1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Perekop

PEREKOP, a town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, 60 m. S.E. of Kherson, on the isthmus which connects the Crimea with the Continent, and commanding the once defensive ditch and dike which cross from the Black Sea to the Sivash (putrid) lagoon. Pop. about 5000. It was formerly an important place, with a great transit trade in salt, obtained from salt lakes in the immediate neighbourhood. Since the opening of the railway route from Kharkov to Simferopol in the Crimea Perekop has greatly declined. In ancient times the isthmus was crossed (about 11/2 m. south of the present town) by a ditch which gave the name of Taphros to a Greek settlement. This line of defence having fallen into decay, a fort was erected and a new ditch and dike constructed in the 15th century by the Tatar khan of the Crimea, Mengli Ghirai, and by his son and successor Sahib Ghirai. The fort, known as Kapu or Or-Kapu, became the nucleus of the town. In the middle ages Perekop was known as Tuzla. In 1736 it was captured by the Russians under Munnich, and again in 1738 under Lascy (Lacy), who blew up the fort and destroyed a great part of the dike. In 1754 the fort was rebuilt by Krim Ghirei, but the Greek and Armenian inhabitants of Perekop formed a new settlement at Armyanskiy Bazar (Armenian Market), 3 m. farther south. Captured by the Russians in 1771, the town passed into Russian possession with the rest of the Crimea in 1783.