SEVASTOPOL or SEBASTOPOL, a natural harbour of Russia in Crimean A.S.S.R., on the south-west coast, in 37' N., 33° 35' E., connected by rail with Moscow via Kharkov. It is available at all times for large steamers, and has a depth of 36 to 24o ft. over the whole port. The estuary, which is one of the best roadsteads in Europe and could accommodate the combined fleets of Europe, is a deep and thoroughly sheltered indentation among chalky cliffs, running east and west for nearly 4 m., with a width of three-quarters of a mile, narrowing to 93o yds. at the entrance. The main inlet has also four smaller indentations, and a small river, the Chornaya, enters the head of the inlet. Since 1890 it has been exclusively a naval arsenal and no foreign vessels call at the port unless they have machinery or coal for the Govern ment or the State railways. Its trade has been diverted to Theo dosia and Nikolayev, but it has manufactures of machinery, macaroni, flour, leather, soap and tiles. Sevastopol sustained a memorable 1 i months' siege in 1854, when the English, French and Turkish troops bombarded it ; it was evacuated by the Russians in September 1855, when the fortifications were blown up by the allies, and barely a dozen buildings escaped uninjured. By the treaty of Paris the Russians were bound not to restore the fortress, but during the Franco-Prussian War, in 187o, Sevastopol was again made a naval arsenal. For many years after the siege the town was practically deserted, but it is now flourishing. Pop.
(1933) 78,300. It has numerous sanatoria and is a favourite sea bathing resort. Its museum of biology and marine biological station are famous, and there are schools of navigation.
The peninsula between the Bay of Sevastopol and the Black sea was known in the 7th century as the Heracleotic Chersonese.
In the 5th century B.C. a Greek colony was founded here and remained independent for three centuries, when it became part of the kingdom of the Bosporus, and subsequently tributary to Rome. Under the Byzantine empire Chersonesus was an ad ministrative centre for its possessions in Taurida. Vladimir, prince of Kiev, conquered Chersonesus (Korsuli) before being baptized there, and restored it to the Greeks on marrying (988) the princess Anna. Subsequently the Slays were cut off from rela tions with Taurida by the Mongols, and only made occasional raids, such as that of the Lithuanian prince Olgierd. In the i6th century a new influx of colonists, the Tatars, occupied Cher sonesus and founded a settlement named Akhtyar. This village, after the Russian conquest in 1783, was selected for the chief naval station of the empire in the Black sea and received its present name ("the August City"). In 1826 strong fortifications were begun. Before the Crimean war Sevastopol was a beautiful, well-built city. Some years after the siege an active period of rebuilding began. See also CRIMEAN WAR.