Ochakiv

Ochakiv (Ukrainian: Очаків, Russian: Очаков, translit. Ochakov, Crimean Tatar, Turkish: Özü, Romanian: Oceacov) is a city in the Mykolaiv Oblast (province) of southern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Ochakivsky Raion (district), the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located on a peninsula in the Black Sea, at the entrance to the Dnieper Rivers's estuary, just opposite of Kinburn.

Ochakiv was founded in 14th century, named after the Turkish fortress Achi-Kale. It stands close to the site of the old Miletan (ancient Greek) colony of Olbia, and the Greek colony of Alektor. Strong fortifications were built at Ochakiv and on the Kinburn promontory, to protect the entrance to the Dnieper, by the medieval Poles and then by Crimean khan Meñli I Giray in 1492 when it was known as Kara Kerman. Several decades later, the fortress fell to the Ottomans and was subsequently known as Özi.

At a later date it became the centre of an Ottoman sanjak which included Khajidereh (Ovidiopol), Khadjibey (Odessa), and Dubossary, as well as some 150 villages, and Silistra Province to which it belonged was sometimes called Özi Province. Khadjibey later became a sanjak centre and left from Özi one.

The Russian Empire besieged Ochakiv in 1737, regarding it as the main obstacle to the possession of the Black Sea littoral. It was captured by Marshal Munnich, but in the following year was abandoned and in 1739 restored to Turkey. The 1737 siege became famous for one of the Baron Münchhausen tales.

During the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792, a second siege by Russia, the Siege of Ochakov, began in 1788 and lasted six months, until the fortress was stormed in December, when the temperature was -23 C, resulting in a terrible loss of life. This storm became the topic of a famous ode by the great Derzhavin. The naval Battle of Ochakov took place alongside the city at the same time. The Treaty of Jassy of 1792 transferred Ochakiv to the Russian Empire.

During the Crimean War the Kinburn Fortress opposite Ochakiv was bombarded by the Anglo-French fleet and captured on October 17, 1855, in the course of the Battle of Kinburn. The fortress remained in Anglo-French hands for the remaining months of the war, while the Russians abandoned Ochakiv and destroyed the fort located there. After that war the coastal defences around Ochakiv were rebuilt and strengthened.

Today Ochakiv is a minor resort town and a fishing port. The current estimated population is around 16,900 (as of 2001). The town's main sight is the building of the Suvorov Museum, which served as a mosque in the 15th century. It was converted into the church of St. Nicholas in 1804 and was reconstructed in the pseudo-Russian style in 1842.