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ODESSA

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 4 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ODESSA , one of the most important seaports of See also:

Russia, ranking by its See also:population and See also:foreign See also:trade after St See also:Petersburg, See also:Moscow and See also:Warsaw. It is situated in 46° 28' N. and 30° 44' E., on the See also:southern See also:shore of a semi-circular See also:bay, at the See also:north-See also:west See also:angle of the See also:Black See also:Sea, and is by See also:rail 1017 m. S.S.W. from Moscow and 610 S. from See also:Kiev. Odessa is the seaport for the basins of two See also:great See also:rivers of Russia, the See also:Dnieper, with its tributary the See also:Bug, and the See also:Dniester (20 M. to S.). The entrances to the mouths of both these offering many difficulties for See also:navigation, trade has from the remotest antiquity selected this spot, which is situated See also:half-way between the two estuaries, while the level See also:surface of the neighbouring See also:steppe allows easy communication with the See also:lower parts of both rivers. The bay of Odessa, which has an See also:area of 14 sq. m. and a See also:depth of 30 ft. with a soft bottom, is a dangerous anchorage on See also:account of its exposure to easterly winds. But inside it are six harbours—the See also:quarantine See also:harbour, new harbour, See also:coal harbour and " See also:practical " harbour, the first and last, on the S. and N. respectively, protected by moles, and the two See also:middle harbours by a See also:breakwater. Besides these, there are the harbour of the See also:principal See also:shipping See also:company—the See also:Russian Company for Navigation and See also:Commerce, and the See also:petroleum harbour. The harbours freeze for a few days in See also:winter, as also does the bay occasionally, navigation being interrupted every See also:year for an See also:average of sixteen days; though this is materially shortened by the use of an See also:ice-breaker. Odessa experiences the See also:influence of the See also:continental See also:climate of the neighbouring See also:steppes; its winters are See also:cold (the average temperature for See also:January being 23.2° F., and the See also:isotherm for the entire See also:season that of See also:Konigsberg), its summers are hot (72.8° in See also:July), and the yearly average temperature is 48.5°. The rainfall is scanty (14 in. per annum). The See also:city is built on a See also:terrace too to 155 ft. in height, which descends by steep crags to the sea, and on the other See also:side is continuous with the level of the " black See also:earth " steppe.

Catacombs, whence See also:

sandstone for See also:building has been taken, extend underneath the See also:town and suburbs, not without some danger to the buildings. The See also:general aspect of Odessa is that of a wealthy west-See also:European city. Its See also:chief See also:embankment, the Nikolai See also:boulevard; bordered with tall and handsome houses, forms a See also:fine See also:promenade. The central square is adorned with a statue of Armand, duc de See also:Richelieu (1826), who was See also:governor of Odessa in 1803-1814. A little back from the sea stands a fine See also:bronze statue of See also:Catherine II. (1900). A magnificent See also:flight of nearly 200 See also:granite steps leads from the Richelieu See also:monument down to the harbours. The central parts of the city have broad streets and squares, bordered with fine buildings and mansions in the See also:Italian See also:style, and with See also:good shops. The See also:cathedral, founded in 1794 and finished in 1809, and thoroughly restored in 1903, can accommodate 5000 persons; it contains the See also:tomb of See also:Count See also:Michael See also:Vorontsov, governor-general from 1823 to 1854, who contributed much towards the development and embellishment of the city. The " Palais Royal," with its See also:parterre and fountains, and the spacious public See also:park are fine See also:pleasure-grounds, whilst in the ravines that See also:lead down to the sea cluster the houses of the poorer classes. The shore is occupied by immense See also:granaries, some of which look like palaces, and large storehouses take up a broad space in the west of the city. Odessa consists (i.) of the city proper, containing the old fort (now a quarantine See also:establishment) and surrounded by a boulevard, where was formerly a See also:wall marking the limits of the See also:free See also:port; (ii.) of the suburbs Novaya and Peresyp, extending northward along the lower shore of the bay; and (iii.) of Molda-.. vanka to the See also:south-west.

