Ochakiv,also known asOchakov(Ukrainian:Очаків,pronounced[oˈt͡ʃɑ.k⁽ʲ⁾iu̯];Russian:Очаков;Crimean Tatar:Özü;Romanian:Oceacovor, archaically,Vozia), andAlektor(Greek:Ἀλέκτωρ), is a small city inMykolaiv Raion,Mykolaiv Oblast(region) of southernUkraine.It hosts the administration ofOchakiv urban hromada,one of thehromadasof Ukraine.[1]Its population is13,663 (2022 estimate).[2]
Ochakiv
Очаків | |
|---|---|
 Saint Nicholas Cathedral | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Ochakiv Location of Ochakiv  Ochakiv Ochakiv (Ukraine) | |
| Coordinates:46°37′07″N31°32′21″E/ 46.61861°N 31.53917°E | |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Oblast | Mykolaiv Oblast |
| Raion | Mykolaiv Raion |
| Hromada | Ochakiv urban hromada |
| Founded | 1492 |
| Government | |
| •Mayor | Mykola Topchyi |
| Area | |
| • Total | 12.49 km2(4.82 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | |
| • Total | 13,663 |
| • Density | 1,100/km2(2,800/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2(EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3(EEST) |
| Postal code | 57500-57014 |
| Area code | +380 5154 |
| Website | mrada.ochakiv.info |
 | |
For many years the city fortress served as a capital of the Ottoman province (eyalet).
Geography
editThe city is located at the mouth ofDnieper,on the banks of theDnieper-Bug Estuary.Between theCape of Ochakiv(northern bank) and theKinburn Spit(southern bank) there are only 3.6 km (2.2 mi). The Ochakiv and Kinburn fortresses controlled the entrance to Dnieper and Bug.
History
editEstablishment and names
edit
The strip of land on which Ochakov is located was inhabited byThraciansandScythiansin ancient times. It was known as a part of Great Scythia. In the 7th and 6th centuries BC, Greek colonists had founded a commercial colony town, namedAlektor,near the Thracian coast. Archaeological excavations also show that near the area was the oldMilesian(ancient Greek) colony ofPontic Olbia;it is supposed that the same Greek expeditions settled Alektor.[clarification needed]
In the 1st century BC, Alektor became a Roman colony and part of theRoman empire.The area was part of the space in which theRomanians' ethnogenesis took place,[citation needed]and was also more generally a place of passage for many migratory people and tribes. As a result of the migrations, the city fell and the inhabitants lived in small settlements built on the shores of theBugandDnieper Rivers.
During the Middle Ages the place was namedVoziaby Romanians. The name is supposed to come from a plant known in Romanian asboziiorbozia(Sambucus ebulus), a medicinal herb frequently found there. The territory was a part of theBrodnicirule. It fell underTatardomination in the time of theMongol invasion of Europe.
Alexandru cel Bun(Alexander I, the Good),rulerofMoldavia(r. 1400–1432), and his allyVytautas,Grand Duke ofLithuania(r. 1392–1430), freed the Vozia territory and a fortress was built again close to Alektor's ruins. Later the stronghold will be mentioned in Russian chronics asDashev.
In the 14th century the Senarega brothers, Genovese merchants and warriors, had settled a castle at the place calledLerici,very close to Vozia city. It was a good point for commerce with Romanians and Tatars, but the Senarega family's interference inMoldavia's internal affairs made the Moldavians fromCetatea Albă(today's Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi) take the castle from them in 1455.
In 1492, Crimean Tatars took Vozia from the Moldavians and named itÖzü-Cale,which literally meant "Dnieper-fortress". The name was also very similar to the then current RomanianVozia.At that time, the city was also referred to asKara-Kerman( "Black city" ) as an opposite to Cetatea Albă ( "White City", hence the synonymous naming as Ak-Kerman), also taken by the Tatars and Turkish army from their once Moldavian rulers.
In 1493, the fortress was taken by thecossacksof Bohdan Gliński. Due to its strategic location the fortress was a site of contest for a long time betweenMoldavia,Moldavia's allyZaporizhian Sich,thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,and theOttoman Empire.
At a later date it became the centre of an Ottomansanjakwhich includedKhajidereh(today Ovidiopol),Khadjibey(Odessa), andDubossary,as well as some 150 villages, andSilistra Province,sometimes called Özi Province, to which it belonged.[3]Khadjibey later became a sanjak centre of its own.
In 1600Mihai Viteazul(Michael the Brave), Prince ofWallachia,took control of the city for a short time.
Giovanni Battista Malbi noted in 1620 that the town and the land of Vozia, even if ruled by the Tatars, were inhabited by Romanians, describing them as having the Orthodox religion and a corrupt Latin-Italian language, with Slavic influences, as in those times the Old Slav language was the church language in all Romanian countries. The same ethnic note was made by Niccolo Barsi fromLuccain the same century.
Lawryn Piaseczynski, secretary of the Polish kingSigismund III Vasa,traveling with a diplomatic mission toGazi GirayKhan, traversing the region of Cetatea Albă (Ak-Kerman) and the Vozia or Oceakov region, found only "Moldavian villages under the Tatar Khan's domination, ruled in his name by Nazyl Aga" ( "sate moldoveneşti pe care le ţine hanul tătărăsc şi pe care le guvernează în numele lui sluga lui Nazyl aga" )[4]Similar notes were made byGiovanni Botero(1540–1617) inRelazioni universali(Venice 1591);Gian Lorenzo d'AnaniainL'Universale fabbrica del Mondo, ovvero Cosmografia(Napoli 1573, Venice 1596 etc.) andGiovanni Antonio Magini(1555–1617), fromPadova,înGeographie universae(Venice 1596).
