Tătaru Mare

Native name: Tătaru Mare
Geography
Location	Danube, Chilia branch
Coordinates	45°23′42″N 29°12′18″E / 45.395°N 29.205°E / 45.395; 29.205
Area	25 km2 (9.7 sq mi)
Administration
Romania
Tulcea County

Tătaru Mare Island (Romanian: Insula Tătaru Mare/Ostrovul Tătaru) is a Romanian island in the northernmost branch of the Danube Delta.

The island has a surface area of 2,500 ha or 25 km² or 9.7 sq mi and is of high importance to the local agriculture, its soil having a yearly output of up to 5 tons of wheat or 10 tons of corn per hectare.^[1] The island is home to the eponymous Ostrovu Tătaru village, within the Chilia Veche commune. Starting 2015, a Norwegian-funded minimum security prison functions on the island.^[2]

The island was part of Romania until the start of the Second World War. In the fall of 1940, the Romanian Danube islands of Tătaru Mare, Dalerul Mic, Dalerul Mare, Maican and Limba were occupied by the Soviet Union.^[3] All of the five islands were re-occupied by Axis-aligned Romania in July 1941 (Operation München), only to be lost again in 1944 after King Michael's Coup. In early 1948, the Soviet Union agreed to return Tătaru Mare Island back to Romanian rule, the only one of the five Danube islands ultimately recovered by Romania.^[4]