| Official Name: | Bender | ||||||
| Other Name: | Tighina[1] | ||||||
| Pushpin Map: | Moldova Transnistria#Moldova | ||||||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Bender within Transnistria and within Moldova | ||||||
| Coordinates: | 46.8333°N 58°W | ||||||
| Subdivision Type: | Country (de jure) | ||||||
| Subdivision Type1: | Country (de facto) | ||||||
| Established Title: | Founded | ||||||
| Established Date: | 1408 | ||||||
| Leader Title: | Head of the State Administration of Bendery | ||||||
| Leader Name: | Nikolai Gliga[2] | ||||||
| Area Total Km2: | 97.29 | ||||||
| Elevation M: | 15 | ||||||
| Population Total: | 91,000 | ||||||
| Population As Of: | 2015 | ||||||
| Timezone: | EET | ||||||
| Utc Offset: | +2 | ||||||
| Blank Name: | Climate | ||||||
| Blank Info: | Cfb | ||||||
| Pushpin Relief: | y | ||||||
| Module: |
| ||||||
| Settlement Type: | Municipality | ||||||
| Image Map1: | Bender in Moldova.svg | ||||||
| Map Caption1: | Bender located in Moldova |
Bender (in Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan pronounced as /benˈder/,) or Bendery (Russian: Бендеры, pronounced as /ru/; Ukrainian: Бендери), also known as Tighina (Тигина|links=no), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) (PMR) since 1992. It is located on the western bank of the river Dniester in the Romanian historical region of Bessarabia.
Together with its suburb Proteagailovca, the city forms a municipality, which is separate from Transnistria (as an administrative unit of Moldova) according to 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.
The fortress of Tighina was one of the important historic fortresses of the Principality of Moldova until 1812.
First mentioned in 1408 as Tyagyanyakyacha (Тягянякяча) in a document in Old Slavonic (the term has Cuman origins[3]), the town was known in the Middle Ages as Tighina in Romanian from Moldavian sources and later as Bender in Ottoman sources. The fortress and the city were called Bender for most of the time they were a rayah of the Ottomans (1538–1812), and during most of the time they belonged to the Russian Empire (1828–1917). They were known as Tighina (Тигина, in Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan pronounced as /tiˈɡina/) 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; 1941–1944).
The city is part of the historical region of Bessarabia. During the Soviet period the city was known in the Moldavian SSR as Bender in Romanian, written Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Бендер with the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet, as Bendery (Russian: Бендéры) in Russian and Bendery (Бенде́ри) in Ukrainian. Today the city is officially named Bender, but both Bender and Tighina are in use.[4]
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 Lviv on October 8, 1408. The name "Tighina" is found in documents from the second half of the 15th century. Genoese merchants used to call the town Teghenaccio.[5] The town was the main Moldavian customs point on the commercial road linking the country to the Crimean Khanate.[6] During his reign of Moldavia, Stephen III had a small wooden fort built in the town to defend the settlement from Tatar raids.[7]
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. At the end of the 16th century several unsuccessful attempts to retake the fortress were made: in the summer of 1574 Prince John III the Terrible led a siege on the fortress, as did Michael the Brave in 1595 and 1600. About the same time the fortress was attacked by Zaporozhian Cossacks.
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.
On the 5th of April 1710 the Bendery Constitution (more commonly known as the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk) was accepted in Bendery.[8] It established the principle of the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches almost 40 years before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws.
In 1713, the fortress, the town, and the neighboring village Varnița were the site of skirmishes between Charles XII of Sweden, who had taken refuge there with the Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa after his defeat in the Battle of Poltava in 1709, and the Turks who wished to enforce the departure of the Swedish king.[9]
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 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. Many Ukrainians, Russians and Jews settled in or around Bender, and the town quickly became predominantly Russian-speaking. By 1897, speakers of Romanian made up only around 7% of Bender's population, while 33.4% were Jews.[10]
Tighina was part of the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1917–1918, and after 1918, following the Union of Bessarabia with Romania, the city belonged to the Kingdom of Romania, where it was the seat of Tighina County. In 1918, it was shortly controlled by the Odesa Soviet Republic which was driven out by the Romanian army. The local population was critical of Romanian authorities; pro-Soviet separatism remained popular.[11] On Easter Day, 1919, the bridge over the Dniester River was blown up by the French Army in order to block the Bolsheviks from coming to the city.[1] In the same year, there was a pro-Soviet uprising in Bender, attempting to attach the city to the newly founded Soviet Union. Several hundred communist workers and Red Army members from Bessarabia, headed by Grigori Stary, seized control in Bender on May 27. However, the uprising was crushed on the same day by the Romanian army.
