Founding

In the 19th century, the Russian Imperial government began to plan to build a seaport in the Northern Azov region. In 1824, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, Governor-General of the Caucasus Viceroyalty, sent an expedition to the Azov Sea. Its task was to find a place to build a new seaport to assist in the defense of Russia's southern borders. Initially, the place for a future port was implied in the village of Obetochnoe that belonged to Count Orlov-Denisov, near the town of Nogaisk (now Prymorsk) founded in 1821.^[3]

In the autumn of 1824, Captain Nikolai Kritsky, the expedition supervisor reported on several prospective sites; the best being a place closed off from the sea by the Berdiansk Spit. In an official report to Vorontsov, Kritsky wrote: "the quality of Berdiansk Spit surpasses that of Obytichna Spit; you can build a landing stage and port on it unless you concede to Sevastopol...".^[4] In the 1820s, the place of the future Berdiansk was just a small settlement of fishers with a few huts.^[5]

The settlement that would become Berdiansk itself was founded in 1827 on the site of a Nogai settlement named "Kutur-Ohla".^[6] The settlement was also called "Kutur-Ohla" initially, inheriting the name of the Nogai settlement. Vorontsov, who had ordered the founding of the village, had a "fairly liberal" attitude regarding Jewish people, and so the settlement had a Jewish community from as early as it was founded. The local Jews were mainly employed as tailors and merchants.^[7]

Development

In 1830, its name was changed to Novo-Nogaisk.^[7] On July 1, 1830, merchant Nikolay Kobozev's private wooden quay was opened with a ceremony.^[8][9] Only by 12 January 1835, a state-owned quay had been built.^[8]

In 1833, Kobozev set up a wooden post to function as a navigation beacon. In 1836, the first foreign ship entered the port of Berdiansk.^[3] A modern stone lighthouse was built under the leadership of the Italian merchant Carlo Tomasini in 1838.^[3] It is a 23-metre (75 ft) octahedral whitestone tower with an orange stripe in the middle. The beacon fires protected sailing ships and was first seen in 1840. The present name "Berdiansk" was given to the city in 1841 by special decree of Nicholas I and named after the nearby Berda River. The name of Berdiansk has also been written Berdianske (Ukrainian: Бердянське),^[10] According to 1928 Kharkiv Orthography.^[11]

In 1841 the settlement at Berdiansk Bay received city status. Grigory Chernyaev (1787—1868) was appointed the city governor (gradonachalnik) and the head of Berdiansk sea port.^[12] Chernyaev, an officer from landed gentry, took part in the Battle of Borodino. After the defeat of Napoleon he was appointed a comendant of Valenciennes.^[12] Mikhail Vorontsov knew him from France, when the former was the commander of the Russian expedition forces.^[12]

The son of the Nogaisk merchant who owned fisheries at Berdiansk Bay, Nikolay Kobozev, was elected the first mayor of the city in 1841. During his term, the small township turned into a flourishing city with a large number of foreign companies' offices and active international trade. He built the first stone houses in the town and the famous Winter Theater, later destroyed during World War II.

In 1842, Berdiansk became the center of Berdyansky Uyezd (county).^[13] On 31 January 1845, the first coat of arms of Berdiansk was created. At the top, on a green background, is a silver Nogai nomadic tent together with a black plow; this denotes the semi-nomadic life lived in the Nogais and farming work done by local residents. In the bottom part, on a blue background, sits a black anchor to symbolize the district's affinity with the sea. By this time the customs outpost was already opened. Some foreign marine grain purchasing representatives (negotiators) moved their offices to Berdiansk from Mariupol and Odesa.

In 1847, Berdiansk's Jewish population was 572, and in 1860, they established a Talmud Torah school.^[7] In April 1862 Tsar Alexander II with assistance from Mayor N. Kobozev confirmed the city district plan for Berdiansk. In the plan, the streets were straight and led to the sea. This layout has remained to the present day in the central part of the city. It was forbidden to build houses above the second floor. Fine buildings decorate Berdiansk: the Winter Theatre, City Hall, the hotel "Bristol" (now House of Culture factory "Pivdenhidromash"), male classical school (now the main building of the Pedagogical Institute), Ascension Cathedral, the Lutheran Church, and more.

