Shakhty

Shakhty (English)
Шахты (Russian)
-  City[1]  -

A view of the city from the KhBK (cotton plant) area

Location of Rostov Oblast in Russia
Shakhty
Location of Shakhty in Rostov Oblast
Coordinates: 47°42′N 40°14′E / 47.700°N 40.233°E / 47.700; 40.233Coordinates: 47°42′N 40°14′E / 47.700°N 40.233°E / 47.700; 40.233
Coat of arms
City Day Third Sunday of September
Administrative status (as of May 2011)
Country Russia
Federal subject Rostov Oblast[1]
Administratively subordinated to Shakhty Urban Okrug[1]
Administrative center of Shakhty Urban Okrug[1]
Municipal status (as of January 2007)
Urban okrug Shakhty Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of Shakhty Urban Okrug[2]
Mayor Denis Stanislavov[3]
Statistics
Population (2010 Census) 239,987 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2010 79th
Time zone MSK (UTC+03:00)[5]
Founded beginning of the
19th century[6]
Previous names Alexandro-Grushevskaya (until 1867),[6]
Gornoye Grushevskoye Poseleniye (until 1881),[6]
Alexandrovsk-Grushevsky (until 1920)[6]
Postal code(s)[7] 346500
Dialing code(s) +7 8636
Official website
Shakhty on Wikimedia Commons

Shakhty (Russian: Шахты; IPA: [ˈʂaxtɨ]) is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the southeastern spur of the Donetsk mountain ridge, 75 kilometers (47 mi) northeast of Rostov-on-Don. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 239,987.[4]

History

In the beginning of the 19th century[6] sergeant-major Popov founded on the Grushevka River a Cossack stanitsa of Alexandro-Grushevskaya (Александро-Грушевская).[6] While the exact reasoning behind this name is unclear, it is possible that the name was given in honor of Emperor Alexander I.[6] Twelve Cossacks and fourteen peasant serfs lived in the stanitsa at that time. By the mid-19th century, fifty-seven coal mines operated in this area.[6] In 1867, it was granted town status and renamed Gornoye Grushevskoye Poseleniye (Горное Грушевское Поселение).[6] The name was changed to Alexandrovsk-Grushevsky (Александровск-Грушевский) in 1881.[6]

By 1914, the population had reached 54,000. The main source of income was coal mining, which had been carried out in that region since the end of the 18th century. The population was poor, but the town had rail, telegraph and telephone networks, electricity and plumbing as well as libraries, hospitals and a post office. 1917 saw the city change hands three times, until it was taken on April 28, 1919, by the Don Army, under General Fitskhelaurov. For twenty months it was independent of the Bolsheviks, but was ravaged by typhoid.

In 1920, the city was given its present name.[6] The name, which literally means mines in Russian, was chosen due to the strong association with coal mining.[6] During the 1920s, many of the churches and the archives were destroyed. In 1928, the city was the location of the Shakhty Trial, a precursor of the show trials of the 1930s.

In 1941, an independent Cossack republic had been declared in Shakhty although this was suppressed by the NKVD before the Russian invasion.[8] In July 1942, during the Great Patriotic War, the city was occupied by the Germans; many coal pits and buildings were blown up by the Germans during their retreat in February, 1943. Twenty-nine of the townsmen were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1948, production levels in the mines reached what they had been before the war. During the Leonid Brezhnev years, the city was at the height of its development, with a population of over 250,000, and about ten million tons of coal being mined each year.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the city was the scene of many of Andrei Chikatilo's murders.

Perestroika proved devastating for the city, as mines were privatized and shut down, causing massive unemployment, which led to a severe rise in crime and drug abuse. Today's Shakhty is the main industrial center of the Eastern Donbass. The city is also one of the main producers and exporters of tile in Eastern Europe.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Shakhty Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.[2]

Demographics

The city's population was 239,987 as of the 2010 Census;[4] up from 222,592 recorded in the 2002 Census.[9] As of the 1989 Census, the population was 225,797.[10]

Twin towns and sister cities

Shakhty is twinned with:

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Law #340-ZS
  2. 1 2 3 Law #191-ZS
  3. ↑ Official website of Shakhty Administration. Denis Ivanovich Stanislavov (Russian)
  4. 1 2 3 Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  5. ↑ Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №248-ФЗ от 21 июля 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #248-FZ of July 21, 2014 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pospelov, p. 26
  7. ↑ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
  8. ↑ p.88, Stalingrad, Antony Beevor
  9. ↑ Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian). Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  10. ↑ Demoscope Weekly (1989). "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров" [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. Retrieved August 9, 2014.

Sources

External links

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