Khostinsky City District () is one of four city districts of the city of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city district borders Maykopsky District of the Republic of Adygea in the northeast, Adlersky City District in the southeast, Tsentralny City District in the west, and Lazarevsky City District in the northwest. In the southwest, it is bordered by the Black Sea. Population: Geography The district is located on the slopes of the Western Caucasus, which descend to the Black Sea. The coast within the district runs from northwest to southeast. The majority of the population in the districts lives at or close to the seashore, in former settlements later turned microdistricts. The biggest of them are (northwest to southeast) Svetlana, Bytha, Iskra, Matsesta, Maly Akhun, Khosta, and Kudepsta. Svetlana is essentially a suburb of the center of Sochi, and Kudepsta is separated from Adlersky City District by the Kudepsta River. Further inland, there are mountains, separated by river valleys. The biggest rivers in the district are the Shakhe River, the Sochi River, the Khosta River, and the Matsesta River. The northeastern part of the district belongs to the Caucasus Zapovednik, a huge protected area spanning parts of Krasnodar Krai and Adygea. Much of the remaining area of the district, except for the coastal area, belongs to Sochi National Park. It includes the Orekhovsky waterfall, the second highest in Sochi. The city district includes two rural okrugs, Baranovsky Rural Okrug with the center in the selo of Baranovka, and Razdolsky Rural Okrug, with the center in Razdolnoye. History The eastern shore of the Black Sea was populated from the antiquity, often changing allegiance. In the Middle Ages, the Republic of Genoa established a colony (Costa) at the location of modern Khosta. Eventually the area was taken by the Ottoman Empire, and after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 was occupied by the Russian Empire. The native population, the Ubykh, were forcibly resettled in the 1860s. The area remained underdeveloped, and only in 1866 Black Sea Okrug with the administrative center in Novorossiysk was established to administer the area. Since 1870, it was subdivided into three parts, one of which was administered from Dakhovsky, currently the center of Sochi. In 1888, Black Sea Okrug was merged into Kuban Oblast. In 1896, it was transformed into Black Sea Governorate with the center in Novorossiysk. The area was a part of Sochi Okrug. Soviet