Moldova

“ I should observe that we had arranged to stay the night at Moldova, for the afternoon had been taken up in visiting a large manufactory for sulphuric acid in the neighbourhood. The dance which wound up the day's amusements can be easily described. "Many a youth and many a maid" form a wide circle with arms interlaced, they move round and round in a marzurka step to the sound of music. ”

“ Bulgaria’s case should be promoted in the European media as widely as possible, including the use of well known examples such as Germany and Austria, or Romania and Moldova, where the creation of new nations on the basis of independent statehood is not accompanied by Macedonian-style negativism. ”

“ People Moldova
Population: 4,434,547 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 21.7% (male 490,414; female 472,912) 15-64 years: 68.2% (male 1,451,962; female 1,572,561) 65 years and over: 10.1% (male 165,860; female 280,838) (2002 est.) ”

“ It involves Indian, Thai, Philippine, Brazilian, Turkish and Israeli doctors who scour the Balkan and other destitute regions for tissues. The Washington Post reported, in November 2002, that in a single village in Moldova, 14 out of 40 men were reduced by penury to selling body parts. ”

“ Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Romania, Germany
External debt: $300 million (as of 11 December 1994)
Industrial production: growth rate -30% (1994 est.)
Electricity: capacity: 3,000,000 kW production: 8.2 billion kWh consumption per capita: 1,830 kWh (1994)
Industries: key products are canned food, agricultural machinery, foundry equipment, refrigerators and freezers, washing machines, hosiery, refined sugar, vegetable oil, shoes, textiles
Agriculture: accounts for about 40% of GDP; Moldova's principal
economic activity ”

“ Ethnic groups: Moldovan/Romanian 64.5%, Ukrainian 13.8%, Russian 13%, Jewish 1.5%, Bulgarian 2%, Gagauz and other 5.2% (1989 est.) note: internal disputes with ethnic Slavs in the Transnistrian region
Religions: Eastern Orthodox 98.5%, Jewish 1.5%, Baptist (only about 1,000 members) (1991)
Languages: Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language) , Russian (official) , Gagauz (a Turkish dialect)
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 96% male: 99% female: 94% (1989 est.) ”

“ Of the character of the Moldavian people Cantemir does not give a very favourable account. Their best points were their hospitality and, in Lower Moldavia, their valour. They cared little for letters, and were generally indolent, and their prejudice against mercantile pursuits left the commerce of the country in the hands of Armenians, Jews, Greeks and Turks. The pure-blood Ruman population, noble and plebeian, inhabited the cities and towns or larger villages; the peasantry were mostly of Little Russian and Hungarian race, and were in a servile condition. ”

“ From Transylvania came the powerful influence of the German colonies of «Saxons», concentrated there by the Hungarian rulers after 1100. Wallachia received the heritage of the Slavonic countries subdued by the Turks, and was enriched by currents of western influence. Moldavia accepted the culture of Red Russia, and was brought into contact, through Poland, with the Latin Renaissance. Later, through French secretaries and teachers, she came, much more strongly than any other Roumanian province, under the influence of every form of western civilisation. ”

“ Today the Wallachian peasant indifferently regards the passer-by clad in dark garments of orthodox cut, which contrast strangely with his own picturesque white shirt and cream tight trousers: to him he is merely an interloper, much as the crow in his near-by corn. In Moldavia any «foreigner» apparently of a superior station of life is invariably saluted by the peasant or his woman, but this is no servile gesture towards a master, it is rather the outward manifestation of welcome and, in an untutored people, an exquisite courtesy. ”

“ When one comes from the former country of Maramureș, now divided between Roumania and the Carpathian Ruthenians under Czechoslovakian rule, and descends into the valleys of the so-called Austrian Bukovina and, further, into the larger settlements of the vanished principality of Moldavia, one encounters representatives of another race — tall men of war-like appearance with long hair and swarthy skins, with the dignified demeanour of true aristocrats. They possess a certain courtesy of manner and dignity which no injustice or opression has been able diminish. ”