The city, being in a treeless region; is proud of the avenues of trees that See also:

line several of its streets and of its parks, especially of the See also:Alexander Park, with a statue of Alexander II. (1891), and of the summer resorts of See also:Fontaine, See also:Arcadia and Langeron along the bay. Odessa is rising in repute as a summer sea-bathing resort, and its mud-See also:baths (from the mud of the limans or lagoons) are considered to be efficacious in cases of See also:rheumatism, See also:gout, See also:nervous affections and skin. diseases. The See also:German colonies Liebenthal and Lustdorf are bathing-places. Odessa is the real See also:capital, intellectual and commercial, of so-called Novorossia, or New Russia, which includes the governments of See also:Bessarabia and See also:Kherson. It is the see of an See also:archbishop of the Orthodox See also:Greek See also:Church, and the headquarters of the VIII. See also:army See also:corps, and constitutes an See also:independent " municipal 'See also:district " or captaincy, which covers 195 sq. m. and includes a dozen villages, some of which have 2000 to 3000 inhabitants each. It is also the chief town of the Novorossian (New Russian) educational district, and has a university, which replaced the Richelieu See also:Lyceum in 1865, and now has over 1700 students. In 1795 the town had only 2250 inhabitants; in 1814, twenty years after its See also:foundation, it had 25,000, The population has steadily increased from xoo,000 in 185o, 185,000 in 1873, 225,000 in 1884, to 449,673 in 1900. The great See also:majority of inhabitants are Great Russians and Little Russians; but there are also large See also:numbers of See also:Jews (133,000, exclusive of Karaites), as well as of Italians, Greeks, Germans and See also:French (to which nationalities the chief merchants belong), as also of Rumanians, Servians, Bulgarians, See also:Tatars, Armenians, Lazes, Georgians. A numerous floating population of labourers, attracted at certain periods by pressing See also:work in the port, and afterwards See also:left unemployed owing to the enormous fluctuations in the See also:corn trade, is one of the features of Odessa. It is estimated that there are no less than 35,000 See also:people living from See also:hand to mouth in the utmost misery, partly in the extensive catacombs beneath the city. The leading occupations are connected with exporting, shipping and manufactures.

The See also:

industrial development has been rather slow: See also:sugar-refineries, See also:tea-packing, oil-See also:mills, tanneries, See also:steam See also:flour-mills, See also:iron and See also:mechanical See also:works, factories of jute sacks, chemical works, See also:tin-See also:plate works, See also:paper-factories are the chief. Commercially the city is the chief seaport of Russia for exports, which in favourable years are twice as high as those of St Petersburg, while as regards the value of the imports Odessa is second only to the See also:northern capital. The See also:total returns amount to 16 to 20 millions See also:sterling a year, repres senting about one-ninth of the entire Russian foreign trade; and 14% if the See also:coast trade be included as well. The total exports are valued at to to 11 millions sterling annually, and the imports at 6 to 9 millions sterling, about 81% of all the imports into Russia. See also:Grain, and especially See also:wheat, is the chief See also:article of export. The chief imports are raw See also:cotton, iron, agricultural machinery, coal, chemicals, jute, See also:copra and lead. A new and spacious harbour, especially for the petroleum trade, was constructed in 1894-19oo. See also:History.—The bay of Odessa was colonized by Greeks at a very See also:early See also:period, and their ports—Istrianorum See also:Portus and Isiacorum Portus on the shores of the bay, and Odessus at the mouth of the Tiligul Liman—carried on a lively trade with the neighbouring steppes. These towns disappeared in the 3rd and 4th centuries, and for ten centuries no settlements in these tracts are mentioned. In the 14th See also:century this region belonged to the See also:Lithuanians, and in 1396 Olgerd, See also:prince of Lithuania, defeated in See also:battle three Tatar chiefs, one of whom, Khaji Beg or See also:Bey, had recently founded, at the See also:place now occupied by Odessa, a fort which received his name. The Lithuanians, and subsequently the Poles, kept the See also:country under their dominion until the 16th century, when it was seized by the Tatars, who still permitted, however, the Lithuanians to gather See also:salt in the neighbouring lakes. Later on the See also:Turks left a See also:garrison here, and founded in 1764 the fortress Yani-dunya.

In 1789 the Russians, under the French See also:

captain de Ribas, took the fortress by See also:assault. In 1791 Khaji-bey and the See also:Ochakov region were ceded to Russia. De Ribas and the French engineer Voland were entrusted in 1794 with the erection of a town and the construction of a port at Khaji-bey. In 1803 Odessa became the chief town of a See also:separate municipal district or captaincy, the first captain being Armand, duc de Richelieu, who did very much for the development of the See also:young city and its improvement as a seaport. In 1824 Odessa became the seat of the See also:governors-general of Novorossia and Bessarabia. In 1866 it was brought into railway connexion with Kiev and See also:Kharkov via See also:Balta, and with See also:Jassy in See also:Rumania. In 1854 it was unsuccessfully attacked by the Anglo-Russian See also:fleet, and in 1876-1877 by the See also:Turkish, also unsuccessfully. In 1g05-1906 the city was the See also:scene of violent revolutionary disorders, marked by a See also:naval insurrection. (P. A. K.; J. T.

End of Article: ODESSA

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