History of Krasnodar — История Краснодара

Before you visit the city of Krasnodar, it is better to sleep in the Kuban in advance, because this city will not let you sleep. It is warm and fragrant by the south, a wonderful, wondrous land with an ancient history, saturated with the aromas of fruits poured in summer, fanned by legends … In Krasnodar, it simply becomes a pity to sleep, because you want to see everything, gets some impressions, be filled with joy that flows from inside this beautiful place.

The foundation of the city of Krasnodar dates back to 1793. It was then that in the south of Russia, on the right bank of the picturesque Kuban River, a settlement was founded, called Yekaterinodar. A little less than a century passed, and in 1867, the settlement grew, strengthened, established itself finally and, as a result, received the status of a city. Ekaterinodar was founded by the Cossacks, to whom Empress Catherine the Second granted a special certificate, which said that the Kuban land was transferred to the eternal use of the Cossacks, and this land was limited to the Kuban River and the Sea of Azov. The city, founded by the Cossacks, got its name Ekaterinodar in order to capture the very fact that Ekaterina donated Kuban land to the Cossacks.

Initially, the city was founded as a military settlement, later — it became a fortress. But people settled in these places long before the Cossacks. Earlier, within the limits of Krasnodar, there was an ancient city belonging to the Kingdom of the Bosporus. Thanks to archaeological excavations, it was also possible to establish that in the very center of the modern city of Krasnodar in the fourth and third centuries BC, there was a Meotian mound. It is believed that the center of this ancient settlement was located on the site of the modern ԃity GardenԠdistrict, on both sides of the Karasu River, and that it stretched right down to the confluence with the Kuban River.

In the same period of time, not far from the Meotian settlement, there was also the castle (or fortress) of King Arifan, who, as you know, took an active part in the struggle for the throne of the Bosporus Kingdom. The inhabitants of this settlement were many nations, but its main inhabitants were, nevertheless, representatives of the Meostichian, Scythian and Sarmatian tribes, who maintained trade relations with the Crimea, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Rome, and Greece, and later with the Byzantine Empire.