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Bessarabia is a former region of Eastern Europe co,prising most of current-day Moldova and districts of Ukraine. It is bounded by the Dniestr river to the north and east, the Prut to the west and the the lower Danube river and the Black Sea to the south.

The region's main cities are Chişinău, the capital of Moldova, Tiraspol, Izmayil and Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'ki. The name Bessarabia (in Romanian, Basarabia) is probably derived from the Wallachian family of Basarab, once rulers over part of the area.

Greek settlers established colonies in the region in the 7th century BCE. Bessarabia was part of the Dacian kingdoms ruled by Burebista in 1st century BC and by Decebalus in the 1st century AD. After the Roman Empire conquered a part of Dacia, the free Dacians resettled in Bessarabia.

The region was later frequently invaded: by Goths, Huns, Avars, Magyars, Cumans and Mongols. Through the Middle Ages, Bessarabia was a part of the principality of Moldavia, falling thereafter under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1812, the Treaty of Bucharest gave the region to Russia. After the Crimean War, the southern part was handed over to Moldavia, but this reverted to Russian rule in 1878. After the Russian Revolution, the area declared itself an independent republic. A union with Romania was confirmed by Romania's western allies in the Treaty of Paris (1920), but this was not recognised by the Soviet Union.

In 1940, Romania had to cede the region to the the Soviet Union, whereupon most of it became the bulk of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic while districts in the north and south were joined to the Ukrainian SSR. When these countries gained independence in August 1991, the boundaries remained unchanged.