“ A large portion of the country is covered by dense forests of fir, oak, and beech; its soil is dark and rich, and it is well irrigated by the tributaries of the Danube. Moldavia is less hilly than its sister principality.It is almost wholly a broad and fertile plain, with the picturesque Sereth running through the centre, and on the east many of the tributaries of the Pruth afford abundance of water. The soil of Moldavia is also very rich, and needs but little care from the hand of man. ”

“ Rural scene near Bucharest. On completing their conquests the Romans carried into Moldo-Wallachia the civilization and arts they planted wherever they went. More than this: many Roman colonies, some of them comprising the soldiers of the empire, settled below the spurs of the Carpathians, and in the fertile and well-watered valleys of Moldavia. Soon the whole country bore the aspect of enterprise and improvement. Cities were founded, roads built, bridges stretched across the picturesque rivers ”

“ He saw the Moldavian serfs, who came each day during his danger to the convent for news of him; and, whilst he rewarded them, interrogated them as to how and where they had discovered him. They answered that a dog had led them to where he lay, and that they had seen that he was all but lifeless, and had made a litter of pine-boughs and brought him to the gates of Monastica for succour. When he pressed them, and insisted that a woman had been the first to rescue him, the Moldavians shook their heads ”

“ With the receding of this exterminating wave of Asiatic conquest the great wilderness was thrown open to new settlers. The settlements of the Vlachs north of the Danube and east of the Aluta became the principality of Great Wallachia, the nucleus of the modern Roumania. West of the Aluta the district of Little Wallachia was incorporated for a long period, as the banat of Severin, in the Hungarian kingdom. Finally, the principality of Moldavia came into existence in 1341, in land previously won by the Hungarians from the Mongols, between the Dniester and the Carpathians. ”

“ The peaceful Moldavian peasant of today appears just to have returned from a hard-fought battle with the invaders of his fatherland, be he Tartar or Turk, or those neighbours who dreamed of extending their boundaries to the shores of the broad Danube or the Black Sea. ”

“ The Latin church remained alien, while their leaders committed the gross error of separating Moldavia, with its Italian friars, and the Jesuits in Jassy with their much-prized school, from Wallachia, subject to the bishop of Nicopolis in Bulgaria (the occupants of this See, Ercolani and Ferrer, were Italians too) who did not support the aspirations of Roumanian nationalism. Thus the Church at one time, in Moldavia, was the representative of a mere handful of Hungarians in the Carpathian districts of Roman and Bacău and in the tiny city of Huși. ”

“ These legendary accounts seem to show that the Moldavian voivodate was founded, like that of Walachia, by Vlach Early History. immigrants from Hungary, during the first half of the 14th century. Its original strength lay probably in the compact Ruman settlements among the eastern Carpathians, first mentioned by Nicetas of Chonae, about 1164. The Moldavian lowlands were still held by a variety of Tatar tribes, who were only expelled after 1350, by the united efforts of Andrew Laszkovich, voivode of Transylvania, and Bogdan Voda, the first independent prince of Moldavia. ”

“ When, in the 17th century, cultivated literature appeared in the Roumanian language, Moldavia took the lead, her chroniclers recalling the glorious Latin origins of the race and her priests inculcating in the people a mild Christianity, as that of the Archbishop Dositheus, who translated the psalms in verse. ”

“ There were two principalities: Moldavia in the north, the older, Wallachia in the south; a military and a popular state: two dynasties of opposite character, ever-ready to fight no matter who the opponent. At the beginning of the 15th century, however, only Orthodoxy remained, a single style for the churches of both principalities. ”

“ Still, nearly one-fourth of the area of the country remains uncultivated, and the soil is allowed to lie fallow every third year. Moldavia is better cultivated, upon the whole, than Wallachia, and this is principally owing to the fact of the Moldavian boyards residing upon their estates, and taking a pride in their management. Progress, however, is apparent throughout the country, and there is hardly a large estate without its steam threshing-machine. ”

