The location of present-day makes it a historic passageway between Asia and southern Europe as well as the victim of frequent warfare. Greeks, Romans, Huns and Bulgars invade the area, which in the 13th century becomes part of the Mongol empire. An independent principality of Moldavia emerges briefly in the 14th century under celebrated leader Stefan the Great, but subsequently comes comes under Ottoman rule in the early sixteenth century.

After the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12, the eastern half of Moldavia (Bessarabia) between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers is ceded to Russia, while Moldavia west of the Prut, remains with the Turks. In 1918 a council of state proclaims independence from Russia as the Moldavian Democratic Republic. This republic is later that year incorporated into Romania. The USSR doesn't recognize the action and creates an autonomous Moldavian republic on the east side of the Dniester River in 1924.

In 1940 Romania is forced to cede Bessarabia to the USSR, which establishes the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. Romania seeks to regain it by joining with Germany in the 1941 attack on the USSR. Bessarabia is ceded back to Moscow when hostilities between the USSR and Romania cease at the end of World War II. In 1990 Mircea Snegur is elected president of Moldavia by the parliament. A former Communist Party official, he endorses independence from the USSR and actively seeks Western recognition.

Moldova declares its independence from the USSR in 1991 as the Republic of Moldova. Moldova becomes a presidential democratic republic. In 1991 Snegur is elected by the people as an independent unopposed candidate. Moldova's transition to democracy is initially impeded by an ineffective parliament, the lack of a new constitution, a separatist movement led by the Gagauz (Christian Turkic) minority in the south, and unrest in the Transnistria region on the left bank of the Nistru/Dniester River, where a separatist movement, assisted by uniformed Russian military forces in the region and led by supporters of the 1991 coup attempt in Moscow, declared the non-recognized state of Transnistria in 1991. A new parliament is eelcted in 1994 and the Gagauz minority is granted of autonomy in 1994. Prime Minister Andrei Sangheli is re-elected to his post in 1994. Authorities in Transnistria, however, refuse to allow balloting there and discourage the local population from participating. Inhabitants of the Gagauz separatist region participate in the elections.

In the presidential elections of 1996, Petru Lucinschi surprises the nation with an upset victory over the incumbent, Mircea Snegur, than leader of the Partidul Renasterii ci Concilierii din Moldova (Party of Rivival and Conciliation of Moldova, PCRM), in a second round of balloting. The elections were widely judged as free and fair by international observers, a hallmark that would come to characterize future nationwide elections in Moldova as well. Though Lucinschi manages to institute reforms, his tenure is marked by constant legislative struggle with Moldova's parliament. In 2000 parliament passes a decree declaring Moldova a parliamentary republic, with the presidency henceforth to be decided not by popular vote, but by parliamentary vote. However, since no single candidate was able to garner a majority of votes, Lucinschi temporarily remains president. Later that year, when parliament failed three times to successfully elect a new president, Lucinschi exercises his right to dissolve Parliament, calling for new parliamentary elections in the hope that a new Parliament would be more open to his initiatives and, possibly, even rescind the decree on election of the president. These elections are won by the Partidul Comunistilor din Moldova (Communist Party of Moldova, PCM). Parliaments elects the communist leader Vladimir Voronin as president.

In 2004 Moldova and Transnistria agree to build a future federal country with two entities under the name Federal State of Moldova and Dniestr.