The Development of Towns in the Principality of Moldavia Between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The article investigates the development of towns in the Principality of Moldavia during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, highlighting the mixed character of the urban economy, in which agriculture coexisted alongside crafts and trade, maintaining a vital role in the economic life of towns. It analyzes the legal framework, the distribution of land ownership, and the proportion of the urban population engaged in agriculture, as well as the main branches of agrarian activity (cereal cultivation, viticulture, animal husbandry, horticulture, vegetable growing, and beekeeping), including the techniques and tools employed. The study also explores crafts related to the processing of agricultural products and both internal and external trade networks. The methodology combines documentary and archival source analysis with an interdisciplinary approach that integrates economic and urban history. The findings confirm that urban agriculture was a widespread phenomenon and that Moldavian towns functioned as resilient economic hubs, integrated into regional trade circuits. The article offers relevant conclusions for understanding the particularities of eastern European urbanization in the pre-modern era and serves as a foundation for future research in economic and urban history.