ABSTRACT
The rise of Moldovan language and identity is connected to the tumultuous history of the Danubian Principalities of Walachia and Moldavia, especially the latter. Both principalities were located at the fault line between the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe, namely, the Habsburg lands, Poland-Lithuania, and Muscovy (Russian Empire). Between the late fifteenth century and the mid-nineteenth century, these two principalities were de facto or de jure Ottoman fiefs. In the case of Moldova, the Ottoman fief of the Crimean Khanate also played a role. At the turn of the fifteenth century, Moldavia’s Black Sea littoral was lost to the Ottomans, who directly incorporated it into their realm following the policy of turning the Black Sea into an internal sea of the Empire. In Osmanlıca the annexed littoral became known as Bucak (also spelled as Budjak or Budzhak on the basis of Russian spelling), or “borderland.” Walachia had lost its Black Sea littoral, together with the Danube delta, to the Ottomans even earlier, in the 1420s. This region, known as Dobruja, together with Bucak, was transformed into Silistre (Silistra) Eyalat (province) in 1593.
