José de Ribas

Josep de Ribas y Boyons, known in Spanish as José Pascual Domingo de Ribas y Boyons and in Russian as Iosif (Osip) Mikhailovich Deribas, was an Italo-Spanish military officer from Naples, in Russian service. After Empress Catherine took advantage of Potocki's successful international trading post of the Polish Black Sea Trading Company, in Russian-ruled Kherson, she founded Odessa. In recognition of de Ribas' famous victory at nearby Khadjibey, the future city's most famous street, Deribasovskaya, was named after him. José de Ribas is one of the principal figures on the monument of Catherine the Great in Odessa and there is small personal monument to him at the beginning of Deribasovskaya street.