The question of independence has hung over the Moldovan region of Gagauzia for decades. Though its people are desperately poor and rely on agriculture to survive, they cherish their language and culture deeply. Their lives are governed by the land but their hearts are governed by a yearning for identity.

For photographer Julien Pebrel, who has been documenting Gagauzia for three months, it was the mystery behind this unresolved question of independence that first drew him in. “I simply heard the word ‘Gagauzia’, which sounds very intriguing to me, [along with the words] ‘autonomous’, ‘split territory’ and ‘shepherds’ and it was enough to give me a haunting will to go there,” Pebrel tells National Geographic.

The little-known region is small,