Feodosiya

Infobox Settlement

settlement_type =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = UKR
subdivision_type1 =Territory
subdivision_name1 =Crimea
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
official_name = Feodosiya
native_name = Феодосія
Kefe
Феодосия
image_shield = Feodos Soviet.gif


subdivision_type2=Region
subdivision_name2 = Feodosiya municipality
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position =
pushpin_map_caption =Location of Feodosiya within Crimea, Ukraine
pushpin_mapsize =
pushpin_map1 =
pushpin_label_position1 =
pushpin_map_caption1 =Location of Feodosiya
pushpin_mapsize1 =
latd=45 |latm=2 |lats=56 |latNS=N
longd=35 |longm=22 |longs=45 |longEW=E
elevation_m = 50
population_total = 97721|population_footnotes=
year| = 2001
|postal_code_type=Postal code
postal_code = 98100 — 98175
|area_code=+380-6562
blank1_info = Kefe (until 1784), Caffa (until 15th cent.)
blank1_name=Former names|

website =

Feodosiya (Ukrainian Феодосія, Crimean Tatar Kefe, Russian Феодосия) is a port and resort city in Crimea, Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast. The name is sometimes spelled as Feodosia οr Theodosia, according to transliteration from the _gr. Θεοδοσία.

History

The city was founded under the name of "Theodosia" (Θεοδοσία) by Greek colonists from Miletos in the 6th century BC. 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 Genoese Black Sea colonies

It is believed that the devastating pandemic the Black Death entered Europe for the first time via Caffa in 1347, through 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. Fleeing inhabitants may have carried the disease back to Italy, causing its spread across Europe. However, the plague appears to have spread in a stepwise fashion, taking over a year to reach Europe from Crimea. Also, there were a number of Crimean ports under Mongol control, so it is unlikely that Caffa was the only source of plague-infested ships heading to Europe. In addition, there were overland caravan routes from the East that would have been carrying the disease into Europe as well. ^[1]

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. All the non muslim inhabitants of Caffa were deported to Istanbul, where a mosque still today remembers in its name ("Kefeli Mosque": in Turkish "Mosque of the Caffariotes") the city. Renamed "Kefe", Caffa 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 version 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. D between November 16 and Dezember 15, 1941. [Martin Gilbert, "The Routledge Atlas of the Holocaust, 2002, pp.64, 83]

In 1954, it was transferred to the administrative control of the Ukrainian SSR with the rest of Crimea.

The city today

Modern Feodosiya 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, Feodosiya made the news in connection with the Crimean anti-NATO protests of 2006.

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Feodosiya has a charm. It's not a big place. City is empty in the off-season time. Most of cafes and restaurants are closed. Season starts from approximately the second half of June. High season is July and August. This time city is overcrowded, but not too overcrowded. Most of tourists, like any other resort in Crimea are from former Soviet Union (Russia and Ukraine mostly).

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Places to see: Charming embankment, Ayvazovsky picture Gallery (situated just on embankment, near a train station), Genoa fortress (if you stay on embankment towards a Black Sea, just turn to the right and walk a distance around 1 km.)

Miscellanea

*Feodosiya 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.

ee also

*List of traditional Greek place names

References

^[1] cite journal |last=Wheelis |first=Mark |year=2002 |month=September |title=Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Caffa |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseseases |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=971–75

External links

* [http://www.mapofukraine.net/crimean_peninsula/feodosia/pics_of_feodosia.html Pictures of Feodosiya] Pictures of Crimea from Sergey Sorokin - private mountain guide
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Ukraine.html#Kaffa WorldStatesmen- Ukraine]
* [http://www.museum.com.ua/en/istor/sev-vost/feodos/feodos.htm Ancient Theodosia and its Coinage]
* [http://www.rentmyflatinfeodosia.com/feodosia_guide/feodosia_guide.asp Guide to Feodosia and surrounding places of interest]