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Sevastopol
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Sevastopol (see pronunciation below) is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 (2001). The city, formerly the home of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, is now a Ukrainian naval base mutually used by the Ukrainian Navy and Russian Navy.
The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours make Sevastopol a strategically important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
The trade and shipbuilding importance of Sevastopol's Port has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union, despite the difficulties that arise from the joint military control over its harbours and piers.
Sevastopol is also an important centre of marine biology research.
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Encyclopedia
Sevastopol (see pronunciation below) is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 (2001). The city, formerly the home of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, is now a Ukrainian naval base mutually used by the Ukrainian Navy and Russian Navy.
The unique geographic location and navigation conditions of the city's harbours make Sevastopol a strategically important naval point. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
The trade and shipbuilding importance of Sevastopol's Port has been growing since the fall of the Soviet Union, despite the difficulties that arise from the joint military control over its harbours and piers.
Sevastopol is also an important centre of marine biology research. In particular, studying and training of dolphins has been conducted in the city since the end of World War II. It was first conducted as a secret naval program to use the animals for special undersea operations.
Political status and subdivision
Administratively, Sevastopol is a municipality excluded from the surrounding Autonomous Republic of Crimea (see Administrative divisions of Ukraine for more details). The territory of the municipality is 863.5 km² and it is further subdivided into four raions (districts). Besides the City of Sevastopol proper, it also includes 2 towns — Balaklava, Inkerman, urban-type settlement Kacha, and 29 villages.
History
Sevastopol together with Kronstadt and Gibraltar is one of the most famous naval citadels in Europe. It was founded as Akhtiar in 1783 by admiral Thomas Mackenzie, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. It became an important naval base and later a commercial port. In 1797 under an edict issued by Emperor Paul I, the military stronghold was renamed Akhtiar. Finally, on April 29 (May 10), 1826, the city was returned to the name of Sevastopol.
One of the most notable events involving the city is the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) carried out by the British, French, Sardinian, and Turkish troops during the Crimean War, which lasted for 11 months. Despite its efforts, the Russian army had to leave its stronghold and evacuate over a pontoon bridge to the north shore of the inlet. The Russians had to sink their entire fleet to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy and at the same time to block the entrance of the Western ships into the inlet. When the enemy troops entered Sevastopol, they were faced with the ruins of a formerly glorious city. A panorama of the siege created by Franz Roubaud and which was restored after its destruction in 1942 is housed in a specially constructed circular building in the city. It portrays the situation in the height of the siege, on 18 June 1855.
During World War II Sevastopol withstood bombardment by the Germans in 1941–1942, during the Axis siege which lasted for 250 days before it fell in July 1942. The city was renamed as "Theodorichhafen" in 1942. It was liberated by the Red Army on May 9, 1944 and was awarded with the Hero City title a year later.
In 1957, the town of Balaklava was incorporated into Sevastopol.
During the Soviet era, Sevastopol, became a so-called "closed city". This meant that any non-residents had to apply to the authorities for a temporary permit to visit the city. It was directly subordinate to the central Russian SFSR authorities rather than the local oblast and later (after 1978) to the Ukrainian administration. In May 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the "Peace & Friendship" treaty ruling out Moscow's territorial claims to Ukraine.
Like in the rest of the Crimea, Russian remains the predominant language in the city, although following the independence of Ukraine there have been some attempts at Ukrainization that have had very little success.
Etymology of the name
The name of Sevastopolis (Modern , old-fashioned Seßast??p????, Sevastoupolis), or currently Sevastopol, was originally chosen in the same etymological trend as other cities in the Crimean peninsula that was intended to reflect its ancient Greek origins. It is a compound of two Greek nouns, (sebastós, Modern sevastós) "venerable, reverend" and (pólis) "city". is the traditional Greek translation of the honourable Roman title Augustus "venerable, august", originally given to the first emperor of the Roman Empire, G. Julius Caesar Octavianus and later awarded as a title to his successors (see Augustus).
Despite its Greek origin, the name is not old. The city was probably named after the Empress (= "Augusta") Catherine II of Russia who founded Sevastopol in 1783. She visited the city in 1787 accompanied by Joseph II, the Emperor of Austria, and other foreign dignitaries.
In the west of the city there are well-preserved ruins of an ancient Greek port city Chersonesos founded in the 5th c. BC. The name means "peninsula" reflecting its location and is not related to the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula, Chersonesos Taurike ("the Taurian Peninsula").
Orthography and pronunciation of the name
- In English, the current prevalent spelling of the name is Sevastopol. The spelling Sebastopol was also formerly used. In English it is pronounced or .
, pronounced /s???s't?p?l?/ in Ukrainian and /s??v?s'top?l?/ in Russian.
