History of Moldova

The history of Moldova can be traced to the 1350s, when the Principality of Moldavia, the medieval precursor of modern Moldova and Romania, was founded. The principality was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire from 1538 until the 19th century. In 1812, following one of several Russian-Turkish wars, the eastern half of the principality, Bessarabia, was annexed by the Russian Empire. In 1918, Bessarabia briefly became independent as the Moldavian Democratic Republic and, following the decision of the Parliament (Sfatul Țării), united with Romania. In 1940 it was annexed by the Soviet Union, joined to the Moldavian ASSR, and became the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic until the dissolution of the USSR. In 1991 the country declared independence as the Republic of Moldova.

In 2010 Oldowan flint tools were discovered at Bayraki and Creţeşti on the lower Dniester that are 800,000-1.2 million years old demonstrating that early humans were present in Moldova during the early paleolithic. During prehistoric times there was a succession of cultures that flourished in the land of present-day Moldova from the end of the ice age up through the Neolithic Age, the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, and the beginning of the Iron Age, when historical records begin to be made about the people who lived in these lands. These cultures included the Linear Pottery culture (ca. 5500–4500 BC), the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture (ca. 5500–2750 BC), and the Yamna culture (ca. 3600–2300 BC). During this period of time many innovations and advancements were made, including the practice of agriculture, animal husbandry, kiln-fired pottery, weaving, and the formation of large settlements and towns. Indeed, during the Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture, some of the settlements in this area were larger than anywhere on Earth at the time, and they predate even the earliest towns of Sumer in the Mesopotamia. The area, stretching from the Dnieper River in the east to the Iron Gate of the Danube in the west (which included the land now in Moldova), had a civilization as highly advanced as anywhere else on Earth during the Neolithic period.

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