Mozdok, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania

For other places with the same name, see Mozdok (disambiguation).
Mozdok (English)
Моздок (Russian)
Мæздæг (Ossetic)
-  Town[1]  -

Location of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in Russia
Mozdok
Location of Mozdok in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania
Coordinates: 43°44′N 44°42′E / 43.733°N 44.700°E / 43.733; 44.700Coordinates: 43°44′N 44°42′E / 43.733°N 44.700°E / 43.733; 44.700
Coat of arms
Flag
Administrative status (as of December 2012)
Country Russia
Federal subject Republic of North Ossetia–Alania[1]
Administrative district Mozdoksky District[1]
Town Under District Jurisdiction Mozdok[1]
Administrative center of Mozdoksky District,[1] Mozdok Town Under District Jurisdiction[1]
Municipal status (as of January 2006)
Municipal district Mozdoksky Municipal District[2]
Urban settlement Mozdokskoye Urban Settlement[2]
Administrative center of Mozdoksky Municipal District,[2] Mozdokskoye Urban Settlement[2]
Statistics
Population (2010 Census) 38,768 inhabitants[3]
Time zone MSK (UTC+03:00)[4]
Founded 1763
Dialing code(s) +7 86736
Mozdok on Wikimedia Commons

Mozdok (Russian: Моздо́к; Ossetian: Мæздæг, Mæzdæg) is a town and the administrative center of Mozdoksky District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia, located on the left shore of the Terek River, 92 kilometers (57 mi) north of Vladikavkaz, the republic's capital. Population: 38,768 (2010 Census);[3] 42,865 (2002 Census);[5] 38,037 (1989 Census).[6]

Etymology

Mozdok's name comes from the Kabardian word for "the dense forest".[7]

History

Mozdok was established in 1763 as a Russian fort at the site of a Kabardian village founded four years earlier, settling the families of the Volga Cossacks in stanitsas around it.[8] Hundreds of Kabardians followed, fleeing their feudal lords from the neighboring areas into the Russian territory. In 1764, the Kabardian leaders requested from the Russian government that the fortress be destroyed, but to no avail. In the years that followed the Kabardians tried to besiege the town, but they were eventually compelled to retreat. With the foundation of Mozdok, the Russian authorities encouraged Ossetians, Georgians, Armenians, and other Christians to populate the town. It soon emerged as a key Russian military outpost linked to Kizlyar with a fortified line as well as the center of local trade, ethnic diversity, and Russian-Caucasian interchange. In 1789, 55.6% of its population was Armenian and Georgian. Ossetian settlement particularly increased in the 1820s when the Russian commander Yermolov began removing Kabardians from the area of the Georgian Military Road and settling Ossetians there.[9]

Moving south from Mozdok, Russia established contact with eastern Georgia through the Daryal Gorge. Mozdok remained the northern terminal of the Georgian Military Road leading to Tbilisi until being succeeded by Vladikavkaz, founded in 1784 midway between Mozdok and the Daryal Pass.[10]

In August 1942, it was conquered by German troops during Case Blue. It was recaptured by the Red Army in January 1943.

In June 2003, a suicide bomber caused havoc in the town, when a bus full of Russian air force personnel was destroyed when it was rammed by the bomber's car.[11] On August 1, 2003, a military hospital in the city was targeted by a suicide bomber driving a large truck bomb. The building was substantially damaged and over fifty people were killed in the blast. These attacks are just two of a string of attacks on Russian facilities in Mozdok since the start of the Second Chechen War.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Mozdok serves as the administrative center of Mozdoksky District.[1] As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Mozdoksky District as Mozdok Town Under District Jurisdiction.[1] As a municipal division, Mozdok Town Under District Jurisdiction is incorporated within Mozdoksky Municipal District as Mozdokskoye Urban Settlement.[2]

Culture

The Museum of Regional Studies in Mozdok holds an assortment of displays and artifacts related to Mozdok's history.

Ethnic groups

Ethnic composition of the city (2002 data):

Military

There is an airbase near the town. From 1961 to 1998, the 182nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment of Long Range Aviation, flying Tupolev Tu-95s, was based there.[12] The airbase has been used to support military operations in Chechnya and in the Russo-Georgian War.[13][14][15] In June 2003, a female suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying pilots and other personnel employed at the airbase on the Mozdok-Prokhladnoye motorway, killing approximately 15 and wounding 12.[16][17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Law #34-RZ
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Law #16-RZ
  3. 1 2 Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №248-ФЗ от 05 апреля 2016 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #248-FZ of April 05, 2016 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
  5. ↑ Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian). Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  6. ↑ Demoscope Weekly (1989). "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров" [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  7. ↑ Barrett, Thomas M. (1999). At the edge of empire: the Terek Cossacks and the North Caucasus frontier, 1700-1860. Westview Press, ISBN 0-8133-3671-6, p. 44.
  8. ↑ Burbank, Jane; Ransel, David L. (1998). Imperial Russia: New Histories for the Empire. Indiana University Press. p. 159-160. ISBN 978-0-253-21241-2.
  9. ↑ Jane Burbank and David L. Ransel (1998). Imperial Russia: new histories for the Empire. Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-21241-3, pp. 159–161.
  10. ↑ John Channon and Robert Hudson (1995). The Penguin historical atlas of Russia. Viking, ISBN 0-670-86461-7, p. 72.
  11. ↑ BBC News mentions bombings
  12. ↑ Butuwski, International Air Power Review, Summer 2004, No. 13, 82.
  13. ↑ Cornell, Svante E.; Starr, S. Frederick (2015). The Guns of August 2008: Russia's War in Georgia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-45652-0.
  14. ↑ De Haas, Marcel (2004). Russian Security and Air Power, 1992-2002. Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-135-76778-5.
  15. ↑ Potter, Matt (2011). Outlaws Inc.: Under the Radar and on the Black Market with the World's Most Dangerous Smugglers. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-60819-539-8.
  16. ↑ Pravda.ru (2003). "Criminal case opened after blast in North Ossetian bus".
  17. ↑ "Two years of attacks". BBC News. 12 September 2004.

Sources

External links

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