Donetsk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For Donetsk in Russia, see Donetsk, Russia.

Coordinates: 48°00′0″N, 37°48′0″E

Donetsk
Донецьк

City center
Flag Coat of arms
Location
Map of Ukraine with Donetsk highlighted.
Government
Country Oblast Raion	Ukraine Donetsk Oblast Donetsk City Municipality
Founded	1869
City rights	1917
Mayor	A. A. Lukianchenko
Geographical characteristics
Area  - City	358 km²
Population  - City (05-04)    - Density  - Metro area	1,131,700   2,960/km² 1,566,000
Coordinates	48°00′0″N, 37°48′0″E
Elevation	169 m
Other Information
Postal Code	83000
Dialing Code	+380 622
Sister cities	Bochum, Charleroi, Pittsburgh, Sheffield, Taranto, Moscow, Vilnius
Website: www.donetsk.org.ua

Donetsk (Ukrainian: Донецьк, translit.: Donets'k; Russian: Доне́цк, translit.: Donetsk; see also: Cities' alternative names) is a city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the Donets Basin region, or Donbass.

The city has 1,131,700 inhabitants (2005) and the metropolitan area has 1,566,000 inhabitants (2004). It is currently the fifth-largest city in Ukraine. ^[1]

Contents 1 Geography 2 History 3 Administrative subdivisions 4 Demographics 5 Modern Donetsk 6 Transportation 6.1 Local transportation 6.2 Railroads 6.3 Air 7 Architecture 7.1 19th century 7.2 20th century 8 Culture 8.1 Education 8.2 Media 8.3 Famous people from Donetsk 9 Footnotes and references 10 External links

[edit] Geography

Donetsk lies in the steppe landscape of Ukraine, which is surrounded by small forests, hills (slag heaps), rivers, and lakes. The northern territories of the city are mainly used for agriculture. The Azov Sea, 95 km south of Donetsk, is a popular vacation spot for the city's inhabitants. The surfaces in the far periphery of the city are predominantly agricultural'y used.

The city's length from north to south is 28 km, and from east to west - 55 km. The city has 2 nearby reservoris: Nyzhnekalmius (60 ha), and the "Donetsk Sea" (206 ha). There are 5 rivers flowing through the city, which include the: Kalmius, Asmolivka (13 km), Cherepashkyna (23 km), Skomoroshka, and Bakhmutka. The city also contains a total of 125 slag heaps.

[edit] History

Donetsk was founded in 1869 when a Welsh businessman John Hughes built a steel plant and several coal mines in southern part of Russia at the border of Yekaterinoslav region and Don Cossack Host. . The town initially was given the name Hughesovka (Yuzovka; Russian: Юзовка). ^[2] By the beginning of the 20th century, Yuzovka had approximately 50,000 inhabitants, ^[3] and had attained the status of a city in 1917.

In 1924, under the Soviet rule, the city's name was changed to Stalino. In that year, the city's population totaled 63,708, and in the next year - 80,085. The city did not have a drinking water system until 1931, when a 55.3 km system was layed underground. In July of 1933, the city became the administrative center of the Donetsk Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1933, the first 12 km sewar sysem was installed, and in 1934 - the first exploitation of gas was conducted within the city.

In the beginning of World War II, the population of Stalino consisted of 507,000, and after the war - only 175,000. The Nazi invasion during World War II almost completely destroyed the city, which was mostly rebuilt on a large scale at the war's end.

The territory of Donetsk in the Great Patriotic War ^[4] consisted mainly of a Jewish ghetto, in which 3,000 jews died, and a concentration camp in which 92,000 people were killed. During the war, a collective responsibility system was enforced. For every killed Nazi soldier, 100 inhabitants were killed, and for every killed policeman - 1 inhabitants were killed.

During Nikita Khrushchev's second wave of destalinization in November of 1961, all Soviet cities named after Stalin were renamed. Stalino's name was changed to Donetsk, after the Seversky Donets river, a tributary of the Don.

[edit] Administrative subdivisions

The territory of Donetsk is divided into 9 administrative raions (districts):

Bydionivskyi Raion: 25 km², 100,300 inhabitants Voroshylovskyi Raion: 10 km², 97,300 inhabitants Kalininskyi Raion: 19 km², 109,700 inhabitants Kyivskyi Raion: 33 km², 143,700 inhabitants Kirovskyi Raion: 68 km², 171,700 inhabitants

Kuybyshevskyi Raion: 51 km², 120,800 inhabitants Leninskyi Raion: 37 km², 107,800 inhabitants Petrovskyi Raion: 57 km², 88,600 inhabitants Proletarskyi Raion: 58 km², 102,800 inhabitants

[edit] Demographics

While the majority of people in central and western Ukraine speak Ukrainian, most residents of Donetsk are Russian-speaking Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. According to 2001 population census ^[5], Ukrainians are 56,9% of Donetsk oblast and Russians are 38,2%. The Russian language is dominant in Donbas.

