Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi
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Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi (Template:Lang-ua; Romanian: Cetatea Albă; Turkish: Akkerman; Template:Lang-ru, Belgorod-Dnestrovsky; Hungarian: Nyeszterfehérvár; Italian: Moncastro) is a city in southern Ukraine. Population: 48,100 (as of 2004). It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Dniester river.
Administratively, Bilhorod is the center of Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi raion (district) within the Odessa Oblast. Historically it is part of Bessarabia.
Bilhorod is an ancient city with a rich history. In the 6th century Milesian colonists founded a settlement named Tyras on the future location of Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi which later came under Roman and Byzantine rule. By the 9th century the settlement had become a Slavic market named Bilhorod (white city), and fell under the rule of Halych-Volhynia by the 13th century. Genoa briefly controlled the town during the 14th century, as did Louis I of Hungary. Bilhorod was incorporated into Moldavia in the 15th century, becoming an important Moldovan fortress also commonly known as Cetatea Albă.
The Ottoman Empire conquered the town in 1484 and established it as a northern fortress named Akkerman in its defensive system against Poland-Lithuania and the later Russian Empire. Major battles between the Ottomans and the Russians were fought near Bilhorod in 1770 and 1789. Russia conquered the town in 1770, 1774, and 1806, but returned the town after the conclusion of hostilities. It was not incorporated into Russia until 1881.
From 1918-1940 Bilhorod was a city in Romania, but it passed to Ukrainian control as part of the territory ceded by Romania to the Soviet Union as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. A 28% Russian minority and a 4% Bulgarian minority still live there according to the last Ukrainian census, while Romanians comprise 2% of the city's population.
The former Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Văcăroiu was born in this city.
External link
- Soviet topographic map 1:100,000 (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:8085/x-ussr/100k/L-36-061.jpg)de:Bilhorod-Dnistrowskyj
