Yekaterinburg or Ekaterinburg (both: yĭkäˌtĭrēmbŏrkˈ) [key],
formerly Sverdlovsk svyĭrdlôfskˈ, city (1989 pop. 1,365,000),
capital of the Sverdlovsk region and the administrative center
of the Urals federal district, E European Russia, in the eastern
foothills of the central Urals, on the Iset River. One of the
largest cities of the Urals, it is an air and rail junction (a
western terminus of the Trans-Siberian RR) and a leading
industrial, scientific, and cultural center. Yekaterinburg is
among Russia's leading producers of turbines and ball bearings.
Other industries include metallurgy, gem cutting, and the
manufacture of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and tires. The city's
educational and cultural institutions include the Urals branch
of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Urals Law Institute,
several mining schools, and a meteorological observatory.
Sverdlovsk began as a fort and metallurgical factory built in
1721 on the site of an earlier settlement. In 1723 the city was
named Yekaterinburg in honor of Pe