Bendery

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Bender
other_name = Bendery, Tighina
nickname =
motto =

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image_caption = Transfiguration Cathedral


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map_caption = Municipality of Bender (in red)
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_type1 = Autonomous Region
subdivision_type2 =
subdivision_name = Moldova
subdivision_name1 = Transnistria
subdivision_name2 =
established_title = Founded
established_date = 1408
established_title2 =
established_date2 =
government_type =
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Vyacheslav Kogut
area_magnitude =
area_total_sq_mi =
area_total_km2 = 97.29
area_land_sq_mi =
area_land_km2 =
area_water_sq_mi =
area_water_km2 =
area_urban_sq_mi =
area_urban_km2 =
area_metro_km2 =
area_metro_sq_mi =
population_as_of=2004
population_footnotes =
population_total = 97027
population_urban =
population_metro =
population_density_sq_mi =
population_density_km2 =
timezone = EET
utc_offset = +2
timezone_DST =
utc_offset_DST =
latd = 46| latm = 50| lats = | latNS = N
longd = 29| longm = 29 | longs = | longEW = W
elevation_footnotes=
elevation_ft =
elevation_m =
website =

Bendery or Benderro icon [http://old.justice.md/lex/document_rom.php?id=9AB59A7F:D21516FC Law 764-XV from December 27, 2001 on administrative-territorial organisation of the Republic of Moldova] , Monitorul Oficial al Republicii Moldova, no. 16/53, December 29, 2001 (subsequent modifications taken into account)] , also known as Tighina, is a city in Moldova. Although located on the right bank of the river Dniester, it is controlled by the authorities of the breakaway region of Transnistria. Together with its surrounding villages, the city forms a municipality, which is separate from Transnistria according to Moldovan laws. Bendery 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 and both Moldova and Transnistria have small police forces in the city.

Name

First mentioned in 1408 as "Тягянакача" ("Tyagyanakacha") in a document in Old Slavonic, the town was known in the Middle Ages as "Tighina" in Romanian/Moldavian 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) as part of Bessarabia. 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. After gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova kept the name "Bender" as the official name of the city. However, the name "Tighina" is sometimes used as well. [ro iconhttp://www.monument.md/arhitectura_fortificata/cetati/204/] . The breakaway authorities of Transnistria (which control the city since 1992) 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

The town was first mentioned as an important customs post in a commerce grant issued by the Moldavian "voivode" Alexander the Good to the merchants of Lviv on October 8 1408. 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 Tatar Crimea.Ion Nistor, "Istoria Basarabiei", Cernăuţi, 1923, reprint Chişinău, Cartea Moldovenească, 1991, p.76] A fortress was built in the town around this period.Fact|date=June 2008In 1538, the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the town from Moldavia, and renamed it "Bender". Its fortress was re-built under the supervision 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 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. [Charles XII of Sweden first took refuge in a Moldavian house in the town, then moved to a house specially built for him in Varniţa. cf. "Ion Nistor, Ibidem, p.140"]

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" (i.e. not subordinated 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. [The other two were Coşniţa and Cocieri.]

Since 1992, Bendery 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

References

External links

* [http://www.bendery.md/ City portal]
* [http://www.bendery.md/map/bendery.html Map of the city]
* [http://visitpmr.com/taxonomy/term/6 Bender travel information]