Mariupol
City in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mariupol (UK: /ˌmæriˈuːpɒl/ MARR-ee-OO-pol, US: /ˌmɑːriˈuːpəl/ ⓘ MAR-ee-OO-pəl; Ukrainian: Маріуполь [mɐr⁽ʲ⁾iˈupolʲ] ⓘ; Russian: Мариуполь, IPA: [mərʲɪˈupəlʲ]; Greek: Μαριούπολη, romanized: Marioúpoli) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the country and the second-largest city in Donetsk Oblast, with an estimated population of 425,681 people in January 2022;[4] Ukrainian authorities estimate the population of Mariupol at approximately 120,000.[3] Mariupol has been occupied by Russian forces since May 2022.
Mariupol
| |
---|---|
City | |
Coordinates: 47°5′45″N 37°32′58″E | |
Country | Ukraine[1] |
Oblast | Donetsk Oblast |
Raion | Mariupol Raion |
Hromada | Mariupol urban hromada |
Founded | 1778 |
City districts | |
Government | |
• Mayor | Vadym Boychenko[2] (Vadym Boychenko Bloc[2]) |
Area | |
• Total | 244 km2 (94 sq mi) |
Population (2022) | |
• Total | 120,000 (per Ukraine) |
(May 2023, after 2022 Russian siege and attacks)[3] before this, the January 2022 estimate was 425,681[4] | |
Postal code | 87500—87590 |
Area code | +380 629 |
Climate | Hot summer subtype |
Website | mariupolrada |
City government website maintained in exile |
Historically, the city of Mariupol was a centre for trade and manufacturing, and played a key role in the development of higher education and many businesses and also served as a coastal resort on the Sea of Azov. In 1948, Mariupol was renamed Zhdanov after Andrei Zhdanov, a native of the city who had become a high-ranking official of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and a close ally to Joseph Stalin. The name was part of a larger effort to rename cities after high-ranking political figures in the Soviet Union. The historic name was restored in 1989.[5]
Mariupol was founded on the site of a former encampment for Cossacks, known as Kalmius,[6] and was granted city rights within the Russian Empire in 1778. It played a key role in Stalin-era industrialization; it was a centre for grain trade, metallurgy, and heavy engineering—including the Illich Iron and Steel Works and the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works.
Beginning on 24 February 2022, a three-month-long siege by Russian forces largely destroyed the city, for which it was named a "Hero City of Ukraine" by the Ukrainian government.[7] On 16 May 2022, the last Ukrainian troops who remained in Mariupol surrendered at Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, and the Russian military secured complete control over the city by 20 May 2022.[8]
It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled History of Mariupol. (Discuss) (March 2022) |
Ancient history
Neolithic burial grounds excavated on the shore of the Sea of Azov[9] date from the end of the third millennium BCE. Over 120 skeletons have been discovered, with stone and bone instruments, beads, shell-work, and animal teeth.[9]
Crimean Khanate
From the 12th through the 16th century, the area around Mariupol was largely devastated and depopulated by intense conflict between the Crimean Tatars, the Nogay Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Muscovy. By the middle of the 15th century much of the region north of the Black and Azov Seas was annexed by the Crimean Khanate and became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. East of the Dnieper River a desolate steppe stretched to the Sea of Azov, where lack of water made early settlement precarious.[10] Being near the Muravsky Trail exposed it to frequent Crimean–Nogai slave raids and plundering by Tatar tribes, preventing permanent settlement and keeping it sparsely populated, or even entirely uninhabited, under Tatar rule. Hence it was known as the Wild Fields or the 'Deserted Plains' (Campi Deserti in Latin).[11][12]
Cossack period
In this region of Eurasian steppes, the Cossacks emerged as a distinct people in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Below the Dnieper Rapids were the Zaporozhian Cossacks, freebooters organized into small, loosely-knit, and highly mobile groups who were both livestock farmers and nomads. The Cossacks would regularly penetrate the steppe to fish and hunt, as well as for migratory farming and to herd livestock. Their independence from governmental and landowner authority attracted to join them many peasants and serfs fleeing the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Grand Duchy of Moscow.[citation needed]
The Treaty of Constantinople in 1700 further isolated the region, as it stipulated that there should be no settlements or fortifications on the coast of the Azov Sea to the mouth of the Mius River. In 1709, in response to a Cossack alliance with Sweden against Russia, Tsar Peter the Great ordered the liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich, and their complete and permanent expulsion from the area.[13] In 1733, Russia was preparing for a new military campaign against the Ottoman Empire and therefore allowed the return of the Zaporozhians, although the territory officially belonged to Turkey.[14]
