Odessa Oblast

**Odessa Oblast**, an aa written as **Odesa Oblast** (, translit. *Odeska oblast*; an aa referred tae as **[[Odessa Oblast#Nomenclature|Odeshchyna]]**—), () is the lairgest an soothmaist oblast (province) o sooth-wastren Ukraine.  The admeenistrative center o the oblast is the ceety o Odessa.

## History
The evidence o the earliest indwallers in this aurie comes frae the settlements an burial grunds o the Neolithic Gumelniţa, Cucuteni-Trypillian an Usatovo culturs, as well as tumuli an hoards o the Bronze Age Proto-Indo-Europeans. In the 1st millennium B.C. the Milesian Greeks biggit colonies alang the North Black Sea Coast, includin the touns o Olbia, Tyras, Niconium, Panticapaeum, an Chersonesus. The Greeks left ahint painted vessels, ceramics, sculpturs, inscriptions, airts an crafts that indicate the prosperity o thair auncient ceevilisation.

The cultur o Scythian tribes inhabitin the Black Sea littoral steppes is representit bi fynds frae settlements an burial grunds. Thare are wappen items, bronze cauldrons, ither utensils, adornments. Bi the beginnin o the 1st millennium A.D. the Sarmatians displaced the Scythians. In the 3rd–4t centuries A.D. the tribal alliance, representit bi the items o Chernyakhov cultur, wis creatit. Syne the middle o the first millennium the formation o Slavic fowk began. In the 9t century thay wur unitit intae a state wi Kiev as a centre. The Khazars, Polovtsy, Pechenegs wur the Slavs' neighbours durin the different times. The period o the 9t–14t centuries is reflectit bi the materials frae the settlements an ceeties o Kievan Rus', Belgorod, Caffa-Theodosia, Berezan Island.

Umwhile ruled bi the Ottoman Empire, the territory o the Odessa oblast passed intae Roushie an Soviet haunds in various stages atween the aichteent an 20t centuries. The Roushie Empire's expansion alang the Black Sea coast led tae the creation o the territory o Novorossiya, which wis colonised bi a variety o fowks, o whom the Roushies wur dominant. The Odessa oblast corresponds tae the maist wasterly portion o "New Roushie".

The oblast wis creatit on 27 Februar 1932 as pairt o the Ukrainian SSR. It wis expandit faur in 1954 bi absorbin Izmail Oblast (umwhile kent as Budjak region o Bessarabie).

## Geografie

The oblast occupees an aurie o aroond 33,300 square kilometres (12,850 square miles). It is characterised bi lairgely flat steppes dividit bi the estuary o the Dniester river. Its Black Sea coast comprises numerous sandy beaches, estuaries an lagoons. The region's soils are renouned for thair fertility, an intensive agricultur is the mainstay o the local economy. The soothwast possesses mony orcharts an vinyairds, while arable crops are grown throughoot the region.

## Points o interest
* Odessa Opera
* Akkerman fortress
* Potemkin Stairs

## Economy

Significant branches o the oblast's economy are:
* ile refinin & chemicals processin
* transportation (important sea an river ports, ile pipelines an railwey);
* viticulture an ither forms o agricultur, notably the growin o wheat, maize, baurley, sunflouers an sugar beets.

The region's industrial capability is principally concentratit in an aroond Odessa.

## Demografics

The oblast's population (as o 2004) is 2.4 million fowk, nearly 40% o whom live in the ceety o Odessa.

Significant Romanie (6.2%) an Bulgarie (6.1%) minorities reside in the province. Thare is a sma Greek community in the ceety o Odessa.

Bulgaries an Moldovans / Romanies represent 21% an 13% respectively, o the population in the region o Budjak, athin Odessa oblast.

## Subdiveesions
The Odessa Oblast is admeenistratively subdividit intae 26 *[[raions]]* (destricts) an 7 municipalities which are directly subordinate tae the oblast govrenment - (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi an Chornomorsk), (Izmail, Podilsk, Teplodar, Yuzhne an the admeenistrative centre o the oblast, Odessa).

## Nomenclatur

Maist o Ukraine's oblasts are named efter thair caipital ceeties, offeecially referred tae as "oblast centers" (, translit. *oblasnyi tsentr*). The name o each oblast is a relative adjective, formed bi addin a feminine suffix tae the name o respective centre ceety: *Odessa* is the centre o  the *Odes’ka oblast’* (Odessa Oblast). Maist oblasts are an aa whiles referred tae in a feminine noun form, follaein the convention o traditional regional place names, endin wi the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case wi the Odessa Oblast, *Odeshchyna*.

## See an aa
* Subdiveesions o Ukraine
* Kherson Govrenorate

## References

## Freemit airtins
* Odessa regional admeenistration hamepage 
* Maps o Odessa oblast Ceeties, Touns an Veelages