From the first settlements to the end of the 19th century
The site of Odessa was once occupied by an ancient Greek colony. Archaeological artifacts confirm links between the Odessa area and the eastern Mediterranean. In the Middle Ages successive rulers of the Odessa region included various nomadic tribes (Petchenegs, Cumans), the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire. Yedisan Crimean Tatars traded there in the 14th century.
During the reign of Khan Hac? I Giray of Crimea (1441�1466), the Khanate was endangered by the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Turks and, in search of allies, the khan agreed to cede the area to Lithuania. The site of present-day Odessa was then a town known as Khadjibey (named for Hac? I Giray, and also spelled Kocibey in English, Hac?bey or Hocabey in Turkish, and Hac?bey in Crimean Tatar). It was part of the Dykra region. However, most of the rest of the area remained largely uninhabited in this period.
Ottoman Yedisan
Khadjibey came under direct control of the Ottoman Empire after 1529 as part of a region known as Yedisan, and was administered in the Ottoman Silistra (�zi) Province. In the mid-18th century, the Ottomans rebuilt a fortress at Khadjibey (also was known Hocabey), which was named Yeni D�nya. Hocabey was a sanjak centre of Silistre Province.
Russian Empire
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1787�1792, on 25 September 1789, a detachment of Russian forces under Ivan Gudovich took Khadjibey and Yeni D�nya for the Russian Empire. One part of the troops came under command of a Spaniard in Russian service, Major General Jos� de Ribas (known in Russia as Osip Mikhailovich Deribas), and the main street in Odessa today, Derybasivska Street, is named after him. Russia formally gained possession of the area as a result of the Treaty of Jassy (Ia?i) in 1792 and it became a part of the so-called Novorossiya ("New Russia").
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