Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast (province) of Ukraine.
Location
Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia. The region is bordered in the north and west by Moldova, in the south by Romania and in the east by the Black Sea.
Variants of the name
The area has been termed variously in the English language, including Budjak, Budzhak, Bujak, Buchak, and even Budziac Tartary. In the Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Russian languages, the area is referred to as Budzhak (Cyrillic: Буджак, pronounced [ˈbudʒak]), in the Polish it is Budziak, in the Romanian it is Bugeac, while in Turkish it is Bucak.
Jat clans
History
In Classical antiquity, Budjak was inhabited by Tyragetae, Bastarnae, Scythians and Roxolani. In 6th century BC Ancient Greek colonists established a colony at the mouths of Dnister river, Tyras. Around 2nd century BC, also a Celt tribe settled at Aliobrix (present day Cartal/Orlovka).
The Romans acquired the area in the 1st century AD, rebuilt and encamped Tyras and Aliobrix. As with the rest of the port cities around the Black Sea, the local population absorbed a mixture of Greek and Roman cultures, with Greek being mainly the language of trade, and Latin the language of politics. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, the area was included in the East Roman Empire. From 1st century AD, and until the invasion of Avars in 558, the Romans had established cities (poleis), military camps and some stations for the veterans and for the colons (apoikion) sent by the emperors.[1]
The area lay along the predominant route for migratory peoples, as it was the westernmost portion of the Euro-Asian steppe. Going westward, only the banks of the Dniester and Danube rivers were less forested (comparatively to the surrounding areas, which nowadays form Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria), therefore providing a natural route for herdsmen all the way from Mongolia to the Pannonian plains (today's Hungary). The region, therefore, passed as a temporary settling ground for Huns under the leader Uldin (387), Eurasian Avars (558–567), Slavs (end of 6th century), Bulgars under the leader Asparuh (679), Hungarians or Magyars (9th century), Pechenegs (11th century, and again 12th century), Cumans (12th century) and others.
Although the Byzantines held nominal suzerainty of the region (at least of the sea shore) until the 14th century, they had little or no sway over the land in the interior. In the early Middle Ages a Tigheci "Republic" was formed by several villages occupying the nearby Tigheci hills, in order to offer more security for themselves, while the steppe area between that and the seashore, unsuited for agriculture due to lack of water and frequently invaded by Eastern populations, remained void of permanent settlements. From the 9th to the 12th centuries, the region was under the authority of the First Bulgarian Empire, Pechenegs, and later of Cumans, who irregularly collected tribute from the indigenous villagers. Moldavian and Ottoman rule
After the Mongol invasion of 1241, the rebuilt coastal cities of Budjak (Maurocastron and Licostomo), came under the domination of Genoese traders. The interior however remained under the direct Mongol rule of the Golden Horde. After the 1330s, Wallachia's princes of the House of Basarab extended they authority over part of the territory, who came to be called Bessarabia. The region remained under Wallachian influence until the early 14th century, during the reign of Mircea the Elder, when the area was integrated into Moldavia by prince Alexander the Kind in still not fully clarified circumstances. Nogai Tatars, who had settled herds in the region after the 1240s, inhabited the steppe, while Romanians inhabited the surrounding hills and the port cities.
In 1484 Stephen the Great of Moldavia was forced to surrender the two main fortresses of Chilia (Kiliya) and Cetatea Albă (Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi) to the Ottoman Empire, the last Black Sea ports to fall into Ottoman hands. In 1538 the Ottomans forced prince Petru Rares of Moldavia to give up the fortress-city Tighina as well.
Under the Ottomans, Tighina was renamed Bender, while Chilia lost importance due to the construction of the Ismail fortress at the location of the Moldavian village Smil.[2][3] Despite returning from Muslim to Orthodox Christian sovereignty, the latter names were retained by the Russian Empire.
Under Ottoman rule, the three major cities each were the center of a sanjak, and were together officially part of Silistra (or Özi) Eyalet although Bender was north of Trajan's Wall and outside of the steppe region. The Nogai Tatar-inhabited steppe, which then acquired the name Budjak, served as a buffer area between these sanjaks and the Principality of Moldavia. Although it was a tributary of the Ottoman Empire, Moldavia was independent in its internal affairs until the start of the Russo-Turkish Wars forced the Ottomans to ensure that the Romanian princes did not switch sides too often.
Population
Jat History
External links
References
- ↑ Toponymy and ethnic Realities at the Lower Danube in the 10th Century."The deserted Cities" in the Constantine Porphyrogenitus' De administrando imperio
- ↑ Ion Nistor, "Istoria Basarabiei".
- ↑ C. Stamati, "Despre Basarabia si cetatile ei vechi", Odessa Geographical Society, 1837 (translation from Russian, 1986)
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