History of Kerch

Antiquity

Middle Ages

Kerch missorium , IV century, silver. Photograph from Ludwig von Siebel's book Christliche Antike , no. 2, Marburg, 1909.

The Byzantine part of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Kerch (VII-XIX century)

In the VI century, the city ​​was ruled by the Roman (Byzantine) empire . By decision of Emperor Justinian I , a garrison was sent here and the construction of a fortress called the Bosporus began. The city has become the center of the diocese since the 4th century, and the culture of the local population is developing under the influence of Greek Orthodoxy .

In 576, the Crimea joins the Turkic Kaganate .

In the VIII century, Crimea falls into the sphere of influence of the Khazar Khaganate . The Bosporus receives the Türkic name of Karsh or Charsh, which in translation from Turkic means the market .

By the 9th - 10th centuries , the Russ became the masters of the Northern Black Sea region. With the formation of the Principality of Tmutarakan, the city ​​named Korchev played an important role as the sea gate of Kievan Rus . In the XII century, the old Russian Korchev was conquered by the Polovtsy , and he soon returned to the sphere of influence of Byzantium, but the Slavic population continued to live in the city later, until the Mongol invasion . In the XIII century, the Crimea, including Korchev, was captured by the Türks (subsequently received the collective name "Tatars").

In 1318, the city ​​became part of the Genoese colonies in the Northern Black Sea region , the center of which was Kaffa . Under Genoese rule, the city they called Cherkio and Vosporo was a major seaport. The population was engaged in salt and fishing, power belonged to the consul, who was subordinate to the government in Kaffa .

In 1475, the city ​​passed to the Ottoman Empire . Under the Ottomans, Kerch was repeatedly raided by the Zaporozhye Cossacks . At the beginning of the 18th century , in response to the strengthening of Russia's military power in the Sea of ​​Azov , the Turks built the Yeni-Kale fortress on the Kerch Strait.

New time

After the Russo-Turkish war, under the Kuchuk-Kainardzhsky Treaty of 1774, Kerch and the Yeni-Kale fortress were transferred to Russia.

Kerch joined the Tauride province in 1783 . The population of the city consisted of Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Italians and Armenians. In 1790, a battle took place in the Kerch Strait, in which the Russian fleet, under the command of Admiral Fedor Ushakov , defeated the Turks.

According to the statements of the Novorossiysk Treasury Chamber, compiled in 1802 , in the Kerch-Yenikalsky Posad and in the fortress, there were only 249 residents.

In 1821, Kerch and Yeni-Kale were singled out as a special administrative unit - Kerch-Yenikalsk city government. From this time on, the city began to be improved - a highway with sidewalks connecting the city with Yeni-Kale was laid, the main streets were lit with lanterns, the State Museum of Antiquities and the county school, which prepared bookkeepers and clerks, were opened. By 1830, there were 24 fishing enterprises in Kerch, and the importance of the Kerch port increased. In the early 80s of the 18th century, the Russian traveler Vasily Fedorovich Zuev discovered iron ore deposits on the Kerch Peninsula . According to the engineers Guriev and Voskoboinikov, who conducted the study of the field in the 30s of the XIX century, this field "is the richest in all of southern Russia." In 1846, an iron smelter began operating on the basis of an iron ore deposit. By the middle of the XIX century, the population of Kerch was 13.6 thousand inhabitants.

In 1855, during the Crimean War, British troops destroyed and looted the city. The blast furnace was blown up, and the equipment of the iron-smelting plant was loaded onto a ship and transported to England.

In the second half of the 19th century , mechanical and cement plants were built in Kerch, a canning factory of Peters and Zhukovsky ( 1873 ) and a tobacco factory of Mesaksudi ( 1867 ) were opened, work was carried out to deepen and expand the channel of the Kerch Strait.

According to the census of the Russian Empire in 1897, there were 31383 inhabitants in Kerch (for comparison, in St. Petersburg 1264.9; in Moscow 1038.6; in Odessa - 403.8; in Kiev - 247.7 thousand inhabitants).