Romania launched a policy of Romanianization and the use of Russian was now discouraged and in certain cases restricted. In Bender, however, Russian continued to be the city's most widely spoken language, being native to 53% of its residents in 1930. Although their share had doubled, Romanian-speakers made up only 15%.[12]
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 (under which a treaty regarding the occupation of Transnistria was signed a month later), and again by the USSR in August 1944. Most of the city's Jews were killed during the Holocaust, although Bender continued to have a significant Jewish community until most emigrated after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In 1940–1941 and from 1944 to 1991 it was one of the four "republican cities", not subordinated to a district, of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union. Since 1991, the city has been disputed between the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria. Due to the city's key strategic location on the right bank of the Dniester river, 10km (10miles) from left-bank Tiraspol, Bender saw the heaviest fighting of the 1992 War of Transnistria during the Battle of Bender. Since then, it is controlled by Transnistrian authorities, although it has been formally in the demilitarized zone established at the end of the conflict.
Moldovan authorities control the commune of Varnița, a suburb fringing the city to the north. Transnistrian authorities control the suburban communes of Proteagailovca, which borders the city to the west and Gîsca, which borders the city to the south-west. They also control Chițcani and Cremenciug, further to the south-east, while Moldovans are in control of Copanca, further to the south-east.
Nikolai Gliga is the head of the state administration of Bender .
In 1920, the population of Bender was approximately 26,000. At that time, one third of the population was Jewish. One third of the population was Romanian. Germans, Russians, and Bulgarians were also mixed into the population during that time.[1]
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.
| Ethnic composition | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ethnic group | 1930 census | 1959 census | 1970 census | 1979 census | 1989 census | 2004 census | |||||||||||||
| the city itself | Proteagailovca | The municipality | align=center bgcolor="#98FB98" | % | |||||||||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 15,116 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | 57,800 | align=right | 41,949 | align=right | 1,482 | align=right | 43,431 | align=right | 43.35% | |
| align=left | Moldovans1 | align=right | - | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | 41,400 | align=right | 24,313 | align=right | 756 | align=right | 25,069 | align=right | 25.03% |
| align=left | Romanians1 | align=right | 5,464 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | 61 | align=right | 0-5 | align=right | 61-66 | align=right | 0.06% |
| align=left | Ukrainians2 | align=right | - | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | 25,100 | align=right | 17,348 | align=right | 658 | align=right | 18,006 | align=right | 17.98% |
| align=left | Ruthenians2 | align=right | 1,349 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | - | align=right | - | align=right | - | align=right | - |
| align=left | align=right | 170 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | 3,800 | align=right | 3,001 | align=right | 163 | align=right | 3,164 | align=right | 3.16% | |
| align=left | align=right | 40 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | 1,600 | align=right | 1,066 | align=right | 25 | align=right | 1,091 | align=right | 1.09% | |
| align=left | align=right | 8,279 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | 383 | align=right | 2 | align=right | 385 | align=right | 0.38% | |
| align=left | align=right | 243 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | - | align=right | 258 | align=right | 6 | align=right | 264 | align=right | 0.26% | |
| align=left | align=right | 309 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | 190 | align=right | 0-12 | align=right | 190-202 | align=right | 0.20% | |
| align=left | align=right | 46 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | 173 | align=right | 0-16 | align=right | 173-189 | align=right | 0.18% | |
| align=left | Roma | 24 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | 132 | align=right | 0-5 | align=right | 132-137 | align=right | 0.13% | |
| align=left | align=right rowspan="2" | 188 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | 713 | align=right | 19 | align=right | 732 | align=right | 0.73% | |
| align=left | others | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | 8,300 | 7,440 | 0-31 | 7,440-7,471 | 7.44% | |||||||
| align=left | non-declared | align=right | 51 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | N/A | ||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 37 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | - | align=right | N/A | |||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 24 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | |||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 22 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | |||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 19 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | |||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 2 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | |||||||||
| align=left | align=right | 1 | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | align=right | N/A | |||||||||
| align=left bgcolor="#98FB98" | Total | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 31,384[23] | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 43,000 | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 72,300 | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 101,292[24] | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 138,000[25] | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 97,027[26] | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 3,142 | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 100,169 | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 100% |
Note: 1 Since the independence of Moldova, there has been ongoing controversy over whether Romanians and Moldovans should be counted officially as the same ethnic group or not. At the census, every citizen could only declare one nationality. Consequently, one could not declare oneself both Moldovan and Romanian.