In Berdiansk the main employer was still the seaport, and on March 24, 1869, a breakwater was commissioned. This stone construction is 640 metres (2,100 feet) long with two port lights on the ends – pointers to the harbor, located at a distance of 859 metres (2,818 feet) from the shore. The increasing importance of the port was mentioned in 1867 in a commemorative book on the Taurida Governorate: "Already there is no doubt, that for all the Azov coast the Berdiansk port will be the Odesa of the Black Sea coast".

In 1876 as part of the defense of Sevastopol, rear admiral P. P. Schmidt was appointed Town Governor and Port Chief. Being a progressive man, he did much to promote the development of both port and city. Soon there were small industrial enterprises and banks opening in the city. John Greaves' factory manufacturing harvesters became well known across Europe.^[14][15] A farming machine factory was opened by Schröder and Matias. There was the rope-making factory of Venz and Yanzen, Selstrem's candle-wax works, Litsmen sausage factory, Fetter's brewery, Klavdin macaroni factory, and Ediger's printing house. The Italians constructed the city power station. By this time, two daily newspapers, three libraries and four bookshops were established. The city had running water and electric light illumination.

After the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, there were fears of antisemitic pogroms breaking out, and the Jews of Berdiansk requested the authorities to send troops to protect the population from ethnic violence.^[7]

In 1883, the oil lamps in the lighthouse were replaced by electric lights. The old beacon was refurbished and upgraded with newer equipment. According to the 1897 census, there were 3,306 Jews in Berdiansk, and they made up 12.9% of the city's total population.^[7] In 1899 Berdiansk was linked up to the railway.^[16]

At the beginning of the 20th century the city population numbered 26,500. There were about ten orthodox temples, two Jewish and one Karaite synagogue, boys and girls grammar schools, nautical classes, a city college and some credit institutions. In addition to an extensive export trade in mainly grain and flour,^[16] Berdiansk conducted large amounts of inland trade. It became a substantial distributive market for goods received over a wide area. By the beginnings of the 20th century, Berdiansk had become a merchant trading port with well developed industry, strongly influenced by its infrastructure. In 1915 a French consul, and the vice-consuls of the UK, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Norway, were in Berdiansk.^[17]

Soviet period and late 20th century

During the Ukrainian War of Independence, Berdiansk fell under the control of the Makhnovshchina, becoming one of the key centres for the Ukrainian anarchist movement.^[18]

During the Soviet period Berdiansk was a powerful industrial centre. There were machine factories of all types, an oil refinery, a fiberglass factory, cable factory, ferroconcrete combine, factory of materials handling equipment, provisions factory, a bread-baking complex, milk plant, a meat-packing plant, a considerable quantity of construction and mounting organizations, commodity railway station and the sea trading port. Between 1939 and 1958 the city was known as "Osypenko", so named after Hero of the Soviet Union Polina Osipenko.^[19]

The Jews in Berdiansk were murdered during the German occupation of Ukraine in 1941 and 1942. During the rest of the Soviet period, little is known about the Jewish community. In the early 1990s, after Ukrainian independence, a Jewish cultural society in Berdiansk was created. In 1994, there were 2,000 Jews in Berdiansk, making up 1.3% of the population.^[7] The economy of Berdiansk declined due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The majority of the large industrial enterprises ceased operation or were reorganised into smaller private concerns.

Russo-Ukrainian War

Following the completion of the Crimea Bridge, and amidst hostile Ukrainian-Russian relations, the Ukrainian seaport authority stated in November 2018 that in Berdiansk year on year shipping had dropped 50%.^[20] They said that this was due to ships not getting permission from Russia to pass through the Kerch strait.^[20] Russia denied any disruption to Ukrainian shipping.^[20]

On 27 February 2022, three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Berdiansk was captured by the Russian Army following the Battle of Berdiansk during the Southern Ukraine offensive of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[21] Many local people protested the occupation in the streets, singing the Ukrainian national anthem.^[22] The Russian navy Alligator-class landing ship Saratov was sunk in the port of Berdiansk by a Ukrainian attack on 24 March 2022.^[23] On 6 September 2022 Artem Bardin, the city's Russian-imposed commandant, was attacked and seriously injured near the administration building,^[24] and died later that day.^[25] A series of explosions was reported at Russian-occupied Berdiansk air base on 8 December 2022.^[26][27]