| Southern Dobruja | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Historical region ofSoutheastern Europe | |||||||||
| 1913–1940 | |||||||||
 Map ofBulgaria andRomania with Southern Dobruja or Cadrilater highlighted in yellow.Northern Dobruja is highlighted in orange. | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• 1913 | 7,412 km2 (2,862 sq mi) | ||||||||
• 1940 | 7,412 km2 (2,862 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1913 | 286,000 | ||||||||
• 1940 | 400,000(before population exchange) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 10 August 1913 | |||||||||
| 7 September 1940 | |||||||||
| Political subdivisions | Provinces | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of |  Bulgaria | ||||||||
Southern Dobruja orSouth Dobruja (Bulgarian:Южна Добруджа,romanized: Yuzhna Dobrudzha or simplyДобруджа,Dobrudzha;Romanian:Dobrogea de Sud orDobrogea Nouă,lit. 'New Dobruja'), also theQuadrilateral (Romanian:Cadrilater), is an area of north-easternBulgaria comprisingDobrich andSilistraprovinces, part of thehistorical region ofDobruja. It has an area of 7,412 square km[1] and a population of 358,000.
It is historically noteworthy as a point of contention inBulgarian-Romanian relations. Part of Bulgaria between 1878 and 1913, the region was annexed byRomania in theTreaty of Bucharest (1913), targeted byBulgaria during World War I (1914–18), and subsequently remained Romanian until 1940, when Bulgaria regained control in theTreaty of Craiova, which went along with acompulsory population exchange. Southern Dobruja has been part of Bulgaria since 1940.
At the beginning of the modern era, Southern Dobruja had a mixed population ofBulgarians andTurks with several smaller minorities, includingGagauz,Crimean Tatars andRomanians. In 1910, of the 282,007 inhabitants of Southern Dobruja, 134,355 (47.6%) were Bulgarians, 106,568 (37.8%) Turks, 12,192 (4.3%)Roma, 11,718 (4.1%)Tatars, and 6,484 (2.4%) Romanians.[citation needed]
Southern Dobruja was part of the autonomousBulgarian principality from 1878 and part of the independent Bulgarian state from 1908 until Bulgaria's defeat in theSecond Balkan War, when the region was ceded toRomania under theTreaty of Bucharest (1913).
In 1914, Romania demanded all landowners prove their property and surrender to the Romanian state one third of the land they claimed or pay an equivalent of its value. This was similar to theagrarian reforms in Romania which occurred the previous century, in which the landlords had to give up two-thirds of their land, which was then handed over to the peasants.[2] In Southern Dobruja, many of the peasants who received the land were settlers, including tens of thousands ofAromanians fromMacedonia, as well asMegleno-Romanians from the same place and Romanians fromWallachia, which led to claims that the reforms had a nationalist purpose.[2][3]
On 7 September 1940, Southern Dobruja was restored to Bulgaria under theTreaty of Craiova. The treaty was followed by a mandatorypopulation exchange: about 110,000 Romanians (almost 95% of whom settled there after 1913),Aromanians andMegleno-Romanians were forced to leave Southern Dobruja, whereas 77,000 Bulgarians had to leaveNorthern Dobruja. Only a few hundred Romanians and Aromanians are now left in the region.[4][5][6][3]
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| Ethnicity | 19101[7] | 19302[8] | 2001[9] | 2011[10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 282,007 | 378,344 | 357,217 | 283,3954 |
| Bulgarian | 134,355 (47.6%) | 143,209 (37.9%) | 248,382 (69.5%) | 192,698 (68%) |
| Turkish | 106,568 (37.8%) | 129,025 (34.1%) | 76,992 (21.6%) | 72,963 (25.75%) |
| Roma | 12,192 (4.3%) | 7,615 (2%) | 25,127 (7%) | 12,163 (4.29%) |
| Tatar | 11,718 (4.2%) | 6,546 (1.7%) | 4,515 (1.3%) | 808 (0.29%) |
| Romanian | 6,348 (2.3%)3 | 77,728 (20.5%) | 591 (0.2%)3 | 947 (0.33%) |
Between 1913 and 1940, during the Romanian rule, the region covered two counties:Durostor andCaliacra. Nowadays, the territory of Southern Dobruja forms the provinces ofSilistra andDobrich.
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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