Northern Dobrogea | |
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 Coat of arms | |
 Northern Dobruja | |
| Country |  Romania |
| Largest city | Constanța |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Northern Dobruja (Romanian:Dobrogea de Nord or simplyDobrogea;Bulgarian:Северна Добруджа,Severna Dobrudzha) is the part ofDobruja within the borders ofRomania. It lies between the lowerDanube River and theBlack Sea, bordered in the south bySouthern Dobruja, which is a part ofBulgaria.
Around 600 BC, the Greeks colonized the Black Sea shore and founded numerous fortresses: Tomis (today's Constanța), Callatis, Histria, Argamum, Heracleea, Aegysus. The Greeks engaged in trade with the Dacians who lived on the main land. Dobruja became a Roman province after the conquest of the Dacian Tribes. One of the best preserved remnants of this period is theCapidava fortress.[1]
Between the 7th and 14th century, Dobruja was part of theFirst Bulgarian Empire and theSecond Bulgarian Empire.
For a long period in the 14–15th century, Dobruja became part ofWallachia. The territory fell underOttoman rule from the mid-15th century until 1878, when it was awarded to Romania for its role in the1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, and as compensation for the transfer of a region partly overlappingSouthern Bessarabia.[2] Under the treaties ofSan Stefano andBerlin, Romania received Northern Dobruja while the newly restored Principality of Bulgaria received the smaller southern part of the region. After theSecond Balkan War in 1913, Romania also annexed the Bulgarian Southern Dobruja, which it ruled until the signing of the 1940Treaty of Craiova. The treaty was approved byBritain,[3]Vichy France,Germany,Italy, theSoviet Union and theUnited States.[4] It included apopulation exchange which removed the Bulgarian minority from Northern Dobruja, which was evacuated to the southern part. At the same time, the Romanians (includingAromanians andMegleno-Romanians) from Southern Dobruja were brought north of the border.[5][6][7] There also is aCsángóHungarian village in Northern Dobruja, in the Constanța County, known asOituz.[8]
The territory of Northern Dobruja now forms thecounties ofConstanța andTulcea, with a total area of 15,570 km2 and a current population of slightly under 900,000.[9]
TheDanube Delta consists of numerous lakes. The most important ones are:
Ethnic composition
The table below shows Romanian statistics throughout the years:
| Ethnicity | 1878[10] | 1880[11] | 1899[11] | 1913[12] | 19301[13] | 1956[14] | 1966[14] | 1977[14] | 1992[14] | 2002[14] | 2011[9] | 2021[15] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 225,692 | 139,671 | 258,242 | 380,430 | 437,131 | 593,659 | 702,461 | 863,348 | 1,019,766 | 971,643 | 897,165 | 849,352 |
| Romanian | 46,504 (21%) | 43,671 (31%) | 118,919 (46%) | 216,425 (56.8%) | 282,844 (64.7%) | 514,331 (86.6%) | 622,996 (88.7%) | 784,934 (90.9%) | 926,608 (90.8%) | 883,620 (90.9%) | 751,250 (83.7%) | 657,438 (77.4%) |
| Bulgarian | 30,177 (13,3%) | 24,915 (17%) | 38,439 (14%) | 51,149 (13.4%) | 42,070 (9.6%) | 749 (0.13%) | 524 (0.07%) | 415 (0.05%) | 311 (0.03%) | 135 (0.01%) | 58 (0.01%) | 106 (0.01%) |
| Turkish | 48,783 (21,6%) | 18,624 (13%) | 12,146 (4%) | 20,092 (5.3%) | 21,748 (5%) | 11,994 (2%) | 16,209 (2.3%) | 21,666 (2.5%) | 27,685 (2.7%) | 27,580 (2.8%) | 22,500 (2.5%) | 17,114 (2%) |
| Tatar | 71,146 (31,5%) | 29,476 (21%) | 28,670 (11%) | 21,350 (5.6%) | 15,546 (3.6%) | 20,239 (3.4%) | 21,939 (3.1%) | 22,875 (2.65%) | 24,185 (2.4%) | 23,409 (2.4%) | 19,720 (2.2%) | 17,024 (2%) |
| Russian-Lipovan | 12,748 (5,6%) | 8,250 (6%) | 12,801 (5%) | 35,859 (9.4%) | 26,210 (6%)² | 29,944 (5%) | 30,509 (4.35%) | 24,098 (2.8%) | 26,154 (2.6%) | 21,623 (2.2%) | 13,910 (1.6%) | 12,094 (1.4%) |
| Ruthenian (Ukrainian from 1956) | 455 (0.3%) | 13,680 (5%) | 33 (0.01%) | 7,025 (1.18%) | 5,154 (0.73%) | 2,639 (0.3%) | 4,101 (0.4%) | 1,465 (0.1%) | 1,177 (0.1%) | 1,033 (0.1%) | ||
| Germans | 1,134 (0,5%) | 2,461 (1.7%) | 8,566 (3%) | 7,697 (2%) | 12,023 (2.75%) | 735 (0.12%) | 599 (0.09%) | 648 (0.08%) | 677 (0.07%) | 398 (0.04%) | 166 (0.02%) | 187 (0.02%) |
| Greek | 3,480 (1,6%) | 4,015 (2.8%) | 8,445 (3%) | 9,999 (2.6%) | 7,743 (1.8%) | 1,399 (0.24%) | 908 (0.13%) | 635 (0.07%) | 1,230 (0.12%) | 2,270 (0.23%) | 1,447 (0.16%) | 498 (0.06%) |
| Roma | 702 (0.5%) | 2,252 (0.87%) | 3,263 (0.9%) | 3,831 (0.88%) | 1,176 (0.2%) | 378 (0.05%) | 2,565 (0.3%) | 5,983 (0.59%) | 8,295 (0.85%) | 11,977 (1.3%) | 10,556 (1.2%) | |
| Unknown | - | - | - | - | 134 | 327 | 95 | - | 7 | 67 | 72,488 (8%) | 130,231 (15.3%) |
Northern Dobruja is represented by twodolphins in thecoat of arms of Romania.
Starting with 2015, Romania observesDobruja Day onNovember 14, marking the 1878 incorporation of Northern Dobruja into theKingdom of Romania after theTreaty of Berlin.[16]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Banat (1918–)a |
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| Dobruja (1878–) |
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Moldavia (1859–)b |
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Transylvania (1918–)ag | |
Wallachia (1859–)b | |
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