EKATERINOSLAFF, or EkaterinoslavskayaGuber-nie, a government of Southern Russia, which lies partly to the W. of the Dnieper, stretches E. to the Donetz and the Kalmius, and in the S. reaches the Sea of Azoff between the mouths of the Berda and the Kalmius. It is watered by the Dnieper for 220 miles, and bounded by the Donetz for 132. The district of Rosstoff, lying round the head of the Gulf of Taganrog, though naturally a portion of the Country of the Don, is also assigned to Ekaterinoslaff. According to the military survey, the area of the government is 26,095 square miles, or 59,185 square versts; according to Schweizer, only 25,644 square miles, or 58,338 square versts. Its surface is a steppe-like plain, relieved here and there by considerable elevations, and traversed by deep ravines and river courses. The most important range of hills, or those forming the w ater-shed between the tributaries of the Donetz and the independent affluents of the Sea of Azoff, attains no greater height than 530 feet above sea-level. A line drawn from near the mouth of the Orel parallel with the Dnieper as far as the town of Ekaterinoslaff, and thence to the village of Karakub on the Kalmius, divides the government into two geological districts, of which the south-western is distinguished by crystalline and the north-eastern by sedimentary rocks. Of the former the predominant variety is gneiss, interrupted by numerous upheavals of granite, syenite, diorite, and serpentine. The latter belong to several different formations. Carboniferous strata occupy the greater part of the districts of Slavianoserbsk and Bakhmut and part of Pavlogradsk and Alexandrofsk; Permian strata occur within a very limited area in Bakhmutsk; Cretaceous strata form a narrow strip along the northern boundary of ...the government from Bakhmutsk to the confluence of the Orelka and the Orel; and Tertiary strata extend through nearly all the district of Novomoskoff and the southern part of Pavlogradsk. The mineral deposits of the government are of great value. Anthracite and’coal are distributed along the northern Donetz, the Lugan, the Miuschik, the Kalmius, and various other streams. The quantity of coal obtained in 1861 exceeded 1,200,100 puds. Iron ore is present in the same districts, and is successfully worked in several places, as at the Government establishments on the Lugan. Excellent whetstone is procured in the Slavianoserbsk district, and transported throughout Russia. Asbestos, millstones, gypsum, marl, and rock salt, as well as building materials, are among the minor products. There are altogether about 200 lakes in the government, the largest, which is called the Soleni Liman or Salt Lagoon, though the water is fresh, has an area of nearly three square miles; and next in size is the Tememitz lake near Rostoff. The soil is for the most part very fertile, and agriculture is the principal occupation. Wheat is the staple cereal, and forms an important article of export; but rye, barley, and millet are cultivated for local consumption and distillation. Since about 1850 the culture of flax has attained considerable importance; wild rape-seed is also exported, and in small quantities hemp and the sunflower are grown. The sloe thorn is very abundant, and the fruit is manufactured into a wine called Terevka. The German colonists of Khorlitz and Alexandrovka and the Greeks of Mariupol cultivate tobacco—the former principally a poor American variety for local consumption, the latter Turkish for export. Potatoes are grown only in gardens, as to plant them in the fields is regarded as prejudicial. Horticulture is poorly developed, but there are beautiful public gardens at Taganrog and Ekaterinoslaff, the Petrofski park in the former city being also the oldest in the government. About 7,209,000 acres, or 45 per cent, of the territory of the government, is devoted to pasturage; and in 1861 there were 2,670,000 sheep, 730,000 neat, 200,000 horses. Only about two per cent, of the surface is occupied by wood, and even that is almost exclusively confined to the river courses, especially of the Samara and the Dnieper. The trees are almost exclusively deciduous, oak predominating, and elm, larch, black poplar, poplar, and aspen occurring.
In 1860 the total population was 1,138,749, and in 1867, 1,281,482. At the foιΙner date there were about 35,000 Greeks, more than 23,000 Jews, more than 20,000 Germans, 19,000 Armenians, 9000 Moldavians and Wallachians, 7000 Poles, 7000 Lithuanians, 500 Servians, and 5000 Gipsies; while the Little Russians and the Great Russians stood to each other in the ratio of 83 to 17. Upwards of 5500 were Russian dissenters or Raskolniks, 20,318 Protestants, and 7040 Catholics. Two cities only, RostolT and Taganrog had more than 20,000 inhabitants; four, Ekaterinoslaff, Nakhichevan, Bakhmut, and Petrokovka, had upwards of 10,000; and several, such as Novomoskofsk, Pavlograd, Mariupol, andAzoff had more than 5000.
Ekaterinoslaff, a town of European Russia, capital of the above government, is situated on the right bank of the Dnieper, at a height of 210 feet above the sea, 984 miles from St Petersburg and 600 from Moscow, in 48° 21' N. lat. and 34° 4' E. long. If the suburb of Novi Koindak be included, it extends for upwards of four miles along the river, and its average breadth is about 1∣ miles. The oldest part lies very low, and is consequently much exposed to floods. Contiguous to the town on the north-west is the royal village of Novi Maidani or the New Factories, and in the south-east Kazannaya Mandrikovka. Only about 200 houses are built of stone. The bishop’s palace, eight churches, a Raskolnik place of worship, a synagogue and four Jewish oratories, a gymnasium, a library, and several benevolent institutions, make up the list of the public buildings. The house now occupied by the Nobles’ Club was formerly occupied by Potemkin. Among the industrial establishments are brickworks, foundries, flour-mills, and numerous tallow-boileriee and soap-works. The general trade is rather restricted by the position of the town above the rapids of the Dnieper; but there is a very extensive trade in wood. Three yearly markets are held, at the largest of which the movement amounts to upwards of 2.200,000 roubles. Population in 1861,18,881, of whom 3472 were Jews; in 1871, 24,267.
On the site of the town of Ekaterinoslaff there formerly stood the Polish castle of Koindak, built in 1635 by the French general Beauplan. The Cossacks, having destroyed the castle, founded the villages of Old and New Koindak and Polvitza. In 1786, the town was established by Potemkin, and in the following year the empress, Catherine IL, with her own hand laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. The schemes of Potemkin for the extension of the city were neglected after his death, and Paul I. changed the very name into Novo Rossiesk. The original name was restored in 1802, and the city raised to its present rank. In 1830, the cathedral was built on the site originally proposed, but according to a less extensive scale.
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