“ To know his real worth he must be seen in the interior of the country, far from the towns. The Moldavian peasant is brave, gay, and hospitable; he delights to welcome the stranger, and generally would be ashamed to receive the slightest present from him. The Russians accuse him of excessive sloth, but the charge appears unfounded. The Moldavian peasant seldom, indeed, thinks of accumulating money, but he always works with zeal until he has attained the position he had aspired to, the amount of comfort he had set his heart on ”

“ The Panslavonic party seeks to produce complications in the East by all possible means. They have already been able to influence Greece; the Cretans have rebelled, and, strong in the aid of nationalities which they cannot call upon in vain, claim the assistance of Europe. Agitators under Greek names are busy amongst the Christian populations and fan their latent courage.... Emissaries endeavour to incite the population of Moldavia, and even our Chamber of Deputies is prepared to create difficulties for us. ”

“ The Greeks form a floating population of merchants and small traders, anxious to amass a fortune and return home. German and Austrian business men visit the country in large numbers, and colonies of German farmers flourish among the mountains of Little Walachia. In central Moldavia there is a large population of Magyar descent, and the Servian and Bulgarian elements are strong near the Danube. The interior of the Dobrudja is occupied largely by Turks and Bulgarians, with Tatars, Russians and Armenians, but here the Ruman steadily gains ground at the expense of the alien. ”

“ The natural richness, and the various resources of Wallachia and Moldavia, are such, that if those countries could enjoy the important advantages of a regular government and a wise administration, under which industry and agriculture should receive their due encouragement, the trade of exports laid open, the commercial intercourse with foreign nations set upon a proper footing, and finally, the mines explored, they would in a short time become the 85most populous and most flourishing provinces of Europe. ”

“ Moldavia was governed on the same plan as the sister province, and frequently shared the same fate in war; sometimes ravaged by the Turks, at other times successful in resisting them. Towards the close of the 16th century, after its successful co-operation with Wallachia, Sigismund of Transylvania seized it, deposed the Voïvode Aaron, his friend and ally, and appointed a man of his own choice, whom he bound to pay him tribute. But in 1597, a Polish army invaded the province, and rescued it from the hands of Sigismund. ”

“ Meanwhile we live under continual apprehension that the Turkish Pashahs of the neighbourhood may take upon themselves to send troops in order to occupy the country, a circumstance which, instead of producing the good effects of precaution, will throw every thing into confusion and disorder, and frighten away a great number of families, who, in that expectation, are already making preparations to retire into Transylvania and Moldavia. ”

“ For a century after the foundation of Moldavia, or, as it was at first called, Bogdania, by Bogdan Dragosch [a legendary hero] , the history of the country is shrouded in darkness. Kings or princes are named, one or more of whom were Lithuanians. ... At length a prince more powerful than the rest ascended the throne. ... This was Stephen, sometimes called the 'Great' or 'Good.' ... He came to the throne about 1456 or 1458, and reigned until 1504, and his whole life was spent in wars against Transylvania, Wallachia, ... the Turks, and Tartars. ”

“ The Russians pretend to believe that they have got the best of the dispute, but it will be difficult to persuade the world to be of the same opinion. Although so cold, there is not much snow, and it is beautifully clear weather, capital for sledging. The new frontier leaves Tobak and Bolgrad in Moldavia, and gives a piece of land near the Pruth in exchange to Russia.... The territory will be given over in two parts. The southern consists of Ismail, Kilia, Reni, and Bolgrad, as well as the delta of the Danube. ”

“ Hungarian. A Moldavian born dumb! Excuse me, the thing is impossible; all Moldavians are born talking! I have known a Moldavian who could not speak, but he was not born dumb. His master, an Armenian, snipped off part of his tongue at Adrianople. He drove him mad with his jabber. He is now in London, where his master has a house. I have letters of credit on the house: the clerk paid me money in London, the master was absent; the money which you received for the horse belonged to that house. ”