Soroca (russian: link=no, Сороки, Soroki, uk, Сороки, Soroky, pl, Soroki, yi, סאָראָקע ''Soroke'') is a city and municipality in

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, situated on the

Dniester River The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

about north of

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...

. It is the administrative center of the

Soroca District Soroca is a district in north-east Moldova. Its administrative center is the town of Soroca. In 2018, the population of the region was 100,078. History Ancient beginnings Archeological evidence of prehistoric occupation dating to 35000 to 500 ...

History

The city has its origin in the medieval Genoese trade post of Olchionia, or Alchona. It is known for its well-preserved stronghold, established by the

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Stephen the Great Stephen III of Moldavia, most commonly known as Stephen the Great ( ro, Ștefan cel Mare; ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 ...

(''Ștefan cel Mare'' in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

) in 1499. The origins of the name Soroca are not fully known. Soroca (Russian: сорока) means Magpie in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. Its location is only a few kilometers from the Moldova–Ukrainian border. The original wooden fort, which defended a ford over the Dniester, was an important link in the chain of fortifications which comprised four forts (e.g.,

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi ( uk, Бі́лгород-Дністро́вський, Bílhorod-Dnistróvskyy, ; ro, Cetatea Albă), historically known as Akkerman ( tr, Akkerman) or under different names, is a city, municipality and port situated on ...

, then known as Akkerman, and

Khotyn Khotyn ( uk, Хотин, ; ro, Hotin, ; see other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of t ...

) on the Dniester, two forts on the

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 ...

, and three forts on the north border of medieval

. Between 1543 and 1546, under the rule of

Peter IV Rareș Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, the fort was rebuilt in stone as a perfect circle with five bastions situated at equal distances. During the Great Turkish War,

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobie ...

's forces successfully defended the fort against the Ottomans. It was of vital military importance during the

Pruth River Campaign The Russo-Ottoman War of 1710—1711, also known as the Pruth River Campaign, was a brief military conflict between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The main battle took place during 18-22 July 1711 in the basin of the Pruth riv ...

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

in 1711. The stronghold was sacked by the Russians in the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39). The Soroca Fort is an important attraction in Soroca, having preserved cultures and kept the old Soroca to the present day. The locality was greatly extended in the 19th century, during a period of relative prosperity. Soroca became a regional center featuring large squares, modernized streets, hospitals, grammar schools and conventionalized churches. During the Soviet period, the city became an important industrial center for northern Moldova. Soroca was known for producing

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

in 1919.

Climate

The climate in Soroca is a warm-summer subtype (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Dfb'') of the

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 ...

Demographics

The population was estimated at 35,000 in 1919. It consisted mainly of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

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 ...

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, and

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

also lived in the city. The city once had a Jewish population of around 18,000, but there are only 100 today and 20 of them are considered Jewish according to the ''

halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

''. In 2012, Soroca had an estimated 37,500 inhabitants. The city has a sizable

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

minority and is popularly known as the "Romani capital of Moldova."

Mayor

The Mayor of Soroca is head of the executive branch of Soroca City Council.

Natives

Samuel Bronfman Samuel Bronfman, (February 27, 1889 – July 10, 1971) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Bronfman family. Biography Samuel Bronfman was born in Otaci, So ...

(1889–1971), a Canadian entrepreneur, former owner of

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

* Alexandru Cimbriciuc * Arkady Gendler - Yiddish Singer *

Sofia Imber Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, a Venezuelan journalist, founder of the Contemporary Art Museum of Caracas *

Isaac Kitrosser Isaac Kitrosser (1899–1984) was a Moldovan-born, French fine art photographer, photojournalist, chemical engineer, and inventor of photographic processes. Family Isaac Khunovich Kitrosser was born August 27, 1899, in Soroca in Moldova (then Rus ...

, French photojournalist * Anna Mincovschi, mother of

Robert Hossein Robert Hossein (30 December 1927 – 31 December 2020) was a French film actor, director, and writer. He directed the 1982 adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and appeared in '' Vice and Virtue'', '' Le Casse'', '' Les Uns et les Autres'' and '' ...

