Taganrog [key], city (1989 pop. 292,000), S European Russia, on the Gulf of Taganrog, an arm of the Sea of Azov. It is a port, exporting mainly grains and coal. Metallurgy, combine and automobile assembly, ship repairing, leather working, commercial fishing, agricultural processing, and the manufacture of heavy machinery and furniture are the city's major industries. A Pisan colony on the site was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th cent.; Turks later settled there. In 1698, Peter the Great founded Taganrog as a fortress and naval base. The Turks recaptured it twice (1712 and 1739), but it was taken by the Russians in 1769 and definitively ceded by Turkey in the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774). Superseded by Odessa in the late 19th cent. as a major grain exporter, Taganrog retained importance as a military and naval base and a manufacturing city. Landmarks include the imperial palace (now an historical museum) in which Czar Alexander I reportedly died and a memorial museum at the home of the writer Anton Chekhov, who was born in Taganrog.
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