The mouth of the Don River has always been an important commercial center. At the start of the 3rd century BCE, the Greeks from theBosporan Kingdom founded a colony here, which they calledTanais (after the Greek name of the river). Several centuries later, in the last third of 1st century BCE, the settlement was burned down by kingPolemon I of Pontus. The introduction of Greek colonists restored its prosperity, but theGoths practically annihilated it in the 3rd century. The site of ancient Tanais, now occupied by thekhutor ofNedvigovka, has been excavated since the mid-19th century.
In the 5th century, the area was populated byKaradach and hisAkatziroi. They were ruled byDengizich the Hun. Byzantium gave the land to the Hunugurs in the 460s; it became known asPatria Onoguria under his brother,Ernakh. Its Hun inhabitants became known as the Utigur Bulgars when it became part of theWestern Turkic Kaghanate underSandilch. Then in the 7th century KhanKubrat, ruler of the Unogundurs established Old Great Bolgary there before his heirBatbayan surrendered it to theKhazars.
In the 10th century, as the Khazar state disintegrated, the area came under the control of the Slavic princedom ofTmutarakan. TheKipchaks, seizing the area in 1067, renamed itAzaq (i.e., lowlands), from which appellation the modern name is derived. TheGolden Horde claimed most of the coast in the 13th and 14th centuries, but theVenetian andGenoese merchants were granted permission to settle on the site of modern-day Azov and founded there acolony which they calledTana.[12][13]
In autumn 2000,Thor Heyerdahl wanted to further investigate his idea that Scandinavians may have migrated from the south via waterways. He sought the origin ofOdin (Wotan), the Germanic and Nordic god of the mythologies of the early NorseEddas andSagas. According toSnorri Sturluson, the Icelandic author of an Edda and at least one Saga, who wrote in the 13th century, Odin was supposed to have migrated from the region of the Caucasus or the area just east of the Black Sea near the turn of the 1st century CE. Heyerdahl was particularly interested in Snorri's reference to the land of origin of theÆsir people. Heyerdahl wanted to test the veracity of Snorri's claims and as a result, organized the Joint Archaeological Excavation in Azov in 2001. He had wanted to undertake a second excavation the following year, but it never happened due to his death in April 2002.[14]
Ramparts of Azov FortressA 17th-century Dutch engraving representing the Battle of Azov (1696)
In 1471, theOttoman Empire gained control of the area and built the strong fortress of Azak (Azov). The fort blocked theDon Cossacks from raiding and trading in the Black Sea. The Cossacks attacked Azov in 1574, 1593, 1620, and 1626. In April 1637, three thousandDon Cossacks and four thousandZaporozhian Cossacks besieged Azov. The Turks had four thousand soldiers and two hundred cannons. The fort fell on June 21 and the Cossacks sent a request to theTsar for re-enforcements and support. A commission recommended against this because of the danger of war with Turkey and the poor state of the fortifications. In June 1641,Hussein Deli, Pasha of Silistria, invested the fort with 70,000–80,000 men. In September,they had to withdraw because of disease and provisioning shortfalls. A second Russian commission reported that the siege had left very little of the walls. In March 1642, Sultan Ibrahim issued an ultimatum and Tsar Mikhail ordered the Cossacks to evacuate. The Turks reoccupied Azov in September 1642.[15]
In 1693, the garrison of the fortress was 3,656 of whom 2,272 wereJanissaries.[16]
The fortress, however, had yet to pass through many vicissitudes. During theAzov campaigns of 1696,Peter the Great, who desired naval access to theBlack Sea, managed to recover the fortress.[17] Azov was granted town status in 1708,[citation needed] but the disastrousPruth River Campaign constrained him to hand it back to the Turks in 1711.[18] A humorous description of the events is featured inVoltaire'sCandide. During theGreat Russo-Turkish War, it was taken by the army underCount Rumyantsev and finally ceded to Russia under the terms ofTreaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774). For seven years Azov was a seat ofits own governorate, but with the growth of neighboringRostov-on-the-Don it gradually declined in importance. The Germans and Austrians occupied Azov in 1917–1918, during World War I. It was occupied by the Germans between July 1942 and February 1943 during World War II.
Sergey Bezdolny of theUnited Russia party was elected Mayor of Azov on April 3, 2005 and re-elected on October 11, 2009 by 72.9% of the voters.[citation needed]The current head of administration (city-manager) Vladimir Rashchupkin holds office from December 2015.
Built in 1799, thePowder Cellar Museum in Azov is the only remaining fortress of Catherine's time in all of what was once southern Russia. Fortresses she built in Rostov, Taganrog and elsewhere have been completely destroyed, so Azov's deserves to be considered an architectural monument to the art of military engineering in the 18th century. A wooden cellar served a quarter century, but in 1797 had become dilapidated, so it was dismantled, and replaced with a cellar made of stone. In 1799, in thebastion of St. Anne, a new powder cellar was built. From the beginning of the 19th to the 20th century the cellar was used to store of ice. From 1961 to 1965 the cellar was renovated and handed over to theAzov Museum of History, Archaeology and Palaeontology.
