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Established in 1794 by the empress Catherine the Great on land conquered from the Ottoman Empire on the site of the Black Sea fortress town of Khadzhibei, Odesa holds economic, symbolic and strategic significance.
In 1855, Robert Sears’ guide to the Russian Empire declared, “There is perhaps no town in the world in which so many different tongues may be heard as in the streets and coffeehouses of Odessa.” He wrote that the city included “Russians, Tartars, Greeks, Jews, Poles, Italians, Germans, French, etc.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/world...ussia.html
In 1855, Robert Sears’ guide to the Russian Empire declared, “There is perhaps no town in the world in which so many different tongues may be heard as in the streets and coffeehouses of Odessa.” He wrote that the city included “Russians, Tartars, Greeks, Jews, Poles, Italians, Germans, French, etc.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/world...ussia.html
