Odessa

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Odessa City and port on the Black Sea, s Ukraine. The Tatars built a fortress here in the 14th century. It later passed to Poland-Lithuania and then to Turkey (1764). Brought under Russian control in 1791, it became a naval base. Odessa was the scene of the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Industries: fishing, whaling, shipbuilding and repairing, oil refining, metalworking, chemicals, heavy machinery. Pop. (1998) 1,027,400.

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