Odessa Oblast


Odessa Oblast is an oblast of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative center is the city of Odessa.
The region, the largest in Ukraine by area, is approximately the size of Belgium. The length of coastline reaches, while the state border stretches for. The region has eight sea-ports, over of vineyards, and five of the biggest lakes in Ukraine. One of the largest, Yalpuh Lake, is as large as the city of Odessa itself.

History

Evidence of the earliest inhabitants in this area comes from the settlements and burial grounds of the Neolithic Gumelniţa, Cucuteni-Trypillian and Usatovo cultures, as well as from the tumuli and hoards of the Bronze Age Proto-Indo-Europeans. In the 1st millennium B.C. Milesian Greeks founded colonies along the northern coast of the Black Sea, including the towns of Olbia, Tyras, Niconium, Panticapaeum, and Chersonesus. The Greeks left behind painted vessels, ceramics, sculptures, inscriptions, arts and crafts that indicate the prosperity of their ancient civilisation.
The culture of Scythian tribes inhabiting the Black Sea littoral steppes in the first millennium B.C. has left artefacts in settlements and burial grounds, including weapons, bronze cauldrons, other utensils, and adornments. By the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. the Sarmatians displaced the Scythians. In the 3rd–4th centuries A.D. a tribal alliance, represented by the items of Chernyakhov culture, developed. From the middle of the first millennium the formation of the Slavic people began. In the 9th century the eastern Slavs united into a state with Kiev as its centre. The Khazars, Polovtsy and Pechenegs were the Slavs' neighbours during different times. Archeological evidence of the period of the 9th–14th centuries survives in materials from the settlements and cities of Kievan Rus': Belgorod, Caffa- Theodosia, and Berezan Island.
The Mongols took over the Black Sea littoral in the 13th century.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania acquired the area at the beginning of the 15th century.
In 1593 the Ottoman Empire set up in the area what became known as its Dnieper Province, unofficially known as the Khanate of Ukraine.
Russian historiography refers to the area from 1791 as the Ochakov Oblast.
The territory of the Odessa oblast passed to Russian control in 1791 in the course of the Russian southern expansion towards the Black Sea at the end of the 18th century.
After the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia the area became part of the Ukrainian People's Republic, but soon succumbed first to the Russian Volunteer Army and then to the Russian Bolshevik Red Army. By 1920 the Soviet authorities had secured the territory of Odessa Oblast, which became part of the Ukrainian SSR. The oblast was established on 27 February 1932 from five districts: Odessa Okruha, Pervomaisk Okruha, Kirovohrad Okruha, Mykolaiv Okruha, and Kherson Okruha.
In 1937 the Central Executive Committee of the USSR split off the eastern portions of the Odessa Oblast to form the Mykolaiv Oblast.
During World War II Axis forces conquered the area and Romania occupied the oblast and administered it as part of the Transnistria Governorate. After the war the Soviet administration reestablished the oblast with its pre-war borders.
Odessa Oblast expanded in 1954 to absorb Izmail Oblast, formed in 1940 as a result of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, when Northern and Southern parts of Bessarabia were given to the Ukrainian SSR.
During the 1991 referendum, 85.38% of votes in Odessa Oblast favored the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. A survey conducted in December 2014 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 2.3% of the oblast's population supported their region joining Russia, 91.5% did not support the idea, and the rest were undecided or did not respond. A poll reported by Alexei Navalny and conducted in September 2014 found similar results.

Geography

The country's largest oblast by area, it occupies an area of around. It is characterised by largely flat steppes divided by the estuary of the Dniester river. Its Black Sea coast comprises numerous sandy beaches, estuaries and lagoons. The region's soils are renowned for their fertility, and intensive agriculture is the mainstay of the local economy. The southwest has many orchards and vineyards, while arable crops are grown throughout the region.

Points of interest

Significant branches of the oblast's economy are:
The region's industrial capability is principally concentrated in and around Odessa.

