Azov is a town in the Rostov Oblast of the Russian Federation, situated on the Don River just 4 miles from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. Its population is 81,700 (2002). Azov's geographical location is 47°5′N 39°28′E. Rostov Oblast (Russian: ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in Southern Federal District. ... The Don (Дон) is one of the major rivers of Russia. ... The shallow Sea of Azov is clearly distinguished from the deeper Black Sea. ...

Early settlements in the vicinity

The mouth of the Don River has always been an important commercial centre. At the start of the 3rd century BC the Greeks from the Kingdom of Bosporus founded a colony here, which they called Tanais (after the Greek name of the river). Several centuries later the settlement was burnt down by king Poleumon of Bosporus. The introduction of Greek colonists restored its prosperity, but the Goths practically annihilated it in the 3rd century AD. The site of ancient Tanais, now occupied by Nedvigovka village, has been excavated since the mid-19th century. Tomb monument of Jacopo Cornaro, Venetian consul of Tana This work is copyrighted. ... The Cimmerian Bosphorus of Antiquity, shown on a map printed in London, ca 1770 The Cimmerian Bosporus (Bosporus Cimmerius) was the ancient name for the Strait of Kerch that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. ... Sarmatian cataphract from Tanais. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche portrays the Goths as cavalrymen. ...

In the 10th century, the area passed under control of the Slavic princedom of Tmutarakan. The Kypchaks, seizing the area in 1067, renamed it azak (i.e., lowlands), from which appelation the modern name is derived. The Golden Horde claimed most of the coast in the 13th and 14th centuries, but the Venetian and Genoese merchants were granted permission to settle on the site of modern-day Azov and founded there a colony which they called Tana. The Turks put an end to its prosperity in 1471, when they seized the area and built a strong fortress of Azov. Tmutarakan is an ancient city that controlled the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. ... Kypchaks (also Kipchaks, Qipchaqs) are an ancient Turkic people, first mentioned in historical chronicles of Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. The western Kypchaks were also named Kuman, Kun and Polovtsian (pl. ... Events Constantine X emperor of the Byzantine Empire dies. ... The Golden Horde was a Turkic state established in parts of present-day Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan after the break up of the Mongol Empire in the 1240s. ... Venetian could mean of Venice of the venetia territory of the Republic of Venice of the venet nation the Venetian language The Venetian, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada A venetian blind - a horizontally slatted window blind. ... Alternate uses, see Genoa (disambiguation). ... In politics and in history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a geographically-distant state (or city, in ancient times). ... This article is about the year 1471, not the BT caller ID service accessible by dialling 1-4-7-1. ...

Fortress of Azov

A 17th-centuty Dutch engraving representing the Battle of Azov (1696)

In what is known as one of the more legendary pages of Cossack history, the Don Cossacks captured the fortress with its Turkish garrisson of 4000 soldiers and 200 cannons in the summer of 1637 and held it for 5 years. In June 1641 they withstood a long siege by an Ottoman army. In 1642, when the Turks retreated, the Tsar summoned a popular assembly, or Zemsky Sobor, which decided to surrender the fortress in order to avoid the full-scale war with Turkey. Before leaving the castle, the Cossacks annihilated all the fortifications. Adriaan Schoonebeck. ... Adriaan Schoonebeck. ... Don Cossacks refers to cossacks that settled along the Don River, Russia it its lower and middle parts. ... Events February 3 - Tulipmania collapses in Netherlands by government order February 15 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor December 17 - Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan Pierre de Fermat makes a marginal claim to have proof of what would become known as Fermats last theorem. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice). ... The zemsky sobor (Russian: зе́мский собо́р) was the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type, in the 16th and 17th centuries. ...

The town, however, had yet to pass through many vicissitudes. During the so-called Azov campaigns (1696), Peter the Great managed to recover the fortress but the disastrous Pruth Campaign constrained him to hand it back to the Turks in 1711. A humorous description of the events is featured in Voltaire's Candide. During the Great Russo-Turkish War it was taken by the army under Count Rumyantsev and finally ceded to Russia under the terms of Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774). For 7 years Azov was a capital of a separate government but, with the growth of neighbouring Rostov-on-the-Don, gradually declined in importance. Azov campaigns of 1695-1696 (Азовские походы in Russian), two Russian military campaigns during the Russo-Turkish War of 1686-1700, led by Peter the Great and aimed at capturing the Turkish fortress of Azov (garrison - 7,000 men), which had been blocking Russias access to the Azov Sea... Portrait of Peter by Paul Delaroche Peter I (Russian: ) (10 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May 1672– 28 January 1725 O.S.] ) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death. ... // Events February 24 - The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Friderich Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage. ... The last of Voltaires statues by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1781). ... Candide, ou lOptimisme, (English: Candide, or Optimism) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Rumyantsev family were the Russian counts prominent in the imperial politics of the 18th and early 19th century. ... The Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji (Küçük Kaynarca) was signed on July 21, 1774, between Russia (represented by Field-Marshal Rumyantsev) and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774. ... ...

External link

• Soviet topographic map 1:100,000

See also

• Tanais
• Azov campaigns