Novorossiysk

Novorossiysk or Novorossiisk (both: nô'vərəsēsk`), city (1989 pop. 186,000), Krasnodar Territory, SE European Russia, on the Black Sea. A major port and a naval base, it exports grain and oil, has shipyards, and is a major center of the Russian cement industry. It is connected the pipelines to the oilfields of Kazakhstan. The city stands on the site of a Genoese colony (13th–14th cent.) and of a Turkish fortress, captured by the Russians in 1808. The present city was founded in 1838, and the first cement factory was opened in 1882. Before 1914 it was one of the important grain-exporting cities of Russia. The city was held (1919–20) by the White forces during the Russian civil war.