Theodosia (Greek colony) The city was
founded as
Theodosia (Θεοδοσία) by
Greek colonists from
Miletos in the 6th century BC. Noted for its rich agricultural lands, on which its trade depended, the city was destroyed by the
Huns in the 4th century AD. Theodosia remained a minor village for much of the next nine hundred years. It was at times part of the
sphere of influence of the
Khazars (excavations have revealed Khazar artifacts dating back to the 9th century) and of the
Byzantine Empire. Like the rest of
Crimea, this place (village) fell under the domination of the
Kipchaks and was conquered by the
Mongols in the 1230s. A settlement named
Kaphâs (alternate romanized spelling
Cafâs, ) existed surrounding Theodosia prior to the penetration of Genoese into the Black Sea. The archaeological evidence indicates that during the Middle Ages the population about Theodosia never decreased to zero; several medieval churches are found in the area dating from the times of
Late Antiquity/
Early Middle Ages. However, the population had become completely agrarian. A small local Greek population must have existed
in situ and in the neighboring settlements. Likely, from the 9th century there were
Cumans and
Goths living alongside the Greeks, and by 1270s, perhaps some Tatars and Armenians as well.
Kaffa (Genoese colony) In the late 13th century, traders from the
Republic of Genoa arrived and purchased the city from the ruling
Golden Horde. They established a flourishing trading settlement called
Kaffa (also recorded as
Caffa), which virtually monopolized trade in the Black Sea region and served as a major port and administrative center for the
Genoese settlements around the Sea. The city thrived despite the tenuous politics of the region and Genoa's
series of wars with the Mongol successor states. It came to house one of Europe's biggest
slave markets of the
Black Sea slave trade, and served as a terminus for the
Silk Road. The
Great Soviet Encyclopedia also adds that the city of Caffa was established during the times when the area was ruled by the Khan of the Golden Horde
Mengu-Timur.
Ibn Battuta visited the city, noting it was a "great city along the sea coast inhabited by Christians, most of them Genoese." He further stated, "We went down to its port, where we saw a wonderful harbor with about two hundred vessels in it, both ships of war and trading vessels, small and large, for it is one of the world's celebrated ports." In early 1318,
Pope John XXII established a
Latin Church diocese of Kaffa, as a
suffragan of
Genoa. The
papal bull of appointment of the first bishop attributed to him a vast territory: "a villa de
Varna in
Bulgaria usque
Sarey inclusive in longitudinem et a
mari Pontico usque ad
terram Ruthenorum in latitudinem" ("from the city of Varna in Bulgaria to Sarey inclusive in longitude, and from the Black Sea to the land of the Ruthenians in latitude"). The first bishop was
Fra' Gerolamo, who had already been consecrated seven years before as a missionary bishop
ad partes Tartarorum. The diocese ended as a residential bishopric with the capture of the city by the
Ottomans in 1475. Accordingly, Kaffa is today listed by the
Catholic Church as a
titular see. The new diocese effectively broke up the diocese of
Khanbaliq, which functioned as one diocese for all Mongol territory from the Balkans to China. It is believed that the devastating
pandemic of the
Black Death entered Europe for the first time via Kaffa in 1347. After
a protracted siege, the Mongol army under
Jani Beg was reportedly withering from the disease and catapulted infected corpses over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants. This is considered one of the first cases of
biological warfare. Fleeing inhabitants may have carried the disease back to Italy, causing its spread across Europe. However, the plague appears to have spread in a stepwise fashion, taking over a year to reach
Europe from
Crimea. Also, there were a number of Crimean ports under
Mongol control, so it is unlikely that Kaffa was the only source of plague-infested ships heading to Europe. Additionally, there were overland caravan routes from the East that would have been carrying the disease into Europe as well. Kaffa eventually recovered. The thriving, culturally diverse city and its thronged slave market have been described by the Spanish traveler
Pedro Tafur, who was there in the 1430s. The port was also visited by German traveler
Johann Schiltberger in the 15th century. However, Poland did not offer significant help due to reinforcements sent being massacred in Bar fortress (modern day Ukraine) by Duke Czartoryski after a quarrel with locals.
