Silistria
a town of Rumania (formerly belonging to Bulgaria), on the right bank of the Danube, 66 miles N. E. of Shumbla. For five centuries it was the main defensive point of the Turkish em- Vol 8 pire on the N. E. It was an ill-built and dirty town till the Crimean War, but BB-Cyc SILK after that time it was considerably improved. Silistria was strongly fortified up to 1878, when the fortifications were decreed, like those of other Bulgarian cities, to be dismantled in accordance with the terms of the Berlin treaty. In May treaty. and June, 1854, with a garrison of 15,000, it successfully resisted a siege of 39 days by 60,000 to 80,000 Russians. After the Balkan War Silistria was awarded to Rumania by the Treaty of Bukarest in 1913. Pop. about 15,000.