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Bender Bendery, Tighina
Transfiguration Cathedral
FlagCoat of arms
Municipality of Bender (in red)
Country	Moldova
Autonomous Region	Transnistria
Founded	1408
Government
• Mayor	Vyacheslav Kogut
Area
• Total	97.29 km (37.56 sq mi)
Population
• Total	97,027
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)

Bender, also known as Tighina (Romanian; Template:Lang-ru) is a city in Moldova. Although located on the right (western) bank of the river Dniester, since the 1992 War, it is controlled by the authorities of the breakaway region of Transnistria. Together with its suburb Proteagailovca, the city forms a municipality, which is separate from Transnistria according to the Moldovan law. Bender is located in the buffer zone established at the end of the 1992 War of Transnistria. While the Joint Control Commission has overriding powers in the city, Transnistria has de facto administrative control, and both Moldova and Transnistria have small police forces in the city.

Name

First mentioned in 1408 as Тягянякяча (Tyagyanyakyacha) in a document in Old Slavonic, the town was known in the Middle Ages as Tighina in Moldavian sources and Bender in Ottoman sources. The fortress and the city were called Bender for the most part of the time they were a rayah of the Ottomans (1538-1812), and during most of the time they belonged to the Russian Empires (1828-1917). They were known as Tighina in the Principality of Moldavia, in the early part of the Russian Empire period (1812-1828), and during the time the city belonged to Romania (1918-1940).

The city is part of the historical region of Bessarabia. During the Soviet period the city was known in the Moldavian SSR as Бендер (Bender) in Moldovan (Romanian) written then with the Cyrillic alphabet, and as Бендéры (Bendery) in Russian. In the independent Moldova, officially it is known as Bender, but otherwise both names Bender and Tighina are used.

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 Lvov 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 customs point on the commercial road linking the country to Tatar Crimea. During his reign of Moldavia, Stephen III had a small wooden fort built in the town to defend the settlement from Tatar raids.

In 1538, the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the town from Moldavia, and renamed it Bender. Its fortifications were developed into a full fortress under the same name under the supervision of the Turkish architect Koji Mimar Sinan. 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 1713, 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 enforce the departure of the Swedish king.

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 Governorate of Bessarabia until 1917.

Tighina was part of the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1917-1918, and after 1918, as part of Bessarabia, the city belonged to Romania, where it was the seat of Tighina County.

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.

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 commune of Varniţa, which fringes the city to the north. Transnistrian authorities control the communes of Proteagailovca, which borders the city to the west, Gîsca, which borders the city to the south-west, Chiţcani and Cremenciug, further to the south-east, while Moldovans are in control of Copanca, further to the south-east .

Administration

Vyacheslav Kogut is the city's current mayor.

People and culture

Demographics

At the 2004 Census, the city had a population of 100,169, of which the city itself 97,027, and the commune of Proteagailovca, 3,142.

Note: Since the independence of Moldova, there is an ongoing controversy over whether Romanians and Moldovans are the same ethnic group. At the census, every citizen could only declare one nationality. Consequently, one could not declare oneself both Moldovan and Romanian.

Famous natives

Famous people born in the city include:

• Two Ottoman Grand Viziers known as Benderli Pasha
• Constantin Andronic, artist
• 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

Sport

FC Dinamo Bender is the city's professional football club, playing in the top Moldovan football league, the Divizia Naţională.

Sister cities

• Cavriago, Italy
• Montesilvano, Italy

References

1. Template:Ro icon 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)
2. Template:Ro icon "Cetatea Tighina" on Monument.md
3. Ion Nistor, Istoria Basarabiei, Cernăuţi, 1923, reprint Chişinău, Cartea Moldovenească, 1991, p.76
4. "Tighina fortress" on Moldova.md
5. 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
6. The other two were Coşniţa and Cocieri.
7. ^ 1930 Romanian Census data for the Tighina County
8. ^ Moldova - City Population - Cities, Towns & Provinces - Statistics & Map
9. ^ 2004 Census: PMR urban, multilingual, multicultural | Pridnestrovie.net - Tiraspol, PMR: Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (Transnistria)

External links

• City portal
• Map of the city
• Bender travel information

v t e Cities and communes of Bender Municipality, Moldova
Cities	Bender
Communes	Proteagailovca

v t e Administrative divisions of Moldova
Districts	Anenii Noi Basarabeasca Briceni Cahul Cantemir Călărași Căușeni Cimișlia Criuleni Dondușeni Drochia Dubăsari Edineț Fălești Florești Glodeni Hîncești Ialoveni Leova Nisporeni Ocnița Orhei Rezina Rîșcani Sîngerei Soroca Strășeni Șoldănești Ștefan Vodă Taraclia Telenești Ungheni
Autonomous territorial units	Găgăuzia Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester
Municipalities	Bălți Bender Cahul Ceadîr-Lunga Chișinău Comrat Edineț Hîncești Orhei Soroca Strășeni Tiraspol Ungheni
^ Currently controlled by the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.

46°50′N 29°29′E / 46.833°N 29.483°E / 46.833; 29.483

• Bender, Moldova
• Cities in Moldova
• Subdivisions of Moldova
• Non-Transnistria localities under de facto Tiraspol control