Donetsk is the capital of Donbass

1. DONETSK IS THE CAPITAL OF DONBASS

Donetsk is the capital of Donbass, the land of mines and roses.

Donetsk was founded in 1869 by an English businessman John Hughes (1814-1889) and the settlement of miners was called Yuzovka. There were less than 30 thousand inhabitants in it. Now the population of Donetsk is about 1 million people. The settlement was divided into the southern part where some industrial buildings, a post office, a hospital and residential areas of the managers and English foremen were located and the northern part where the workers lived. The construction of the railway line promoted the further industrial and social development of Yuzovka. From 1924 to 1961 it was called Stalino and only in 1961 it was given a name of Donetsk.

Now Donetsk is a large industrial centre with such highly developed branches as coal, metallurgical and machine building industries.

Coal industry has been the leading branch since the 19^th century. There are a lot of mines here, the largest ones among them are Trudovskaya, Oktyabrskaya, Butovka Donetskaya and others. Many industrial enterprises and a great number of different companies are situated in Donetsk.