Odessa Oblast

Odessa Oblast (Ukrainian: Одеська область, Odes’ka oblast’ or Одещина, Odeshchyna) is an oblast of south-western Ukraine. Its capital is Odessa (Odesa).

The oblast was created on February 27, 1932 as part of the Ukrainian SSR. It includes the historical territory of southern Bessarabia (or Budjak), north of the Danube River, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 from Romania, in accord with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The area around Ismail was not incorporated into the oblast until 1956.

Important cities (apart from Odessa) include:

• Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi
• Izmail
• Illichivs'k
• Reni
• Yuzhny

Other settlements:

• Vilkovo

The oblast occupies a largely flat area of steppes divided by the estuary of the Dniester river. Its Black Sea coast comprises numerous sandy beaches, estuaries and lagoons. The region's soils are renowned for their fertility, and intensive agriculture is the mainstay of the local economy. The southwest possesses many orchards and vineyards, while arable crops are grown throughout the region.

Significant branches of the province's economy are:

• oil refinery & chemicals processing
• transportation (important sea and river ports, oil pipelines and railway);
• vegetable agriculture and vinery.

The area of the region is 33,300 km²; its population (as of 2004-05–01) is 2.4 million people, nearly two-thirds of whom live in the city of Odessa.

Significant Romanian/Moldovan, Bulgarian and Greek minorities reside in the province.