Bălţi

Bălți
Bălți City Hall
Flag Seal
Bălți Location within Moldova
Coordinates: 47°46′N 27°55′E / 47.767°N 27.917°E / 47.767; 27.917Coordinates: 47°46′N 27°55′E / 47.767°N 27.917°E / 47.767; 27.917
Country	Moldova
Municipality	Bălți
Communes	Sadovoe, Elizaveta
Founded	1421
City rights	1818
Government
• Type	Municipal Council
• Mayor	Renato Usatîi (since 2015)
Area
• City	78.00 km2 (30.12 sq mi)
• Urban	41.43 km2 (16.00 sq mi)
Elevation	59 m (194 ft)
Population (2014 census)
• City	105,000
• Density	1,346/km2 (3,490/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	MD-3100
Area code(s)	+373 231 X-XX-XX
Licence plate	BL XX 000
Website	www.balti.md

Bălți (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈbəlt͡sʲ]; Polish: Bielce, Russian: Бельцы, Belʹtsy and Бэлць, Bėltsʹ, Ukrainian: Бєльці, Byelʹtsi, Yiddish: בעלץ‎ Belts) is a city in Moldova. It is the second largest in terms of area and economic importance after Chișinău, and the third largest in terms of population after Chișinău and Tiraspol. The city is one of the five Moldovan municipalities. Sometimes also called "the northern capital", it is a major industrial, cultural and commercial centre and transportation hub in the north of the country. It is situated 127 kilometres (79 mi) north of the capital Chișinău, and is located on the river Răut, a tributary of the Dniester, on a hilly landscape in the Bălți steppe.

The word "bălți" (pl. of Romanian sing. "baltă") in direct translation means "swamp". It is believed that the city had been named thus because it was founded on a hill dominating the wetland formed where the creek Răuțel ("Little Răut") falls into the river Răut.

In addition to the official name Bălți and the Russian name Бельцы (Beltsy), between 1940-1989 in Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet, and after 1989 in Russian, the name was/is also rendered in Cyrillic as Бэлць (Russian pronunciation: [ˈbɛlt͡s]).

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Wikipedia