The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Odesa, Ukraine.

13th to 17th century

1240 – Tatars begin settling herds in the region. 1415 – A settlement of Kachibei (Khadjibey, Hacıbey, Kotsiubiyiv) was first mentioned. 15th century – Khadjibey ceded to Lithuania. 1529 – Ottoman conquest.

18th century 1764 – Fortress Yeni Dünya built at Khadjibey by Turks. 1789 – Russian forces take fortress. 1791 – Khadjibey annexed to Novorossiya. 1794 – Odesa founded by decree of Catherine II of Russia. 1795 Population: 2,250. Cathedral of the Transfiguration founded.

19th century 1802 – Population: 9,000. 1803 – Duc de Richelieu in power. 1804 – Commercial school founded. 1805 Odesa becomes administrative center of New Russia. Theatre opens. Russian Orthodox church built. 1808 – Troitzkaya Church active. 1809 Cathedral built. Opera house built. 1812 – Plague. 1814 – Population: 25,000. 1816 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron in power. 1817 – Richelieu Lyceum established. 1819 – Odesa becomes a free port. 1821 Church of the Dormition built. Pogrom against Jews. 1824 – Odesa becomes "seat of the governors-general of Novorossia and Bessarabia". 1825 – Archeological Museum founded. 1826 Fyodor Palen in power. Jewish school established. Richelieu Monument unveiled. 1828 – Imperial Rural Association for Southern Russia founded. 1830 Public library established. Vorontsov Palace built. 1838 – Plague. 1841 – Giant Staircase constructed. 1846 - Londonska Hotel opens. 1847 – Novobazarnaya Church built. 1850 – Population: 100,000. 1853 Crimean War begins. Roman Catholic Church rebuilt.

1854 – Anglo-French fleet attacks Odesa. 1856 – Russian Steam Navigation and Trading Company established. 1857 – August 15: Free port status revoked. 1859 – Pogrom against Jews. 1862 Odesa Military District established. Vorontsov Lighthouse built. 1865 – Imperial Novorossiya University established. 1866 – Odesa–Balta railway begins operating. 1871 Pogrom against Jews. Russian Technical Society, Odesa branch, founded. 1873 – Population: 162,814. 1874 – Theatre Velikanova built. 1875 – Tzar visits Odesa. 1876 – Turkish forces attack Odesa. 1880 – Horse tramway begins operating. 1881 Steam tramway begins operating. Pogrom against Jews. 1882 – Population: 217,000. 1887 – Theatre built. 1894 – Odesa Committee of the Social Democratic Workers Party organized. 1895 – St. Panteleimon church consecrated.

1897 – Lutheran Church built. 1899 General Post Office built. Exchange built. Bristol Hotel opens. 1900 – Population: 449,673.

20th century 1902 – Cadet School active. 1905 June: Potemkin uprising. Pogrom against Jews. 1906 Uprising. Municipal Library built. 1907 – Myrograph film studio in business. 1910 Electric Tram begins operating. Trade fair held. 1913 Conservatoire founded. Sergiyev Artillery School active. Population: 631,040. 1917 – City occupied by Ukrainian Tsentral'na Rada, French Army, Red Army, and White Army following the Bolshevik Revolution. 1918 13 March: Odesa occupied by Central Powers. Odesa becomes capital of Odesa Soviet Republic. Polytechnic University established. December: Odesa occupied by the French Army Consulate of Poland opened. 1919 – Odesa Film Studio founded. 1920 – Red Army in power. 1921 – Odesa State Economics University established. 1922 Odesa State Medical Institute established. Odesa Zoo opens. 1924 – Odesa Philharmonic Theater opens. 1926 – State Odesa Russian Drama Theatre established. 1928 – Spartak Stadium opens. 1933 – School of Stolyarsky established. 1935 – Kosior Memorial Stadium built. 1936 The Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases & Tissue Therapy founded. Dynamo football club formed. 1937 – Mass murder of around 1,000 Poles during the Polish Operation of the NKVD. 1941 August 8-October 16: Siege of Odesa. October 17: Axis occupation begins. October 22–24: 1941 Odesa massacre. Odesa becomes capital of Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate. 1944 April 10: Red Army takes city; Axis occupation ends. ODO Odesa football team active. Odesa State Maritime Academy founded. 1945 – Odesa designated a Hero City of the USSR. 1952 – Railway Station rebuilt. 1961 Odesa International Airport built. Pushkin Museum opens. 1963 – Avangard rugby club formed. 1965 – Population: 735,000. 1973 – April 10: Humorina festival begins. 1979 – Population: 1,072,000. 1984 – Deribasivska Street pedestrianized. 1985 – Population: 1,126,000. 1989 – Outdoor market relocates to Odesa-Ovidiopol highway. 1992 – BIPA-Moda basketball club formed. 1994 Eduard Gurwits becomes mayor. New music festival begins. 1998 – Rouslan Bodelan becomes mayor. 1999 – Odesa Numismatics Museum established. 2000 – Quarantine Pier designated free economic zone and port.

21st century 2001 – Al-Salam Mosque opens. 2003 – Rebuilt Odesa Cathedral consecrated. 2005 – Eduard Gurwits becomes mayor again. 2007 – Pryvoz Market rebuilt. 2010 – Odesa International Film Festival begins. 2011 Chornomorets Stadium built. FC SKA Odesa formed. Aleksey Kostusyev becomes mayor. Population: 1,003,705. 2014 – 2014 Odesa clashes. 2014 – after Crimea annexation by Russia, Odesa become the main naval base of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 2018 – Population: 993,831 (estimate). 2022 – Odesa is being constantly shelled by Russian missiles and the Odesa port is blocked. 2025 – On 15 October 2025 on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy decreed that Odesa had been placed under a city military administration headed by Serhiy Lysak. This happens after Mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov is removed from office due to him having a Russian passport.

See also Odesa history History of the Jews in Odesa List of mayors of Odesa

References

Bibliography

Published before 1950

Published since 1950 Dzhumyga, Ievgen. "The Home Front In Odessa During The Great War (July 1914–February 1917): The Gender Aspect Of The Problem." Danubius 31 (2013):pp 223+ online

Herlihy, Patricia. "The ethnic composition of the city of Odessa in the nineteenth century." Harvard Ukrainian Studies 1.1 (1977): 53–78.

External links

New York Public Library. Images related to Odesa, various dates.

Images