PEREKOP  , a

town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, 6o m . S.E. of Kherson, on the isthmus which connects the Crimea with the Continent, and commanding the once defensive ditch and dike which cross from the Black Sea to the Sivash (putrid) lagoon . Pop. about 5000 . It was formerly an important place, with a great transit trade in salt, obtained from salt lakes in the immediate neighbourhood . Since the opening of the railway route from Kharkov to Simferopol in the Crimea Perekop has greatly declined . In ancient times the isthmus was crossed (about 12 m. south of the present town) by a ditch which gave the name of Taphros to a Greek settlement . This line of defence having fallen into decay, a fort was erected and a new ditch and dike constructed in the 15th century by the Tatar khan of the Crimea, Mengli Ghirai, and by his son and successor Sahib Ghirai . The fort, known as Kapu or Or-Kapu, became the nucleus of the town . In the middle ages Perekop was known as Tuzla . In 1736 it was captured by the Russians under Miinnich, and again in 1738 under Lascy (Lacy), who blew up the fort and destroyed a great part of the dike . In 1754 the fort was rebuilt by Krim Ghirei; but the Greek and Armenian inhabitants of Perekop formed a new settlement at Armyanskiy Bazar (Armenian Market), 3 M. farther south . Captured by the Russians in 1771, the town passed into Russian possession with the rest of the Crimea in 1783 .