Lazarevsky City District () is one of four city districts of the city of Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city district borders Tuapsinsky District in the northwest, Apsheronsky District in the north, Maykopsky District of the Republic of Adygea in the northeast, Khostinsky City District in the east, and Tsentralny City District in the south. The administration of the district is located in Lazarevskoye Microdistrict. 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 of the district lives at or close to the seashore, in former settlements later turned microdistricts. The biggest of them are (northwest to southeast) Vishnevka, Makopse, Sovet-Kvadzhe, Ashe, Lazarevskoye, Volkonka, Chemitokvadzhe, Golovinka, Yakornaya Shchel, Nizhnyaya Beranda, Vardane, Loo, Uchdere, and Dagomys. Dagomys is essentially a suburb of the center of Sochi. Further inland, there are mountains, separated by river valleys. The biggest rivers within the district are the Ashe River and the Shakhe 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. The city district includes six rural okrugs: Kichmaysky Rural Okrug Kirovsky Rural Okrug Lygotkhsky Rural Okrug Solokhaulsky Rural Okrug Verkhneloosky Rural Okrug Volkovsky Rural Okrug History The eastern shore of the Black Sea was populated from the antiquity, often changing allegiations. There are archeological sites within the district, including the Byzantine Church in Loo, which provide evidence of presence of the Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Genoa in the Middle Ages. Eventually the area was taken by the Ottoman Empire, and after the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29 was occupied by the Russian Empire. A number of forts were constructed by Russians, including Lazarevsky and Golovinsky Forts. 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