​SISTOVA (Bulg.Svishtov), the capital of the departmentof Sistova, Bulgaria, on the right bank of the Danube, 40 m. W.​of Rustchuk. Pop. (1906), 13,408. Despite the lack of railwaycommunication, and the migration of the Turkish inhabitantsafter the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), Sistova is an importantcommercial centre, exporting wine and grain and importingpetroleum.

Sistova is identified with the Roman colonyNovae mentionedby Ptolemy. The exact site appears to have been Staklen, tothe west of the present town, which has gradually moved eastwardsince the 16th century, when it was almost destroyed inthe Turkish wars. It was at Sistova that the peace of 1790 wassigned, by which the Austrian-Turkish boundary was determined.The town was burned in 1810 by the Russians; but after 1820it began to revive, and the introduction of steam traffic on thelower Danube (1835) restored its prosperity. The Walachiantown of Alexandria was founded by fugitives from Sistova in1878.