DOBRUDSCHA

dobrudscha, and dobruja, a region of south-eastern europe, bounded on the north and west by the danube, on the east by the black sea, and on the south by bulgaria. pop. (1900) 267,808; area, 6000 sq. m. the strategic importance of this territory was recognized by the romans, who defended it on the south by "trajan's wall," a double rampart, drawn from constantza, on the black sea, to the danube. in later times it was utilized by russians and turks, as in the wars of 1828, 1854 and 1878, when it was finally wrested from turkey. by the treaty of berlin, in 1878, the russians rewarded their rumanian allies with this land of mountains, fens and barren steppes, peopled by turks, bulgarians, tatars, jews and other aliens; while, to add to the indignation of rumania, they annexed instead the fertile country of bessarabia, largely inhabited by rumans. after 1880, however, the steady decrease of aliens, and the development of the black sea ports, rendered the dobrudja a source of prosperity to rumania. dobsina (ger. _dobschau_), a town of hungary, 165 m. n.e. of budapest by rail. pop. (1900) 5109. it is situated in the county of gomor, at the foot of the radzim (3200 ft. high) in the central carpathians, and lies to the south of the beautiful straczena valley, watered by the river gollnitz, and enclosed on all sides by mountains. in the vicinity are mines of iron, cobalt, copper and mercury, some of them being very ancient. but the most remarkable feature is a large cavern some 33⁄4 m.