An Oasis on the Danube: Ada Kaleh
An Oasis on the Danube: Ada Kaleh

Summary/Abstract: Ada Kaleh, which means “the island of the fortress” in Turkish, was 1.75 km long and 400–500 metres wide. Due to its great strategic importance, guarding the river after it emerged through the treacherous waters of the Iron Gates, between the Carpathians and the Balkan mountain ranges, it was occupied in the fifteenth century by the Ottomans. Under the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718 it was taken over by Austria, and renamed new Orsova. The Austrians built a strong fortress on the ruins of the original Roman fort, then another treaty returned it to Turkey in 1739. Romania gained the right in 1829 to place many administrative facilities on the island, but at the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 it was somehow forgotten, and remained an isolated Turkish territory. Romania took possession at the end of the First World War, though its loss was only acknowledged by Turkey at the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Still, the vast majority of the population remained Turkish.

• Details
• Contents