The town was first mentioned as an important customs post in
a commerce grant issued by the Moldavian voivode Alexander the Good to the
merchants of Lviv on October 8, 1408. The name "Tighina" is found in
documents from the second half of the 15th century. The town was the main
Moldavian customs point on the commercial road linking the country to Tatar Crimea.
During his reign of Moldavia, Stephen III had a small wooden fort built in the
town to defend the settlement from Tatar raids.
In 1538, the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
conquered the town from Moldavia, and renamed it Bender