Under the Agreement of Lubny of 1734, the Zaporozhians regained all their former lands, and in return, were to serve in the Russian army in war. They were also permitted to build a new stockade[clarification needed] on the Dnieper River called New Sich, though the terms prohibited them from erecting fortifications. These terms allowed only for living quarters, in Ukrainian called kureni.[14]
Upon their return, the Zaporozhian population in these lands was extremely sparse, so effort to establish a measure of control, they introduced a structure of districts or palankas.[15] The nearest district to modern Mariupol was the Kalmius District, but its border did not extend to the mouth of the Kalmius River,[16] although this area had been part of its[clarification needed] migratory territory. After 1736, the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Don Cossacks (whose capital was at nearby Novoazovsk) came into conflict over the area, until Tsarina Elizabeth issued a decree in 1746 declaring the Kalmius River the dividing line between the two Cossack hosts.[17]
Sometime after 1738,[18][19] the treaties of Belgrade and Niš in 1739, in addition to the Russian-Turkish convention of 1741,[20] as well as the following likely concurrent land survey of 1743–1746 (resulting in the demarcation decree of 1746), the Zaporzhian Cossacks established a military outpost on "the high promontory on the right bank of the Kalmius river."[21] Though the details of its construction and history are obscure, excavations have revealed Cossack artifacts, including others, within the enclosure being approximately 120 square meters in the shape of a square.[22] The outpost was likely a modest structure in that it lay within the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the erection of fortifications on the Sea of Azov was prohibited by the Treaty of Niš.[citation needed]
The last Tatar raid, launched in 1769, covered a vast area, overrunning the New Russian Province with a huge army in severe wintertime weather.[23][24] The raid destroyed the Kalmius fortifications and burned all the Cossack winter lodgings.[21] In 1770, the Russian government, during the war with Turkey, moved its border with the Crimean Khanate southwest by more than two hundred kilometres. This action initiated the Dnieper fortified line (running from today's Zaporizhzhia to Novopetrovka),[25] thereby laying claim to the region, including the site of future Mariupol, from the Ottoman Empire.
Following the victory of the Russian forces, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca eliminated the endemic threat from Crimea.[26][27] In 1775, Zaporizhzhia was incorporated into the New Russian Governorate, and part of the land claimed behind the Dnieper fortified line including modern Mariupol was incorporated in the newly re-established Azov Governorate.[citation needed]
Russian Empire and Soviet Union
After the Russo-Turkish War from 1768 to 1774, the governor of the Azov Governorate, Vasily A. Chertkov, reported to Grigory Potemkin on 23 February 1776 that ruins of ancient domakhas (homes) had been found in the area, and in 1778 he planned the new town of Pavlovsk.[28] However, on 29 September 1779, the city of Marianοpol (Greek: Μαριανόπολη) in Kalmius County was founded on the site. For the Russian authorities the city was named after the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna; its de facto title came from after the Greek settlement of Mariampol, a suburb of Bakhchysarai in Crimea. The name was derived from the Hodegetria icon of the Holy Theotokos and the Virgin Mary.[29][30] Subsequently, in 1780, Russian authorities forcibly relocated many Orthodox Greeks from Crimea to the Mariupol area, in what is known as the Emigration of Christians from the Crimea.[31]
In 1782, Mariupol was an administrative seat of its county in the Azov Governorate of the Russian Empire, with 2,948 inhabitants. In the early 19th century, a customs house, a church-parish school, a port authority building, a county religious school, and two privately founded girls' schools were built. By the 1850s the population had grown to 4,600 and the city had 120 shops and 15 wine cellars. In 1869, consuls and vice-consuls of Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Austria-Hungary, the Roman States, Italy, and France established their representative offices in Mariupol.[32][33]
After the construction of the railway line from Yuzovka (later Stalino and Donetsk) to Mariupol in 1882, much of the wheat grown in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate and coal from the Donets Basin were exported via the port of Mariupol (the second largest in the South Russian Empire after Odesa), which served as a key funding source for opening a hospital, public library, electric power station and urban water supply system.[citation needed]
