Why Odessa Day needs to celebrate May 19

May 19 is the day when they would really celebrate Odessa Day.

It was on this day in 1415 that the first written mention of Hadzhibei settlement appeared, which will later grow into a city known as Odesa. It is a document sent by Polish King Vladislav II Jagiel to the Teutonic Order. It records that the Black Sea port of Kaczubyeioow was under the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The first written references to the Port city of Kochubey, later Hadzhibey, and now Odessa, can be seen in the work of the Polish historian Jan Dlogush « History of Poland », from 1415. The exact date was determined by the Odessa researcher Alexander Stepanchenko, says Dr. Historical Sciences Taras Goncharuk.

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This fact not only adds years to Odessa history – it breaks the imperial legend. After all, it turns out that the port of Kochubeev functioned as a port, strategically important settlement 379 years before Catherine II « founded » the city of Odessa.

So, maybe it is logical to celebrate the City Day not on September 2 (the day when the Fleet of Potemkin came), and on May 19 – the day when we first see Odessa on the map of Europe?

It is for this reason that you want to look at the city more closely. Not from the point of view of the imperial fanfik, but through the prism of real, stone, Ukrainian traces. And here begins the most interesting.

Let’s understand – to make the pro -Russian cotton wool in Odessa, and we became more visible.

In the photos – Cossack crosses from shells. It is the same stone from which the entire central part of the Ukrainian city is built on the Black Sea.

It was this stone that gave Odessa its recognizable appearance: warm yellowish shades of walls, unique facades with bas -reliefs and stucco.

Importantly, part of the crosses in the cemetery of « Sotnikovskaya Sich », which is located directly in Odessa, dated several years earlier than the official date of foundation of the city – 1794.

So why did we forget about Hadzhibei with you?

This port successfully developed long before Russia’s arrival. Therefore, we throw all the Moscow narratives about the founding of the city in the wild field.

Think for yourself: if Catherine II seemed to build a port – where did the grain transported until then? How was it unloaded? How did it get to Istanbul, Marseille and Livorno’s ports?

Long before the « swamp », the Chumaki grain was taken here – this is emphasized by Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor of Odessa University Taras Goncharuk.

One of the main routes of Chumaks in the XVIII century was from Central Ukraine (Poltava, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi) to the south – to Hadzhibey and Ochakov.

Thus, the city grew economically from the grain that sprouted on the Left Bank, in the Middle Dnieper and Podillya. And these economic and cultural ties were inextricable.

In the Soviet and imperial narratives, Odessa was magnified as a « pearl of the Russian Empire », emphasizing the role of Potemkin, Duke de Richelieu, etc., but ignored the contribution of Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews – who actually formed a multinational urban environment.

Attempts to present Odessa as « exclusively a Russian city with a cheerful Odessa speaker » is an attempt to erase its identity.

In fact, Odesa is an example of a unique multicultural space with powerful Ukrainian roots (songs, language, theater, education, kitchen, literature).

Russia has created the ideological project « Novorossiysk » to justify its invasion. In it, Odesa appears as a « artificial Russian city on the wild steppe » – which directly contradicts the facts: Ukrainians lived here for centuries, had farms, cultural institutions, Cossack fortifications.

« You just look at this paw cut cross! » – The historian Taras Goncharuk continues with delight.

The scientist points to the obvious gravity of traditions from Cherkasy region-from grandfather-great-grandfather. When Catherine II destroyed Zaporizhzhya Sich, the Cossacks went down to the Black Sea – without weapons, without rights and liberties, without hope for self -order. So here they were built by their blood and then the historic center of Odessa from stone, which once lying on the bottom of our sea.

Now let’s draw analogies between the past and the present.

Putin’s desire to select Ukraine’s right to self-determination and his own army is the same thing as the Imperate Queen with the Cossacks.

Will we build new cities of the empire, will we better protect our own?

We need to study the story so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Frair from Deribasovskaya and Space from Moldovanka should know – here Ukraine!

Miroslav Otkovich

A column is a material that reflects the author’s point of view. The text of the column does not claim the objectivity and comprehensive coverage of the topic that rises in it. The editorial board of « Ukrainian Truth » is not responsible for the accuracy and interpretation of the information provided and plays only the role of the carrier. The point of view of the UP editorial board may not coincide with the point of view of the author of the column.