Description: The SS | The Mystery of Odessa, Mysteryquest: Mystery of Odessa | History, Who Is The REAL Odessa? | Colonel Odessa Cubbage | FULL Half-Life Lore, History Channel The SS - Odessa, In Search Of History - The ODESSA File (History Channel Documentary)
video (50654) headlines (21482) world news (21456) worldnews (20533) sign up and share your playlists (20510) videos and editable pages for news (20507) wn archive (20166) wn network (20156) real odessa (1) real odessa breaking news (1)
Odessa or Odesa ( Ukrainian : Оде́са , [oˈdɛsɐ] ; Russian : Оде́сса ; IPA: [ɐˈdʲesə] ) is a city in Ukraine and a major seaport and transportation hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea . Odessa is also an administrative center of the Odessa Oblast and a multiethnic major cultural center. Odessa is the third biggest city in Ukraine and known in Ukraine as Black Sea Pearl or Southern Palmyra .
The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement , was founded by Hacı I Giray , the Khan of Crimea , in 1440 and originally named after him as "Hacıbey". After a period of Lithuanian control, it passed into the domain of the Ottoman Sultan in 1529 and remained in Ottoman hands until the Ottoman Empire 's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792.
In 1794, the city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Empress Catherine the Great . From 1819 to 1858, Odessa was a free port . During the Soviet period it was the most important port of trade in the Soviet Union and a Soviet naval base . On 1 January 2000, the Quarantine Pier at Odessa Commercial Sea Port was declared a free port and free economic zone for a period of 25 years.