Karakurt (; ; , also known as ''Karakurti''; ) is a village located in the

Bolhrad Raion Bolhrad Raion (; ) is a raion (district) in Odesa Oblast of Ukraine. It is part of the historical region of Bessarabia. Its administrative center is the town of Bolhrad. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukrain ...

in the southwestern part of the Ukrainian

Odesa Oblast Odesa Oblast (), also referred to as Odeshchyna (Одещина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its administrative centre is the city of Ode ...

with a population of approximately 2405 inhabitants (as of 2021).

History

Karakurt was founded in 1811 by

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

from

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; or ''Dobrudža''; , or ; ; Dobrujan Tatar: ''Tomrîğa''; Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and ) is a Geography, geographical and historical region in Southeastern Europe that has been divided since the 19th century betw ...

in the

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. After losing the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, the area including

Cahul Cahul (; also known by alternative names) is a city and municipality in southern Moldova. The city is the administrative center of Cahul District; it also administers one village, Cotihana. As of 2014 census, the city has a population of 30,0 ...

Bolhrad Bolhrad (, ; ; , ) is a small city in Odesa Oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Budjak. It is the administrative center of Bolhrad Raion (district) and hosts the administration of Bolhrad urban hromada, one of ...

, and

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

, where Karakurt is located, was transferred to the

Principality of Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially independent and later auto ...

Southern Bessarabia Southern Bessarabia or South Bessarabia is a territory of Bessarabia which, as a result of the Crimean War, was returned to the Moldavian Principality in 1856. As a result of the unification of the latter with Wallachia, these lands became par ...

in 1856, only to fall back to the

after the Russo-Ottoman War in 1878, a part of which it remained until 1917. During the chaos of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, Russia lost Bessarabia, which declared itself independent as the

Moldavian Democratic Republic The Moldavian Democratic Republic (MDR; , ), also known as the Moldavian Republic or Moldavian People's Republic, was a state proclaimed on by the ''Sfatul Țării'' (National Council) of Bessarabia, elected in October–November 1917 foll ...

in 1917 and voluntarily joined the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

in the same year. After the Soviet Union re-occupied Bessarabia in 1940, Karakurt was transferred to the Bolhrad Raion of the Akkerman Oblast (renamed the

Izmail Oblast Izmail Oblast (; ) (7 August 1940 — 15 February 1954) was an oblast in the Ukrainian SSR, roughly corresponding to the historical region of Budjak in southern Bessarabia. It had a territory of . The region had a multi-ethnic population consisti ...

on August 7, 1940) in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. At the beginning of the

German-Soviet War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, the village returned to Romania in 1941. After the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

recaptured Bessarabia in 1944, the village was renamed to Zhovtneve (Жовтневе) on November 14, 1945, and joined once again the Ukrainian Oblast of Izmail, which became part of the Odesa Oblast in 1954. In 1991, the village became part of independent

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. On May 12, 2016, the village regained its original name due to decommunization in Ukraine. Even today,

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

is the predominant language spoken in Karakurt. In 2013, the inhabitants of the village consisted of approximately 60%

, 25%

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

, 10% Gagauz and 5% representatives of other ethnic groups.

Geography

The village is situated on the bank of the , a 21 km long tributary of

Lake Yalpuh Yalpuh () is a freshwater lake located in the southern Ukraine, Ukrainian oblast of Odesa Oblast, Odesa. The largest natural lake in Ukraine, it covers an area of 149 km², has an average depth of about two metres, a maximum depth of 5.5 met ...

, 9 km southeast of the rayon center Bolhrad and about 220 km southwest of the oblast center Odesa. The territorial road T-16-06 runs through the village.

Administration

On June 12, 2020, the village became a part of the rural municipality of Vasylivka;Кабінет Міністрів України Розпорядження від 12 червня 2020 р. № 720-р "Про визначення адміністративних центрів та затвердження територій територіальних громад Одеської області"
/ref> until then, together with the village of Novyi Karakurt (Новий Каракурт), it formed the rural municipality of Karakurt () in the south of Bolhrad Raion.

External links

auf ''timbes5 '' (Ukrainian)

References

{{Bolhrad Raion Villages in Bolhrad Raion Albanian diaspora Vasylivka rural hromada