NUMERICAL, RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF BENDERY DISTRICT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII<sup>TH</sup> CENTURY
The author considers Moscow archives source data relating to the numerical, confessional and ethnic composition of Bendery and Bendery district villages population in the second half of the XVIII<sup>th</sup> century, shows that Bendery fortress, which was under Turkish authorities' direct control, played an important role in the Russian-Turkish wars of 1768-1774 and 1787-1791, by archival materials determines the actual number of population, its confessional and ethnic composition, and basing on the studied information comes to the conclusion about the multiethnic character of the population living in Bendery in the second half of the XVIII<sup>th</sup> century.