Tatarbunary

Tatarbunary ( _uk. Татарбунари; _ro. Tatarbunar; _ru. Татарбунары, _tr. Tatarpınarı) is a small town in the Odessa Oblast (province) of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Tatarbunarskyi Raion (district), and is located north of the Danube Delta, in Budjak area, approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) south-west of the oblast capital, Odessa.

The word "Tatarbunary" means "Tatar Wells" in South Slavic languages, with "bunar" borrowed from Turkic "pınar", "well". The name was given to the settlement by Bessarabian Bulgarians.

The current estimated population is around 10,800 (as of 2001).

History

The settlement appears to have been founded in the 16th century, when the Principality of Moldavia, became dependent of the Ottoman Empire. Later it was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812 along with Bessarabia (eastern half of the Principality of Moldavia). In 1918 it became part a part of Moldavian Democratic Republic, annexed and later united by Kingdom of Romania. During 1924, the settlement was at a center peasants' revolt known as the Tatarbunary Uprising.

In 1940, following Soviet Ultimatum the city and the Budzhak region was transferred to the USSR and incorporated into Ukrainian SSR as Akkerman Oblast. In 1941-44 it was occupied by Romania following Axis attack on the Soviet Union.

In 1978, Tatarbunary obtained town status.