Mariupol remained a local trading centre until 1898, when the Belgian subsidiary SA Providence Russe opened a steelworks in Sartana, a village near Mariupol (now the Ilyich Steel & Iron Works). The company incurred heavy losses and by 1902 was bankrupt, owing 6 million francs to the Providence company and needing to be re-financed by the Banque de l'Union Parisienne.[34] The mills brought cultural diversity to Mariupol as immigrants, mostly peasants from all over the empire, moved to the city looking for a job and a better life. The number of workers increased to 5,400.[citation needed]
In 1914, the population of Mariupol reached 58,000. However, the period from 1917 onwards saw a continuous decline in population and industry due to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Russian Civil War. In 1933, a new steelworks (Azovstal) was built along the Kalmius River.[citation needed]
World War II
During World War II, the city was under German military occupation from 8 October 1941, to 10 September 1943.[36][37] During this time, the city suffered tremendous material damage and great loss of life. The Germans shot approximately 10,000 inhabitants,[38][better source needed] sent nearly 50,000 young men and girls as forced laborers to Germany and deported 36,000 prisoners to concentration camps.[citation needed]
During the occupation, the Germans focused on "the complete and quick destruction" of Mariupol's Jewish population, as part of the Holocaust.[36] The execution of the Jews of Mariupol was carried out by Sonderkommando 10A, which was part of Einsatzgruppe D. The leader was Obersturmbannführer Heinz Seetzen.[36] The Germans shot about 8,000 Mariupol Jews from 20 October 1941, to 21 October 1941.[36] By 21 November 1941, Mariupol was declared Jew-free.[36]
The "Menorah memorial", or officially, the Mariupol Memorial to the Murdered Jews[39] is installed in a suburb of Mariupol in memory to the murdered Jews of the city.[40][41] The work consists of a seven-pointed menorah, a Star of David and two commemorative steles with inscriptions in Russian:[39][42]
Victims of the fascist genocide were shot here – the Jews of Mariupol. October 1941. May their souls be connected with the living[lower-alpha 1]
I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name preferable to sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name” (Isaiah 56:5)
The Choral Synagogue of Mariupol was reportedly undamaged during the hostilities. Reportedly, the Germans opened a hospital in the building, and when they retreated, tried to set fire to it.[43]
The Germans operated four transit camps for prisoners of war in Mariupol, consecutively Dulag 152 in 1941–1942, Dulag 172 in 1942, Dulag 190 in 1942–1943 and Dulag 201 in 1943, as well a subcamp of the Stalag 368 POW camp in 1943.[44] Mariupol was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on 10 September 1943.[37]
In 1948, Mariupol was renamed "Zhdanov", after the recently deceased close Stalin ally Andrei Zhdanov, who had been born in the city. The historic name of the city "Mariupol" was restored in 1989 after a popular grassroots movement advocated for the name change.[45]
Russo-Ukrainian War
War in Donbas and economic downturn
Following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity in 2014, pro-Russian movements and protests erupted across eastern Ukraine, including Mariupol. This unrest later evolved into the Russo-Ukrainian War between the Ukrainian government and Russia together with the separatist forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). In May of that year, a battle between the two sides broke out in Mariupol after it briefly came under DPR control.[46] On 13 June 2014, the city was recaptured by government forces,[47] and, in June 2015, Mariupol was proclaimed the temporary administrative centre of Donetsk Oblast until the city of Donetsk could be recaptured by the Ukrainian forces.[48][non-primary source needed]
The city remained peaceful until the end of August 2014, when DPR separatists together with a detachment of the Russian Armed Forces captured Novoazovsk, located 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of Mariupol near the Russo-Ukrainian border.[49] This followed an offensive by pro-Russian forces from the east, which came within 16 kilometres (10 mi) of Mariupol, before an overnight counter-offensive pushed the separatists away from the city.[50] In September, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire, halting that offensive. Minor skirmishes continued on the outskirts of Mariupol in the following months.[50]
