Moldova
History
The Republic of Moldova is a small country, favorably situated in the Southeast part of Europe, neighboring Romania to the West and Ukraine to the East. This piece of land boasts a rich history, abundant in dramatic and agitated events.
From the XIV century it was a part of the Moldova Principality, situated between Oriental Carpathians and the Nistru river, in the north bounded by Hotin, and in the South – by the Low Danube and the Black Sea.
Following the Peace concluded in Bucharest, in 1812, a part of this territory was asigned to Czarist Russia, which called it Basarabia - an older name, earlier attributed to the southern part. The aim was to identify this territory as a separate geographic entity from the Moldova Principality.
The Independence of the Democratic Republic of Moldova was proclaimed in January 1918. And later, on March 27 1918 it was decided to re-unite it with Romania. The next annexure process took place in 1940, following the Molotov - Ribbentrop summit. According to this Basarabia became part of the USSR and was proclaimed as the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia. It comprised only nine Basarabian counties and six districts from the left bank of the Nistru River. The present territory of Moldova is smaller compared to the area attributed to Russian authorities in 1812, since the North Hotin, Acherman and the southern Ismail were given up in 1940 by the Soviet authorities to Ukraine.
Due to the restructuring process that started in the Central and Eastern Europe, in June 1990 Moldova proclaimed its sovereignty, and on August 27, 1991 – its State Independence. In March 2, 1992, the Republic of Moldova became a member of the United Nations.
Location
Eastern Europe, north-east of Romania
Area
total: 33,843 sq. km
land: 33,371 sq. km
water: 472 sq. km (main rivers: Danube, Nistru, Prut, Raut; main lakes: Beleu, Bic, Dracele)
Population
4,264,300 inh. (126,2 inh./1 sq. Km)
The Republic of Moldova has a population of 4.2643 million and is one of the most densely populated European countries. Population density is 126.2 persons per square kilometre.
Moldova is populated by different ethnic groups. A breakdown of major ethnic groups is as follows: Moldovans – 64,5%, Ukrainians - 13,8 %, Russians – 13 %, others (Gagauzians, Bulgarians, Jews, Byelorussians, Germans, etc.).
Currency
The national currency, the Moldovan Leu, was introduced on the 29th of November 1993.
The National Bank of Moldova was established in 1991.
The current banknote series was introduced by NBM between 1993 and 1995
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