Daniel Krman wrote that apart from the Turks and Tatars, the conquerors of Vozia, the city was inhabited by Moldavians (Romanians) and a number of Greek merchants.
Russian conquest
edit
During theRusso-Turkish War (1735–1739),theRussian Empire,viewing the Ottoman fortress as the key for obtaining control of the Black Sea littoral, besieged it in 1737. Russian troops commanded by Marshalvon Münnichtook the fortress by storm(July 1737),but the following year Russia abandoned it, restoring it to Turkey in 1739.[3]The 1737 siege became famous as the background to one of the tales of the fictionalBaron Munchausen.
During theRusso-Turkish War of 1787–1792,Russian land forces underAlexander Suvorovand naval units commanded byJohn Paul Jonesstarted a secondsiege of Ochakov,which began in the summer of 1788 and lasted six months. In December 1788, in temperatures of −23 °C (−9 °F), the Russians stormed the fortress, resulting in a terrible loss of life. The siege became the subject of a famousodebyGavrila Derzhavin.[5]The navalBattle of Ochakov(July 1788) took place alongside the city during the same campaign. TheTreaty of Jassyof 1792 transferred Özi to the Russian Empire, which renamed it asOchakov(Russian:Оча́ков).
Initially the Russian Empire planned to establish a "New Moldavia" as a point of attraction for the Romanians from Moldavia, Wallachia and other Romanian-speaking areas.[citation needed]Romanians became a minority in the area as a result of the Russian Empire's policy of Slavic settlement.[6]
Anglo-French occupation
editDuring theCrimean WartheKinburn Fortressopposite Ochakiv was bombarded by the Anglo-French fleet and captured on 17 October 1855, in the course of theBattle of Kinburn.The fortress remained in Anglo-French hands for the remaining months of the war, while the Russians abandoned Ochakiv and destroyed the fort located there. After that war the coastal defences around Ochakiv were rebuilt and strengthened.
Recent history
editWith the establishment of the Ukrainian statehood as theUkrainian People's Republicthe Ukrainian name of the city became official. Ochakiv was part of theSoviet Union'sUkrainian SSRand during World War II it was occupied byRomaniabetween 1941 and 1944. This was the first time in the city's history that the ethnological and sociological research of Ochakiv's Romanians survivors were made byAnton Golopenția.[7]
Until 18 July 2020, Ochakiv was incorporated as acity of oblast significance.It also served as the administrative center of Ochakiv Raion even though it did not belong to the raion. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Mykolaiv Oblast to four, the city of Ochakiv was merged into Mykolaiv Raion.[8][9]
Present
editToday Ochakiv is a resort town and a fishing port. The current estimated population is around 16,900 (as of 2001).[citation needed]Military personnel are about a third of the local population.[10]
The town's main sight is the building of theSuvorov Museum,which served as amosquein the 15th century. It was converted into the church ofSt. Nicholasin 1804 and was reconstructed in Russian style in 1842.
Ochakiv is home to aUkrainian Navy’sMaritime Operations Center,one of several buildings built by U.S. forces in the late 2010s. It was attacked in theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[11][10]
Not far from the city is located the Historical-Archaeological Preserve "Olvia"andBerezan Island.On the Kinburn peninsula are located the National park "White Bank of Svyatoslav" and the "Volzhyn forest" ofBlack Sea Biosphere Preserve.
Gallery
edit-
Ochakiv town centre -
Saint Nicholas Church in Ochakiv -
Saint Nicholas Church -
Ochakiv Military History Museum -
Beach near the 'Alley of fairy tales'
References
edit- ^"Очаковская городская громада"[Ochakiv city community] (in Russian). Портал об'єднаних громад України.
- ^Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022[Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022](PDF)(in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv:State Statistics Service of Ukraine.Archived(PDF)from the original on 4 July 2022.
- ^abOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Ochakov".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 988.
- ^"Transnistria înainte şi acum - partea I"[Transnistria before and now - part I].romaniancoins.org.
- ^"Осень во время осады Очакова (Державин) — Викитека"[Autumn during the siege of Ochakov (Derzhavin)].Wikisource.
- ^ Zaporojia-teritoriu de etnogeneza a poporului român(tr. "Zaporozhye Territory of ethnogenesis of the Romanian people"),foaienationala.ro
- ^o_lucrare_fundamentalArchived2016-03-04 at theWayback MachineThe whole research raport can be read here:Anton_Golopentia-Romanii_De_La_Est_De_Bug[dead link]
- ^"Про утворення та ліквідацію районів. Постанова Верховної Ради України № 807-ІХ"[About the formation and liquidation of districts. Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine No. 807-IX.].Голос України(in Ukrainian). 2020-07-18.Retrieved2020-10-03.
- ^"Нові райони: карти + склад"[New areas: maps + store] (in Ukrainian). Міністерство розвитку громад та територій України.
- ^abHerszenhorn, David M. (24 February 2022)."Ukraine naval base drew Putin's wrath, then Russian fire".POLITICO.Retrieved18 August2023.
- ^Ukrainian interest. Putin's maneuvers, Waszczykowski’s advice, and Merkel's rating13 August 2017UNIANaccessed 28 December 2022
External links
edit