Residents of the city tend to be more pro-Russian in political leanings. This has been massively exploited during 2004 presidential election.

[edit] Modern Donetsk

Donetsk and the surrounding territories are heavily urbanized and agglomerated into conurbation. The workforce is heavily involved with heavy industry, especially coal mining. The city is an important center of heavy industry and coal mines in the Donets Basin (Donbas) and the Ukraine. Directly under the city lie the coal mines, which have recently seen an increase in mining accidents.

The city's professional football teams are FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Metalurh Donetsk.

In 1962-1996 Donetsk had economic partnerships with Magdeburg in Germany. Donetsk is currently twinned with: (1) Charleroi, Belgium; (2) Sheffield, England; (3) Bochum, Germany; (4) Taranto, Italy; (5) Vilnius, Lithuania; (6) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (United States of America); and (7) Moscow, Russia.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Local transportation

The main forms of transport within Donetsk are: trams, electric trolley buses, buses, and marshrutkas (private minibuses). The city public transportation system is controlled by the united Dongorpastrans (Russian: Донгорпастранс) municipal company. The city has 12 tram lines (about 130km), 17 trolley bus lines (about 188km), and about 115 bus lines. Both the tram and trolley bus systems in the city are served by 2 depots each. Another method of transport within the city is taxicab service, of which there are 32 in Donetsk.

The city also contains autostations located within the city and its suburbs: Autostation Yuzhniy (Russian: Южный; literally: South) - which serves transport lines to the south, hence its name; autostation Tsentr (Russian: Центр; literally: Centre) - which serves transport in the direction of Marinka and Vuhledar; the autostation Krytyi rynok (Russian: Крытый рынок; literally: Indoor market) - which serves transport in the north and east directions; and the autostation Pultikovskiy (Russian: Путиловский) - which serves the north and northwest transport directions.

There is currently a metro system under construction in Donetsk, but no station is yet operational. When finished, the first section of the red line (Proletarsko-Kyivs'ka) shall contain 6 stations. ^[6]

[edit] Railroads

Donetsk's main railway station Donetsk is located in the northern part of the city. There is a museum near the main station , dealing with the history of region's railroads. Other railway stations in the city are: Rutchenkogo, located in the Kyivskyi Raion; Mandrykino (Petrovskyi Raion), and Mushketogo (Bydionivskyi Raion). Some passenger trains avoid Donetsk station and serve Yasinuvata (outside the city borders) instead. Although not used for regular transportation means, the city also has a children' railway.

As the Donetsk Oblast is an important transportation hub in Ukraine, so is its center Donetsk. The Donetsk Railways (Russian: Донецкая железная дорога), based in Donetsk, is one of the largest railway divisions in the country. It serves the farming and industrial businesses of the area, and the populations of the Donetsk, Luhansk, partly the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and Kharkiv Oblasts.

[edit] Air

In addition to public and rail transport, Donetsk has an international airport. ^[7] It was constructed in the end of the 1940's to the beginning of the 1950's. The whole airport complex was finished in 1973. The city-based DonbassAero airline operates the airport.

[edit] Architecture

[edit] 19th century

Donetsk, at the time Yuzovka, was "divided" into two parts: north and south. In the southern part of Yuzovka, were the city's factories, train depots, the telegraph buildings, hospitals, and the city's schools. Not far from the factories was the English colony (Russian: Английская колония) where the engineers and their bosses lived. After the construction of the residence of John Hughes and the various complexes for the foreign workers, the city's southern portion was conducted mainly in the English style.

These buildings used rectangular and triangular shaped facads, green rooftops, large windows, which occupied a large portion of the building, and balconies. In this part of the town, the streets were large and had sidewalks. A major influence on the formation of architecture in Donetsk was the official architect of a New Russia (Novorossiya) company - Moldingauyer. Preserved buildings of the southern part of Yuzovka consisted of: the residence of John Hughes (1891, partially preserved), residence of Bolfur (1889), and the residence of Bosse.

