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Novorossiysk

City in Krasnodar Krai, Russia

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  • 10 chapters

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Through Roman Empire and Constantinople

History

In antiquity, the shores of the Tsemes Bay were the site of Bata (Ancient Greek: Βατά), an ancient Greek colony that specialized in the grain trade. It is mentioned in the works of Strabo and Ptolemy, among others.

Following brief periods of Roman and Khazar control, from the 9th century onwards, the area was part of the Byzantine θέμα Χερσῶνος Thema Khersonos (Province of Cherson).

During the 11th century, the area was overrun and controlled by nomads from the Eurasian steppe, led by the Cumans. Later that century, the Byzantine emperor Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) was approached by Anglo-Saxon refugees, who had left England following the Norman Conquest. Alexios offered land to these refugees in Thema Khersonos if they could recapture it from the nomads and there is contemporaneous evidence that a Byzantine-English colony was subsequently founded. For example, medieval nautical charts mention place names on the Kuban coast with possible English origins, including a port (located within or near the future site of Novorossiysk) known as Susaco (or Susacho) – a name that may have been derived from Sussex. (The same maps also show, north-west of Susaco, a river Londina, which may derive its name from London.)

In the 13th century, Genoese merchants from the Ghisolfi family maintained a trade outpost in the area. A 2007 archaeological investigation of related sites discovered some interesting items.

During the rest of the 19th century, Novorossiysk developed rapidly. It was granted city status in 1866 and became the capital of the Novorossiysk Okrug and Black Sea Governorate, the smallest in the Russian Empire, in 1896. In December 1905, the city was the seat of the short-lived Novorossiysk Republic. From August 26, 1918, until March 27, 1920, the city was used as the principal center of Denikin's White Army during the Russian Civil War. Denikin's South Russian Government was moved to Crimea and many Whites escaped from Novorossiysk to Constantinople during the Evacuation of Novorossiysk (1920), with the help of Allied warships.

According to the 1926 census, the population was 52.8% Russian, 22.8% Ukrainian, 6.1% Armenian, 3.4% Belarusian, 2.8% Jewish, 2.2% Greek, 1.4% Polish, and 0.9% Czech.

During World War II, most of the city was occupied by the German and Romanian Armies on September 10, 1942. A small unit of Soviet sailors defended one part of the city, known as Malaya Zemlya, for 225 days beginning on February 4, 1943, until the town was liberated by the Red Army on September 16, 1943. The defense of the port by the sailors allowed the Soviets to retain possession of the city's bay, which prevented the Axis from using the port for supply shipments. Novorossiysk was awarded the title of Hero City in 1973.

In 1960, the town was commemorated in Dmitri Shostakovich's work Novorossiysk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory (Opus 111b).

In 2003, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree setting up a naval base for the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk. Russia allocated 12.3 billion rubles (about $480 million) for the construction of the new base between 2007 and 2012. The construction of other facilities and infrastructure at the base, including units for coastal troops, aviation and logistics, continued after 2012. Russia planned to move the Black Sea Fleet with 80 warships and its headquarters from Sevastopol to the Novorossiysk base in 2020.

The Russian lease on port facilities in Sevastopol, which, though the main base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was part of Ukraine, was set to expire in 2017. Ukraine was reported to be planning not to renew the lease; however, in April 2010 the Russian and Ukrainian presidents signed an agreement to extend the lease by twenty-five years, with an option of further extension of five years after the new term expires. However, in 2014, Crimea was militarily occupied by the Russian Armed Forces during the 2014 Crimean crisis in February. Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in March 2014, and as such the question of the lease became moot.

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