Sevastopol, formerly known as Sebastopol, is the Ukrainian city, located on the Crimean peninsula, on the Black Sea. It has a population of 400,000.Manufactures include ships, processed food, and wood products. Home of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol is still a Russian naval base. It is also a popular seaside resort and tourist destination, mainly for visitors from the CIS countries. A Greek colony called Chersonesus was founded near the site of modern Sevastopol in the late 5th century BC. Chersonesus later passed, successively, to the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and Genoa. By the 14th century AD the site of Sevastopol was occupied by the Tatar settlement of Akhtiar. After the Crimean Peninsula came under Russian control in 1783, the site was made a strongly fortified naval base by Catherine the Great and was named Sevastopol. Sevastopol is probably the most famous naval citadel in the world. Sevastopol was founded in 1783, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. It became an important naval base and later a commercial port. It was besieged by the British and French during the Crimean War, falling after 11 months. While part of the Soviet Union, the city was not incorporated in the Crimean Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR, but was formally subordinate to Kiev (actually to Moscow).