BENDER, a town of Russia, the capital of a district in the province of Bessarabia, situated on the right bank of the Dniester, 35 miles from Kisheneff, in 46° 49' N. lat. and 29° 29' E. long. It possesses three Greek churches, a Roman Catholic church, a dissenting place of worship, four synagogues, and a mosque. Its industrial establishments include a tobacco-factory, candle-works, and brickkilns. An important trade is carried on by means of its harbour on the Dniester and the road that leads to Odessa,— the greater part of the ships discharging their cargoes here to be conveyed by land to Odessa and Jassy. The principal articles of trade are corn, wine, wool, cattle, tallow, and especially timber, which is floated down the Dniester. The citadel is separated from the town by an eminence, which bears the name of the Suwaroff mound; in its eastern part is a wooden castle with towers. There are also four suburbs to the town, which in 1867 had a population of 24,443, the greater proportion of them being Jews. As early as the 12th century the Genoese had a settlement on the site of Bender. The Moldavians called the place Teegeen, and the name of Bender was only bestowed by the Turks in the end of the 14th century. In 1709 Charles XII., after the defeat of Poltava, collected his forces here in a camp which they called New Stockholm, and continued there till 1711. Bender was thrice taken by the Russians,— by Panim in 1770, Potemkin in 1789, and Meyendorf in 1806,—but it was not held permanently by Russia till the Bucharest peace of 1812.

BENDER-ABBASI, a town of Persia in the province of Kirman, on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf, in 27° 13' N. lat. and 56° 7' E. long., about 12 miles N.W. of the island of Ormuz. It is surrounded with walls, but the houses are of a very poor description. The old Dutch factory is still standing, and serves as the occasional residence of the Imam of Mascat, to whose domain the town belongs. There is a comparatively small trade in the export of tobacco and fruits and the import of cotton-cloth and pottery. The port is shallow and inconvenient; and it is evident that changes of the coast line by silting up and denudation have considerably altered the character of the place since the time when, under the name of Gombroon, it ranked as one of the first seaports of Persia. In 1612 the Portuguese had established Fort Komoran here, but it was destroyed in 1614, and they were expelled by Shah Abbas I. The English, however, were permitted to build a factory, and about 1620 the Dutch obtained the same privilege. On the capture of the island of Ormuz in 1622 by the English and Persians, a large portion of its trade was diverted to the town, which derived its name of Bender-Abbasi, or Harbour of Abbas, from the shah. During the rest of the 17th century the traffic was very great, all the neighbouring nationalities and merchants from the principal countries of Europe frequenting its markets; but in the 18th century this prosperity declined, and most of the trade was removed to Bushire. In 1759 the English factory was destroyed by the French; and though it was afttrwards re-established, it has long been abandoned. The ruins of the factory and other buildings lie to the west of the present town. Population about 9000.