CimiÃÂlia () is a town located in the southern part of Moldova situated on the banks of the Cogâlnic River, between the capital of ChiÃÂinÃÂu and the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia. Cimià Âlia had a population of 11,997 according to the 2014 census. The town is also the seat/administrative center () of CimiÃÂlia District. It also administers three villages as follows: Bogdanovca NouÃÂ, Bogdanovca Veche, and Dimitrovca.
The first written mention of Cimià Âlia dates from 4 July 1620, when the savant Vladimir Nicu explained that a local legend had given the town its name from an unknown origin word meaning "wealth". The priest Iacob Iusipescu, who made the first attempt at a written history of Cimià Âlia in 1874, explained that in fact it was a word of unknown origin, but cimià  was the name given to construction workers and bricklayers at that time, used by Romanian and Tatar alike.
The basis for the name might also lie in a bucolic legend of lovers, Cimià  à Âi Lia (Cimià  and Lia), for whom jewels appeared, birds sang, and springs appeared from the earth.
In fact, the reality of the locale is much harsher. Although in 1827 Cimià Âlia became an administrative center, many of its residents died of a plague and there was need of a special cemetery in the southeast part of town. Situated on the steppe of Budjak, by the Cogâlnic river, the city has often suffered from the droughts typical of the area. Dimitrie Cantemir, referring to this river in his work Descriptio Moldaviae, says "...one could say that it doesn't arise from a spring: it is only full after the rains of autumn and only then can one call it even a rivulet. All summer it is dry..." This would apply as well in our time.
In 1840 the locality received a statute as a market town. Its first school opened in 1844, and in 1885 the "hospital" of Zemstva (treating both people and animals). Between the two World Wars, (1918–1940), Cimià Âlia formed part of Tighina County or ÃÂinutul Nistru; later, as part of the Soviet Union, it became a district center.
Cimià Âlia is in Raionul Cimià Âlia, Moldova, on the banks of the river Cogâlnic.
It is located from the capital, Chià ÂinÃÂu, at the intersection of several of the country's more important roads: it is on the route from Chià ÂinÃÂu to Bolgrad or Giurgiuleà Âti, and is also on the Tiraspol – Leova road. It is from Comrat, from CÃÂuà Âeni, from Hînceà Âti, from Basarabeasca, and from Leova, at latitude 46ð30'10" N. longitude 28ð48'30" E.
The city proper covers ; the associated area extends to , including of agricultural land, including orchards and pasture.
The economy consists mainly of an agro-industrial complex with a well-developed network of manufacturing agricultural products, including meat, dairy, tree-fruit, and grain farming, as well as winemaking.
The Cimià Âlia railroad station, which takes advantage of the broad network of links toward the warehouses of the industrial and commercial companies of the city, is located in the village Mihailovka at a distance of 12 km.
Fossil deposits on a territory of in bluffs in the southeast of the city were discovered by I. Suhov in 1932 to contain bones, the remains of Hipparion fauna of the Turolian type, which were studied and described in numerous monographs published in Bucharest (I. Simionescu et al.) and Moscow (L. Gabunia). This deposit is of interest for geological correlations and paleogeographic reconstruction. It has been proposed that it become a scientific reserve.
CimiÃÂlia is twinned with: