Chelyabinsk is a
city and the
administrative center of
Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northeast of the oblast, south of
Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the
Ural Mountains, on the
Miass River, on the border of Europe and Asia. Population:
History
The fortress of Chelyaba, from which the city takes its name, was founded at the location of the
Bashkir village of Chelyaby by colonel Alexey (Kutlu-Muhammed) Tevkelev to protect the surrounding trade routes from possible attacks by
Bashkir outlaws. During
Pugachev's Rebellion, the fortress withstood a siege by the rebel forces in 1774, but was eventually captured for several months in 1775. In 1782, as a part of Ufa Viceroyalty that was later reformed into
Orenburg Governorate, Chelyabinsk became a seat of a its own
uyezd and finally was granted town status and its current name in 1787.