Sudak

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Sudak (Судак, Судак, ) is a historic townlet of about 15,000 inhabitants in Crimea, situated to the west of Theodosia and to the east of Simferopol. Today it is a popular resort, best known for its Genoese fortress, the best preserved on the northern shore of the Black Sea.

Sudak was founded by Greek merchants from Byzantium in the 3rd century AD. The original Greek name for the city was Sougdeia, meaning "Sogdian". The Khazars pronounced its name as Sugdak, the Slavs as Surozh, and the Italians as Soldaia. The Life of St. Stephen of Surozh describes the 8th-century town as a dependency of the Byzantine Empire. About 800, 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 local warlord Georgius Tzul. Afterwards, the town seems to have preserved some sort of autonomy within the Byzantine Empire.

The Cumans sacked the city in the 11th century. The Mongols further damaged its prosperity in 1223 and 1239. The Seljuk Sultanate of Iconium army and fleet from Sinop held and fortified Sudak in 1224. Several years later, the site was occupied by the Venetians (members of the Polo family and other Venetian merchants having resided in the town since the 12th century), who ceded it to Genoese control in 1365. The Ottomans wrestled it from the Genoese in 1475 and, after much looting, gave to the Crimean Khanate.

In 1771, Sudak was occupied by Rumyantsev's army. 12 years later, it definitively passed to the Russian Empire, with the rest of Crimea. In 1801, the first Russian school of viticulture was opened there.

See also

• Gazaria - the name for Genoese communities in Crimea
• Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh - the old name of the city as an episcopal see in the Russian Orthodox Church, Surozh, is now transferred to the Russian Orthodox Diocese in Great Britain and Ireland

External links

• Pictures of Sudak- pics of Crimean resorts on MapOfUkraine.net
• Pictures of Genoese fortress in Sudak - Pics of Crimea from Sergey Sorokin - private mountain guide
• Pictures of Sudak and Novy Svet - Photos of Sudak and Novy Svet
• History and monuments of Sudak

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Last updated on Wednesday February 13, 2008 at 09:43:44 PST (GMT -0800)
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