The myth, included in works of Grigore Ureche (1590–1647), Miron Costin (1633–1691) and Dimitrie Cantemir (1673–1723), but given varying levels of credibility by these, was that the hunter Dragoș from Maramureș (the founder of Moldova) One myth, given different levels of credence by Ureche, Miron Costin, and Cantemir, was about a place-name: Moldova.
[citation needed] The short-lived capital of Moldova, Baia in the Suceava County, was called Stadt Molde in a 1421 German document.
[6] Polish historian Ilona Czamańska [pl] states that, "according to the tradition of local chroniclers, the first Moldavian prince who agreed to pay tribute to the Ottomans was Bogdan III, who reigned in the years 1504–1517,"[7] and notes that "this was [later used] to explain the Turkish name of Moldavia — Bogdania.
[9] The term "Black Wallachia" (Romanian: Valahia Neagră), in Turkish Kara-Eflak, was another name found used for Moldova in the Ottoman period.
After the entire eastern part of the region, between the Pruth and the Dniester, was ceded by the Ottomans to Russia in the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest, the Russians used the name Bessarabia for its new acquisition.