The distribution of the inhabitants of the cities of the Tauride province according to their native language, according to the same census:

• Russian - 49.1%;
• Tatar - 17.2%;
• Jewish - 11.8%;
• Ukrainian - 10.4%;
• Greek - 3.5%;
• Armenian - 2.2%;
• German - 1.5%.

Religious distribution according to the same census:

• Orthodox and co-religionists - 62.3%;
• Mohammedans - 14.6%;
• Jews - 13.6% (specifically in Kerch 10%, more details [1] );
• Roman Catholics - 3.2%;
• Karaites - 2%;
• Armenian-Gregorians - 1.8%.

Kerch stood out among other Crimean cities by a relatively high number of workers, which reached 2590 people.

In the city at the beginning of the 20th century there were two gymnasiums (male and female), a seafaring school of coastal navigation, and a girls' institute founded by the merchant Kushnikov . There were not enough schools, even primary ones, and children could be refused admission due to lack of places ^[1] . The city had a public library, a theater and an English club. There was no water supply at that time, and the inhabitants used water from the wells.

In 1900, a metallurgical plant began to produce products; a railway was built in Kerch; the city's population was more than 33 thousand people.

Electricity in some houses of the city appeared in 1910 .

In 1913 , a seaport began to operate in Kerch.

After the decline caused by the First World War and the Civil War, the city resumed its growth. By 1939, the population of the city reached 104,500 people.

Kerch during the Great Patriotic War

During the Great Patriotic War, Kerch became the scene of fierce battles between Soviet and German troops. The front line passed four times through Kerch. After fierce fighting in November 1941, the Germans captured the city. The city was first liberated on December 30, 1941 during the Kerch-Feodosia landing operation . After the retreat of Soviet troops in May 1942, part of the Soviet soldiers, along with local residents (including children and the elderly) took refuge in the Adzhimushkay quarries , where they successfully fought for more than six months. At the same time, the Germans completely cut them off from the water and poisoned them with gases. For the extraction of water, detachments were created that literally sucked water from the stone, and it went primarily wounded for machine guns. After the war, a museum was opened in Adzhimushka.

On October 31, 1943, Soviet troops began crossing the Kerch Strait during the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation . The Kerch bridgehead was occupied near the city, the front line passed along its outskirts. In January 1944, boats of the Azov Flotilla landed in the Kerch port , during which part of the city was liberated, but due to the failure of the offensive on the bridgehead, the positions occupied by the landing party had to be abandoned. April 11, 1944 Kerch was finally liberated. The severity and fierce fighting during the defense and liberation of Kerch is evidenced by the fact that during these battles 146 people were awarded the high rank of Hero of the Soviet Union , and 21 military units and formations were awarded the honorary title "Kerch".

During the war, the population of the city decreased from 70 thousand to 6.5 thousand people.

• September 14, 1973 Kerch was awarded the title " Hero City ".

The Obelisk of Glory on Mount Mithridates was opened on August 8, 1944. This is the first monumental monument dedicated to the events of World War II on the territory of the USSR.

Archeology

Systematic excavations in Kerch began in the 30s of the XIX century. In 1872, during excavations in the area of ​​the Yeni-Kale fortress, a lead seal of Ratibor , the viceroy of the Grand Duke of Kiev Vsevolod in Tmutarakan was found, and during excavations of 1912, a seal of Feofania Muzalon, a Byzantine patrician, wife of Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, was found.

Within the city are several mounds - burial structures under a high artificial embankment. Archaeological work is regularly carried out on Mount Mithridates , on top of which in the 5th century BC. e. - III century AD e. the acropolis of Panticapaeum was located. The ancient settlements of Tirithaka, Nymphaeum , Kitei , Artesian and Porfmy also undergo systematic excavations. Several ancient cities of the period of the Bosporus kingdom were discovered on the Azov coast of the Kerch Peninsula, but to date they have not been sufficiently studied.

Kerch is included in the UNESCO Silk Road international program.