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Questions about Southern Dobruja

Short answers, pulled from the story.

What is Southern Dobruja and where is it located?

Southern Dobruja is a region of north-eastern Bulgaria covering 7,412 square kilometers, comprising the Dobrich and Silistra provinces. It is part of the historical region of Dobruja and has a population of around 358,000.

When did Southern Dobruja become part of Romania?

Southern Dobruja was ceded to Romania under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913, following Bulgaria's defeat in the Second Balkan War. It had been part of Bulgarian territory since 1878.

What happened to Southern Dobruja in 1940?

On the 7th of September 1940, Southern Dobruja was restored to Bulgaria under the Treaty of Craiova. The treaty required a compulsory population exchange in which about 110,000 Romanians, Aromanians, and Megleno-Romanians left Southern Dobruja, while roughly 77,000 Bulgarians left Northern Dobruja.

What was the population of Southern Dobruja in 1910?

In 1910, Southern Dobruja had 282,007 inhabitants. Bulgarians made up 47.6 percent, Turks 37.8 percent, Roma 4.3 percent, Tatars 4.2 percent, and Romanians about 2.3 percent.

Why did Romania redistribute land in Southern Dobruja after 1913?

In 1914, Romania required landowners in Southern Dobruja to surrender one third of their claimed land or pay its cash equivalent. Much of the redistributed land went to settlers including tens of thousands of Aromanians from Macedonia and Romanians from Wallachia, leading to claims the policy had a nationalist purpose.

How many Romanians live in Southern Dobruja today?

By the 2001 census, only 591 Romanians remained in Southern Dobruja, rising slightly to 947 by 2011. Almost 95 percent of the Romanians who had lived there before 1940 had settled in the region only after 1913 and were displaced by the Treaty of Craiova population exchange.