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Chișinău

Capital of MoldovaChișinău lies in the middle of Moldova on the river Bîc, a tributary of the Dniester. It is roughly the same distance from the border with Romania as from the border with Ukraine.

Why it's the capital

Founded in 1436 as a monastery village in the Principality of Moldavia, it became the capital of Bessarabia after the Russian Empire took the region in 1812. In 1940 it became the capital of the Moldavian SSR, and it stayed the capital when Moldova became independent in 1991.

Fun facts

  1. The name comes from old Romanian words: chișla, meaning 'spring' or 'source of water', and nouă, meaning 'new'.
  2. Its Romanian nickname, Orașul din piatră albă, means 'the city of white stone'.
  3. The city's Triumphal Arch was completed in 1840, a few years after the Nativity Cathedral was built between 1830 and 1836.

Finding it on the globe

Find Moldova, the country wedged between Romania to the west and Ukraine on its other sides, and aim right at its middle.

Sources: Wikipedia: Chișinău, Wikipedia: Moldova