Moldavian Plain ( ro, Câmpia Moldovei) is a geographic area in the north east of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, one of the components of the

Moldavian Plateau The Moldavian Plateau ( ro, Podișul Moldovei) is a geographic area of the historical region of Moldavia, spanning nowadays east and northeast of Romania, most of Moldova (except the south), and most of the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine (where it ...

. Despite the name, Moldavian Plain is not flat, but a region dotted with hills, part of the Moldavian Plateau. Moldavian Plain is situate in the center-north part of the Moldavian Plateau. It has elevations of cca. 200 m, and is composed of the Upper and the Lower Jijia Plains. Before 1940 the term used to mean Jijia Plain plus Middle Prut Valley, plus the Bălți steppe, because the three regions have an identical relief and natural vegetation. To make the things even more complicated, in Moldova sometimes Bălți steppe and Middle Prut Valley are lumped together into one term, Bălți steppe. The Moldavian Plain is surrounded from all three sides by hills: Suceava Plateau to the west, the

Northern Moldovan Plateau Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

to the north, and the Bârlad Plateau to the south. The Plain is limited to the east by the

Prut River The Prut (also spelled in English as Pruth; , uk, Прут) is a long river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube. In part of its course it forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine. Characteristics The Prut originates ...

In the south of the western part lies the valley of the Jijia River, a tributary of the Prut. The region is a traditional agricultural area, favored by several factors, such as the black earth (earth with a very high natural fertility), a high degree of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

that occurred in the 19th century, and the tradition. Crops, vegetables, industrial plants (such as tobacco), fruit trees (such as apple trees), fodder for livestock, and occasionally grapes, potatoes, and berry shrubs are cultivated. The agriculture is overwhelmingly dominant over the traditional vegetation, (deciduous)

forests A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, and only occasionally

forest steppe A forest steppe is a temperate-climate ecotone and habitat type composed of grassland interspersed with areas of woodland or forest. Locations Forest steppe primarily occurs in a belt of forest steppes across northern Eurasia from the eastern ...

s. Traditional wildlife - wolves, foxes, rabbits, boars, roes, storks, geese, ducks - are very rarely found outside a few remaining forests. A traditional horse growing area, the Moldavian Plain since the beginning of the 20th century has specialized in livestock (cows, sheep) and poultry.

Bibliography

* http://www.iatp.md/arii/text/ro/legende/intro.htm * https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/dmarioara/subpodmo.htm&date=2009-10-25+21:00:25 * http://www.ebacalaureat.ro/c/11/92/182/0/Podisul-Moldovei {{coord missing, Romania Plateaus of Romania