Dudeștii Vechi (until 1964 Beșenova Veche; Banat Bulgarian: Stár Bišnov; ; ; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Cheglevici, Colonia Bulgară and Dudeștii Vechi (commune seat). It also included Vălcani until 2005, when it was split off to form a separate commune. Dudeștii Vechi is mostly populated by Banat Bulgarians (Palćene), a regional minority group of ethnic Bulgarians that profess Roman Catholicism, who came from northern Bulgaria, and who are descendants of Paulicians that settled in the area around 1738. Geography Dudeștii Vechi is located in the western extremity of Timiș County. The nearest town is Sânnicolau Mare, 11 km away. Dudeștii Vechi lies in the Aranca Plain, the lowest sector of the Mureș Plain. The Aranca Plain has a monotonous relief, of low plain, with wide and straight interfluves, interrupted, in some places, by high mounds. The origin of these mounds is either anthropic (Neolithic tumuli) or structural (the presence in the subsoil of "pits" of stronger sandy clays or local "swellings" of the clay, due to a higher local groundwater level). Climate The climate is temperate continental, with Western European and sub-Mediterranean influences. The former are felt by the predominance of western and northwestern air currents and the reduction of the climatic contrast between winter and summer, and the sub-Mediterranean influences, determined by the southwestern air currents from the Adriatic Sea, determine a "taming" of winter rigors. The average annual temperature at the nearest station is 10.8 °C, the average amount of precipitation is relatively low (544.3 mm), and the number of rainy days is low during the year (less than 110 days). These values prove the arid, steppe character of the climate in this area. Hydrography The surface hydrographic network is represented by the Aranca River and the system of drainage and irrigation canals. The Aranca River springs from the Vinga Plain, close to the Mureș riverbed, between Felnac to the east and Sânpetru German to the west. It covers a distance of 108 km on the territory of Romania, draining an area of 1,016 km2. However, the slope of the riverbed is very small, almost horizontal, which is why the river is very winding, with many meanders, disentanglements and abandoned arms. The Aranca course was connected to a system of canals built in order to drain and eliminate excess water from the soil surface. On the territory of