Azov

Azov

Azov (əzôfˈ), city (1990 est. pop. 82,000), SE European Russia, a port on the Don River delta near the Sea of Azov. It is a rail junction, a light industrial center, and a fishing center. Tourism supplements the economy. Founded as the Greek colony of Tanaïs (3d cent. B.C.), it was a trading center and fortress. It came under Kievan Rus in the 10th cent., was taken by the Cumans in the 11th cent., became a Genoese colony in the 13th cent., and passed to the Turks in 1471. The Don Cossacks held the city (1637–42), but were driven out by the Turks. Peter the Great won the city in 1696 and thus opened southern routes for Russia; he was forced to cede it back to Turkey in 1711. Russia took it again in 1736, but was forced by the Treaty of Belgrade to dismantle the fortress in 1739. Russia secured Azov definitively by the treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji in 1774.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Azov

 

city in Rostov Oblast, RSFSR. A port on the Don River, it is situated 7 km from its confluence with the Taganrog Gulf of the Sea of Azov. It is the last railroad station on a branch of the Rostov-on-Don-Baku line. With a population of 57,000 (1968), Azov has plants for forge and press equipment and automatons and for business equipment. Other industries include shipbuilding (fishing vessels), light industry (stockings, footwear, and clothing factories, and others), food (mainly fish), and construction materials production.

The city has polytechnical and industrial-training technicums and a pedagogical school. There is a museum of history and local lore.

Azov is one of the oldest cities of the Black Sea coastal area. In the tenth and 11th centuries it became part of the Tmutarakan Principality of Kievan Rus’. Around 1067 it was captured by the Polovtsy, who named it Azak. From the 13th century, Azak was the city of the Golden Horde. In 1471, Azov was captured by the Turks and turned into a military fortress. During 1637–42, Azov was held by the Don Cossacks. In 1696, Azov was taken by the troops of Peter I, and in 1711 it was returned to Turkey. It finally merged with Russia by the treaty of Kiuchuk Kainardji of 1774. It was the center of Azov Province from 1775 to 1782; from 1810 it was a settlement of Ekaterinoslav Province. It has been a city since 1926.

REFERENCE

Azov, 900 let. Rostov-on-Don, 1967.

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Azov

 

the name of a number of ships of the Russian fleet, the best known of which was the 74–gun sailing ship (designed by naval architect I. A. Kurochkin, launched at Arkhangelsk in 1826, and dismantled in 1831), which distinguished itself under the command of Captain M. P. Lazarev in the battle at Navarino (Oct. 20, 1827). The Azov destroyed five Turkish ships (including the frigate of the commander of the fleet). The Azov received the greatest number of case shot holes and absorbed half of the total Russian loss in life. It was the first ship in the history of the Russian fleet to be awarded the Georgievskii ensign and pennant; Lazarev was made rear admiral. In memory of the Azov there were three ships during the course of the 19th-20th century which bore the name Pamiat’ Azova (Memory of Azov)—two sailing battleships and a cruiser of the first class.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Azov

Sea of. a shallow arm of the Black Sea, to which it is connected by the Kerch Strait: almost entirely landlocked; fed chiefly by the River Don. Area: about 37 500 sq. km (14 500 sq. miles)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005