Kefe (Ottoman) in
"chaika" boats, destroying the Turkish fleet and capturing Caffa Following the
fall of Constantinople,
Amasra, and lastly
Trebizond, the position of Caffa had become untenable and attracted the attention of
Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed II. He was at no loss for a pretext to extinguish this last Genoese colony on the Black Sea. In 1473, the
tudun (or governor) of the
Crimean Khanate died and a fight developed over the appointment of his successor. The Genoese involved themselves in the dispute, and the Tatar notables who favored the losing candidate finally asked Mehmed to settle the dispute. Mehmed dispatched a fleet under the Ottoman commander
Gedik Ahmet Pasha, which left
Constantinople 19 May 1475. It anchored before the walls of the city on 1 June, started the bombardment the next day, and on 6 June the inhabitants capitulated. Over the next few days the Ottomans proceeded to extract the wealth of the inhabitants, and abduct 1,500 youths for service in the Sultan's palace. On 8 July, the final blow was struck when all inhabitants of Latin origin were ordered to relocate to Istanbul, where they founded a quarter (
Kefeli Mahalle) which was named after the town they had been forced to leave. Renamed
Kefe, Caffa became one of the most important Turkish ports on the Black Sea. It was a major center of the
Crimean slave trade until the late 18th-century, referred to by the Lithuanian
Mikhalon Litvin as: "not a town, but an abyss into which our blood is pouring". In 1616,
Zaporozhian Cossacks under the leadership of
Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny destroyed the Turkish fleet and captured Caffa. Having conquered the city, the Cossacks released the men, women and children who were slaves.
Feodosia (Russian Empire) , 1856 Ottoman control ceased when the expanding
Russian Empire took over Crimea between 1774 and 1783. It was renamed Feodosia (Russian Ѳеодосія;
reformed spelling Феодосия), after the traditional Russian reading of its ancient Greek name. As of 1874, the population was mostly
Eastern Orthodox, whereas 12.3% were Muslim, 8.2%
Karaite, 6.5%
Armenian Orthodox, 4.8% Jewish, 3.5% Catholic and 1.1% Protestant. In 1880, there were 427 artisans, and their handcrafted goods provided for local needs only, and there were 11 factories. A witness interviewed by the
Soviet Extraordinary Commission in 1944 and quoted on the website of the French organization
Yahad-In Unum described how the Jews were rounded-up in the city: [A]ll the Jews were gathered. The Germans told them they would be displaced somewhere in Ukraine. On December 4, 1941, in the morning, all the Jews, including my father, my mother and my sister were taken to an anti-tank trench where they were executed by German shooters. 1,500-1,700 people were shot that day. A monument commemorating the
Holocaust victims is situated at the crossroads of Kerchensky and Symferopolsky highways. On
Passover eve, 7 April 2012, unknown persons desecrated the monument for the sixth time in what was allegedly an
anti-Semitic act. All native Tatar inhabitants were arrested by Soviet forces as several thousand Tatars had fought side-by-side with the Nazis against Soviet forces and had participated in the Jewish genocide. Following Stalin's orders, all Tatars were sent to
Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan and other
Central Asian republics of the
USSR.
Ukraine Russian occupation 's
FIRMS detected fire on 5 October 2025 23:07:00 (
UTC) at the Feodosia oil depot During the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian
warship Novocherkassk, a landing ship likely used to transport drones, was hit in the early morning hours of 26 December 2023 in the harbour of Feodosia. There was a large fire and explosion. Russia reported that two missiles that were fired from
Sukhoi Su-24 jets were shot down. On 6 October 2025 Feodosia's marine oil depot was attacked by drones causing a fire that burned for two days. ==Geography==