After the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, the southern territories of the Russian Empire were administratively divided between two newly formed provinces – Novorossiysk and Azov. There was a need for further settlement and economic development of these territories, construction of new cities, including provincial ones.

In the summer of 1775 the place for the construction of a new provincial city was chosen. Named Yekaterinoslav, it was founded at the confluence of the Kilchen River into the Samara River, about eight versts from the left bank of the Dnieper. However, already in the first years of the city’s existence the unfavorability of its location was revealed. The futility of further development of the city in this place became more and more clear. Soon the town on Kilcheny passed its name to the new provincial center, founded on the Dnieper.

The decree of March 30, 1783 created a new administrative-territorial unit in the south of Ukraine – the Ekaterinoslav Viceroyalty, which united the Azov and Novorossiysk provinces. January 22, 1784 was followed by the decree “On the establishment of a provincial city in Yekaterinoslav viceroyalty under the name of Yekaterinoslav”, which, in particular, determined: “The provincial city under the name of Yekaterinoslav to be on the right side of the Dnieper River near Koidak for the best convenience. At the end of 1784 the location of Yekaterinoslav was finally determined with the placement of the city center on a high, vast right bank hill at the bend of the Dnieper against the island of Monastyrsky and the Cossack sloboda Polovitsa. The official foundation of the city on the Dnieper took place on May 9, 1787. In 1789 from Kremenchug to Ekaterinoslav was finally transferred “provincial government” and it began to function as the administrative center of the viceroyalty, which included almost the entire Steppe Ukraine (except for the Crimea and adjacent territories).

The population of the city was added not only at the expense of local residents, but also many other peoples, both of the Russian Empire and from abroad. They were Germans, Bulgarians, Greeks, Georgians, Armenians, Kalmyks, Germans, Moldavians… In 1793 Jews also came here, after the second partition of Poland, when Russia got Belorussia and Southern Russia, which became subjects of Russia. At first, 250,000 rubles were allocated from the treasury to support all foreign settlers.

During the 1790s the town developed slowly. Factories could only be opened in 1794 and on a more modest scale than envisioned. The question of establishing a university and academy was quickly ruled out of consideration. In those conditions, when the Black Sea towns took over the functions of industrial, commercial and cultural centers, the steppe towns had no significant prospects. Compared to the projects of the late 18th century, the real Yekaterinoslav existed on a more modest scale. But during the first half of the XIX century a real basis was being created so that in the second half of the XIX century Ekaterinoslav could develop to the scale of a large industrial center of the South of Ukraine.

A new stage in the life of the city began in the late 1850s, and especially after the reform of 1861 and related changes in socio-economic relations. The population of the city began to grow rapidly. The source of replenishment of Ekaterinoslav’s population was mainly peasants who came to the city to work. If in 1857 the population of the city was 13217 people, then in 1865 it amounted to 22846 people, that is, it grew by 73%. In 1885 Ekaterinoslav already had 46876 inhabitants. For 20 years the population of the city doubled.

In 1875 a stationary cargo-passenger port was built in the city. In 1881 the construction of a railroad on the right bank of Yekaterinoslav and a bridge across the Dnieper (completed in 1884) began. Since 1881 the city began to grow at unheard-of rates. The next 10-15 years completely changed not only its appearance, but also its role and place in the economic, social and political life of Ukraine, the Russian Empire and the world.

At this time, industrial development of coal and iron ore began to the east and west of the city. Starting from 1897, the Southern region overtook the Urals and took the first place in the empire in terms of mineral production.

In general, the pace of industrial development in the city is evidenced by the figures: if in 1880 there were 49 factories and plants with the production volume of 1.5 million rubles and the number of workers – 572, in 1903 there were already 194, and the total production volume amounted to 21.5 million rubles, the number of workers reached 10649 people.

The needs of the coal, iron ore and metallurgical industries led to the opening of the Higher Mining School in 1899 (since 1912 – Mining Institute and now – Mining Institute). – Mining Institute, and now – National Technical University “Dnipro Polytechnic”.) with two departments – mining and factory.

Yekaterinoslav was actively built up, becoming an interesting city in terms of architecture. Its main artery was then and still is now Prospect. The length of Prospect was about 5 kilometers, width – from 50 to 80 meters. In 1887 in the city lived Russians – 47200 people, then the number of Jews – 39979, Ukrainians – 17787, Poles – 3418, Germans – 1438 people. There were 9 foreign consulates in the city. Among 1075 foreign subjects were Austro-Hungarians, Germans, Turks, Belgians, French, Swiss, Persians, Greeks. Many of them with their capitals helped to organize the city. Thus, Belgian G.E. Kambe built the first electric tramway here. With the implementation of a network of railroads and the beginning of metallurgical plants, the city turns into a large trading center for the sale of iron and iron products. At the same time Yekaterinoslav was one of the largest bread markets in the south. Besides the considerable demand from the local huge mills, millions of poods of grain were sold both for domestic consumption and for export.

The years 1917-1920 are extremely difficult in the history of our city. During this time, the power in Ekaterinoslav changed up to two dozen times. It is on these years falls a grandiose fracture, which had to endure the peoples of the former Russian Empire. The city’s economy, transportation, public utilities, housing, and population were destroyed. On December 30, 1919 the Red Army finally entered Ekaterinoslav.

In the early 1920s, Yekaterinoslav, like the rest of the country, found itself in a state of severe social and political crisis caused by the failure of the policy of “war communism” and the catastrophic consequences of the world and civil wars. Only the “new economic policy” brought significant relief to the city, strengthening its status as a major administrative center and a new name. On July 20, 1926, Ekaterinoslav became Dnepropetrovsk. In 1932 Dnepropetrovsk logically became the center of the region, which included 4 cities and 50 districts.

At the same time, since the mid-20s Dnepropetrovsk became one of the centers of industrialization. By 1940, there were 622 enterprises in Dnepropetrovsk, which produced goods worth 1096929 thousand rubles. Almost all of them were technically reconstructed.

On August 25, 1941, Dnepropetrovsk was captured by Nazi troops. Beginning in September 1941, the Nazis began exterminating the city’s Jewish population. The first mass execution took place on Simchat Torah day in the gully of the Botanical Garden. Dnepropetrovsk was liberated only after the forcing of the Dnieper by the Soviet troops in October 1943. The postwar development of Dnepropetrovsk was closely connected with the development of the country as a whole. The city became one of the main economic centers of the USSR, in which the military industry played a significant role, due to which the entry of foreigners to Dnepropetrovsk was closed until the late 1980s. With the independence of Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk took one of the leading places in the economic and political life of the young state. Now Dnipropetrovsk is a city that in many ways determines the image of modern Ukraine.

Used materials from www.gorod.dp.ua. Read more about the history of Dnepropetrovsk: http://gorod.dp.ua/history/