Kherson

Kherson, a town of south Russia, capital of the above government, on a hill above the right bank of the Dnieper, about 19 m. from its mouth. Founded by the courtier Potemkin in 1778 as a naval station and seaport, it had become by 1786 a place of 10,000 inhabitants, and, although its progress was checked by the rise of Odessa and the removal (in 1794) of the naval establishments to Nikolayev, it had in 1900 a population of 73,185. The Dnieper at this point breaks into several arms, forming islands overgrown with reeds and bushes; and vessels of burden must anchor at Stanislavskoe-selo, a good way down the stream. Of the traffic on the river the largest share is due to the timber, wool, cereals, cattle and hides trade; wool-dressing, soap-boiling, tallow-melting, brewing, flour-milling and the manufacture of tobacco are the chief industries. Kherson is a substantially built and regular town. The cathedral is the burial-place of Potemkin, and near Kherson lie the remains of John Howard, the English philanthropist, who died here in 1790. The fortifications have fallen into decay. The name Kherson was given to the town from the supposition that the site was formerly that of Chersonesus Heracleotica, the Greek city founded by the Dorians of Heraclea.