Ekaterinburg was founded by decree of Emperor Peter the great, and it is here that was tragically killed last Russian Emperor – Nicholas II.
The city is located in the Central part of the Eurasian continent, on the border of Europe and Asia. The city is located on the Eastern slope of the Ural mountains, on the floodplain of the river Iset. At present, Ekaterinburg is the fourth largest city of Russia and one of the most dynamically developing regions.
Ekaterinburg was founded as a factory fortress on the Iset river in 1723. The city is named in honor of Empress Catherine I.
In the XVIII century Yekaterinburg developed as the administrative centre of the mining industry in the Urals and Siberia.
From 1820-ies, the richest of the Ekaterinburg merchants were engaged in the development of the mines of placer gold in Western Siberia.
During the great Patriotic war of 1941-45, there was another major transformation of the city's industry. In Sverdlovsk were evacuated more than 50 large enterprises on the basis of which was created new or expanded old plants chemical, machine building, opto-mechanical and other industries.
In the postwar years, the economy continued to dominate the engineering and Metalworking, but there are companies focused on the consumer market: fat factory, knitting factory, factory of large-panel housing construction.
Modern Ekaterinburg is the most compact cities in Russia.