Sochi


Sochi is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, and up to 600,000 residents in the urban area. The city covers an area of, while the Greater Sochi Area covers over. Sochi stretches across, and is the longest city in Europe, the fifth-largest city in the Southern Federal District, the second-largest city in Krasnodar Krai, and the sixth-largest city on the Black Sea.
Sochi hosted the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games in 2014. It hosted the alpine and Nordic Olympic events at the nearby ski resort of Rosa Khutor in Krasnaya Polyana. It also hosted the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix from 2014 until 2021. It was also one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Etymology

The general consensus is that the name "Sochi" is the Russified form of the Circassian "Ş̂açə" which in turn is of Ubykh-Circassian origin, coming from the Ubykh name "Ş̂uaça". It is a compound made up from the two Ubykh words "шъуа" and "ча" and roughly translates to "Seaside/coast". There are other claims and theories, according to Georgian sources, the word comes from the Georgian word for the fir tree, "soch'i".

History

Early history

Before the whole area was conquered by Cimmerian, Scythian and Sarmatian invaders, the Zygii people lived in Lesser Abkhazia under the Kingdom of Pontus, then the Roman Empire's influence in antiquity. From the 6th to the 11th centuries, the area successively belonged to the Georgian kingdoms of Lazica and Abkhazia, who built a dozen churches within the city boundaries. The latter was unified under the single Georgian monarchy in the 11th century, forming one of the Saeristavo, known as Tskhumi extending its possessions up to Nicopsis. The Christian settlements along the coast were destroyed by the invading Alans, Khazars, Mongols and other nomadic empires whose control of the region was slight. The northern wall of an 11th-century Byzantine basilica still stands in the Loo Microdistrict.
Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Republic of Genoa had the monopoly of the trade on the shores of the Black Sea, and established colonies and trading posts in the region of the present-day Sochi, the large ones were Layso and Costa.
From the 14th to the 19th centuries, the region was dominated by the Abkhaz, Ubykh, Abazin and Adyghe tribes, the current location of the city of Sochi known as Ubykhia was part of historical Circassia, and was controlled by the native people of the local mountaineer clans of the north-west Caucasus, nominally under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, which was their principal trading partner in the Islamic world.

Russian Empire

The coastline was occupied by Russia in 1829 as a result of the Russo-Circassian War and the Russo-Turkish War, 1828–1829; however, the Circassians did not accept the Russian control over Circassia and kept resisting the newly established Russian outposts along the Circassian coast. Provision of weapons and ammunition from abroad to the Circassians caused a diplomatic conflict between the Russian Empire and the British Empire that occurred in 1836 over the mission of the Vixen.
The Russians had no detailed knowledge of the area until Baron Feodor Tornau investigated the coastal route from Gelendzhik to Gagra, and across the mountains to Kabarda, in the 1830s. In 1838, the fort of Alexandria, renamed Navaginsky a year later, was founded at the mouth of the Sochi River as part of the Black Sea coastal line, a chain of seventeen fortifications set up to protect the area from recurring Circassian resistance. At the outbreak of the Crimean War, the garrison was evacuated from Navaginsky to prevent its capture by the Turks, who effected a landing on Cape Adler soon after.
The last battle of the Russo-Circassian War, the Battle of Qbaada, took place in 1864, and the Dakhovsky fort was established on the site of the Navaginsky fort. The end of the Caucasian War was proclaimed at Qbaada tract on June 2, 1864, by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander II, read aloud by Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia. The city was the administrative capital of the Sochinsky Okrug.

Circassian genocide

By the end of Russo-Circassian War, the Russian Empire aimed to systematically destroy the native Circassian people in the region and several atrocities were committed by the Russian forces. As a result, almost all Ubykhs and a major part of the Circassians who lived on the territory of modern Sochi, were either killed or expelled to the Ottoman Empire in the Circassian genocide. According to Russian sources, Sochi's population fell from roughly 100,000, to 98.
Starting in 1866 the coast was actively colonized by Russians, Armenians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Greeks, Germans, Georgians and other people from inner Russia. Additionally in the late 1860s, the Adyghe, mostly of the Shapsug and Khakuchi tribes, who were hiding in the mountains started resettling on the coast.
In 1874–1891, the first Russian Orthodox church, St. Michael's Church, was constructed, and the Dakhovsky settlement was renamed Dakhovsky Posad on April 13, 1874. In February 1890, the Sochi Lighthouse was constructed. In 1896, the Dakhovsky Posad was renamed Sochi Posad and incorporated into the newly formed Black Sea Governorate. In 1900–1910, Sochi burgeoned into a sea resort. The first resort, "Kavkazskaya Riviera", opened on June 14, 1909. Sochi was granted town status in 1917.

