Rostov Region
// GENERAL INFORMATION
Rostov Region is located on the southern part of the East European Plain and in the Precaucasus, with a coastline on Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov. It borders on Stavropol and Krasnodar territories in the south, Ukraine in the west and northwest, Voronezh Region in the north, Volgograd Region in the northeast and east, and the Republic of Kalmykia in the east, southeast, and south. The region is in a favorable economic and geographical position: it connects central Russia with the North Caucasus and Trans-Caucasus, has an outlet to the Black Sea, and borders on the Donbass (Donetsk) coal basin in the west.
 |
|
| Emblem |
Rostov Region was formed in 1937. It has an area of 100 800 km2 and a population of 4.4 million people, ranking fourth in population among Russian regions. The population is made up of more than 26 nationalities, including Russians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Belarussians, Tatars, Turks, Georgians, Jews, Germans, and Koreans. The region is made up of 43 districts, 23 cities, and 25 towns; the largest cities are Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog, Shakhti, Novocherkassk, Volgodonsk, and Novoshakhtinsk.
 |
|
| Flag |
The main rivers are the Don and Northern (Severny) Donets. There are three reservoirs (Tsimlyanskoe, Veselovskoe, and Proletarskoe), as well as 450 lakes with a total area of 93.7 km2.
The region has a temperate continental climate with average January temperatures ranging from -9 °C in the north to -5 °C in the south and average July temperatures of +22 to +24 °C; annual precipitation is 400-600 mm.
Rostov Region has a well-developed transportation infrastructure. Rostov-on-Don, the regional center, is one of the largest transportation centers in Russia, the CIS, and Europe, with six main railway lines, seven highways with a length of more than 18 500 km, and a major water transport route along the Don River. River routes connect Rostov's river port with 16 countries on the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic, and Caspian seas. Rostov Airport has regular service to more than 90 cities in Russia and the CIS countries. More than ten oil and gas pipelines also pass through the region.
The region has diverse plant and animal life. Fertile black earth soils that cover nearly two-thirds of the region's territory are its most important natural resource. This natural wealth makes Rostov Region one of Russia's largest agricultural producers, second only to Krasnodar Territory.
Industrial production encompasses all of modern industry's main lines of activity. The region is an active participant in foreign economic activities: products manufactured in the Don area are exported to more than 70 countries. Recreational resources include local summer vacation resorts with high-quality mineral water (Sea of Azov coast, Aksai spring) and a wide range of possibilities for developing international tourism.
Rostov Region is also the largest scientific and cultural center of southern Russia. The region's economic development is the result of factors such as an economically advantageous geographical location, a favorable climate and sufficient natural resources, a large human resource pool, and a well- developed transportation infrastructure.
HISTORY
Since ancient times, Rostov has been at the intersection of important water and land trade and migration routes. Here and in the immediate surroundings, large trade centers, settlements of nomadic tribes, fortresses and outposts, customs houses, capital cities and administrative centers of the Don Cossacks, and the center of the Armenian colony on the Don (Nakhichevan) continually rose, fell, and persistently rose again. At the end of the 17th century, Peter the Great proposed moving the capital of the entire country to Taganrog.
The first stable settlements on the site of Rostov appeared relatively late. The reason is that four centuries ago, at the end of the 16th century, these lands belonged to the Crimean Khanate, which controlled the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, denying Russia and the Don Cossacks' access to the sea.
The city's founding date is generally considered to be December 15, 1749, when Empress Elizaveta Petrovna issued a decree establishing the Temernitskaya customs house, which appeared in spring 1750 on the right bank of the Don near Bogaty spring with a group of buildings, a village, and a dock west of the present-day Red Don (Krasny Don) factory.
The first mention of the city of Rostov appeared in a royal decree of August 17, 1806. Prior to that (1798), there was reference to the village of Gnilovskaya. The decision to form a separate Rostov District dates to August 29, 1797. The city of Nakhichevan was founded in early 1780 and was officially merged with Rostov only in 1928. Construction of Dmitry Rostovsky Fortress, which subsequently gave its name to the city, began on September 23, 1761,. Merchant's Town for traders arose in the 1750s (between the present-day Bogatyanovsky Hill and Teatralny Avenue).
In the late 19th century, Rostov was the fifth-largest city within the boundaries of present-day Russia; and in 1915, the eighth-largest in the Russian Empire.
Rostov was connected by rail to Kharkov and Moscow in 1870, and to Vladikavkaz in 1875. By the beginning of the 20th century, Rostov had nearly 140 factories employing 14 500 workers.
