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704 MOLDAVIA the Bakhlui and Shishiya; of the Sereth, the Bistritza, Moldava, Milkov, and Birlat. The largest lakes are between the mouths of the Pruth and Sereth and in> the S. E. corner of the country. Moldavia is rich in pastures, and produces wheat, maize, and other grains, excellent melons, various wines, some of which rival those of Hungary, fruits, honey in great abundance, and several minerals, especially salt. The forests contain bears, wolves, and lynxes, and yield excellent timber ; the rivers abound in fish. Locusts often appear in destructive multitudes. The inhabitants consist of Mol- davians proper, of the Wallach race, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Csang6-Magyars, Franks, and gypsies. The dominant religion is the orthodox Greek. The general language is the Wallachian, in which the preponderant Latin or Romanic element is largely mixed with Sla- vic, Turkish, and Tartar words. Agriculture, horticulture, and grazing are the principal oc- cupations ; manufactures are scarcely devel- oped, and commerce is almost exclusively in the hands of the Greeks, Armenians, and Jews. Wine, honey, wax, cattle, hides, horses, and timber are the chief articles of export. The most important towns are Jassy, the capital, Galatz, Ismail, Fokshani, Roman, Bakeu, and Botoshan. In ancient times this country, which at various periods extended beyond its present limits, was occupied by the Getae. Darius Hystaspis invaded it on his expedition against the Scyths. In the latter part of the 1st century it belonged to the Dacian king- dom of Decebalus. Parts of it were attached after his defeat to the Roman province of Dacia. During the great migration of nations it was successively invaded by the Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, and Slavic tribes. The Avars, who became dominant in the 6th cen- tury, yielded to the Bulgarians, and these, after a few centuries, to the Khazars, Petchenegs, and others. The latter tribes successfully warred with the Magyars, but dissensions dis- tracted the country, and the introduction of Christianity in the llth century was almost without effect. Wars with the Greeks depop- ulated the country, which was soon after in- vaded by the Cumans. These in their turn were subdued by the Mongols. In the ear- lier part of the 14th century a strong Wallach immigration took place from Hungary under Bogdan, who with his son Dragosh established a dynasty of waywodes known in history un- der the name of the Dragoshites. The coun- try now received the name of Moldavia from the river Moldava. The Greek creed was made predominant. But internal conflicts combined with external to make the long reign of the Dragoshites one of the bloodiest in history. Among the warlike princes of the period was Stephen VI., surnamed the Great, who died in 1504 ; but his son and successor Bogdan III. was unfortunate in his wars with the Hungari- ans and Poles, and having also suffered an in- vasion of the Tartars, he submitted himself to the suzerainty of the Porte. Bogdan's son, Stephen VII., leaned toward the Christian pow- ers ; but his successor, Peter VI., allied him- self closely with Sultan Solyman the Mag- nificent during his expedition against Vienna. Moldavia was now a vassal province of the Ot- toman empire, and soon after lost its eastern division, between the Pruth and Dniester, now known as Bessarabia, which was constituted a separate Turkish province. This part was of- ten reannexed and again detached. The suze- rainty of the Porte little if at all ameliorated the condition of the distracted country. For some time the boyars exercised the privilege of electing the waywodes; later the sultans were called upon to appoint them. During the latter part of the 17th century and in the 18th, Fanariote Greeks mostly succeeded each other under the title of hospodar or prince. The principal families from which hospodars were selected were those of Cantacuzene, Can- temir, Ducas, Rakovitza, Mavrocordato, Ghika, and Ypsilanti. Most of the Fanariote hos- podars leaned toward Russia, some of them secretly conspiring with Peter the Great and his successors. In the Turko-Russian wars Moldavia was a principal object of contention. In 1737 and 1738 it was successfully invaded by the Russians under Munnich. In the first Turkish war of Catharine II. it was occupied and organized as a Russian province, but re- stored to Turkey by the peace of Kutchuk Kainarji (1774), which, however, secured to Russia a kind of protectorate. Soon after, Moldavia, which meanwhile had been robbed of various important places, converted into Turkish fortresses, also lost its northern dis- trict, the Bukowina, which was annexed by Austria (1777). The same power after- ward combined with Russia for a new at- tack on Turkey, and Moldavia again became a seat of war. Austria terminated the war by the peace of Sistova in 1791, Russia more ad- vantageously by that of Jassy in the follow- ing year. The succeeding Turkish wars were closed by the treaties of Slobosia (1807) and Bucharest (1812), by the latter of which the czar Alexander gained Bessarabia. The Greek insurrection under Ypsilanti was a source of terrible suffering to the province. The treaty of Akerman (1826) restored the right of elect- ing hospodars, for seven years, to a divan of boyars, the Porte retaining the right of con- firmation, and Russia its protectorate. The war of 1828 again brought Moldavia, as well as Wallachia, into the hands of the Russians, who occupied it, under Kisseleff, even after the peace of Adrianople (1829), which ex- cluded all Turks from a permanent abode in it, a new statute being elaborated by a com- mission of boyars. This being confirmed by the Porte, the Russian army left the princi- palities, and Michael Sturdza, a native boyar, was elected hospodar of Moldavia for life. To unite the two principalities, as an independent Dacian or Rouman state, became now the