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Novorossiysk (, ; ) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities designated by the Soviet Union as a Hero City. The population was
Following brief periods of Roman and Khazar control, from the 9th century onwards, the area was part of the Byzantine θέμα Χερσῶνος Thema Khersonos (Province of Cherson).
During the 11th century, the area was overrun and controlled by nomads from the Eurasian steppe, led by the Cumans. Later that century, the Byzantine emperor Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Alexios I Komnenos (reign 1081–1118) was approached by Anglo-Saxon refugees, who had left England following the Norman Conquest. Alexios offered land to these refugees in Thema Khersonos if they could recapture it from the nomads and there is contemporaneous evidence that a Byzantine-English colony was subsequently founded. For example, portolan mention place names on the Kuban coast with possible English origins, including a port (located within or near the future site of Novorossiysk) known as Susaco (or Susacho) – a name that may have been derived from Sussex. (The same maps also show, north-west of Susaco, a river Londina, which may derive its name from London.)
In the 13th century, Genoa merchants from the Ghisolfi family maintained a trade outpost in the area. A 2007 archaeological investigation of related sites discovered some interesting items.
From 1722, the bay was controlled by an Ottoman Empire fortress ( kale) named Sucuk (also formerly transliterated as Sudzhuk and Sudschuk and sometimes known in Turkish as Soğucak). This name may be derived from Susaco (see above) and, as late as 1769, the area was sometimes named in European maps as Suzako.
The coastline was ceded to Russia in 1829 as a result of the Russo-Turkish War. After this, admirals Mikhail Lazarev and Nikolay Raevsky founded an eastern base for the Black Sea Fleet on the shore in 1838. Named after the province of Novorossiya, the port formed a vital link in the chain of forts known as the Black Sea Coastal Line, which stretched south to Sochi.
During the rest of the 19th century, Novorossiysk developed rapidly. It was granted city status in 1866 and became the capital of the Novorossiysk Okrug and Black Sea Governorate, the smallest in the Russian Empire, in 1896. In December 1905, the city was the seat of the short-lived Novorossiysk Republic. From August 26, 1918, until March 27, 1920, the city was used as the principal center of Anton Denikin's White movement during the Russian Civil War. Denikin's South Russian Government was moved to Crimea and many Whites escaped from Novorossiysk to Constantinople during the Evacuation of Novorossiysk (1920), with the help of Allied warships.
During World War II, most of the city was occupied by the German and Romanian Armies on September 10, 1942.Robert Forczyk, The Caucasus 1942–43: Kleist’s race for oil A small unit of Soviet sailors defended one part of the city, known as Malaya Zemlya, for 225 days beginning on February 4, 1943, and the town was liberated by the Red Army on September 16, 1943. The heroic defense of the port by the sailors allowed the Soviets to retain possession of the city's bay, which prevented the Axis from using the port for supply shipments. Novorossiysk was awarded the title Hero City in 1973.
In 1960, the town was commemorated in Dmitri Shostakovich's work Novorossiysk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory (Opus 111b).
In 2003, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree setting up a naval base for the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk. Russia has allocated 12.3 billion (about $480 million) for the construction of the new base between 2007 and 2012. The construction of other facilities and infrastructure at the base, including units for coastal troops, aviation and logistics, will continue beyond 2012. Russia planned to move the Black Sea Fleet with 80 warships and its headquarters from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk base in 2020.
The Russian lease on port facilities in Sevastopol, which, though the main base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was part of Ukraine, was set to expire in 2017. Ukraine was reported to be planning not to renew the lease; however, in April 2010 the Russian and Ukrainian presidents signed an agreement to extend the lease by twenty-five years, with an option of further extension of five years after the new term expires. The Great Power (mis)Management by Alexander Astrov, Ashgate Publishing, 2011, (page 82) However, in 2014, Crimea was occupied by the Russian Armed Forces during the 2014 Crimean crisis and as such the question of renewing the lease has not arisen since its annexation by the Russian Federation.
The area of Novorossiysk is one of Russia's main wine-growing regions. The wineries of Abrau-Dyurso, established by Tsar Alexander III in 1870, produce table and sparkling wines for domestic consumption.
Novorossiysk is also an industrial city, dependent on steel, food processing, and the production of metal goods and other manufactures. Extensive limestone quarry supply important cement factories in and around the city. The town is home to the Maritime State Academy and Novorossiysk Polytechnic Institute.
Novorossiysk is connected by rail and highways to the main industrial and population centres of Russia, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia. It is served by the Novorossiysk railway station.
The closest airports (Gelendzhik Airport, Anapa Airport and Krasnodar Airport, situated , and away from the city, respectively, offer flights to many cities in Russia.
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