Feodosiya


Feodosiya

(fā'ədô`sēə), city (1990 est. pop. 85,000), E Crimea. From 1954 part of Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR), it passed to Russian control in 2014 after the occupation and annexation of Crimea. It is a major Black Sea port at the western end of the Feodosiya Gulf. Feodosiya is also a rail terminus. A popular Crimean sea and health resort, Feodosiya has beaches, mineral springs, and mud baths. The city occupies the site of ancient Theodosia, which was founded in the 6th cent. B.C. by Greek colonists from Miletus. Theodosia, noted for its grain exports, was destroyed by the Huns in the 4th cent. A.D.; it existed thereafter as an insignificant village until the Genoese arrived in the 13th cent., established a flourishing trade colony, and virtually monopolized Black Sea commerce. Under their rule, the city was called Caffa or Kaffa and served as the chief port and administrative center of Genoese possessions along the Black Sea coast. The khan of Crimea, an ally of the Turks, conquered the city in 1475; it remained under Turko-Tatar control until Russia's annexation of the Crimea in 1783. In 1802 it was named Feodosiya. German forces captured it twice during World War II. The ruins of the Genoese fortifications still stand.