Gelendzhik

 city, resort, district center

Resort town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Gelendzhik Bay of the Black Sea, between Novorossiysk (31 kilometers (19 mi) to the northwest) and Tuapse (93 kilometers (58 mi) to the southeast). Greater Gelendzhik sprawls for 102 kilometers (63 mi) along the coastline and covers an area of 122,754 hectares (303,330 acres), although only 1,926 hectares (4,760 acres) fall within the boundaries of Gelendzhik proper. Population: 80,204 (2021 Census).
In antiquity, the Gelendzhik Bay was the site of a minor Greek outpost, mentioned as Torikos in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax. It is unknown to Hellenistic sources, but reappears in Roman ones under the name of Pagrae in 64 BC. The colony was wiped out by the invading Huns, which were succeeded by the Zygii soon after. During the Late Middle Ages, the Genoese Republic had a notable influence on the region, while the Ghisolfi, a Genoese-Jewish family, had a prominent role in the trade and commerce in Gazaria. During this period the town was named Maurolaca or Mauro Laco, and was considered one of the most important Genoese colonies in the Black Sea. Before Russia secured the coast by the Treaty of Adrianople (1829), a brisk slave trade had been carried on between the mountaineers and the Ottoman Empire. Since the Circassian beauties were usually traded for gold and other commodities before being taken to Turkish seraglios, the market place became known as "Gelendzhik" (from "gelincik"), literally, "little bride" in Turkish Language. In 1831, one of the first forts of the Black Sea Coastal Line was set up at Gelendzhik. At the outbreak of the Crimean War the fort had to be blown up and abandoned, but it was resettled by the Cossacks in 1864, at the conclusion of the Russian-Circassian War, and became known as the stanitsa of Gelendzhiksaya. Town status was granted to Gelendzhik in 1915.

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