Sevastopol (“a city worth of worship”, Glorious City) has a special administrative status, a large sea port and a naval base of the Ukrainian and Russian Fleets, industrial, scientific and cultural center of the South of Ukraine.

The territory of Sevastopol was settled at the beginning of the 1st millenium ВС. The rests of the fortifications of a Tauri settlement of the IX century ВС were discovered in the outskirts of Inkerman (Uch-Bash (Three Heads) height). There are some burial grounds in the valley of the river Chernaya (Black river). There were Tauri (VII century ВС) settlements near Balaclava.

Homer describes the Bay of Balaclava as a port of Lestrigons where Odysseus stayed. There are ruins of ancient city-colony of Chersonesus (Peninsula) between two bays now known as

Karantinnaya and Pesochnaya. By the 1st century Chersonesus had fallen to the Roman Empire. Cherson was chief Byzantine bastion in the Crimea.

In 988 warriors of Kievan Prince Vladimir besieged Chersonesus. The residents of Chersonesus were forced to surrender their town. In the 13th century, Byzantium — began to decline, in the 14th century Cherson was left in ruins…

In 1770s Balaclava Bay became a naval base for ships of the Azov battleship flotilla. In spring 1773 the commander of the flotilla vice-admiral O.N. Senyavin (1716-1797) ordered to investigate the Bay of Akhtiar-Ak-Yar (White Precipice). The bay was investigated by the navigator I. Baturin from the battleship «Modon» under command of lieutenant F.F. Ushakov (1745-1817), future famous naval commander.

The bays were highly estimated by the commander of Russian troops in the Crimea Alexander Suvorov(1730-1800) who ordered to build fortifications at the bays and made them secure against the enemy’s battleships.

On November 17, 1782 the first Russian frigates «Khrabry» and «Ostorozhny» entered the harbour of Akhtiar for the winter stay. On the northern side of the bay the naval depots

built the barracks — the first building in the city to be. On January 11, 1783 vice-admiral F. A. Klokachev was appointed to»… command the fleets created on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.» The ships under his command entered Akhtiar on May 2, 1783. There were only 17 of them but it was already the Black Sea Fleet.

The construction of the port was conducted under supervision of flag-officer lieutenant

D.N.Senyavin(1763-1831), famous fleet commander to be.

On June 3,1783 the first stone buildings were laid: the house for the admiral, a wharf, a smithy and a chapel. On July 2, 1783 the commander of the squadron F.F. Mekenzi reported to Peterbourgh about creation of the small Admiralty. In the construction of the town many of the civilians from Crimea and the central Provinces of Russia were employed.

On January 10, 1784 in the instructions of Catherine II to Prince G. A. Potemkin it was advised that a strong fortress with a port and a military settlement should be built on the site of the village of Akhtiar.

In 1790 rear-admiral F.F. Ushakov became Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. In 1824 the public garden, now Primorsky boulevard, was laid, later appeared Matrosky and Historical.

In 1834 the first monument of Sevastopol was set up in honour of the heroic feat of the brig «Mercury».

In 1871 on the initiative of M.M. Miklukho-Maklay the Sea Biological Station of the Academy of Sciences was opened. In Sevastopol the electric «candle» of P. N. Yablochkov was invented. A.S. Popov installed radio stations on the battleships.

The Crimean war proved the necessity of a strong fleet.

In 1883 in Sevastopol the iron c-clad battleships were built and seven years later the town was officially proclaimed a sea fortress.

The Black Sea Fleet was the first to beat off the air attacks of the German fascists. The defense of Sevastopol lasted 250 days. On May 9, 1944 Sevastopol was liberated by the armies of the 4th Ukrainian Front. Day and night the torches of Eternal Glory burn over the Hero-City of Sevastopol. Sapun Mount and Malakhov hill hold them highest.

Sevastopol is a busy city. It fishes in distant Atlantic and builds giant cranes, discovers the mysteries of the sea and raises new housing blocks…

Under the administrative authority of Sevastopol there are 2 settlements and 2 villages.

Verkhnesadovoye (Upper Garden) is a village situated in the valley of Belbek River at the Highway Simferopol — Sevastopol. It appeared in 1850s. In the vicinity of the village there is a Tauri burial ground. During the defence of Sevastopol 5 seamen of the Black Sea Fleet at the cost of their lives stopped the German tanks in November 1941. There is the Diorama dedicated to the heroic feat of the seamen. The farm center of Verkhnesadovoye specializes in vine growing and gardening.

Kacha is a settlement situated 23 km from Sevastopol at the Black Sea coast not far from the estuary of the River Kacha. The settlement was founded in 1912 when the first in Russia pilot school was transferred here. The school existed till 1941. Among its cadets were the famous pilots G.P. Baidukov (1928), S.P.Suprun (1931), P.D. Osipenko (1932), B.F. Safonov (1934) , A.I. Pokryshkin(1939), Amet-Khan Sultan (1940),- the military school of pilots being transferred to Volgograd still bears the proud name of Kacha, glorified by the famous aces.

The farmers of Kacha are engaged in vine-growing and the farm center winery.

Kamyshovaya Bukhta(Rushy Bay) is a settlement founded in 1952 in connection with the organization of the Azov-Black Sea base of fishing and fish-processing. It lies at the Black Sea coast 13-km from Sevastopol. Kamyshovaya Bukhta is a base of the fishing industry union «Atlantika» which includes: fishing fleet, sheep-repairing yard, fish cannery and sea fish port.

Orlinoye (Aquiline) is a village situated in the Baidar-Valley on the high way Sevastopol — Yalta 35 km afar from Sevastopol. The village came into being in connection with construction of the new high way. In the vicinity of the village there are 25 archeological monuments including the rests of settlings of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Ages. There are the ruins of a Christian monastery (X-XV cc.) and a feudal castle of the XII-XIV cc.

The farm centre of Orlinoye supplies Sevastopol and the resorts of the South Cost of the Crimea with milk, meat, vegetables and fruits. The farmers are also engaged in wheat and tobacco growing as well as in raising vegetables under glass.