Berdiansk

Berdiansk [Бердянськ; Berdjans'k]. Map: VII-17. A city (2016 pop 114,205) in Zaporizhia oblast, raion center and port on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov. From 1939 to 1958 it was called Osypenko. Berdiansk was founded in 1827 on the site of the Nogay-Tatar (see Nogay Tatars) village of Kutur-Ohla near the Berda River. A port from 1836, in 1842 it became a county town of Tavriia gubernia. As a result of trade (it became an important wheat-exporting port), it grew considerably—from a population of 10,100 in 1860 to 26,500 in 1897. After a decline during the revolution (1926 pop 26,400, of which 63 percent were Russians and 22 percent Ukrainians), there was a period of significant growth in the 1930s as a result of industrialization (1939 pop 52,000, 1959 pop 65,000, and 1970 pop 100,000). The city has a cable factory (the Azovkabel factory), an agricultural machine plant, a construction and road-building machine plant, a hydraulic machinery plant, a petroleum byproducts and petrochemical plant; as well as a shoe, a clothing, and a food-processing (specializing in seafood) plant. It also has a pedagogical university (founded in 1932) and an university of business and management; an airport; machine-building, grape-growing and winemaking, and medical tekhnikums; a regional museum (founded in 1930); and an art museum. It is also a port of call for the Azov steamships. There is an important health resort 5 km from Berdiansk, which features mud baths, salt water, and grape cures.

[This article was updated in 2016.]