Odesa is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea.
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In 1794, the modern city of Odesa was founded by a decree of the Russian empress Catherine the Great.
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From 1819 to 1858, Odesa was a free port—a porto-Franco.
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Odesa is located between the ancient Greek cities of Tyras and Olbia and it was named as a feminine form for the ancient Greek city of Odessos .
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Odesa was the site of a large Greek settlement no later than the middle of the 6th century BC .
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Whether the Bay of Odesa is the ancient "Port of the Histrians" cannot yet be considered a settled question based on the available evidence.
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On Italian navigational maps of 14th century on the place of Odesa is indicated the castle of Ginestra, at the time the center of a colony of the Republic of Genoa .
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Sleepy fishing village of Odesa had witnessed a sea-change in its fortunes when the wealthy magnate and future Voivode of Kiev, Antoni Protazy Potocki, established trade routes through the port for the Polish Black Sea Trading Company and set up the infrastructure in the 1780s.
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Odesa is credited with designing the city and organizing its amenities and infrastructure, and is considered one of the founding fathers of Odesa, together with another Frenchman, Count Andrault de Langeron, who succeeded him in office.
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In 1819, Odesa became a free port, a status it retained until 1859.
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Odesa became home to an extremely diverse population of Albanians, Armenians, Azeris, Bulgarians, Crimean Tatars, Frenchmen, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Turks, Ukrainians, and traders representing many other nationalities .
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In 1905, Odesa was the site of a workers' uprising supported by the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin and the Menshevik's Iskra.
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Odesa's recorded 187 confirmed kills during the defense of Odesa.
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Many parts of Odesa were damaged during both its siege and recapture on 10 April 1944, when the city was finally liberated by the Red Army.
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Nevertheless, the majority of Odesa's Jews emigrated to Israel, the United States and other Western countries between the 1970s and 1990s.
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Odesa is a Ukrainian naval base and home to a fishing fleet.
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Odesa was a contender for hosting Euro 2012 football matches in, but lost the competition to other cities in Ukraine.
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Odesa was struck by three bomb blasts in December 2014, one of which killed one person .
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Flora is of the deciduous variety and Odesa is known for its tree-lined avenues which, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, made the city a favourite year-round retreat for the Russian aristocracy.
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Odesa has a hot-summer humid continental climate that borderlines the semi-arid climate as well as a humid subtropical climate This has, over the past few centuries, aided the city greatly in creating conditions necessary for the development of summer tourism.
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Odesa oblast is home to a number of other nationalities and minority ethnic groups, including Albanians, Armenians, Azeris, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Georgians, Greeks, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Turks, among others.
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Many of Odesa's buildings have, rather uniquely for a Ukrainian city, been influenced by the Mediterranean style of classical architecture.
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Odesa's most iconic symbol, the Potemkin Stairs, is a vast staircase that conjures an illusion so that those at the top only see a series of large steps, while at the bottom all the steps appear to merge into one pyramid-shaped mass.
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Derybasivska Street, an attractive pedestrian avenue named after Jose de Ribas, the Spanish-born founder of Odesa and decorated Russian Navy Admiral from the Russo-Turkish War, is famous by its unique character and architecture.
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Odesa is home to several universities and other institutions of higher education.
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The most popular Russian show business people from Odesa are Yakov Smirnoff, Mikhail Zhvanetsky and Roman Kartsev .
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Odesa was the home of the late Armenian painter Sarkis Ordyan, the Ukrainian painter Mickola Vorokhta and the Greek philologist, author and promoter of Demotic Greek Ioannis Psycharis .
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Odesa produced one of the founders of the Soviet violin school, Pyotr Stolyarsky.
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Odesa has produced many writers, including Isaac Babel, whose series of short stories, Odessa Tales, are set in the city.
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Odesa is best known for winning season six of X-Factor Ukraine and for representing Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, singing the song "Under the Ladder".
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Yaakov Dori, the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, was born in Odesa, as was Israel Dostrovsky, Israeli physical chemist who was the fifth president of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
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Port of Odesa is one of the Ukrainian Navy's most important bases on the Black Sea.
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Tourism sector is of great importance to Odesa, which is currently the second most-visited Ukrainian city.
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Odesa has a well-developed IT industry with large number of IT outsourcing companies and IT product startups.
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Odesa is a major maritime-transport hub that includes several ports including Port of Odesa, Port of Chornomorsk, Yuzhne .
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The Port of Odesa became a provisional headquarters for the Ukrainian Navy, following the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014.
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Odesa was a popular city publisher of the newspaper Odesskii listok .
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Odesa is linked to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, by the M05 Highway, a high quality multi-lane road which is set to be re-designated, after further reconstructive works, as an 'Avtomagistral' in the near future.
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Odesa has a well-developed system of inter-urban municipal roads and minor beltways.
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Odesa is served by a number of railway stations and halts, the largest of which is Odesa Holovna .
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In 1881, Odesa became the first city in Imperial Russia to have steam tramway lines, an innovation that came only one year after the establishment of horse tramway services in 1880 operated by the "Tramways d'Odessa", a Belgian owned company.
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Odesa has a cable car to Vidrada Beach, and recreational ferry service.
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One additional mode of transport in Odesa is the Potemkin Stairs funicular railway, which runs between the city's Primorsky Bulvar and the sea terminal, has been in service since 1902.
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The airport is often used by citizens of neighbouring countries for whom Odesa is the nearest large city and who can travel visa-free to Ukraine.
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Odesa will become one of five Ukrainian cities to host the 39th European Basketball Championship in 2015.
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