DOBRUDJA, or Dobrudscha, in Bulgarian Dobritch, is the district lying between the Black Sea and the lower reaches of the Danube, by which it is separated from Roumania. The southern part of its area of 2900 square miles is occupied by an irregular steppe stretching north from the Balkan range; while the northern belongs to the alluvial tract produced by the action of the river. The predominant element in its heterogeneous population, which is estimated at 160,000, consists of the Tatars, whose numbers have been greatly augmented by immigration since 1859; but there are also Turks, Bulgarians, Roumanians, Greeks, Armenians, Germans, and Jews, and all the various nationalities remain strikingly distinct, and usually occupy more or less exclusively their separate settlements. The principal places in the Dobrudja are Rassova, Hirsova, Matchin, Isakcha, and Tulcha on the Danube; Babadagh towards the north, which was formerly regarded as the chief town of the district; Kustendji, Mangalia, and Beltchik on the coast; Basardjik towards the south and some distance inland; and, finally, the new Tatar city of Medjidia, which has sprung up since 1860 on the railway between Tchernavoda and Kustendji. The strategical importance of the Dobrudja was recognized by the Romans, who in the reign of Trajan built a line of fortifications from the river near Rassova to the coast near Kustendji; and in modern times it has been more than once utilized, especially during the Russian invasions of 1828, 1854, and 1877. See Peters, Grundlinien zur Geographie und Geologie der Dobrudscha, Vienna, 1867-1868