Dobrogea is a complex mix of ethnicities and population exchanges through a history of political acquisitions and empires.
Romanian people are predominantly along the south and east banks of the Danube. Silistra county has some continuation in typically Romanian dances from the periods of Romanian rule.
The northern part has a mix of ethnicities including various Arouman (Latin speakers) of Macedonian region relocated under the population exchanges. Following population exchanges the southern part is now predominantly Bulgarian including settlers from Thracian regions.
Early history
The lower Danube areas were already populated by Getae tribes (Iron Age peoples, probably from the Steppe region) when the Greeks expanded their trading ports along the coast of the Black Sea. Greeks from Miletus founded the town of Istros (Histria) in 657 BC, and later the towns of Tomis (Constanta) and Callatis (Mangalia).
The lands south of Dobrogea were part of the Thracian kingdom of Odrisa. In 480 BC the Thracians extended their rule over Dobrogea, and in 339 BC Alexander brought Dobrogea under Macedonian rule. After Alexander’s death Macedonian control was lost, the Macedonian King of Thrace attacked Dobrogea in two campaigns in 300 BC and 292 BC but was successfully driven back by Dromichaites, the King of the Getae.
In the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC Scythian tribes settled north and west of the Black Sea area. Due to this Dobrogea later became known as Scythia Minor.
The Roman and Byzantine Empires
Dobrogea: historic sites
In 27 BC Dobrogea came under the control of Roman Emperor, Augustus, as a client kingdom of the Odris Thracians. In 46 AD Thrace was fully taken by the Romans and Dobrogea was annexed into Moesia, and later became part of Moesia Inferior. In 284 AD Dobrogea became the independent Roman province of Scythia due to its strategic importance following the Roman withdrawal of Dacia.
Bulgarian Empire
The Bulgars moved east in 660AD and founded the Bulgar state in 680AD with the capital at Pliska. The first Bulgarian Empire continued until defeat by the Byzantium in 1081.
Pechenegs led by Kegenes settled in Dobrogea in an arrangement with the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX in 1045. They were given land and three forts to defend the border against other Pecheneg tribes led by Tyrach. Autonomous political states were formed around the main towns in Dobrogea and parts of north eastern Bulgaria between 1086 and 1091; these states were headed by Tatos in Silistra, Sartzas in Vicina, and another led by Sestlav.
The second Bulgarian Empire dates from 1186 until Ottoman rule in 1396. The first record of an independent political region of Dobrogea is dated 1320. In 1346 the Dobrogean leader was Balica. Dobrotici took over after Balica’s disappearance during a military campaign in 1348. Dobrotici’s fleet supported the Byzantine emperor against the Genoese at Constantinople in 1379 He was replaced by his son Ivanco from 1386 who ruled until 1388.
Wallachia and the Turkish rule
The Turkish invasion of Dobrogea and Silistra was defeated by Micea cel Batrin of Wallachia in 1388 and the regions of Dobrogea and Silistra were united with Wallachia. In 1393 the Turks succeed in taking these regions, but in 1404 Micea cel Batrin re-conquered the greatest part of Dobrogea and Silistra. However, the Turks took Dobrogea and Giurgiu in 1417 and Wallachia was forced to pay tribute to the Ottoman Turks.
Many Turkish and Tartars moved into Dobrogea and north east Bulgaria during the long period of Ottoman rule. Most late 19th century ethnographic maps show a mainly Turkish population in the area of modern day Bulgarian Dobrogea.
Independence of Romania and Bulgaria
Dobrogea: ethnicities (19th century)
The 1878 Russian-Turkish peace treaty of San Stefano gave independence to Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria. Russia held Dobrogea but later exchanged it for the southern Moldavia districts of Bugeac. At this time Romanians only formed 28% of the population of Dobrogea.
Following the first Balkan war of 1912 and the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, Romania expected to gain Silistra, but Bulgaria only offered small boundary changes. Romania threatened war against Bulgaria over control of the Dobrogea region which led to the Protocol of St. Petersburg in 1913 which awarded Silistra to Romania. In June 1913, whilst the Bulgarian army was overstretched in the second Balkan war, Romania declared war on Bulgaria and invaded southern Dobrogea which was undefended. This area was formally gained by Romania in the 1913 Peace Treaty of Bucharest.
In 1916 Romania joined the First World War on the side of Britain, France, Russia and Italy. Within months Romania had to evacuate Silistra, and in 1918 the peace treaty of Bucharest handed Dobrogea to Bulgaria, with this area only being regained by Romania following the peace treaty in Neuilly in 1919.
In 1940 a Romanian-Bulgarian frontier treaty in Craiova divided Dobrogea between Bulgaria and Romania. The indigenous Romanian and Bulgarian populations were exchanged.