HOTIN, a fortified town and capital of a department of Bessarabia, Rumania, situated on the right bank of the Dniester, on the frontier of the Ukraine and near that of Poland. Pop. 15,287. Hotin possesses manufactures of leather, candles, beer, shoes and bricks, and does an export trade in local products, but its main importance has always been as a military post de fending a much-frequented crossing of the Dniester. It was a mediaeval Genoese colony, and has been held by Moldavians, Poles, Austrians, Russians and Turks. The population of the department of Hotin is mainly Ukrainian.