Chilia Veche

Chilia Veche
Commune
Location of Chilia Veche Location of Chilia Veche
Coordinates:
Country	Romania
County	Tulcea
Component villages	Câşliţa, Chilia Veche, Ostrov Tătaru, Tatanir
Government
• Mayor	Georgeta Ciupitu (since 2004)
Area
• Total	533.58 km2 (206.02 sq mi)
Population (2002)
• Total	3,606
• Density	6.8/km2 (18/sq mi)
Website	http://www.cjtulcea.ro/judet/chilia.html (Romanian)

Chilia Veche (pronunciation: /ki.'li.a 've.ke/; meaning Older Chilia; Ukrainian: Stara Kilia) is a commune in Tulcea County, Romania, on the Danube Delta (Dobruja). It gave its name to the Chilia branch of the Danube, which separates it from Ukraine. It is composed of four villages: Câşliţa, Chilia Veche, Ostrov Tătaru and Tatanir.

Founded by the Greek Byzantines, it was given its name after the word for "granaries" - κελλίa, kellia, recorded earliest in 1241 in the works of Persian chronicler Rashid al-Din. Some scholars consider the mediaeval Genoese trade centre known as Lycostomo (Λυκόστομο) was also located here. A town on the other side of the Danube, now in Ukraine, known as Novo Kilia (Romanian: Chilia Nouă) or "Newer Chilia", was built by Stephen the Great of Moldavia in order to counteract the Ottoman Empire (that had taken control of the former town in the 15th century).

References

• Chilia Veche at GEOnet Names Server for the commune
• Chilia Veche at GEOnet Names Server for the town