By the mid-19th century, Rostov had become known in Russia and abroad for its annual Voznesenskaya and Uspensko-Bogoroditskaya fairs, which offered tea, leather, horses, grain, fabrics, sugar, tobacco, fish, and wine in abundance.
The architectural character of Rostov's business center had formed by the late 19th century. For over 100 years, City House (it marked its 100th anniversary in 1999) has been the symbol of Rostov municipal authority. The building designed by architect A.N. Pomerantsev has successively been the office of the city Duma, the Communist Party regional committee, and now the city administration. City residents were noted for their high level of social activism. The famous Rostov strike of 1902 and the armed demonstration of 1905 were significant events in the history of the Russian worker's movement.
Another tragic event in the city's life is also well known. In 1918, during the troubled times of the Civil War, it was Rostov's fate to become a center of the counterrevolution. After the chaos of the Civil War, Rostov developed according to the socialist five-year plans. The 1920s and 1930s were the period of Rostov's transformation into the country's largest engineering industry center. Construction of the giant Rostselmash agricultural machinery plant began in 1926; the Trubolit plant began operations in 1932; and the Red (Krasny) Aksai (formerly Aksai) factory and a tobacco factory were rebuilt. New processing companies were set up, e.g., a champagne factory, a meat-packing plant, and a bakery plant.
Workers were needed to build the large factories, and thousands of young people from all over the Soviet Union came to Rostov, where new communities like Selmash, Ordzhonikidze, Frunze, Red Garden City (Krasny gorod-sad), and Severny sprang up.
The city changed hands twice during the Second World War. The German occupation lasted from November 21 to 29, 1941, and July 24, 1942 to February 14, 1943. Rostov was among the 15 Russian cities that suffered the most during the years of occupation; it was also the largest Russian city seized by the German army.
In 1945, a general city-planning project was approved, which in addition to reconstruction, proposed an increase in development sites and construction of new factories and housing blocks.
A new general city development plan was approved in 1981. This was preceded by the appearance in Rostov of 13 industrial associations, the construction of hundreds of five-story apartment buildings, and the expansion of the city limits in the west [Western (Zapadny) housing block)], north [Northern (Severny) housing block], and southeast (Aleksandrovka). A new bridge over the Don River, the Combine Builders' Palace of Culture, more than 200 stores, and other buildings were also constructed.
Modern-day Rostov-on-Don is the largest scientific, cultural, and transportation center in southern Russia, with a population that had already reached 1 million in 1987.
RESOURCES
One of Europe's largest navigable rivers, the Don (total length, 2000 km), flows through Rostov Region. The region has a coastline on the Sea of Azov in the southeast and the Tsimlyanskoe Reservoir in the east.
The Don region has diverse plant and animal life. The open steppes, forest oases, floodplains of the Don River, Sea of Azov coast, and nature preserves are havens for hundreds of different bird species, a great variety of fish, and dozens of mammal species, including moose and wild boar. The most characteristic steppe plants are feather grass, fescue, Koelaria, quack grass, bluegrass, timothy, clover, small-leaved vetch, crown vetch, French grass, alfalfa, licorice, sage, cinquefoil, elecampane, buttercup, betony, catchfly, tulip, and milfoil.
Forests cover less than 2.5% of the region, and the forested area is steadily decreasing. The main tree species are oak (32.3%) and pine (31%). The forests are divided into ravine, floodplain, and arenaceous groups.
Ravine forests are located ravines, mainly in the northern and central parts of the region. They consist of oak, maple, linden, elm, ash, and shrubs such as euonymus, privet, elderberry, buckthorn, sloe, wild rose, and hawthorn.
Floodplain forests grow along the Mius and Don rivers and their right-hand tributaries. Typical trees are oak, elm, willow, poplar, ash, alder, and aspen.
Arenaceous forests grow on large sandy tracts; they consist of pine, oak, birch, aspen, alder, and locust.
Soils are the Don region's primary resource. Various types of black earths (chernozems) up to 1.5 m thick cover 64.2% of the territory of Rostov Region and are some of the world's most fertile soils. They were formed from meadow-steppe and steppe vegetation over a period of 10 000 years following the last ice age. Enormous amounts of solar energy synthesized by vegetation, as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and many other plant nutrients are fixed in the humus of these chernozems. Chernozem soil is characterized by a firm granular structure; it is porous and well aerated, but at the same time retains moisture tenaciously.
Chestnut soils cover another 20.8% of the region. They form in arid climates and are subdivided into dark chestnut, chestnut, and light chestnut types. A thin humus layer (up to 50 cm) and low humus content (up to 4%) are characteristic of these soils. Floodplain-meadow soils, which cover 7.7% of the region, are found on the floodplains of the Don and Western (Zapadny) Manych rivers. They are fine fertile soils with high humus and soluble material contents. Sands occupy 1.5% of the region, and bedrock, 5.8%. These areas are used for pasture and vineyards.
