Odessa was founded in 1794 by Spanish Admiral Jose de Ribas.

The city has a heroic past. Early in the XV century the Slav settlement of Kachibei was situated in the vicinity of Odessa. It was later taken by the Turks, and a Turkish fortress, Hajibei, was built in 1764 on the same site.

In 1764 the Empress Catherine the Great, of Russia formed the territories newly acquired in the south-west other empire into a province called Novorossiya.

During the Russo-Turkish war of 1787-91, the Russian troops, commanded by the Spanish Admiral, Don Jose de Ribas, took the fortress. De Ribas was a Catalonian aristocrat born in Spanish Naples, of Spanish and Irish stock (his father was a Spaniard, his mother Irish)

Don Jose de Ribas, recommended the site for the region's principal port. Its harbour was deep and nearly ice-free. Breakwaters could be cheaply constructed and would render the harbour safe even for large fleets. In 1794, Catherine the Great gave it her approval. She immediately sent twenty-six thousand roubles to Jose de Ribas to build a harbour. This new settlement was given the name Odessa.

The biggest street in Odessa has been named Deribasovskaya in honour of the city's founder, Jose de Ribas.