobacco, but the true richness is consisted vines and orchards more than 25 % of the vines and 30 % of the fruits of the ex-USSR came from Moldavia.

This extreme economic specialization and the enslavement of the country, without access to the sea, makes the transition economic very difficult

Moldavia current occupies two thirds of an area historically called Bessarabia.
But, lasting of the centuries, the name of Moldavia indicated a zone more vast that Bessarabia, energy of the Black Sea in the south in Bucovine, one old Rumanian province, in north, and of Siret, in the west, Dniestr in the east.

Founded in XIVe century by Bogdan Ier, the principality of Moldavia has a long time be under foreign domination, controlled by the Turks with to leave XVIe century then built-in to the Austrian Empire to XVIIIe century.

From 1812 to 1856, the Russians occupied Bessarabia which links itself with Walachia to form, in 1859, the kingdom of Romania under the authority of Moldavian prince Alexandre Jean Cuza.

However, the territorial integrity of the new State did not remain a long time.
Since 1878, the Russians seized again Bessarabia which was integrated into the Russian Empire until its collapse in 1917.

In March 1918, the Parliament of Bessarabia voted in favour of fastening with Romania.
 

At the time of the conference of Paris in 1920, this union was officially recognized by the Western States.
But, the new Soviet government did not accept it and tried, with favour of the civil war, to recover the lost territories.

In 1924, an autonomous Soviet socialist republic of Moldavia was created on the territory of the USSR, at the border with Romania with, for capital, the Ukrainian city of Balta then, from 1929, Tiraspol.

Although Romania declared its neutrality in September 1939, at the beginning Second World war, the Red Army occupied Bessarabia as of June 1940 and the area was annexed to the Soviet republic of Moldavia, as well as Transnistrie.
 

From 1941 to 1944, Moldavia was invaded by the Rumanian armed forces, allied of Germany since 1941. In 1944, the Red Army took it again territory which reinstated the USSR until its dissolution in 1991.

In 1989, on the initiative of the Moldavian majority, Rumanian was declared official language.
 

In 1991, after the dislocation of the USSR which saw Moldavia reaching independence, the leaders of Transnistrie proclaimed them proper independence with respect to Moldavia.
 

Engagements burst quickly and, in 1992, the Moldavian president Mircea Snegur authorized an armed action against the rebels.
Those, helped by quotas of Cossacks and XIVe armed Russian, consolidated their influence on the disputed area.

The Moldavian government asked for several times UNO to intervene, without success.
In May 1993, several concessions were made to the rebels, in private individual the presence of Russian forces in the east of Moldavia until what the area obtained a special political statute.

This compromise is not enough for the leaders to Transnistrie who required that the Moldavian Parliament accepted the rehabilitation of Moldavia with Russia.
The first free legislative elections of Moldavia proceeded in February 1994 and were gained by the agrarian Democratic Party, of communist tendency, followed by a coalition of socialist parties.

These two groups formed a government of national union. With the continuation of these elections, in March 1994, the Moldavian population decided mainly by referendum for the maintenance of Moldavia independent, in its borders of 1990, i.e. including Transnistrie.
The situation with Russia remains tended even if the Moldavian Parliament has multiplied measurements of appeasing like the suspension of the law of 1989 who made of Rumanian the official language.

Moldavia seeks from now on to mark its attachment clearly with European camp in March 1994, it signed the partnership for peace with NATO, in November of the same year, an economic cooperation agreement with the European Union and in June 1995, it adhered to the Council Europe.

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