History of Vladivostok
The area that is now Vladivostok was ruled by various states, including the Mohe, the Goguryeo, the Balhae[1] and the later Liao, Jīn and Ming dynasties.
On Chinese maps from the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), Vladivostok is called Yongmingcheng (永明城 [Yǒngmíngchéng], "city of eternal light").
It was visited by Chinese expeditions under Haixi Jurchen eunuch Yishiha, and a relic of that time, the Ming Yongning Temple Stele is displayed in the local museum.
Later, as the Manchus banned non-banner Han Chinese from most of Manchuria (including the Vladivostok region), it was only visited by shēnzéi (參賊, ginseng or sea cucumber thieves) who illegally entered the area seeking ginseng or sea cucumbers (ambiguous, since both words use the Chinese 參, shēn).
A French ship which is believed to have visited the area around 1858 found several huts belonging to Han or Manchu fishermen.
On June 20, 1860 (July 2 Gregorian style) the military supply ship Manchur, under Captain-Lieutenant Alexey K. Shefner, called at Golden Horn Bay to found the outpost of Vladivostok.
Светланская) in honor of the frigate Svetlana on which Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia visited Vladivostok.
In 1880 the Russian Volunteer Fleet, with government aid, organized regular trips to Odessa and Saint Petersburg.
On April 28, 1880 (May 10 Gregorian style), Vladivostok was officially proclaimed a city and a separate administrative unit from Primorskaya Oblast.
In 1883 the Resettlement Administration was established in Vladivostok, and Russian Volunteer Fleet steamships began a mass transport of peasants from European Russia to the Far East.
In 1883 the city's first newspaper (Vladivostok) began, and the following year the Society of the Amursky Territory Study (headed by Fyodor F. Busse) was founded.
Most buildings were grouped in the area of today's central square and the Matrosskaya Sloboda (Sailors' Suburb), from the Obyasneniya River to the Gaydamak tram stop.
The Entente soon expanded its Siberian Intervention; Canada sent 4,000 troops, headquartered in the Pushkin Theater with a barracks at Second River and Gornostai Bay.
From 1920 to 1922, cultural refugees from Moscow and Saint Petersburg founded two conservatories, two theaters and several symphony orchestras and published art magazines.
During the early 1920s, Far Eastern State University was established in Vladivostok; in the late 1930s, under Stalin, it was closed for twenty years.
Many ethnic groups considered rebellious by Stalin's eyes, including Chinese, Manchu, Jews, Ukrainians, Poles, Crimean Tatars, Chechens, and Armenians, were transported.
[4] During the 1930s mass repression began in the country, and a transit camp for political prisoners sent from western Russia to Kolyma was opened in Vladivostok.
Although Captain Edward York and his crewmates were well-treated, diplomatic efforts to return them to the United States failed.
Vladivostok's last large district built with new, multistory houses is at Patrisa Lumumby and Neybuta Streets, begun in 1980.
For many years the ports of Vladivostok ranked first in freight turnover in the Russian Far East, recently yielding to Nakhodka.
December 2008 protests in the city against higher import duties on used cars were reported around the world, although coverage was limited in Russia.