Rostov Region is Russia's second-largest producer of high-quality hard coal. There are also oil and gas fields and deposits of building materials (limestone, clay, crushed stone, building sand, and beater stone) and nonmetallic raw materials used in the metallurgical industry (fluxing and converter limestone and ferroalloy quartzite).
The region's varied subsurface mineral resources include the following:
Thermal and coking coal deposits are located in the southern part of the Donetsk coal basin. The region's explored subsurface coal reserves are estimated at 6 billion tons. The coal seams are from 0.5 to 1.5 m thick; the occurrence depth is down to 1500 m.
Small, locally important gas fields include the Azovskoe (Azovsky District), Sinyavskoe field (Neklinovsky District), Astakhovskoe and Grachkinskoe (Kamensky District), and Kruzhilovskoe (Tarasovsky District) fields.
Exploration of the Leonovskoe oil field (Tarasovsky District) is underway.
Clay gypsum, clay, fluxing and building limestone, quartzite, expanded clay materials, brick and tile materials, chalk, marl, refractory clay, and foundry, silicate, and building sand are produced throughout the region. Phosphorite is produced in northern districts, and table salt, in the Manych lakes.
Mineral water resources are located in Aksaisky, Verkhnedonsky, Kamensky, Oktyabrsky, Salsky, Tatsinsky, Tsimlyansky, and Sholokhovsky districts and in Rostov-on-Don
Deposits of therapeutic mud include the Gruzskoe (Orlovsky District), Sadkovskoe (Semikarakorsky District), Peleninskoe (Azovsky District), and Tuzlovskoe (Oktyabrsky District) deposits.
ECONOMY
Within Russia's current boundaries, Rostov Region has acquired key economic, geographic, political, and international significance.
The region has strong agricultural, industrial, human resource, and scientific/technical potential, as well as great significance in the overall Russian division of specialization. It is one of the leading Russian regions in terms of its level of economic development and industrial diversification.
The most developed industrial sectors are the power, fuel, engineering, and food industries, which account for three-quarters of the region's output. Many companies have national significance as the country's only or largest producers of certain kinds of goods. Rostov Region produces 100% of the mainline electric locomotives and steam boilers and three-quarters of the combine harvesters manufactured in the country, and is a Russian leader in the areas of heavy helicopter engineering and production of ship navigation systems. The region has nearly 50% of all cultivator production facilities and produces 16.5% of all ferrous metals in Russia.
The region has been the country's second-largest agricultural producer for many years. Grain and sunflowers are of particular importance.
Rostov Region carries on foreign trade operations with 95 countries, and products manufactured by its companies are exported to more than 70 countries. The main partners of Rostov companies are the United States, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Latvia, and deliveries to EU countries have increased in recent years. Countries of the Black Sea basin account for a significant volume of the region's export sales. There are 213 joint ventures operating in the region.
Most of the investments in the joint ventures' charter funds come from countries of the Black Sea basin, Turkey being the undisputed leader (more than 136.7 billion rubles, or 56.7% of total investments). Traditional partners for joint ventures are Germany (6.5%), the United States (8.5%), and Great Britain (2.2%).
As Russia's "gateway" to the countries around the Black and Caspian seas, Rostov Region has the most highly developed transportation infrastructure of the country's southern regions, consisting of railways, federal highway, sea and river ports in Rostov, Azov, and Taganrog, and an international airport in Rostov-on-Don.
Closeness to traditional international trade routes and sales markets and developed transportation and market infrastructures stimulate the expansion of foreign economic activity. In the estimation of experts, Rostov Region is one of the most attractive regions for both Russian and foreign investors.
The main industrial sectors are engineering and metalworking, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, and the chemical and petrochemical, light, and food industries. The Novocherkassk Thermal Power Plant (Novocherkasskaya GRES), the Tsimlyansk Hydroelectric Power Plant (Tsimlyanskaya GES), and the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant (Rostovskaya AES) operate in the region. Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog, Novocherkassk, Kamensk-Shakhtensky, Novoshakhtinsk, and Volgodonsk are the main industrial centers.
The region's coal mining companies are in fourth place in coal production in Russia after Kemerovo Region. There are 150 coal seams in the coal-bearing formation of the Eastern Donbass; coal reserves amount to 9573 million tons. Eighteen percent of these reserves are situated in the fields of operating companies, 23% are in reserve areas ready for commercial development, and the remaining reserves are in areas that are being explored or have exploration potential and other areas.