Note: 2 The Ukrainian population of Bessarabia was counted in the past as "Ruthenians"
| Native language | |||||
| Language | 1930 census | 2004 census | |||
| align=left | align=right | 16,566 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 8,117 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 4,718 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 1,286 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 225 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 219 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 78 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 26 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 21 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 20 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 16 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 14 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 11 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 8 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | align=right | 2 | align=right | N/A | |
| align=left | other | align=right | 11 | align=right | N/A |
| align=left | non-declared | align=right | 46 | align=right | N/A |
| align=left bgcolor="#98FB98" | Total | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 31,384 | align=right bgcolor="#98FB98" | 100,169 |
Population dynamics by years:[27] [28]
ImageSize = width:auto height:300 barincrement:30PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:20 right:5DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:0 till:133000TimeAxis = orientation:verticalAlignBars = lateBackgroundColors = canvas:canvasScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:50000 start:0ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10000 start:0
BarData= bar:1897 text:1897 bar:1939 text:1939 bar:1959 text:1959 bar:1970 text:1970 bar:1989 text:1989 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2004 text:2004 bar:2008 text:2008 bar:2009 text:2009 bar:2010 text:2010 bar:2011 text:2011 bar:2012 text:2012 bar:2013 text:2013 bar:2014 text:2014 bar:2015 text:2015 bar:2015-10 text:15/10 bar:2016 text:2016 bar:2017 text:2017 bar:2018 text:2018 bar:2019 text:2019 bar:2020 text:2020
PlotData= color:barra width:15 anchor:till align:center shift:(0,5) bar:1897 from:0 till:31797 text:31,7 bar:1939 from:0 till:30700 text:30,7 bar:1959 from:0 till:43109 text:43,1 bar:1970 from:0 till:72321 text:72,3 bar:1989 from:0 till:129969 text:129,9 bar:1991 from:0 till:133000 text:133 bar:2004 from:0 till:97027 text:97,0 bar:2008 from:0 till:94404 text:94,4 bar:2009 from:0 till:94056 text:94,0 bar:2010 from:0 till:93751 text:93,7 bar:2011 from:0 till:93327 text:93,3 bar:2012 from:0 till:92990 text:92,9 bar:2013 from:0 till:92383 text:92,3 bar:2014 from:0 till:91882 text:91,8 bar:2015 from:0 till:91044 text:91,0 bar:2015-10 from:0 till:90507 text:90,5 bar:2016 from:0 till:84600 text:84,6 bar:2017 from:0 till:83700 text:83,7 bar:2018 from:0 till:83200 text:83,2 bar:2019 from:0 till:83100 text:83,1 bar:2020 from:0 till:83200 text:83,2
FC Dinamo Bender is the city's professional football club, formerly playing in the top Moldovan football league, the Divizia Națională, before being relegated.
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Moldova.
Bender is twinned with:
Beira, Mozambique
Cavriago, Italy
Dubăsari, Moldova Montesilvano, Italy
Ochamchire, Georgia