Demographics

The oblast's population is 2.4 million people, nearly 40% of whom live in the city of Odessa.
Significant Bulgarian and Romanian minorities reside in the province. It has the highest proportion of Jews of any oblast in Ukraine and there is a small Greek community in the city of Odessa.
Bulgarians and Romanians represent 21% and 13% respectively, of the population in the salient of Budjak, within Odessa oblast.
YearFertilityBirth
19901,833 166
19911,732 119
19921,630 155
19931,528 185
19941,426 197
19951,424 993
19961,323 666
19971,222 491
19981,221 273
19991,119 969
20001,120 042
20011,120 423
20021,221 227
20031,222 326
20041,323 343
20051,323 915
20061,425 113
20071,526 759
20081,628 780
20091,628 986
20101,628 690
20111,629 225
20121,730 384

Age structure

Median age

Religion

The dominant religion in Odessa Oblast is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, professed by 84% of the population. Another 8% declares to be non-religious and 6% are unaffiliated generic Christians. Adherents of Catholicism and Protestantism make up 0.5% of the population respectively.
The Orthodox community of Odessa Oblast is divided as follows:
The Odessa Oblast is administratively subdivided into 26 raions and 7 municipalities which are directly subordinate to the oblast government -.
NameUkrainian nameArea
Population
2015		Admin.centerUrban
Population Only*
OdessaОдеса 1391,010,490Odessa 1,010,490
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi ^Білгород-Дністровський 3157,559Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi 57,559
ChornomorskЧорноморськ 2572,553Chornomorsk 67,323
Izmail ^Ізмаї́л 5372,266Izmail 72,266
PodilskПодільськ 2540,613Podilsk 40,613
TeplodarТеплодар 310,277Teplodar 10,277
YuzhneЮжне 932,149Yuzhne 32,149
Ananyiv RaionАнаньївський 1,05026,999Ananyiv8,441
Artsyz Raion ^Арцизький 1,37945,274Artsyz14,886
Balta RaionБалтський 1,31741,666Balta18,940
Berezivka RaionБерезівський 1,63733,930Berezivka12,614
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion ^Білгород-Дністровський 1,85260,774Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi N/A *
Bilyayivka RaionБіляївський 1,49794,083Biliaivka14,334
Bolhrad Raion ^Болградський 1,36469,148Bolhrad15,451
Ivanivka RaionІванівський 1,16226,604Ivanivka8,807
Izmail Raion ^Ізмаїльський 1,19451,584Izmail N/A *
Kiliya Raion ^Кілійський 1,35852,400Kiliya28,434
Kodyma RaionКодимський 81829,586Kodyma11,195
Lyman RaionКомінтернівський 1,49971,158Dobroslav14,028
Liubashivka RaionЛюбашівський 1,10030,688Liubashivka10,954
Mykolaivka RaionМиколаївський 1,09316,127Mykolaivka2,850
Ovidiopol RaionОвідіопольський 82978,941Ovidiopol32,486
Okny RaionОкнянський 1,01320,186Okny5,338
Podilsk RaionПодільський 1,03727,091Podilsk N/A *
Reni Raion ^Ренійський 86158,352Reni25,527
Rozdilna RaionРоздільнянський 1,36837,353Rozdilna19,003
Sarata Raion ^Саратський 1,47445,057Sarata4,351
Savran RaionСавранський 61719,083Savran6,420
Shyriaieve RaionШиряївський 1,50227,151Shyriaieve6,781
Tarutyne Raion ^Тарутинський 1,87441,603Tarutyne12,932
Tatarbunary Raion ^Татарбунарський 1,74838,825Tatarbunary10,988
Velyka Mykhailivka RaionВеликомихайлівський 1,43631,006Velyka Mykhailivka8,472
Zakharivka RaionЗахарівський 95620,233Zakharivka8,881

One of the most famous Odessits is :ru:Уточкин, Сергей Исаевич|Sergei Utochkin who was a universal sportsman excelling in cycling, boxing, swimming and played football for the Odessa British Athletic Club. Utochkin had challenged a steam-powered tram while running, on a bicycle he beat a galloping horse, while on roller skates he was passing a bicyclist. The next stage for him was to conquest skies. Utochkin managed to buy an airplane from a local banker and completed dozens of exhibition flights. Eventually, he managed to assemble his own Farman-type airplane. In Kiev, Utochkin was demonstrating his piloting skills in front of some 50,000 people, among which was a future creator of helicopters Igor Sikorsky.
In the Southern Palmyra were also born a poet Anna Akhmatova, former NASA scientist Nicholas E. Golovin who worked with the Apollo program, as well as the founder of jazz in the Soviet Union Leonid Utyosov.