Zaporizhzhya

Zaporizhzhya: Dnieper Hydroelectric Station

Zaporizhzhya, Russian Zaporozhye, also spelled Zaporozhe, formerly (until 1921) Oleksandrivsk, Russian Aleksandrovsk, city, southeastern Ukraine, on the Dnieper River just below its former rapids. In 1770 the fortress of Oleksandrivsk was established to ensure government control over the Zaporozhian Cossacks, whose headquarters were on nearby Khortytsya (Khortitsa) Island. The settlement became a town in 1806, and with the coming of the railroad in the 1870s it became an important hub for the rail and river transport of goods. It suffered extensive damage in 1917–20 during the Russian Revolution, but its fortunes improved considerably with the construction in 1927–32 of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, then the largest in the world. In World War II the dam was destroyed, but it was subsequently reconstructed.

On the basis of the power, a large metallurgical industry developed, including a major iron and steel plant and one of the largest strip-rolling mills in Ukraine. Other economic activities in the city have included the manufacture of automobiles and electrical apparatus and a chemical industry supplied by coke by-products. The city stretches for several miles along the Dnieper, with a greenbelt separating its industrial and residential sectors. There are teacher-training, pharmaceutical, and machine-building institutes. Pop. (2001) 815,256; (2005 est.) 799,348.