Moldova Nouă (; ; ; or ''Bošňák''; sr, Нова Молдава) is a town in southwestern

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 ...

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...

(the historical region of

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

), in an area known as ''

Clisura Dunării Defileul Dunării, also locally known as Clisura Dunării ( sr, Банатска Клисура / ) is a geographical region in Romania. It is located in southern Banat, along the northern bank of the river Danube. Clisura Dunării is situated betw ...

''. The town administers three villages: Măcești ( hu, Macsevics, sr, Мачевић), Moldova Veche (''Ómoldova'', Стара Молдава), and Moldovița (''Kiskárolyfalva'', Молдавица). The town lies on the shores of the river

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, which separates it from

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. It is located at the southern extremity of Caraș-Severin County, from the county capital,

Reșița Reșița (; german: link=no, Reschitz; hu, Resicabánya; hr, Ričica; cz, Rešice; sr, Решица/Rešica; tr, Reşçe) is a city in western Romania and the capital of Caraș-Severin County. It is located in the Banat region. The city had ...

. It is crossed by

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the Federal Government of the United States, federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Pot ...

, which connects it to

Oravița Oravița (; hu, Oravicabánya; german: Orawitz; cs, Oravice; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Oravica, separator=/, Оравица) is a town in the Banat region of Romania, in Caraș-Severin County, with a population of 11,382 in 2011. Its theater is a fully fu ...

, to the north, and

Orșova Orșova (; german: Orschowa, hu, Orsova, sr, Оршава/Oršava, bg, Орсово, pl, Orszawa, cs, Oršava, tr, Adakale) is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the ...

, to the east.

Moldova Veche

In Moldova Veche village, evidence of human habitation dating to the transition between the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

and the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

has been found. Additionally, there exist traces of an unfortified

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

n settlement, similar to several others in the area. In

Roman Dacia Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...

, a ''

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...

'' located in the village supervised mining and navigation on the Danube. Vestiges from the Dark Ages and the Early Middle Ages have been found; during the 10th and 11th centuries, the area was controlled by Glad and later

Ahtum Ajtony, Ahtum or Achtum ( hu, Ajtony, bg, Охтум, ro, Ahtum, sr, Ахтум) was an early-11th-century ruler in the territory now known as Banat in present Romania and Serbia. His primary source is the ''Long Life of Saint Gerard'', a 14t ...

.Short history
at the Moldova Nouă Town Hall site

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

have been living there since their replacement of the Gepids in the 5th century. In 1552, when the Banat fell under Ottoman rule, Moldova Veche became the capital of a

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησι� ...

within the

Temeşvar Eyalet The Province of Temeşvar ( ota, ;ایالت طمشوار Eyālet-i Tımışvār), known as Province of Yanova after 1658, was a first-level administrative unit (eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire located in the Banat region of Central Europe. B ...

. In 1566, at the end of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ� ...

's reign, coins of gold (''altâni'') and silver (''aspri'') were minted there. A document of 1588 records the place under the name ''Mudava''; this is the earliest written mention. The Slavicizied Germanic-origin toponym is still used by locals.

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Life He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...

and the majority of Romanian philologists and historians claim that the name comes from the term of Germanic origin mulde (i.e., "hollow", "quarry" or "drainage"). In 1718, the area came under the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

's control. The village was absorbed into Moldova Nouă in 1956. It is the site of a Danube port. There is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church; the community was established in 1927, its first church built in 1967 and the present structure in 2001. Adherents are both Romanian and Serbian, with services conducted in Romanian.Djurić-Milovanović, p. 128

Demographics

At the 2011 census, 81.2% of inhabitants were

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

, 12.8%

, 3.2%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, 1.3%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

, and 0.8%

Czechs The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...

. At the 2002 census, 88.4% were

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...

, 4.5%

, 4%

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, and 2%

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Natives

* Ștefan Blănaru (born 1989), Romanian footballer *

Emilijan Josimović Emilijan Josimović (Moldova Nouă, Caraș-Severin County, then part of Austrian Empire, 1823 – Sokobanja, 25 May 1897) was a Serbian urban planner who designed the first urban plan of Belgrade at the same time as Cerdà in Barcelona and Georges ...

(1823–1897), Serbian urbanist * Iasmin Latovlevici (born 1986), Romanian footballer *

Mihăiță Pleșan Mihăiță Păunel Pleșan (born 19 February 1983) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Club career Mihăiță Pleșan was born on 19 February 1983 in Moldova Nouă, Romania and he started playing jun ...

(born 1983), Romanian footballer *

Anca Pop Anca Pop (October 22, 1984 – December 16, 2018) was a Romanian Canadian singer-songwriter. On July 12, 2017, she released her self-titled debut studio album exclusively in Japan which spawned four singles including: "Free Love", "Super Cool", ...

(1984–2018), Romanian-Canadian singer-songwriter * Cosmin Sârbu (born 1996), Romanian footballer *

Deian Sorescu Deian Cristian Sorescu (; born 29 August 1997) is a Romanian professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger or a full-back (association football), full-back for Ekstraklasa club Raków Częstocho ...

(born 1997), Romanian footballer *

Clara Vădineanu Clara Vădineanu (former Vînătoru; born 26 October 1986, in Moldova Nouă) is a Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, U ...

(born 1986), Romanian handballer *

Ella Zeller Ella Zeller (married name Ella Constantinescu; born 26 November 1933) is a retired Romanian table tennis player, coach and administrator. From 1952 to 1964 she won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Table Tennis European ...

(born 1933), Romanian table tennis player

Climate

Moldova Nouă has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(''Cfb'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

Notes

*Aleksandra Djurić-Milovanović
"Serbs in Romania: Relationship between Ethnic and Religious Identity"

Balcanica ''Balcanica'' is an annual publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Thirty-eight volumes have been published since 1970, with contributions from prominent Serbian, Yugoslav, Balkan and Europea ...

XLIII (2012), pp. 117–142

References

Populated places in Caraș-Severin County Towns in Romania Monotowns in Romania Mining communities in Romania Populated places on the Danube Romania–Serbia border crossings Localities in Romanian Banat {{CaraşSeverin-geo-stub