Soviet time

During the Russian Civil War, the littoral area saw sporadic armed clashes involving the Red Army, White movement forces, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. As a result of the war Sochi has become Russian territory. In 1923, Sochi acquired one of its most distinctive features, a railway which runs from Tuapse to Georgia within a kilometer or two of the coastline. Although this branch of the Northern Caucasus Railway may appear somewhat incongruous in the setting of beaches and sanatoriums, it is still operational and vital to the region's transportation infrastructure.
Sochi was established as a fashionable resort area under Joseph Stalin, who had his favorite dacha built in the city. Stalin's study, complete with a wax statue of the leader, is now open to the public. During Stalin's reign the coast became dotted with imposing Neoclassical buildings, exemplified by the opulent Rodina and Ordzhonikidze sanatoriums. The centerpiece of this early period is Shchusev's Constructivist Institute of Rheumatology. The area was continuously developed until the demise of the Soviet Union.

Modern Russia

Following Russia's loss of the traditionally popular resorts of the Crimean Peninsula, Sochi emerged as the unofficial summer capital of the country. In 1961, Soviet officials decided to expand the city limits by forming a Greater Sochi which extended for 140 kilometers from the southern parts of Tuapse to Adler. In July 2005, Russia submitted a successful bid for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in the city, spending around $51 billion in the process.
In 2019, an area in the Imereti Lowlands was separated from Adlersky city district to form a new urban-type settlement named Sirius. It was later designated as a federal territory.
On January 11, 2025 there were 2 earthquakes in Sochi.

Geography

Greater Sochi is elongated along the Black Sea coast for. Sochi is approximately from Moscow.
The city of Sochi borders with Tuapsinsky District in the northwest, with Apsheronsky District and with Maykopsky District of the Republic of Adygea in the north, with Mostovsky District in the northeast, and with Georgia/Abkhazia in the southeast. From the southwest, it is bordered by the Black Sea.
The vast majority of the population of Sochi lives in a narrow strip along the coast and is organized in independent microdistricts. The biggest of these microdistricts, from the northwest to the southeast, are Lazarevskoye, Loo, Dagomys, central Sochi, Khosta, Matsesta, and Adler. The whole city is located on the slopes of the Western Caucasus which descend to the Black Sea and are cut by the rivers. The biggest rivers in Sochi are the Mzymta and the Shakhe. Other rivers include the Ashe, the Psezuapse, the Sochi, the Khosta, and the Matsesta. The Psou River makes the border with Abkhazia.
The northeastern part of the city belongs to the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve which is a World Heritage Site spanning areas in Krasnodar Krai and Adygea. Almost the whole area of the Greater Sochi, with the exception of the coast and of the area which belong to the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, are included into Sochi National Park.
Sochi has a humid subtropical climate with mild winters in the period from December to March and warm summers in the period from May to October.

Layout and landmarks

Sochi is unique among larger Russian cities as having some aspects of a subtropical resort. About two million people visited Greater Sochi each summer as of 2014, when the city is home to the annual film festival "Kinotavr" and a getaway for Russia's elite.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Caucasus Nature Reserve, lies just north from the city. Sochi also has the region's most northerly tea plantations.

Climate

Sochi has a humid subtropical climate, at the lower elevations. Its average annual temperature is during the day and at night. In the coldest months—January and February—the average temperature is about during the day, above at night and the average sea temperature is about. In the warmest months—July and August—the temperature typically ranges from during the day, about at night and the average sea temperature is about.
Yearly sunshine hours are around 2,200. Generally, the summer season lasts three months, from June to September. Two months—April and November—are transitional; sometimes temperatures reach, with an average temperature of around during the day and at night. December, January, February and March are the coldest months, with an average temperature of during the day and at night. Average annual precipitation is about.
Sochi is situated on the same latitude as Nice but strong cold winds from the south make winters less warm. In fact, temperatures drop below freezing every winter. The highest temperature recorded was, on July 30, 2000, and the lowest temperature recorded was on January 25, 1892. Sochi lies at 8b/9a hardiness zone, so the city supports different types of palm trees.
Beach climate data for Sochi-------------
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecYear
Average sea temperature °C 10.6
9.4
9.4
11.5
17.3
22.9
25.6
26.9
24.7
20.5
16.4
12.8
17.3
Source:-------------