In 1967, to celebrate the 900-year anniversary of Azov, Soviet officials opened the exposition diorama"The taking of Azov by the troops of Peter the Great in 1696." The author of the diorama was the Russian artist Arseniy Chernyshov.
The Azov Fortress is a fortified complex overlooking theDon River and the Port of Azov to the north. It includes a rampart, watchtowers and gates.[20]
Azov. Monument to the sailors of the Azov Flotilla. 1975
Monument to Peter I is a bronze monument of Peter the Great in the center of Azov. It was designed by sculptors Oleg Komov and Andrey Kovalchuk. The opening ceremony took place on 19 July 1996 and was held in conjunction by the 300-year anniversary of the Russian Navy.
Monument to Aleksei Shein is a sculpture of Russian statesman, general, Boyar (from 1695), and the first Russian Generalissimo (1696) Aleksei Semenovich Shein. The monument was opened on June 12, 2009. The authors of the project were M. Lushnikov and V.P. Mokrousov.[21]
Monument to the sailors of the Azov Flotilla is dedicated to the Flotilla, which heroically fought in Taganrog Bay and the Don Delta during the Great Patriotic War. The monument is considered to be an object of local cultural heritage.
TheAzov Museum of History, Archaeology and Palaeontology is one of the biggest southern museums of Russia hosting the richest palaeontological collection in the south of Russia. The museum was established on 17 May 1917 by Michail Aronovich Makarovskiy. There is theHouse of Kovalev opposite the museum.[22]
^Brian L. Davies, 'Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 2007, page 88-90
^Ottoman Warfare 1500-1700, Rhoads Murphey, 1999, p. 55
^Lord Kinross,The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Perennial, 1979, p. 353.ISBN0-688-03093-9.
^Boeck, Brian J. (2008), "When Peter I Was Forced to Settle for Less: Coerced Labor and Resistance in a Failed Russian Colony (1695–1711)",The Journal of Modern History,80 (3):485–514,doi:10.1086/589589,S2CID144141729
Законодательное Собрание Ростовской области. Закон №340-ЗС от 25 июля 2005 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ростовской области», в ред. Закона №270-ЗС от 27 ноября 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в областной Закон "Об административно-территориальном устройстве Ростовской области"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Наше время", №187–190, 28 июля 2005 г. (Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast. Law #340-ZS of July 28, 2005On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Rostov Oblast, as amended by the Law #270-ZS of November 27, 2014On Amending the Oblast Law "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Rostov Oblast". Effective as of the official publication date.).
Законодательное Собрание Ростовской области. Закон №234-ЗС от 27 декабря 2004 г. «Об установлении границы и наделении статусом городского округа муниципального образования "Город Азов"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Наше время", №339, 29 декабря 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast. Law #234-ZS of December 27, 2004On Establishing the Border and Granting Urban Okrug Status to the Municipal Formation of the "Town of Azov". Effective as of the official publication date.).
Законодательное Собрание Ростовской области. Закон №239-ЗС от 27 декабря 2004 г. «Об установлении границ и наделении соответствующим статусом муниципального образования "Азовский район" и муниципальных образований в его составе». Вступил в силу с 1 января 2005 г. Опубликован: "Наше время", №339, 29 декабря 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Rostov Oblast. Law #239-ZS of December 27, 2004On Establishing the Borders and Granting an Appropriate Status to the Municipal Formation of "Azovsky District" and to the Municipal Formations It Comprises. Effective as of January 1, 2005.).
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Khvalkov E. ‘The society of the Venetian colony of Tana in the 1430s based on the notarial deeds of Niccolò di Varsis and Benedetto di Smeritis.’ In Studi storici 57 / 1 (2016): 93–110. // Studi Storici. 2016. Vol. 57. No. 1. P. 93–110.
Khvalkov E. Forms of Social Organization in the Venetian Trading Station in Tana, 1430s // Ricerche storiche. 2015. Vol. 45. No. 3. P. 381–392.
Khvalkov E. ‘Trading Diasporas in the Venetian and Genoese Trading Stations in Tana, 1430 – 1440.’, in: Union in Separation. Diasporic Groups and Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean (1100-1800). Heidelberg : Springer, 2015. P. 311–327.
Khvalkov E. Everyday Life and Material Culture in the Venetian and Genoese Trading Stations of Tana in the 1430s (Based on the Study of Notarial Documents) // Medium Aevum Quotidianum. 2012. Vol. 64. P. 84–93.
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