Sudak
Encyclopedia
Sudak or Sudaq is a small historic town located in Crimea
, Ukraine
situated 57 km (35.4 mi) to the west of Feodosiya (the nearest railway station) and 104 km (64.6 mi) to the east of Simferopol
, the capital of Crimea
. Today it is a popular resort, best known for its Genoese
fortress, the best preserved on the northern shore of the Black Sea
.
settlers on the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom
. Greek merchants from the Byzantine Empire
founded Σουγδαία (a reference to Sogdia
) in the 3rd century. In the 6th century, the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I
ordered the construction of a fortress. The Khazars
attacked in the 7th century, giving it the name Suğdaq. The Life of St. Stefan of Surozh describes the 8th century town as a dependency of the Byzantine Empire. Around the start of the 9th century, it was supposedly attacked by the Rus'
chieftain, Bravlin
. It is thought that the Khazars
retained the town from the early 800s until 1016, when the Byzantines finally defeated the Khazar warlord Georgeios Tsulo
. Afterwards, the town seems to have preserved some sort of autonomy within the Byzantine Empire
.
From the 9th century until around the 12th century, there were important trade exchanges between the then Surozh and the Kievan Rus'
.
It became an important location for trading on the Silk Road
in the 12th and 13th centuries, despite attacks by the Kypchaks
in the 11th century and further damages inflicted by the Tatars
(in 1223, but also in 1239). The Seljuk Anatolia
n Sultanate of Iconium army and fleet from Sinop
held and fortified Sudak in 1224.
The Venetians
also came to Sudak at the beginning of the 13th century to take their share, naming the fortress Soldaia, before ceding it to Genoese control in 1365. The Ottomans
took control of Soldaia and all other Genoese colonies, as well as the Principality of Theodoro
in 1475. Although Sudak was the strategical center of the qadılıq, the smallest administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire, the town lost much of its military and commercial importance, until the Crimean Khanate
took over.
In 1771, Sudak was occupied by Rumyantsev's
army. In 1783, it definitively passed to the Russian Empire
, with the rest of Crimea
. Though sometimes contested, it seems that a mass emigration occurred as a result of the ensuing instability in that period. Even Potemkin
ordered in 1778 the eviction of the Christian population
from Crimea. The town rapidly turned into a small village, and according to the 1805 census, Sudak had just 33 inhabitants.
In 1804, the first Russian school of viticulture
was opened there.
The present status of the town was acquired in 1982.
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
situated 57 km (35.4 mi) to the west of Feodosiya (the nearest railway station) and 104 km (64.6 mi) to the east of Simferopol
Simferopol
-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...
, the capital of Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. Today it is a popular resort, best known for its Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
fortress, the best preserved on the northern shore of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
.
History
It is believed that the city was founded in 212 AD by AlaniAlans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
settlers on the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom
Bosporan Kingdom
The Bosporan Kingdom or the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus was an ancient state, located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus...
. Greek merchants from the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
founded Σουγδαία (a reference to Sogdia
Sogdiana
Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great . Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created...
) in the 3rd century. In the 6th century, the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
ordered the construction of a fortress. The Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
attacked in the 7th century, giving it the name Suğdaq. The Life of St. Stefan of Surozh describes the 8th century town as a dependency of the Byzantine Empire. Around the start of the 9th century, it was supposedly attacked by the Rus'
Rus' (people)
The Rus' were a group of Varangians . According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus had relocated from the Baltic region , first to Northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik...
chieftain, Bravlin
Bravlin
Bravlin was an apocryphal overlord of the Rus' who supposedly devastated all the Crimea from Kerch to Sugdaea in the last years of the 8th century but was paralyzed when he had entered the church of St. Stephen in Sugdaea....
. It is thought that the Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
retained the town from the early 800s until 1016, when the Byzantines finally defeated the Khazar warlord Georgeios Tsulo
Georgius Tzul
Georgius Tzul was a Khazar warlord against whom the Byzantine Empire and Mstislav of Tmutarakan launched a joint expedition in 1016....
. Afterwards, the town seems to have preserved some sort of autonomy within the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
.
From the 9th century until around the 12th century, there were important trade exchanges between the then Surozh and the Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
.
It became an important location for trading on the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
in the 12th and 13th centuries, despite attacks by the Kypchaks
Kipchaks
Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...
in the 11th century and further damages inflicted by the Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
(in 1223, but also in 1239). The Seljuk Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n Sultanate of Iconium army and fleet from Sinop
Sinop, Turkey
Sinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope...
held and fortified Sudak in 1224.
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
also came to Sudak at the beginning of the 13th century to take their share, naming the fortress Soldaia, before ceding it to Genoese control in 1365. The Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
took control of Soldaia and all other Genoese colonies, as well as the Principality of Theodoro
Principality of Theodoro
The Principality of Theodoro , also known as Gothia , was a small principality in the south-west of Crimea from the 13th through 15th centuries. Its capital was Doros, which was also sometimes called Theodoro and is now known as Mangup...
in 1475. Although Sudak was the strategical center of the qadılıq, the smallest administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire, the town lost much of its military and commercial importance, until the Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
took over.
In 1771, Sudak was occupied by Rumyantsev's
Rumyantsev
The Rumyantsev family were Russian counts prominent in Russian imperial politics in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The family claimed descent from the boyar Rumyanets who broke his oath of allegiance and surrendered Nizhny Novgorod to Vasily I of Moscow in 1391.The first Rumyantsev to gain...
army. In 1783, it definitively passed to the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, with the rest of Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. Though sometimes contested, it seems that a mass emigration occurred as a result of the ensuing instability in that period. Even Potemkin
Pavel Potemkin
Count Pavel Sergeevich Potemkin, also Potyomkin , was a Imperial Russian statesman, soldier and writer.He was a cousin of Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, a well-known military and political figure of Catherine II’s Russia. He took part in the wars with the rebel adventurer Pugachev, the Ottoman...
ordered in 1778 the eviction of the Christian population
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
from Crimea. The town rapidly turned into a small village, and according to the 1805 census, Sudak had just 33 inhabitants.
In 1804, the first Russian school of viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
was opened there.
The present status of the town was acquired in 1982.
See also
- Krasnokam‘yanka - Qızıltaş - KrasnokamyenkaKrasnokamiankaKrasnokamenka is a resort in Crimea, Ukraine, a former Crimean Tatar village, now a part of Greater Yalta, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, near the headquarters of the Eurasian Scout Region, the divisional office of the World Scout Bureau of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in...
- Gazaria (Genoese colonies) - the name for Genoese communities in Crimea
- Roman CrimeaRoman CrimeaRoman Crimea is the area of actual Crimea that was under control of the Roman Empire and mostly coincided with the Bosporan Kingdom. For nearly five centuries it was a Roman "Client State", but under emperor Nero it was briefly an area of the Roman Province of Moesia inferior .-History:Rome started...
- Russian Orthodox Diocese of SurozhRussian Orthodox Diocese of SourozhThe Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh is a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church which has for its territory the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Its name is taken from an ancient see in the Crimea that no longer has a bishop...
- the old name of the city as an episcopal seeEpiscopal SeeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
in the Russian Orthodox ChurchRussian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, Surozh, is now transferred to the Russian Orthodox Diocese in Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Sources
- Sugdea, Surozh, Soldaia in History and Culture of the Ruthenian Ukraine - Scientific conference materials, Kiev-Sudaq, 2002 (prints only)
- Sugdea Collection, Kiev-Sudaq (Академпериодика, 2004)
- Miscellaneous publications by A. Yu. Vinogradov (Библиотека Якова Кротова)