Chilia Veche (Romanian pronunciation: /kiˈlija ˈveˈke/; meaning ''Old Chilia''; ) is a commune in

Tulcea County Tulcea County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historical region Dobruja, with the capital city at Tulcea. It includes in its northeast corner the large and thinly-populated estuary of the Danube. Demographics In 2021, Tulcea Coun ...

Northern Dobruja Northern Dobruja ( or simply ; , ''Severna Dobrudzha'') is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube, Danube River and the Black Sea, bordered in the south by Southern Dobruja, which is a part of Bulgaria. ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, in the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

. It gave its name to the

Chilia branch The Chilia branch (; ) is one of three main distributary channels of the river Danube that contribute to forming the Danube Delta. Lying at the northernmost area of the delta, the distributary creates a natural border between Romania and Ukra ...

of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, which separates it from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is composed of four villages: Câșlița, Chilia Veche, Ostrovu Tătaru and Tatanir. Founded by the Greek Byzantines, it was given its name after the word for "granaries" - , ''kellia'', recorded earliest in 1241 in the works of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

chronicler A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, ...

Rashid al-Din. Some scholars consider the mediaeval

Genoese Genoese, Genovese, or Genoan may refer to: * a person from modern Genoa * a person from the Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria * Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language * Ligurian language, a Romance language of whi ...

trade centre known as ''Lycostomo'' () was also located here. A town on the other side of the

, now in

, known as '' Nova Kiliia'' () or "New Chilia", was built by

Stephen the Great Stephen III, better known as Stephen the Great (; ; died 2 July 1504), was List of rulers of Moldavia, Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II of Moldavia, Bogdan II, who was murdered in ...

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

in order to counteract the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(that had taken control of the former town in the 15th century). Ostrovu Tătaru village, which has no permanent population, is located on

Tătaru Mare Island Tătaru Mare Island (Romanian: Insula Tătaru Mare/Ostrovul Tătaru) is a Romanian island in the northernmost branch of the Danube Delta. Characteristics The island has a surface area of and is of high importance to the local agriculture, its so ...

References

* for the commune * for the town

External links

* Communes in Tulcea County Localities in Northern Dobruja Romania–Ukraine border crossings Byzantine sites in Romania Territories of the Republic of Genoa Place names of Greek origin in Romania {{Tulcea-geo-stub