Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy: fortress

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy, Russian Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, Turkish Akkerman, Romanian Cetatea Albă, city, southernmost Ukraine. It lies on the southwestern shore of the broad, shallow Dniester River estuary. In the 6th century bc, Greeks from Miletus established the colony of Tyras on the site. It later came under the Scythians, and it was settled by Slavs in early Kievan times (9th century). After the fall of Kiev to the Tatars, Bilhorod became a republican city-state under Moldavian princes, and the Genoese established their trading station of Mauro Castro there. Stormed by the Turks in 1484, it remained Turkish under the name Akkerman until 1812, when it was ceded to Russia. From 1918 to 1940 it was included in Romania with the name Cetatea Albă. It was retaken by the Soviet Red Army in 1944 and given back its original Slavic name. The modern city is a minor regional centre with light industries, notably fish canning. Pop. (2001) 51,890; (2005 est.) 51,034.