Kira Muratova , honorific_suffix = People's Artist of Ukraine , birth_date = , birth_place = Soroca, Kingdom of Romania(now Moldova) , death_date = , death_place = Odessa, Ukraine , birth_name = Kira Gueórguievn ...

, a Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and actress * David Seltzer (1904–1994), New York Yiddish language writer, journalist and poet *

Marina Shafir Marina Shafir (Moldovan Cyrillic: Марина Шафир; born 14 April 1988) is a Moldovan professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She formerly competed for Invicta Fighting Championsh ...

, a Moldovan mixed martial arts and professional wrestler currently works for All Elite Wrestling. * Nicolae Soltuz, a member of

Sfatul Țării ''Sfatul Țării'' ("Council of the Country"; ) was a council that united political, public, cultural, and professional organizations in the greater part of the territory of the Governorate of Bessarabia in the disintegrating Russian Empire, w ...

Robert Steinberg Robert Steinberg (May 25, 1922, Soroca, Bessarabia, Romania (present-day Moldova) – May 25, 2014) was a mathematician at the University of California, Los Angeles. He introduced the Steinberg representation, the Lang–Steinberg theorem, t ...

, a Canadian mathematician *

Leonte Tismăneanu Leonte Tismăneanu (born Leonid Tisminetski, or Tisminețki; 1913–1981) was a Romanian communist activist and propagandist. Born into a Jewish family in Soroca, Bessarabia, Russian Empire (now in Moldova),Badin he joined the Romanian Communi ...

, a Romanian communist activist * Eugen Ţapu (1983–2009), a protester in the post-election riots in

who died while in police custody *

Gheorghe Ursu Gheorghe Emil Ursu (known to friends as Babu; July 1, 1926 – November 17, 1985) was a Romanian construction engineer, poet, diarist and dissident. A left-wing activist and avant-garde intellectual who joined the Romanian Communist Party as a youth ...

(1926–1985), a Romanian construction engineer and dissident * Mark Tkaciuk, historian, politician

Media

* ''

Observatorul de Nord ''Observatorul de Nord'' ( en, North Observatory) is a newspaper from Soroca, the Republic of Moldova, founded in 1998 by Victor Cobăsneanu.

'', a newspaper from Soroca, founded in 1998 Reporter european
*

Vocea Basarabiei Vocea Basarabiei ( en, Voice of Bessarabia) is a Romanian language radio station in Moldova. History Vocea Basarabiei was launched on 18 June 2000 in Nisporeni. The Audiovisual Coordinating Council refused in 2002 and 2003 to register Vocea ...

, 67,69 and 103.1

Gallery

Image:Stamp of Moldova md029pds.jpg, Thanksgiving Candle can be seen at night from

Otaci Otaci (formerly Ataki, Russian Атаки) is a town (population 8,400) on the southwestern bank of the Dniester River, which at that point forms the northeastern border of Moldova. On the opposite side of the Dniester lies the Ukrainian city of ...

and

Camenca Camenca ( ro, Camenca , Moldovan Cyrillic: Каменка; russian: Каменка, Kamenka; uk, Кам'янка, Kamyanka) is a town in Transnistria, a breakaway republic internationally recognized as part of Moldova. It is composed of the town ...

. File:Сорокская крепость Cetatea Soroca Soroca Fortress (42928896330).jpg, Soroca Fort File:Stamp of Moldova 175.gif, Soroca Fort Image:Manastirea Rughi Soroca 39L.JPG, Rudi Monastery File:Stamp of Moldova md022std.jpg,

Mihai Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanian Romantic poet from Moldavia, novelist, and journalist, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active membe ...

File:Сорокский уезд № 10 (1898 г.).jpg, Soroca 1898 local stamp

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Soroca is twinned with: *

Bryansk Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population: Geography Urban layout The location of the settlement was originally ass ...

, Russia *

Flămânzi Flămânzi is a town in Botoșani County, Western Moldavia, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, ...

, Romania *

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central and Eastern E ...

, Romania

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Moldova Municipalities of Moldova Populated places on the Dniester Capitals of the counties of Bessarabia Soroksky Uyezd Soroca County (Romania) Shtetls Romani communities in Moldova Soroca District