Sights and monuments
After World War II, Sevastopol was entirely rebuilt. Many top architects and civil engineers from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and other cities and thousands of workers from all parts of the USSR took part in the rebuilding process which was mostly finished by the mid-1950s. The downtown core situated on a peninsula between two narrow inlets, South Bay and Artillery Bay, features mostly Mediterranean-style, three-story residential buildings with columned balconies and Venetian-style arches, with retail and commercial spaces occupying the ground level. Some carefully restored landmarks date back to the early 20th c. (e.g., the Art Nouveau Main Post Office on Bolshaya Morskaya St and the Art Museum on Nakhimovsky Prospect). It has been a long-time tradition for the residents of surrounding suburbs to spend summer evenings by coming to the downtown area for a leisurely stroll with their families along the avenues and boulevards encircling the Central Hill, under the famous Sevastopol chestnut trees, and usually ending up on the waterfront with its famous Marine Boulevard.
Due to its military history, most streets in the city are named after Russian and Soviet military heroes. There are hundreds of monuments and plaques in various parts of Sevastopol commemorating its military past.
Attractions list
- Chersonessos National Archeological Reserve
- The Panorama Museum (Heroic Sevastopol Defence during the Crimean War)
- Malakhov Kurgan (Barrow) with its White Tower
- Vladimirsky Cathedral (St. Vladimir Cathedral) on the Central Hill
- The Sunken Ships Monument on Marine Blvd.
- The Russian Black Sea Fleet Museum
- The May 7, 1944 Storm of Sapun Mtn Diorama Museum (World War II)
- Brotherhood (Communal) War Cemetery
Demographics
The population of Sevastopol is 342,451 (2001), making it the 15th largest city in Ukraine and the second largest in Crimea (after its capital Simferopol). According to the Ukrainian National Census, 2001, the ethnic groups of Sevastopol include Russians (71.6%), Ukrainians (22.4%), Belarusians (1.6%), Tatars (0.7%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Armenians (0.3%), Jews (0.3%), Moldovans/Romanians (0.2%), and Azerbaijanis (0.2%).
Economy
Apart from navy-related civil facilities, Sevastopol hosts some other notable industries, such as "Phiolent" - Ukraine's largest power tools manufacturer and Stroitel one of the leading plastics manufacturers in Ukraine.
Russian naval base and ownership dispute
According to the 1997 treaty, the Russian naval base is declared to be "located in Sevastopol" on the terms of a twenty year renewable lease, following a long diplomatic and political dispute between Russia and the newly independent Ukraine. At first, Moscow refused to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol as well as over the surrounding Crimean oblast, arguing that the city was never practically integrated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic due to its military base status. This claim has been relinquished in the bilateral "Peace & Friendship" treaty, which has confirmed that Sevastopol belongs to Ukraine. A separate treaty establishes the terms of a long-term lease of land and resources in Sevastopol by Russia.
The ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet with all its facilities was divided between Russia's Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy after a continuous, sometimes violent struggle. The two navies now co-use some of the city's harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remains the home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval HQ also based in the city. A judicial row continues over the naval hydrographic infrastructure both in Sevastopol and on the Crimean coast (especially lighthouses used in civil navigation support).
The status of the Black Sea Fleet has a strong influence over the city's business and cultural life. The Russian society in general and even some outspoken government representatives have never accepted the loss of Sevastopol, and tend to regard it as temporarily separated from the homeland. Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov declared that Sevastopol "should again be a Russian city" and appropriated $34 million for "the support of compatriots abroad." Protests by citizens of the city caused the cancellation of a joint Ukraine-NATO military exercise in 2006.
Kiev-appointed authorities retain formal control of Sevastopol's life (such as of taxation and civil policing) and try to avoid confrontation with the base command and pro-Russian groups. A few years ago, the Communist-dominated city council rejected a EBRD loan to renovate Sevastopol's poor sewage system, declaring that the project was intended to increase the city's dependence on the Ukrainian government and the West.
The WE Youth Political Organization, which advocates Russian citizenship for Sevastopol residents, published a poll in 2004 claiming "72% of the Sevastopol citizens support the idea of the independent status of Crimea... Besides, 95% of the respondents support the constant stationing of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol even after 2017, when the time of the corresponding agreement between Russia and Ukraine is up. Also, 100% of the interrogated people are for the accordance of the having a double citizenship, Russian and Ukrainian, right to the Sevastopol citizens. Although it is notable those in case of obtaining the Russian citizenship only 16% of the Sevastopol citizens are ready to give up the Ukrainian one."
The International Herald Tribune has reported Ukraine is planning to not renew the lease.
See also
Further reading
External links
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