Odessa.

Title

Odessa.

Description

Splendid bird's eye view of the city of Odessa with sailing ships in front.

ca. 1845

Artist

Thompson

Historical Description

In ancient times, various steppe peoples lived in the area, such as the Scythians and Sarmatians as well as the Thracian tribe of the Tyragets. The settlement of Hacıbey, founded by the Khan of Crimea Hacıbey, was first mentioned in 1415 with the harbor of the settlement. There was a large castle on the settlement site, the remains of which were preserved until the middle of the 18th century. In 792, the area east of the Dniester passed to the Russian Empire with the Peace of Jassy. In 1794, the city of Odessa was founded near the Jeni Dünja fortress on the orders of Catherine the Great. The aim was to create an efficient military port for the Black Sea and Mediterranean region.The first governor was José de Ribas (1794-1797), and in 1803 Duke Armand du Plessis took over the management of the city. The city owes a great deal to him, the facilities and infrastructure, and the long underground passages, the catacombs, go back to him. Odessa also owes much to his successor, Count Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, who founded the Lyceum Richelieu (New Russia University) in 1817 and declared Odessa a free port. Odessa began to flourish as a modern port city after 1823 under the Governor General of New Russia and Bessarabia, Count Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov. He made the city his administrative seat, hired Western European engineers and doctors and organized many urban development projects. Russian poet Alexander Pushkin praised the freedom and informality of the city in his story Eugene Onegin.