Moldavia is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe that existed from 1346 to 1859. Named for the Moldova River, Moldavia was inhabited by the Bolokhovian Vlachs until their defeat in 1257 by Daniel of Galicia's troops. The region later came under Bulgarian and Hungarian control before the Vlach voivode Bogdan took control of the region from Hungary in 1359 and created an independent principality. The region, initially closer to the Byzantine Empire, became a vassal of Poland in 1387. Poland and Hungary would interfere in Moldavian politics until the Ottoman Turks forced the Moldavians to become their vassals in 1498. The Turks came to control Moldavia's affairs, and Moldavia stopped issuing its own coinage in 1520 and fought for the Ottomans during their wars with other Christian nations. The Greek Phanariotes were empowered by the Ottomans in the aftermath of Prince Dimitrie Cantemir's failed Russian-back uprising in 1710, and the Mavrocordatos family ruled Moldavia for the next several decades. Moldavia lost Bukovina to Austria in 1775, and the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 resulted in the Ottomans allowing the Russians the right to intervene in favor of Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire. In 1812, the Russians annexed Bessarabia in eastern Moldavia. In 1821, Phanariote rule was ended when Greek rebels occupied the country during the Greek War of Independence. The Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 gave Russia domination over Moldavia and Wallachia, and this domination lasted until 1856, when the Crimean War resulted in Russia returning much of southern Bessarabia to Moldavia. In 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected as Prince of both Moldavia and Wallachia with the support of the boyar-led "National Party," and the two Danubian Principalities merged into the United Principalities in 1862, eventually forming the Kingdom of Romania in 1881.
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