In the northern part of Yuzovka, Novyi Svet (Russian: Новий Свет), lived the traders, ремесленники and чиновники. Here were located the: indoor market (rynok), the police headquarters, and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Jesus. The central street of Novyi Svet and the neighbouring streets were mainly surrounded by 1 to 2 story residential buildings, markets, restaurants, hotels, конторами, and banks. A famous preserved building in the northern part of Yuzovka was the Hotel Great Britan.

[edit] 20th century

The first general plan of Stalino was made in 1932 in Odessa by the architect P. Golovchenko. In 1937, the project was partly reworked. These projects were the first in the city's construction bureau's history.

A large portion of the city's building of the second portion of the 20th century were designed by the architect Pavel Vigdergauz, which was given the title Governmental award of the USSR for architecture in the city of Donetsk in 1978.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Education

Donetsk is a well-known educational location of the surrounding area, accompanied with several universities. The most important ones are the National Technical University ^[8][9] (known as the Polytechnical Institute in the 1930s), and the National University which was founded in 1965. The National Technical University held close contacts with the University in Magdeburg. Since 1970, more than 100 students from Germany (GDR, etc.) have completed their higher education at either one of the two main universities in Donetsk. There are also several scientific research institutes, and an Islamic University within Donetsk.

[edit] Media

Five television station operate within Donetsk:

• TRK Ukraina (Russian: ТРК Украина) ^[10]
• KRT, Kievan Rus' (Russian: КРТ, Киевская Русь) ^[11]
• First Municipal (Russian: Первый муниципальный) ^[12]
• Kanal 27 (Russian: 27 канал)
• TRK Nadezhda (Russian: ТРК Надежда)

[edit] Famous people from Donetsk

[edit] Footnotes and references

[edit] External links

	Subdivisions of Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
	Raions: Amvrosiivskyi | Artemivskyi | Dobropilskyi | Kostyantynivskyi | Krasnoarmiiskyi | Krasnolymanskyi | Marynskyi | Novoazovskyi | Oleksandrivskyi | Pershotravnevyi | Shahtarskyi | Slovyanskyi | Starobeshivskyi | Telmanivskyi | Velikonosilkivskyi | Volnovaskyi | Volodarskyi | Yasynuvatskyi
	Cities: Amvrosiivka | Artemivsk | Artemove | Avdiivka | Bilozerske | Bilytske | Chasiv Yar | Debaltseve | Dobropillia | Dokuchaievsk | Donetsk | Druzhkivka | Dymytrov | Dzerzhynsk | Hirnyk | Horlivka | Ilovaisk | Khartsyzk | Kirovske | Komsomolske | Kostiantynivka | Kramatorsk | Krasnoarmiisk | Krasnohorivka | Krasnyi Lyman | Kurakhove | Makiivka | Marinka | Mariupol | Mospyne | Mykolaivka | Novoazovsk | Novohrodivka | Rodynske | Selydove | Shakhtarsk | Siversk | Sloviansk | Snizhne | Soledar | Sviatohirsk | Svitlodarsk | Torez | Ukrainsk | Volnovakha | Vuhledar | Vuhlehirsk | Yasynuvata | Yenakiieve | Yunokomunarivsk | Zhdanivka | Zuhres
	Urban-type settlements: Oleksandrivka | Manhush | Telmanove | Velyka Novosilka | Volodarske | more...
	Villages:

	Ukraine
	Subdivisions of Ukraine: Cherkasy Oblast | Chernihiv Oblast | Chernivtsi Oblast | Autonomous Republic of Crimea | Dnipropetrovsk Oblast | Donetsk Oblast | Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast | Kharkiv Oblast | Kherson Oblast | Khmelnytskyi Oblast | Kiev City | Kiev Oblast | Kirovohrad Oblast | Luhansk Oblast | Lviv Oblast | Mykolaiv Oblast | Odessa Oblast | Poltava Oblast | Rivne Oblast | Sevastopol City | Sumy Oblast | Ternopil Oblast | Vinnytsia Oblast | Volyn Oblast | Zakarpattia Oblast | Zaporizhia Oblast | Zhytomyr Oblast
	Administrative centers of subdivision units: Cherkasy | Chernihiv | Chernivtsi | Dnipropetrovsk | Donetsk | Ivano-Frankivsk | Kharkiv | Kherson | Khmelnytskyi | Kiev | Kirovohrad | Luhansk | Lutsk | Lviv | Mykolaiv | Odessa | Poltava | Rivne | Sevastopol | Simferopol | Sumy | Ternopil | Uzhhorod | Vinnytsia | Zaporizhia | Zhytomyr