Botoşani

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Botoşani (pronunciation in Romanian: /bo.to'ʃanʲ/) (population: 115,069) is the capital city of Botoşani County, in northern Moldavia, Romania.

Contents

1 Origin of the name
2 History
3 People
4 Culture
5 Sport
6 External links

Origin of the name

The name of the city probably has its origin in the name of a boyar family called Botaş, whose name can be found in old records from the time of Prince Stephen the Great (late 15th century) as one of the most important families of Moldavia, records which trace it back to the 11th century.

Another possible origin of the name is that of a Mongol chief, Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, who occupied this region in the 13th century.

History

The oldest item (to be dated precisely) found in the area is an Armenian tombstone dated 1350. The first mention of Botoşani in writing is the Chronicles of Moldavia by Grigore Ureche, which records a devastating invasion of the Tatars on November 28, 1493. The city was initially a market town, being placed at the juncture of several commercial roads; in the 16th century, it already had "the biggest and the oldest fair of Moldavia".

Large communities of Jewish and Armenian traders were present in this city starting with the 17th century.

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Mihai Eminescu, Romania's national poet, was born near Botoşani, in Ipoteşti, and the famous Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga was born in the city.

It is also the location of A.T. Laurian National College, one of Romania's oldest (founded 1859) and most prestigious pre-university educational institutions.

People

Culture

Botosánka is a dance of the Csángós.
State Jewish Theater (Romania)

Sport

Football is represented in Botoşani by the team FC Botoşani.

External links

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