Galaţi

Galaţi. Map: VIII-9. City (1980 pop 261,000) and district center in southeastern Romania, situated at the confluence of the Danube River and Seret (Siret) River. Nearby the Prut River joins the Danube. Galaţi is an important trade and industrial center, inland port, and naval base. The largest shipyard in Romania is found there. In the late 11th and 12th centuries it was known as Malyi Halych and played an important role in Galicia's trade with Bulgaria, the Byzantines (see Byzantine Empire), the Italian cities, and the Orient. From the early 16th century to 1829 it was an important Ottoman port, and from 1834 to 1883 a free port. Hetman Ivan Mazepa died and was buried there in Saint George's Cathedral.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]