KILIA  , a

town of S . Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, too m . S.W. of Odessa, on the Kilia branch of the Danube, 20 M. from its mouth . Pop . (1897), 11,703 . It has steam flour-mills and a rapidly increasing trade . The town, anciently known as Chilia, Chele, and Lycostomium, was a place of banishment for political dignitaries of Byzantium in the 12th—13th centuries . After belonging to the Genoese from 1381—1403 it was occupied successively by Walachia and Moldavia, until in 1484 it fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks . It was taken from them by the Russians in 1790 . After being bombarded by the Anglo-French fleet in July 1854, it was given to Rumania on the conclusion of the war; but in 1878 was transferred to Russia with Bessarabia .