The Donetsk basin is almost the only coal supplier to consumers in the Northern Caucasus economic district and also supplies most of the consumer coal market of the Central Black Earth and Volga districts. In addition, the Russian Donbass delivers more than one-third of the total volume of coal to the CIS countries. Rostov Region has reserves of anthracite, which has the highest caloric value of any coal.
The problem with the Eastern Donbass is that most of the operating mines are past their peak of production and are in a state of decline. Work is carried out at great depths or in remote areas and in thin seams. Workable reserves in the coal seams of operating mines are limited and will be exhausted within 12-15 years.
A regional socioeconomic development program has been implemented for the Eastern Donbass in order to increase coal production and reduce the cost of marketable production after cleaning by 20%.
Rostov Region is a large-scale user of electric and thermal energy owing to the presence of power-consuming industries of the metallurgical, boiler, combine and aircraft manufacturing, and defense sectors.
The region is currently experiencing a severe shortage of locally produced electric and thermal power for industrial and domestic needs. Regional facilities satisfy only one-third of the region's electric power requirements. The Novocherkassk Thermal Power Plant owned by RAO UES of Russia (RAO EES Rossii) supplies most of the electric power input.
The construction of a new 3200 MW Rostov Thermal Power Plant could solve the problem of a stable power supply for Rostov Region. The construction project was included in the special federal program "Fuel and Energy"; however, at present, the facility is not on the priority list of the RF Ministry of Fuel and Energy.
The engineering industry is the region's area of specialization. Engineering and metalworking are oriented toward various lines of activity, which in their level of development, make Rostov Region a leader in both Russia and the CIS countries. These lines of activity include electric locomotives (Novocherkassk), combine manufacturing (Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog), heavy helicopter construction, boilermaking, and production of equipment for nuclear and thermal power plants (Taganrog, Volgodonsk).
Rostov Region has traditionally been considered one of Russia's major agricultural provinces. It goes without saying that the federal government is interested in the region's agricultural complex, since it must supply not only itself with agricultural products, but also other Russian regions. The agricultural complex satisfies most of the population's requirements for food products and employs 36% of all workers in the material production sector. Products are supplied to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and 41 Russian regions and are exported to the CIS and other foreign countries.
Grain fields, vegetable and melon plantations, vineyards, and orchards spread across the Don expanses. Among the cultivated crops are sunflowers, corn, rice, buckwheat, soybeans, and legumes. The leading crops are grain and oilseeds, which are sown on 50% and 8% of the cropland, respectively.
Livestock farming is oriented toward raising beef and dairy cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, and fur-bearing animals. The region is also a leader in fishing and fish farming.
The region has high agricultural production potential owing to an irrigation canal system and irrigation farming, which has made it a center for the introduction of leading technologies for processing agricultural products. Adverse weather is considered the main reason for the misfortunes of Don region producers. Nature has not been kind to Rostov Region for the past five years. Direct damage from natural disasters has averaged 780 million rubles per years. A program to protect farms from emergency situations was developed for 1999-2003, but as before, it was aimed only at eliminating the consequences and compensation for damages.
AUTHORITIES
The Administration of Rostov Region is the region's highest executive body. The highest official is the Governor, who heads the Administration and is elected for a five-year term according to the regional Charter. The Rostov Legislative Assembly, consisting of 45 deputies elected once every four years, is the region's highest legislative body.
CULTURE AND ART
Today, Rostov-on-Don is the region's largest cultural center. Numerous cultural institutions are located here, and all kinds of festivals and concerts are held. The city has 32 clubs, 12 music schools, 300 amateur art groups, 4 theaters, a philharmonic, the Rostov State Circus, the Kim Nazaretov Municipal Film and Concert Center, a zoo (one of the largest in Europe), and parks of culture and rest. There are also many professional creative groups, some of which are known both in Rostov and beyond, for example, the Don Cossack State Choir and Dance Ensemble, the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra, and the North Caucasus Military District choir and dance ensemble.
Rostov's four museums have extensive collections numbering more than 200 000 exhibits. The Don State Public Library and more than 150 other libraries with stocks of more than 33 million books will be happy to welcome you. The Russian Comedy Festival has been held more than once in Rostov, and the Minifest international theater festival for children and youth has become a tradition.
Rostov also has 543 architectural monuments, 57 archeological sites, and 18 federal monumental art sites.
Local divisions of Russian creative associations of writers, journalists, artists, and composers operate in Rostov. The names of outstanding Russian cultural figures are associated with the city. Aleksandr Pushkin visited the city, writer K.M. Stankovich lived here, writer Maxim Gorki worked at the Rostov river port, Yu. Zavadsky headed the drama theater, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn lived here as a young student, and writer Mikhail Sholokhov visited a number of times.
|
