BERDIANSK, a seaport town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, situated on the north-west shore of the Sea of Azoff, near the entrance of the River Berdianka into the Berdiansk Gulf, in 46° 45' N. lat. and 36° 47' E. long. Berdiansk was founded in 1827, at the suggestion of Vorontzoff, and by the following year was a regular settlement, which in 1835 was recognized as a town, and raised in 1842 to be capital of a circle. In 1838 its population was 3200, which had, in spite of the damage done to the town in 1855 by the English fleet, increased in 1860 to 9762. At that time it possessed two Greek churches and one Lutheran, and a Jewish and a Karaite synagogue. Its secular buildings comprised a custom-house, a hospital, a public library, and a theatre. The principal industries of the place are the making of bricks and tiles, the boiling of tallow, and the manufacture of macaroni. As a port it is of great importance. The roads are protected from every wind, except the south, which occasions a heavy surf; but this disadvantage has been lessened by the formation of a mole in 1863. Another inconvenience of the situation, however, is the rapid filling up of the port, which renders necessary the removal of the wharves from time to time nearer to the sea. The chief articles of export are wheat, barley, linseed, rapeseed, rye, and oats; and the imports include hardwares, fruits, oil, and petroleum, the last-named being used for the lighting of the town. Large deposits of coal exist in the basin of the Azoff, and Berdiansk would afford the greatest facilities for its exportation. In the immediate neighbourhood are valuable salt-lagoons. Population in 1867, 12,223.