Sevastopol

Sevastopol (pop. 335,000), Black Sea port of the Crimea peninsula in Ukraine, southeast Europe. Now an industrial city, and railroad terminal with lumber milling and shipbuilding industries, the city suffered long sieges in the Crimean War (349 days; 1854–55) and World War II (8 months; 1941–42). During the Soviet period there was a major naval base. Sevastopol is situated near the site of the ancient Greek colony Chersonesus, founded in 421 B.C. It eventually became part of the Roman Empire (first century B.C.) and Byzantine Empire (4th century A.D.).