Republic of Moldova (Bessarabia -historical name) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south.

In antiquity, the territory of the present day country was part of Dacia, then fell under the influence of the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, most of the present territory of Moldova was part of the Principality of Moldavia.

In 1812 as a result of the Russian-Turkish Peace Treaty signed in Bucharest, the eastern part of Moldova situated between the Prut and Nistru rivers, named Bessarabia, was annexed to the Russian Empire, thus being a Russian province until 1918.

In 1918 the supreme authority of the Bessarabian state – Sfatul Tarii, decided to unite with Romania. This unity lasted till 1940, the year when the country was annexed by the Soviet Union as a consequence of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of 1939. Moldova functioned as a territorial entity within the USSR until the last decade of the XXth century.

On the 27th of August 1991, Republic of Moldova became an independent and sovereign State.


Moldova Historical Map