ISMAIL, a town of Roumania, at the head of a district of the same name, on the left bank of the Kilia branch of the Danube, 30 miles to the east of Galatz, with a river frontage of about 2 j miles. It is the seat of a considerable trade, mainly in grain, but also in wool, leather, and tallow. The population of the town, inclusive of Tutchkoff, was 16,000 in 1856, 31,779 in 1866, and 21,000 in 1876. In 1872 794 ships with a total burden of 81,445 tons entered, and 790 with 81,711 tons cleared....
Originally a Turkish fortified post, Ismail had by the end of the 18th century grown into a place of about 30,000 inhabitants, having 4000 dwelling-houses inside and 2500 outside the enceinte, and numbering among its public buildings four mosques, two churches for the Moldavians, one for the Armenians, and one for the Greeks (see account by a Russian officer in Bernoulli, Sammlung kurzer Reisebeschreibungen, Berlin, 1781). The inhabitants were mainly Turks and Tartars, but not far from the town there was a settlement of Raskolniks, who had fled from the persecution of Peter I. Ismail was occupied by the Russians in 1770, and twenty years later its capture was one of the brilliant achievements of the celebrated Suwarofl ’. On this occasion the garrison was 40,000 strong, and the assault cost the invaders 10,000 and the defenders 30,000 mem “Never,” wrote Suwaroff to Potemkin, the Russian minister, “was a fortress stronger than Ismail, and never was a defence more desperate. But Ismail is taken.” The victory was the theme of one of Derzhavin’s odes. In 1809 the town was again captured by the Russians; and, when in 1812 it was assigned to them by the Bucharest peace, they chose it as the central station for the fleet of the Danube. It was about this time that the town of Tutchkoff, with which it was incorporated in 1830, grew up outside of the fortifications. These were dismantled in accordance with the treaty of Paris (1856), by which that part of Bessarabia in which Ismail was included was made over to Roumania.
On the other side of a small lake not far from the town lies the village of Matrasofka; and 4 miles to the east is another village, Old Nikrasofka, with the following inscription :— Terminus australis arcus meridionalis 25° 20' quem inde a fluvio Danubio ad Oceanum Arcticum usque per Rossiam, Sueciam, et Norwegiam, jussu ei auspiciis imperatorum augustissimorum Alexandri I. atque regi» augustissimi Oscaris I., Annis MDCCCVI ad MDCCGLI1 continuo labore emensi sunt CCC geometrae. Latitudo 45° 20" 28'".
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