Drochia

Drochia is a city in the northern part of Moldova. It is the administrative center of the eponymous district. The city is located 174.4 km north of the national capital, Chişinău, and 67 km north-east of the Romanian city of Iaşi. The average elevation of Drochia is 226 meters. The population at the 2004 census was 16,606.

The name of the city comes from a local type of bird, called dropie.

Drochia is first mentioned by chroniclers in 1777. By 1830 it was a small settlement encompassing 25 families. A document dating from 1847 notes that a small grape-processing plant, the town's first industrial enterprise, had been built. Two mills situated on a local stream were built in 1875.

More intensive industrial development emerged after the railway first came through at the end of the 19th century. At the 1930 census, the locality (then a village) was known as Drochia-Gară (literally Drochia Station), and had a population of only 595. It was part of Plasa Bădiceni of the Soroca County.