Melitopol

Melitopol or Melitopil [Мелітополь or Мелітопіль; Melitopol' or Melitopil']. Map: VII-16. A city (2016 pop 155,595) on the Molochna River and raion center in Zaporizhia oblast. A frontier settlement was established at the site in 1784. In 1816 it was named Novooleksandrivka, and in 1841 renamed Melitopol. From 1841 to 1923 Melitopol was a county center in Tavriia gubernia and then Zaporizhia gubernia. On 18 June 1918 the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic defeated the Red Army near the town. During the Soviet period Melitopol developed into an industrial city. Its chief industries are machine building (automobile engines, refrigerators, tractor parts), metalworking, light industry, and the food industry. Its institutions of higher education are the Tavriia State Agrotechnological University and the Melitopol State Pedagogical University (est 1922). It has a regional museum. The Melitopol kurhan, a Scythian royal burial mound from the 4th–3rd century BC, is located near Melitopol.

[This article was updated in 2016.]