and surrounding states, c. 820 CE. Area of direct Khazar control shown in dark blue, sphere of influence in purple. Other boundaries shown in dark red.
Foundation and early Middle Ages The date and circumstances of the city's foundation are uncertain. The first written reference to the city dates to the 7th century (in the
Ravenna Cosmography), but later local tradition places its foundation in 212 CE, and archaeological evidence supports its foundation in
Roman times. The city was in all likelihood founded by the
Alans, as its name in Greek sources,
Sougdaia is a cognate of the adjective
sugda ("pure, holy") or derives from the word
sugded/
sogdad in the
Ossetian language. In the early Middle Ages, the city appears to have been under very loose
Byzantine control, like other cities in the region. By the mid-11th century, Sougdaia had returned to Byzantine control, probably following the defeat of the Khazar warlord
Georgius Tzul in 1016. An inscription of 1059 mentions Leo Aliates, "
strategos of
Cherson and Sougdaia". Under Tatar rule, the city was governed by the notables of the city and the 18 villages surrounding it. In the Greek sources they are mentioned by the Byzantine title
sebastos, while the Latin sources use the Latinized Greek term
proti ("first men"). Sometime between 1275 and 1282, the local see, which after being united with
Phoulloi in the late 11th century was known as
Sougdophoulloi, was raised to the status of a
metropolitan see. The city's prosperity was increased by the establishment of
Venetian and
Genoese commercial colonies in the Crimea during the late 13th century, but at the same time, the area was drawn into the constant disputes between these two rival cities. In the early 14th century, the city was eclipsed by the Genoese colonies of
Tana and
Kaffa: the Florentine merchant
Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, who visited the area in , neglects to mention the city altogether. At about the same time, the Tatars converted to Islam, which led to a deterioration of their relations with the Greek-speaking and Christian inhabitants of the city, many of whom were forced to leave it. As a result, on 19 July 1365, the Genoese from Kaffa seized the city, which became a Genoese trading colony. The Genoese refortified the city, constructing the citadel that is still visible today, and induced a large part of the deported Greeks to return. Genoese rule lasted until 1475, when the Ottoman
Grand Vizier Gedik Ahmed Pasha captured it after a long siege.
Ottoman and modern periods The
Ottomans took control of
Soldaia and all other Genoese colonies, as well as the
Principality of Theodoro in 1475. Although Sudak was the strategical center of a
qadılıq, the smallest administrative unit in the Ottoman Empire, the town lost much of its military and commercial importance, until the
Crimean Khanate took over. In 1771, Sudak was occupied by
Rumyantsev's army. In 1783, it definitively passed to the
Russian Empire, with the rest of
Crimea. Though sometimes contested, it seems that a mass emigration occurred as a result of the ensuing instability in that period. Even
Potemkin ordered in 1778 the eviction of the Christian population from Crimea. The town rapidly turned into a small village, and according to the 1805 census, Sudak had just 33 inhabitants. In 1804, the first Russian school of
viticulture was opened there. The town acquired its present status in 1982. == Ecclesiastical history ==