In antiquity, the shores of the
Tsemes Bay were the site of Bata (), an ancient Greek colony that specialized in the
grain trade. It is mentioned in the works of
Strabo and
Ptolemy, among others. Following brief periods of
Roman and
Khazar control, from the 9th century onwards, the area was part of the
Byzantine θέμα Χερσῶνος
Thema Khersonos (Province of Cherson). During the 11th century, the area was overrun and controlled by nomads from the Eurasian steppe, led by the
Cumans. Later that century, the Byzantine emperor Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός
Alexios I Komnenos (
r. 1081–1118) was approached by
Anglo-Saxon refugees, who had left England following the
Norman Conquest. Alexios offered land to these refugees in
Thema Khersonos if they could recapture it from the nomads and there is contemporaneous evidence that a
Byzantine-English colony was subsequently founded. For example,
medieval nautical charts mention place names on the Kuban coast with possible English origins, including a port (located within or near the future site of Novorossiysk) known as Susaco (or
Susacho) – a name that may have been derived from
Sussex. (The same maps also show, north-west of
Susaco, a river
Londina, which may derive its name from
London.) During the rest of the 19th century, Novorossiysk developed rapidly. It was granted city status in 1866 and became the capital of the
Novorossiysk Okrug and
Black Sea Governorate, the smallest in the
Russian Empire, in 1896. In December 1905, the city was the seat of the short-lived
Novorossiysk Republic. From August 26, 1918, until March 27, 1920, the city was used as the principal center of
Denikin's
White Army during the
Russian Civil War. Denikin's
South Russian Government was moved to
Crimea and many Whites escaped from Novorossiysk to
Constantinople during the
Evacuation of Novorossiysk (1920), with the help of
Allied warships. During
World War II, most of the city was occupied by the German and Romanian Armies on September 10, 1942. A small unit of Soviet sailors defended one part of the city, known as
Malaya Zemlya, for 225 days beginning on February 4, 1943, until the town was liberated by the
Red Army on September 16, 1943. The defense of the port by the sailors allowed the Soviets to retain possession of the city's bay, which prevented the Axis from using the port for supply shipments. Novorossiysk was awarded the title of
Hero City in 1973. In 1960, the town was commemorated in
Dmitri Shostakovich's work
Novorossiysk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory (Opus 111b). In 2003,
President Vladimir Putin signed a
decree setting up a naval base for the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk. Russia allocated 12.3 billion
rubles (about $480 million) for the construction of the new base between 2007 and 2012. The construction of other facilities and infrastructure at the base, including units for coastal troops, aviation and logistics, continued after 2012. Russia planned to move the Black Sea Fleet with 80 warships and its headquarters from
Sevastopol to the Novorossiysk base in 2020. The Russian lease on port facilities in
Sevastopol, which, though the main base of Russia's
Black Sea Fleet, was part of
Ukraine, was set to expire in 2017. Ukraine was reported to be planning not to renew the lease; however, in April 2010 the Russian and Ukrainian presidents signed
an agreement to extend the lease by twenty-five years, with an option of further extension of five years after the new term expires. However, in 2014, Crimea was militarily occupied by the
Russian Armed Forces during the
2014 Crimean crisis in February. Crimea was
annexed by the Russian Federation in March 2014, and as such the question of the lease became moot. ==Administrative and municipal status==