Evidence of Odessa's existence in the 16th century was found in Istanbul

16th-century Ottoman documents attest to the existence of Khojabey at the site of present-day Odesa and allow us to trace the historical continuity of the settlement during the Ottoman period.

This conclusion was reached by Oleksandr Sereda, Ph.D. in History, in a study published in the collection *The Black Sea Past*.

The author presented for the first time four late 16th-century Ottoman-Turkish documents on the history of Khodzhabey. Two of them are dated 1583 and 1584, and the other two are from 1593. The documents come from the Ottoman Archives of the State Archives Administration in Istanbul.

According to the documents from 1583–1584, the Ottoman authorities viewed Khojabey as an existing old fortress in need of repair. The documents from 1593 highlight the fortress’s strategic importance against the backdrop of the conflict with Cossack units. Khojabey was an important junction between Akkerman and Ochakiv and was part of the Ottoman Empire’s defense system within the Ochakiv–Akkerman–Bendery triangle.

The researcher also draws attention to the name of the settlement. In the Ottoman sources presented, it consistently appears as Hocabey. At the same time, various sources mention forms such as Kodzhabey, Kochubey, Khadzhibey, and Kachibey. According to Sereda, the form “Hajibey” largely arose as a result of the phonetic adaptation of the Turkic name during its transmission into other languages, particularly Russian.

The researcher cites a map from 1542 as one of the earliest cartographic confirmations of the name, on which “Hocabey Limanı”—the port of Hocabey—is marked in the area of the modern-day Gulf of Odessa. According to the author, the name Hocabey as a designation for the port can be traced in Ottoman sources throughout the following centuries.

Every year on September 2, Odessa celebrates City Day. Its official founding is dated to 1794, so in 2024, Odessa turned 230 years old.

At the same time, historians emphasize that the settlement of Hacıbey existed on the territory of modern-day Odesa long before that date. If the city’s history is counted from the first mentions of Hacıbey, Odesa may be over 600 years old.

This summer, during excavations on Primorsky Boulevard in Odessa, an archaeological expedition discovered one of the towers of the Khadzhibey Castle.

Ірина Глухова