Dobrogea is the Romanian name for Dobruja, (Bulgarian: Dobrudzha), a territory between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, divided between Romania and (Southern Dobruja, in Romanian Cadrilater) Bulgaria.

The Romanian administrative region of Dobrogea consists of the counties of Constanta and Tulcea, with a combined area of 15,500 kmē and population of now slightly under a million. Its principal cities are Constanta, Tulcea, Medgidia and Mangalia.

History

This land was inhabited since ancient times by Dacians. In the 7th and 6th century BC several Greek colonies were founded here including Tomis, Histria, Callatis, Dionysopolis and Olbia to facilitate trade with locals.

The area was controlled by the Scythians in the 5th century BC and then, in the 1st century BC, by the Romans as part of Moesia. The territory alternated between the medieval Byzantine and Bulgarian empires until its fall in 1411 to the Ottoman Empire.

It remained under Turkish rule until 1878, when Romania received its present part of the area and Bulgaria the smaller Southern Dobruja in the (Treaty of Berlin). Romania also ruled the Southern Dobruja from 1913 until 1940.