Theodosia

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Theodosia

Theodosia (, , ) is a port and resort city in Crimea, Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast. The name is also often spelled as Feodosiya (according to Russian and Ukrainian pronunciation).

History

The city was founded under the name of Theodosia (Θεοδοσία) by Greek colonists from Miletos in the 6th century BC. (See also List of traditional Greek place names.) Noted for its rich agricultural lands, on which its trade depended, it was destroyed by the Huns in the 4th century AD.

Theodosia remained a minor village for much of the next nine hundred years. It was at various times part of the sphere of influence of the Khazars (excavations have revealed Khazar artifacts dating back to the ninth century) and of the Byzantine Empire. Like the rest of Crimea, it fell under the domination of the Kipchaks and was conquered by the Mongols in the 1230s.

Caffa

In 1204 - 1261 and 1296 - 1307 Kaffa was temporarily under Genoa's rival doge state's -Venetian- rule. In the late 13th century, traders from Genoa arrived and purchased the town from the ruling Golden Horde. They established a flourishing trading settlement called Caffa (or Kaffa), which virtually monopolised trade in the Black Sea area and served as the chief port and administrative centre for the Genoese settlements around the Sea. It came to house one of Europe's biggest slave markets. Under Genoa since 1266, it was governed by a Genoese consul, who since 1316 was in charge of all of all Genoese Black Sea colonies

It is believed that the devastating pandemic the Black Death entered Europe for the first time via Caffa in 1347. It is believed that the bubonic plague first entered Europe with the movements of the Golden Horde. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army under Janibeg was reportedly withering from the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants. The Genoese traders fled transferring the plague via their ships into the south of Europe, from whence it rapidly spread.

Kefe

Because the Genoese started intervening in the internal affairs of the Crimean Khanate, a turkish vassal, the Ottoman commander Gedik Ahmet Pasha seized the city in 1475. Renamed Kefe, it became one of the most important Turkish ports on the Black Sea.

Later

Ottoman control ceased when the expanding Russian Empire conquered the whole Crimea in 1783. It was renamed Feodosiya (Феодосия) in 1802, a Russian adaptation of the ancient Greek name.

The city was captured twice by the forces of Nazi Germany during World War II, sustaining significant damage in the process. In 1954, it was transferred to the control of the Ukrainian SSR.

The city today

Modern Theodosia is a popular resort city with a population of about 85,000 people. It has beaches, mineral springs, and mud baths, and is renowned for its many sanatoria and rest homes. Apart from tourism, its economy rests on agriculture and fisheries, with local industries including fishing, brewing and canning. As is the case in much of the rest of the Crimea, most of its population is ethnically Russian and the Ukrainian language is relatively little used there. In June 2006, Theodosia made the news in connection with the Crimean anti-NATO protests of 2006.

Miscellanea

Theodosia is known as the city where the seascape painter Ivan Aivazovsky lived and worked all his life. It is also the town where the general Pyotr Kotlyarevsky and the writer Alexander Grin spent the declining years of their lives.

The town is well known as a birth place of the russian aviation, mountain "planernaya" is still being used for para-gliding.

Sources and references

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