Editing Moldavia (section)

===Phanariots (1711–1822)===
{{Main|Phanariotes|Russo-Turkish wars}}
[[File:Principati1786.jpg|thumb|The Principalities of Moldavia and [[Wallachia]] in 1782, Italian map by G. Pittori, since the geographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni]]
[[File:Siege and capture of Jassy in 1788 by the Russian army.jpg|thumb|The siege and capture of [[Iași]] by the Russian Army during the [[Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)|Russo-Turkish War]] in 1788]]

During the late 17th century, Moldavia became the target of the [[Russian Empire]]'s southwards expansion, inaugurated by [[Peter the Great]] with the [[Pruth River Campaign|Russo-Turkish War of 1710-1711]]. Prince [[Dimitrie Cantemir]] sided with Peter in open rebellion against the Ottomans, but he was defeated at [[Stănilești]]. Sultan [[Ahmed III]] officially discarded recognition of local choices for princes, imposing instead a system relying solely on Ottoman approval: the [[Phanariotes|Phanariote epoch]], inaugurated by the reign of [[Nicholas Mavrocordatos]].

Phanariote rule was marked by [[political corruption]], intrigue, and high taxation, as well as by sporadic incursions of Habsburg and Russian armies deep into Moldavian territory. Nonetheless, they also attempted legislative and administrative modernization inspired by [[Age of Enlightenment|The Enlightenment]] (such as the decision by [[Constantine Mavrocordatos]] to salarize public offices, to the outrage of boyars, and the abolition of serfdom in 1749, as well as [[Scarlat Callimachi (hospodar)|Scarlat Callimachi]]'s ''Code''), and signified a decrease in Ottoman demands after the threat of Russian annexation became real and the prospects of a better life led to waves of peasant emigration to neighboring lands. The effects of Ottoman control were also made less notable after the 1774 [[Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca]] allowed Russia to intervene in favour of Ottoman subjects of the Eastern Orthodox faith - leading to campaigns of petitioning by the Moldavian boyars against princely policies.

In 1712, [[Khotyn|Hotin]] was taken over by the Ottomans and became part of a defensive system that Moldavian princes were required to maintain, as well as an area for Islamic [[colonization]] (the [[Laz people|Laz]] community).