A rocket attack on Mariupol was launched on 24 January 2015 by the Donetsk People's Republic,[51] from the village of Shyrokyne around 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) east of Mariupol city limits.[52] Grad rockets fired by separatist forces hit residential areas of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people.[53] A Bellingcat investigative team concluded that the shelling was instructed, directed and supervised by Russian military commanders in active service with the Russian Ministry of Defence.[54] The attack exposed the city's vulnerability to separatist attacks. As a result, in February 2015, Ukrainian forces launched an surprise assault on Shyrokyne,[55] forcing the separatists out from Shyrokyne and neighbouring villages by July 2015.[56]
In May 2018, the Crimean Bridge was opened, linking mainland Russia to Crimea, which had been annexed in 2014 in the opening stages of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[57] Russia "dramatically increased" the number of armed vessels in the Kerch Strait in 2018, and cargo ships bound for Mariupol found themselves subject to inspections by Russian authorities, resulting in delays of up to a week.[57] Therefore, Mariupol port workers were put on a four-day week schedule.[57] On 26 October 2018, The Globe and Mail reported that the bridge had reduced Ukrainian shipping from its Azov Sea ports (including Mariupol) by about 25%.[58]
2022 Russian siege and subsequent occupation
During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine of 2022, Mariupol was a strategic target for Russian forces and their proxies.[59] It came under artillery bombardment the day the invasion began,[60] and was placed under siege by Russian forces.[61] By early March, a severe humanitarian crisis developed in the city,[62][63] which a Red Cross worker later described as "apocalyptic", citing food shortages and severe damage to infrastructure and access to sanitation.[64] The siege was also marked by numerous war crimes committed by Russian forces,[65] most notably Russian airstrikes on a maternity hospital[66][67] and a drama theater serving as an air raid shelter for hundreds of civilians.[68]
By late April, Russian and separatist troops had pushed deep into most of the city, separating the last Ukrainian troops from the few pockets of Ukrainian troops retreating into the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, which contains a complex of bunkers and tunnels which could even resist a nuclear bombing.[69] Ukrainian troops in Azovstal held out until 16 May 2022, when its last troops from the Azovstal Steel Plant surrendered and the city fell into Russian control.[70][71]
When the fighting stopped, "as many as 90%" of residential buildings in Mariupol had been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations (UN)[72] and Ukrainian authorities.[73] Estimates for the number of civilian dead ranged from the UN's list of 1,348 confirmed deaths[74][75][76] to the Ukrainian claim of over 25,000.[77] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Mariupol the title of Hero City of Ukraine due to Ukrainian forces' "valiant defense" of the city.[78]
In the months after they took control of the city, Russian authorities had many damaged buildings torn down, sometimes evicting the remaining residents. Some new housing was also built. Associated Press described this ongoing process as an effort to "eradicat[e] all vestiges of Ukraine" and to cover up "the evidence of war crimes". Local schools started using a Russian curriculum, the television and radio broadcasts switched to Russian, and many street names were replaced by their Soviet-era names.[79] The latter was especially controversial, as the Ukrainian authorities restored many historic names during the decommunization process, all of which predated the Soviet Union.[80] Among other toponyms, "Freedom Square" was renamed "Lenin Square".[81]
In August 2023, the Institute for the Study of War reported that the Ukrainian Resistance Center had claimed to have gained access to documents detailing Russian plans to conduct a decade-long ethnic cleansing campaign in occupied Mariupol. The ISW reported that the depopulation of Ukrainians through deportation and Russian efforts to attract Russian citizens to move to the city is likely to be an ethnic cleansing campaign in addition to being apparent violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.[82]
The 2023 Ukrainian documentary about the siege, 20 Days in Mariupol, won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.[83]
Mariupol is located in the south of the Donetsk Oblast, on the coast of Sea of Azov and at the mouth of Kalmius River. It is located in an area of the Azov Lowland that is an extension of the Ukrainian Black Sea Lowland. To the east of Mariupol is the Khomutov Steppe, which is also part of the Azov Lowland, located on the border with Russia.
The city occupies an area of 166 km2 (64 sq mi), or 244 km2 (94 sq mi) including suburbs administered by the city council. The downtown area is 106 km2 (41 sq mi), while the area of parks and gardens is 80.6 km2 (31.1 sq mi).
