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Tulcea (Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian: Тулча, Tulcha; Turkish: Hora-Tepé or Tolçu) is a city in Dobrogea, Romania. It is the administrative center of the Tulcea county, and has a population of 91,875 as of 2002.
[edit] History
Tulcea was founded in the 7th century BC[citation needed] under the name of Aegyssus, mentioned in the documents of Diodorus of Sicily (3rd century BC). Ovid referred to it in Ex Ponto, saying that its name would have originated with that of its founder, a Dacian named Carpyus Aegyssus.
After the fights from 12-15 B.C., the Romans conquered the town. They rebuilt it after their plans, their technique and architectural vision, reorganizing it. The existing ruined walls and defending towers serve as a testimony of this. Also an inscription found at the Tulcea Museum of Archaeology mentions the name Aegyssus for the town. The Aegyssus fortified town is mentioned also by other documents until the 10th century: Notitia Episcopatum in political geography "De Thematicus".
Tulcea in the end of the 19th century
It was then ruled by the Byzantine Empire (5th - 7th century), the Bulgarian Empire (681-c.1000; 1185-14th century) [1] [2] [3] [4], the Genoese (10th - 13th century), it was part of the local Dobrujan polities of Balik/Balica, Dobrotitsa/Dobrotici, and, for a brief while after 1390, ruled by the Wallachian Prince Mircea cel Bătrân.
In 1416 it was conquered and ruled for 460 years by the Ottoman Empire. Tulcea was eventually awarded to Romania, together with the rest of Dobruja, in 1878 (see Congress of Berlin). Around 1848, Tulcea was still a small shipyard city, being awarded city status in 1860, when it became a province capital.
[edit] Demographics
According to the 2002 census, Tulcea has a population of 91,875 inhabitants, 92.3% of which are ethnic Romanian. Significant minority groups include Lippovan Russians (making up 3.4% of the total population), and Turks (1.4%). Most of the indigenous Bulgarians left the town in 1941 in accordance with the Treaty of Craiova.
[edit] Famous natives
- Crin Antonescu, deputy
- Alexandru Ciucurencu, painter
- Traian Cosovei, writer
- Radu Gheorghe, actor
- Stefan Karadzha, Bulgarian revolutionary, studied in and associated with the town
- Virginia Mirea, actress
- Grigore Moisil, mathematician
- Dimitar Petkov, bulgarian Prime Minister
- Lili Sandu, singer and actress
- Tora Vasilescu, actress
- Oliver Cadogan, International property developer
[edit] Twinned Towns
[edit] References
- ^ Theophanes, ibid., p.357-358
- ^ Nicephorus, ibid., p.34
- ^ Laiou, A. E. Constantinople and the Latins (Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282-1328). Cambridge, Mass., 1972.
- ^ Brâtianu, G. I. à Cetatea Albă (Akkerman) au debut du XIVeme siècle-Byz, 2, 1926, 153-168
[edit] External links
[edit] Sourses and references
- Theophanes, ibid., p.357-358
- Nicephorus, ibid., p.34
- Laiou, A. E. Constantinople and the Latins (Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282-1328). Cambridge, Mass., 1972.
- Brâtianu, G. I. Les Bulgares à Cetatea Albă (Akkerman) au debut du XIVeme siècle-Byz, 2, 1926, 153-168
Romania
