Ancient and medieval period , 8th to 3rd century BC In the 6th century BC,
Milesian colonists founded a settlement named
Tyras on the future location of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, which later came under
Roman and
Byzantine rule. In
Late Antiquity, the Byzantines built a fortress and named it
Asprokastron ("White Castle" - a meaning kept in several languages), but it passed out of their control in the 7th-15th centuries under control of Bulgaria, the cities called Belgorod (white city), as it was the border of the Bulgarian empire. In the 13th century the site was controlled by the
Cumans, and became a center of
Genoese commercial activity from on. Briefly held by the
Second Bulgarian Empire in the early 14th century, by the middle of the century it was a
Genoese colony. Following the
Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, Sultan
Mehmed II brought in colonists from Asprokastron to repopulate the city. It was not incorporated into Russia until 1812, when it was annexed, along with the rest of
Bessarabia. On 25 September 1826, Russia and the Ottomans signed here the
Akkerman Convention which imposed that the
hospodars of Moldavia and
Wallachia be elected by their respective
Divans for seven-year terms, with the approval of both Powers.
Romanian rule The city and the surrounding district became part of the
Moldovan Democratic Republic after it proclaimed its independence following the
Russian Revolution. The
Romanian Army, entered the city on 9 March 1918, fighting with local troops led by the
Bolsheviks. Formal integration followed later that month, when the '
Sfatul Țării' of the Moldovan Democratic Republic proclaimed the whole of Bessarabia
united with Romania. During
the interwar period, the Romanian administration transformed Cetatea-Albă into an important administrative and cultural center of
Greater Romania. The city was modernized through the restoration of historic buildings and the construction of new ones in modern styles, such as
Neoromanian and
Neoclassical. Infrastructure works were carried out, including street paving, the construction of bridges and roads, as well as the development of parks and recreational areas. Urban development plans included the creation of new neighborhoods and improvements to infrastructure, making the city more functional and pleasant for its inhabitants. During the Interwar period the city was a centre of Ukrainian cultural life in Southern Bessarabia. In 1941 among 37,000 inhabitants 37% identified as ethnic Ukrainians.
Jewish history In Jewish sources, the city is referred as Weissenburg and Ir Lavan (meaning "white castle" in German and "white city" in Hebrew) as well as Akerman (אַקערמאַן).
Karaite Jews lived there since the 16th century, some even claim the existence of
Khazar Jews in the town as early as the 10th century. In 1897, 5,613 Jews lived in the city (19.9% of the total population). The town Jewish community was influenced mainly from the Jewish community of nearby
Odesa. During a pogrom in 1905, eight Jews living in the city were killed. During
World War II, most of the Jews living in the city fled to nearby Odesa, where they were later killed. About 800 Jews who were left in the city were shot to death in the nearby Leman River. The Yad Vashem website provides the names of 798 Jews who were killed during the Holocaust in the city and the neighborhood. The remaining Jews were deported to Transnistria by the
Romanian Fascist authorities later in 1941, where a large majority of them died. The number of Jews from the city who died in Ukraine according to the Yad Vashem website was 869. Out of these, 662 died in Odessa, while the rest were mostly deportees to Transnistria. The number of Jews who were registered following their evacuation in the interior of the Soviet Union whose names were listed by Yad Vashem was 1,465. Around half of the survivors returned to the city. == Demographics ==