The city is mainly built on land made of solonetzic (sodium enriched) chernozem, with a significant amount of underground subsoil water, that frequently leads to landslides.
Climate
Mariupol has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with warm summers and cold winters. The average annual precipitation is 511 millimetres (20 in). Agroclimatic conditions allow the cultivation of warmth-loving agricultural crops with long vegetative periods (sunflower, melons, grapes, etc.). However water resources in the region are insufficient, so ponds and water basins are used for the needs of the population and industry.
In winter, the wind blows mainly from the east, and in summer the north.
Climate data for Mariupol (1991–2020, extremes 1955–present) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 10.0 (50.0) |
15.0 (59.0) |
19.6 (67.3) |
30.0 (86.0) |
33.9 (93.0) |
37.0 (98.6) |
37.8 (100.0) |
38.0 (100.4) |
34.4 (93.9) |
27.1 (80.8) |
18.0 (64.4) |
14.1 (57.4) |
38.0 (100.4) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 0.0 (32.0) |
0.7 (33.3) |
6.1 (43.0) |
13.6 (56.5) |
20.5 (68.9) |
25.5 (77.9) |
28.3 (82.9) |
27.9 (82.2) |
21.6 (70.9) |
14.1 (57.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
1.5 (34.7) |
13.8 (56.8) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −2.4 (27.7) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
2.8 (37.0) |
9.8 (49.6) |
16.5 (61.7) |
21.2 (70.2) |
23.8 (74.8) |
23.3 (73.9) |
17.3 (63.1) |
10.6 (51.1) |
3.7 (38.7) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
10.3 (50.5) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −4.6 (23.7) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
0.1 (32.2) |
6.3 (43.3) |
12.4 (54.3) |
16.7 (62.1) |
18.9 (66.0) |
18.3 (64.9) |
13.1 (55.6) |
7.2 (45.0) |
1.2 (34.2) |
−3 (27) |
6.8 (44.2) |
Record low °C (°F) | −27.2 (−17.0) |
−25 (−13) |
−20 (−4) |
−7.3 (18.9) |
0.0 (32.0) |
5.6 (42.1) |
8.9 (48.0) |
5.0 (41.0) |
−1.1 (30.0) |
−8 (18) |
−17 (1) |
−24.5 (−12.1) |
−27.2 (−17.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 47.9 (1.89) |
42.4 (1.67) |
39.3 (1.55) |
38.7 (1.52) |
38.4 (1.51) |
56.4 (2.22) |
46.3 (1.82) |
37.0 (1.46) |
44.3 (1.74) |
33.7 (1.33) |
49.3 (1.94) |
52.2 (2.06) |
525.9 (20.70) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 8.3 | 7.1 | 7.7 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 7.1 | 4.8 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 7.3 | 8.3 | 77.0 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 87.8 | 85.6 | 83.0 | 76.4 | 71.6 | 70.9 | 66.7 | 64.9 | 70.0 | 78.2 | 87.1 | 88.3 | 77.5 |
Source 1: Pogoda.ru.net (temperatures and record high and low)[84] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: World Meteorological Organization (precipitation and humidity 1981–2010)[85] |
Ecology
Mariupol has historically led Ukraine in the volume of emissions of harmful substances by industrial enterprises. The city's leading enterprises have begun to address these ecological problems, so, over the last 15 years, industrial emissions have fallen to nearly a half of their previous levels.
Due to stable production by the majority of the large industrial enterprises, the city constantly experiences environmental problems. At the end of the 1970s, Zhdanov (Mariupol) ranked third in the USSR (after Novokuznetsk and Magnitogorsk) in the quantity of industrial emissions. In 1989, including all enterprises, the city had 5,215 sources of atmospheric pollution producing 752,900 tons of harmful substances a year (about 98% from metallurgical enterprises and Mariupol Coke-Chemical Plant "Markokhim"). Even after Ukraine regained independence in 1991, by the mid-1990s many pollution limits were still exceeded:
- 1.3 times for ammonia
- 1.3 times for phenol
- 2.0 times for formaldehyde
In the residential areas adjoining the industrial giants, concentrations of benzopyrene reach 6–9 times the maximum concentration limits; hydrogen fluoride, ammonia, and formaldehyde reach 2–3 to 5 times the maximum concentration limits; dust and oxides of carbon, and hydrogen sulphide are 6–8 times the maximum concentration limits; and dioxides of nitrogen are 2–3 times the maximum concentration limits. The maximum concentration limit has been exceed on phenol by 17x, and on benzapiren by 13-14x.
