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2 History 3 Population 4 External Links |
Geography
The town has in administration 9671 ha, of which 369 ha are inside the residential areas. The Tulcea – Braila roadway crosses the town.
Inhabited since ancient times, the city was called "Noviodunum", probably a name of a Celtic origin ("dunum" is Celtic for "hillfort" or "fortified settlement"), with another Dacian city called "Genucla" located nearby. In 514 BC, Darius the Great fought here a decisive battle against the Scythians. A trade post was also built in this town by the Greeks
Later, the city was the base of the lower Danube Roman fleet named "Clasis Flavia Moesica". In 369 a battle led by the Roman emperor Flavius Valens took place here against the visigoths led by Athanaric. It was then the most important Byzantine naval base on the Danube until 602 when the Byzantines lost it to the migrating people.
The current name has its origin probably in an 11th century local Romanian king named "Saccea", name that was for the first time used by Byzantine Anna Comnena in her Alexiad.
In the 1340, it was occupied by the Golden Horde, then in the 14th century it was ruled by Mircea cel Batran, then Vlad Tepes reached it in 1462 during his campaigns against the Ottoman Empire, but in 1484 it became a Turkish teritory, the Ottomans building here a fort for defending their Northern border.
Burnt several times in the 18th century during the Russian-Turkish wars, it was occupied by each side for several times.
After the Independence War of Romania against the Ottoman Empire, it became part of the new state of Romania.
History
Population
The majority of the population is formed by Christian Orthodoxs Romanians, although it exists a 4% minority of Muslim Turks. External Links