Sudak [key], town, SE Crimea, a resort on the Black Sea. From 1954 part of Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR), it passed to Russian control in 2014 after the occupation and annexation of Crimea. Sudak's major industries are rose-oil processing and the production of fine quality wines and champagnes. Founded as a Greek settlement in the 3d cent. a.d., the town passed to Novgorod around 800. From the 9th to 11th cent., the port played an important role in trade with Byzantium and the Mediterranean area. In the 13th cent., Marco Polo passed through the town, and the Venetians established a community there. After repeated Tatar attacks (1289, 1322, 1327), Sudak passed to Genoa and was fortified; but it declined steadily under the Genoese and the Crimean Tatars, to whom it passed in 1475. Russia acquired Sudak in 1783 with the rest of the Crimea.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: CIS and Baltic Political Geography
