Balta, Ukraine
Balta (Ukrainian and Russian Балта ) is a Ukrainian town of about 20,000 inhabitants. It is located about 200 kilometers from Odessa and 160 kilometers from Uman in the north of Odessa.
History
Archaeological finds, after first settlements already existed five years ago or six thousand. The city in the 16th century was founded by Tatars and after the Turkish word for ax: named Balta.
In the late 17th and in the 18th century, the city was divided into two parts, as compared to the Turkish city of the Polish town " Józefgród ", named after the Polish Prince Josef Lubomirski was built on the other side of the river Kodyma.
The attack of a Russian Cossack regiment on Polish patriots fled to Balta was the reason for the Russian-Turkish War ( 1768-1774 ).
After the Russians had taken from the Turks in 1792 Jedisan and Poland in 1795, Ukraine in 1797, the two cities Balta and Jozefgrod were united under the name Balta part of the Russian Empire. Balta was the county town of Podolia. In this city, people lived from different backgrounds and different beliefs, such as: Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, Poles, Moldavians ( Romanians ), Jews, Tatars and Gypsies.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the population was made up of Jews ( 55-82 %, today less than 1% ), Russian Orthodox ( 15-25 %, now 85-90 %), Catholics (mostly Poles, 4-9 %) and Alt- Orthodox (4-12 %) together. Some representatives of Protestant churches lived here. The city was known for its grain markets. Here the main road from the south to the north and the main road crossed from west to east of Ukraine or Russia.
From 1924 to 1929 Balta was the capital of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( MASSR ) within the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. 1940 MASSR was dissolved. Two-thirds of today Transnistria, the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic were connected. In the eastern third of the established ethnic Ukrainians constitute the majority and remained as the area in which also was Balta, Ukraine. Balta was established in 1940 and is today the capital of a Rajons ( district ).
Economy
In the city there are factories for furniture, bricks and textiles and food industry. Leading educational institutions are a training center for teachers and a vocational school. There is a museum dedicated to the history of the region and Ukrainian Museum of Ethnology.