Ill-considered locations of the Azovstal and Markokhim to economize on transport charges, during both construction in the 1930s and subsequent operations, have led to extensive wind-borne emissions into the central areas of Mariupol. Wind intensity and geographical "flatness" offer relief from the accumulation of long-standing pollutants, somewhat easing the problem.
The nearby Sea of Azov is in distress. The fish catch in the area has been reduced by orders of magnitude over the last 30–40 years.
The environmental protection activity of the leading industrial enterprises in Mariupol costs millions of hrivnas, but it appears to have little effect on the city's long-standing environmental problems.
This section needs to be updated. (June 2015) |
City administration and local politics
The Mariupol electorate traditionally supports left wing (socialist and communist) and pro-Russian political parties. At the turn of the 21st century the Party of Regions numerically prevailed in the City Council followed by the Socialist Party of Ukraine.
In the presidential elections of 2004, 91.1% of the city voted for Viktor Yanukovych and 5.93% for Viktor Yuschenko. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the city voted for the Party of Regions with 39.72% of the votes, the Socialist Party of Ukraine with 20.38%, the Natalia Vitrenko Block with 9.53%, and the Communist Party of Ukraine with 3.29%.
In the 2014 parliamentary elections the Opposition Bloc won more than 50% of the votes.[86] The seats of the city's two electoral districts were won by Serhiy Matviyenkov and Serhiy Taruta.[87]
The mayor (chairman of executive committee of the city council) of the city is Vadym Boychenko.[2] In the October local elections he was re-elected with 64.57% of the votes as a candidate of the Vadym Boychenko Bloc.[2] In these mayoral elections Volodymyr Klymenko of Opposition Platform — For Life received 25.84% of the vote, self-nominated candidate Lydia Mugli received 4.72%, the candidate from For the Future Yulia Bashkirova received 1.68% and the nominee from Our Land Mykhailo Klyuyev received 0,99% of the votes.[2] Voter turnout in the election was 27%.[88]
Administrative division
Mariupol is divided into four neighborhoods or "raions".
- Kalmiuskyi District (until June 2016 named Illichivsk District after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin[89]) is the northern part of the city, the largest and most industrialized neighborhood in the city. It is commonly known as the Zavod ("Factory") of Ilyich.
- Livoberezhnyi District (until June 2016 named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze[89]) is the eastern part of the city, on the left bank of the Kalmius River. Its name means the "Left Bank".
- Prymorskyi District is the southern area of the city, on the coast of the Azov Sea. The everyday name of the central part this neighbourhood is simply "the Port".
- Tsentralnyi District is the central city raion. Its everyday name is simply "the Centre" or "the City". Formerly it was known as Zhovtnevyi District (October District) commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
The Kalmius River separates the Livoberezhnyi District from the remaining three districts. The population is mostly concentrated in the Tsentralnyi and Prymorskyi Districts. The Kalmiuskyi District houses the large Illich Steel and Iron Works and the Azovmash manufacturing plant. The Livoberezhnyi (Left Bank) is home to the Azovstal metallurgic combine and the Koksokhim (Coke and Chemical) factory. The settlements of Staryi Krym and Sartana are located in close proximity to the city limits of Mariupol (see map).
Coat of arms
The modern coat of arms of Mariupol was confirmed in 1989. It is described in heraldic terms as: Per fess wavy argent and azure, on an anchor or, accompanied by the figure 1778 of the last. The gold anchor has a ring on top. The number 1778 indicates the year of the city's founding. The argent represents steel; the azure, the sea; the anchor, the port; and the ring, metallurgy.
City holidays
Holidays exclusive to Mariupol include:
- Day of liberation of the city from fascist aggressors (on 10 September)
- Day of the city (the Sunday after the day of liberation of Mariupol in September)
- Day of the metallurgist – a professional holiday for many citizens
- Day of the machine engineer
- Day of the seaman and other professional holidays