Bălți

Bălți City Hall

Flag

Seal

Bălți

Location within Moldova

Coordinates: 47°46′N 27°55′E / 47.767°N 27.917°ECoordinates: 47°46′N 27°55′E / 47.767°N 27.917°E

Moldova

Bălți

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