Екатеринбург. Краткая история

Эдуард Михальков

Эта книга представляет собой лаконичный и доступный обзор истории Екатеринбурга с момента основания города в 1723 году до настоящего времени. В краткой и живой форме автор рассказывает об основных вехах становления и развития города как крупнейшего политического, экономического и культурного центра России. Книга адресована самой широкой аудитории читателей, интересующихся историей.

EN

The city of Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by order of Peter the Great in order to develop metallurgy and natural resources of the Urals, including iron ore. The new settlement was named Ekaterinburg in honor of Peter the Great’s wife, Catherine I.

Engineers, led by Georg Wilhelm de Gennin, surveyed the area and chose a site along the Iset River, which provided abundant hydroelectric power and also had iron ore deposits nearby. Construction of the dam and ironworks began in 1721, and the first blast furnace was commissioned in 1726.

As metallurgical production expanded, the small village became an industrial town. In 1782, Ekaterinburg became the administrative center of the vast Perm region. Under Catherine II, the Mint (1787), a theater (1829), an orphanage and the first stone church in Yekaterinburg (1770) were built in the city.

In the early 1800s, Yekaterinburg became an important center of mining and engineering, especially under the Demidov family of industrialists. In 1801, Alexander Grigorievich Demidov purchased an ironworks and opened new factories, significantly increasing production. By the 1850s the population of the city grew to 7 thousand people.

In 1879 Ekaterinburg became a key station on the new railroad connecting Moscow with Siberia. This stimulated further industrialization, including the development of metallurgy, machine building, mills and mining. In the 1880s-90s, electricity, telephone and other modern conveniences were introduced to the city.

After the Bolshevik Revolution, the factories were nationalized. In 1924, Ekaterinburg became known as Sverdlovsk, after Yakov Sverdlov, one of the leaders of the Bolshevik Party. During Stalin’s industrialization of the 1930s, huge new factories, blast furnaces, and hydroelectric power plants were built, fueled by labor camps.

During the Great Patriotic War, Sverdlovsk factories produced tanks, artillery, ammunition, and other military equipment. After the war, the city continued to develop as a diversified industrial center producing trucks, industrial robots and special steels.

In the 1960s and 1980s, the population surpassed 1 million. Major infrastructure projects improved water supply, public transportation, and cleaned the Iset River of pollution. The city skyline was dominated by massive apartment buildings and factories.

After 1991, due to Russia’s transition to a market economy, many factories closed. In 1991, the city was returned to its historical name, Yekaterinburg. In the 2000s, the city’s economy recovered due to the development of commerce and reconstruction of heavy industry enterprises. As a result, the standard of living improved and the city’s appearance improved.

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