Moldova, is a country in Eastern Europe, with an area of 33,483 km2 (12,928 sq mi) and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria lies across the Dniester river on the country’s eastern border with Ukraine. Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic with its capital in Chișinău, the country’s largest city and main cultural and commercial center. Most of Moldovan territory was a part of the Principality of Moldavia from the 14th century until 1812, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire by the Ottoman Empire (to which Moldavia was a vassal state) and became known as Bessarabia.