Tiraspol

**Tiraspol** (; Roushie: Тирасполь an Ukrainian: Тирасполь) forby kent as **Tyraspol**, is the seicont lairgest ceety in Moldovae an is the caipital an administrative centre o the de facto independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistrie). The ceety is locatit on the eastren bank o the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub o licht industry, sic as furniture an electrical guids production.

Tiraspol wis foondit bi the Roushie general Alexander Suvorov in 1792. The ceety celebrates its anniversary ivery year on October 14.

## Name
The toponym consists o twa wirds: Τύρας, *[[Tyras]]* — the ancient Greek name for the Dniester River, an *[[polis]]*, i.e., a ceety. Tiraspol is translatit tae "rapid ceety".

## History

### Pre-history
Tyras, spelled *Tiras* an aw, wis a colony o the Greek ceety Miletus, probably foondit aboot 600 BCE, situatit some 10&nbsp;km. frae the mooth o the Tiras River (Dniester). O nae great importance in early times in the 2nt century BCE, it fell unner the dominion o indigenous keengs whose names appear on its coins.  It wis destroyed bi the Getae aboot 50 BCE.

In CE 56 the Romans restored the ceety an made it pairt o the colonial province o Lawer Moesie. A series o its coins exist that featur heids o Roman emperors frae Domitian (   ) tae Alexander Severus (  ). Suin efter the time o the latter, the ceety wis destroyed again, this time bi the invasion o the Goths. Its govrenment wis in the haunds o five archons, a senate, a popular assembly an a registrar. The images on its coins frae this period suggest a tred in wheat, wine an fish. The few inscriptions extant are maistly concerned wi tred.

Sic ancient archeological remains are scanty, as the ceety site wis biggit ower bi the great medieval fortress o Monocastro or Akkerman. Durin the Middle Ages, the aurie aroond Tiraspol wis a buffer zone atween the Tatars an the Moldavians, an inhabitit bi baith ethnic groups.

### Foondation
The Roushie Empire conquered its wey tae the Dniester River, takin territory frae the Ottoman Empire.  In 1792, the Roushie airmy biggit some fortifications tae guard the wastren mairch near a Moldavian veelage named Sucleie. Field Marshall Alexander Suvorov is considered the foonder o modren Tiraspol; his statue is ceety's maist distinctive laundmerk. The ceety wis named efter *Tyras*, the Latin name o the Dniester River on which it wis biggit.

In 1828 the Roushie govrenment established a customs hoose in Tiraspol tae try tae suppress smugglin. The customs hoose wis subordinatit tae the chief o the Odessa customs region. It began operations wi 14 employees. Thay inspectit shipments o breid, paper, ile, wine, succar, fruits an ither guids.

### 20t century - Soviet Tiraspol
Efter the Roushie Revolution, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic wis creatit in Ukraine in 1924, wi Balta as its caipital. The republic haed Romanian, Ukrainian an Roushie as its offeecial leids. Its caipital wis moved in 1929 tae Tiraspol, which remained the caipital o the Moldavian ASSR till 1940.

In 1940, follaein the secret provisions o the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the USSR forced Romanie tae cede Bessarabie.  It integratit Tiraspol, till then pairt o the Ukrainian SSR, intae the newly-formed Moldavian SSR.  On August 7, 1941, follaein the Axis invasion o the Soviet Union, the ceety wis taken ower bi Romanian troops. Durin the occupation, Tiraspol wis unner Romanian admeenistration. Durin that period amaist aw o its Jewish population perished: thay wur murthert in place or deportit tae German Nazi concentration camps, whaur thay wur killed.

In 1941 afore the occupation, the newspaper *Dnestrovskaya pravda* wis foondit bi the Tiraspol Ceety Cooncil o popular deputies. This is the auldest periodical publication in the region.  On Aprile 12, 1944, the ceety wis retaken bi the Red Airmy an became again pairt o Moldavian SSR.

### Efter independence
On Januar 27, 1990, the ceetizens in Tiraspol passed a referendum declarin the ceety as an independent territory. The nearbi ceety o Bendery declared its independence frae Moldova an aw. As the Roushie-speakin independence movement gained momentum, some local governments baundit thegither tae resist pressure frae the Moldovan govrenment for nationalization.

On September 2, 1990, Tiraspol wis proclaimed the caipital o the new Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The new republic wis no offeecially recognised bi Soviet authorities; housomeivver, it received support frae some important Soviet leaders, sic as Anatoly Lukyanov. Efter the dissolution o the Soviet Union, the territory east o the Dniester River declared independence as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), wi Tiraspol as its caipital. It wis no recognised bi the internaitional community.

On Julie 1, 2005, the Lucian Blaga Lyceum, a hie schuil wi Romanian as its leid o instruction, wis registered as a Transnistrian non-governmental establishment. The registration o sax Romanian leid schools haes been the subject o negotiations wi the govrenment syne 2000. The tension increased in the simmer o 2004, when the Transnistrian authorities forcibly closed the schools that uised the Moldovan leid in the Laitin script.  Accordin tae the offeecial PMR view, this is considered as Romanian. Moldovan, written in the Cyrillic script, is ane o the three offeecial leids in the PMR; Romanian is no. Some economic measures an counter-measures wur taken on baith banks o the Dniester.

## Climate
Tiraspol featurs a humid continental climate that closely borders an oceanic climate. Simmers are mild, wi average monthly temperaturs at aroond  in Julie an August. Winters are cauld, wi average temperaturs in the cauldest month (Januar) at .  Preceepitation is relatively evenly spread throughoot the year, tho thare is a noticeable increase in monthly precipitation in Juin an Julie. Tiraspol on average sees nearly  o preceepitation per year.

## Fowk an cultur

### Demographics
In 1989 the ceety haed a population o aboot 190,000 an in 1992 203,000. 41% wur Roushies, 32% Ukrainians an 18% wur Moldovans. As result o the poleetical an economic situation that follaed the proclamation o the independent (unrecognized) Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, as well as lairge Jewish emigration in the early 1990s, the population o the ceety fell belaw its 1989 nummer an the 2004 Census in Transnistrie puts its current population at 158,069.

### Sport
Thare are twa professional fitbaa clubs in Tiraspol, playin in the Divizia Naţională, the tap Moldovan fitbaa league: FC Sheriff Tiraspol & FC Tiraspol. Sheriff are the maist successfu Moldovan fitbaa club o recent history, winnin ivery league title syne the 2000-2001 saison, an 6 Moldovan Cups. A third club, CS Tiligul-Tiras Tiraspol, athdrew frae competeetion prior tae the 2009-2010 saison. Tiraspol is hame tae the Sheriff Stadium, the biggest seatit stadium in the region wi a capacity o 14,300.

## Twin touns — Sister ceeties

Tiraspol is twinned wi:

* Trondheim, Norawa, syne 2000
*Eilenburg, Germany (2002)
*Tskhinvali, Sooth Ossetia
*Severodvinsk, Roushie

## References

## Freemit airtins

### Non-Transnistrian links
* Tyraspol  (Tiraspol) in the Geographical Dictionary o the Kinrick o Poland (1892)
*Current wather at Tiraspol frae Yahoo
*Airticle aboot travellin tae Tiraspol  at Lonely Planet
*Tiraspol on Google Maps
*Tiraspol telephone directory
*Yellae pages o Tiraspol 

### Transnistrian links
*VisitPMR.com  (govrenment-registered (ICDISS-funded) traivel information wabsteid)
*Tiraspol.info  (in Roushie)