Kiliia

Kiliia or Kilia (Кілія́, ki.ljiˈjɑ; Chilia Nouă) is a town in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast, southwestern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kiliia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Kiliia is located in the Danube Delta, in the historic Bessarabian district of Budjak; across the river lies the town of Chilia Veche (Old Kiliia) in Romania. The Chilia branch of the Danube river, which separates Ukraine from Romania, is named after it. Population: A town on the Romanian side of the Chilia branch of the Danube, now known as Chilia Veche (Cтapa Кілія, translit. Stara Kiliia) or "Old Chilia", was founded by the Greek Byzantines – κελλία, kellia in Greek being the equivalent of "granaries", a name first recorded in 1241, in the works of the Persian chronicler Rashid-al-Din Hamadani. Kiliia is therefore sometimes referred to as Nova Kiliia meaning "New Kiliia". In the place that is now Kiliia, a large colony was established by the Republic of Genoa, known as "Licostomo" and headed by a consul (a representative of the Republic in the region). From that time, only the defensive ditches of a Genoese fortress remained. The city was founded by Stephen the Great of Moldavia, in order to counteract the Ottoman Empire which had taken control over Chilia Veche in the 15th century. It was a major Moldavian port. However, it was eventually conquered by the Ottomans in 1484. In 1570 (Hijri 977) the town of Kilia was inhabited by Muslims and Christians. It had 298 Muslim households in 13 neighbourhoods and 316 Christian households in 5 neighbourhoods and it was a "has" of the Sultan, a land property that was directly owned by the Sultan. One of the Muslim neighbourhoods was recorded as a Circassian neighbourhood. Kiliia was taken by the Russian army under the command of the general Ivan Gudovich during Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). The Times of London reported that "35,000 of the inhabitants were involved in a general massacre," an incident that had "been celebrated in prose and poetry.