Kryvyi Rih
Encyclopedia
Kryvyi Rih or Krivoy Rog (Ukrainian: Кривий Ріг, Russian: Кривой Рог) is a city in central Ukraine
. It is situated in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
, to the southwest of the oblast's administrative center, Dnipropetrovsk
, at the confluence of the Inhulets
and Saksahan rivers. The estimated population was 690,622 .
Kryvyi Rih is arguably the main steel industry city of Eastern Europe
, being a large globally important metallurgical center in the Kryvbas
iron mining region.
slang for one-eyed) Cossack named Rih. However, records pre-dating the existence of the city refer to the area by the same name, due to the shape of the landmass formed by the merging of the river Saksagan into the Inhulets.
The area's industrial growth began in the 1880s, when European investment
founded a mining syndicate
. The metallurgical works in the city, Kryvorizhstal
, in particular, expanded through Soviet times, and now remain some of the largest in the world.
During the Russian Civil War
, the city and its hinterland were at the nucleus of Nestor Makhno
's anarchist insurgency.
During World War II, Kryvyi Rih was almost totally destroyed by the fleeing Red Army. After the war people lived among the ruins while housing stocks were rebuilt. The housing shortage was met by innovative technological solutions, which meant temporary barracks and houses could be built quickly. The two kinds of cheap new materials were used later for years afterwards.
deposit
s. The city is set in the rolling steppe land surrounded by fields of sunflowers and grain. A short distance east of the city centre, there is an area along a small lake where glacial boulders were deposited. As a result, this area was never cultivated and contains one of the few remaining patches of wild steppe vegetation in the area. The city's environmental
and construction
safety
is a growing problem due to abandoned mines
and polluted
ore-processing waste
.
The city itself is laid out with broad avenues lined by wide sidewalks. Tram lines run down the centre of the major streets. Beside the sidewalks there are usually several rows of trees such as lindens and horse chestnuts. Many people live in rows of 5 to 9 story apartment buildings that are wrapped around large inner courtyards. Many of these courtyards are also filled with trees giving the overall impression that the entire city is built in a park.
, the president of Ukraine
since 2005, has accused his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma
of selling off Kryvorizhstal
to a political supporter for far below market value. This privatization was successfully challenged in court in 2005, and the same year the plant was re-privatized after an open bidding to the Dutch-Indian Mittal Steel for more than 5 times the initial value.
football
team FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
. It was also the birth place of the Ukrainian tennis players Kateryna Bondarenko
and Alona Bondarenko.
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. It is situated in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. Its administrative center is Dnipropetrovsk....
, to the southwest of the oblast's administrative center, Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, at the confluence of the Inhulets
Inhulets River
The Inhulets or Ingulets is a river, a right tributary of the Dnieper River, which flows through Ukraine. It has a length of 549 km and a drainage basin of 14,870 km²....
and Saksahan rivers. The estimated population was 690,622 .
Kryvyi Rih is arguably the main steel industry city of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, being a large globally important metallurgical center in the Kryvbas
Kryvbas
Kryvbas Kryvorizkyi Iron Ore Basin) is an important economic region in central Ukraine, specializing in iron ore mining and the steel industry. It is arguably the main iron ore region of Eastern Europe...
iron mining region.
History
The city was founded in the 17th century by Zaporozhian Cossacks. Kryvyi Rih in Ukrainian literally means Crooked Horn. According to local legend, the city was founded by a crooked (UkrainianUkrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
slang for one-eyed) Cossack named Rih. However, records pre-dating the existence of the city refer to the area by the same name, due to the shape of the landmass formed by the merging of the river Saksagan into the Inhulets.
The area's industrial growth began in the 1880s, when European investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
founded a mining syndicate
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies or entities formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest or in the case of criminals, to engage in organized crime...
. The metallurgical works in the city, Kryvorizhstal
Kryvorizhstal
Kryvorizhstal is Ukraine's largest integrated steel company located in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.Bought in 2005 by Mittal Steel, the company is one of the most important businesses in Ukraine and a globally important steel producer. It is the largest steel manufacturer in Ukraine and...
, in particular, expanded through Soviet times, and now remain some of the largest in the world.
During the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, the city and its hinterland were at the nucleus of Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
's anarchist insurgency.
During World War II, Kryvyi Rih was almost totally destroyed by the fleeing Red Army. After the war people lived among the ruins while housing stocks were rebuilt. The housing shortage was met by innovative technological solutions, which meant temporary barracks and houses could be built quickly. The two kinds of cheap new materials were used later for years afterwards.
Modern Kryvyi Rih
The city extends for 42 km from north to south, paralleling the oreOre
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
deposit
Deposition (geology)
Deposition is the geological process by which material is added to a landform or land mass. Fluids such as wind and water, as well as sediment flowing via gravity, transport previously eroded sediment, which, at the loss of enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is deposited, building up layers of...
s. The city is set in the rolling steppe land surrounded by fields of sunflowers and grain. A short distance east of the city centre, there is an area along a small lake where glacial boulders were deposited. As a result, this area was never cultivated and contains one of the few remaining patches of wild steppe vegetation in the area. The city's environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
and construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
safety
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
is a growing problem due to abandoned mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
and polluted
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
ore-processing waste
Waste
Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
.
The city itself is laid out with broad avenues lined by wide sidewalks. Tram lines run down the centre of the major streets. Beside the sidewalks there are usually several rows of trees such as lindens and horse chestnuts. Many people live in rows of 5 to 9 story apartment buildings that are wrapped around large inner courtyards. Many of these courtyards are also filled with trees giving the overall impression that the entire city is built in a park.
Climate
Kryvyi Rih experiences a dry semiarid climate (Bsk) according to the Köppen climate classification system. This tends to generate warm summers and cold winters with low precipitation.Transportation
Unique Metro Tram system, comprising 11 stations, is a mainstay of the city transportation.Industry and Commerce in the Post-Soviet Era
Viktor YushchenkoViktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
, the president of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
since 2005, has accused his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
of selling off Kryvorizhstal
Kryvorizhstal
Kryvorizhstal is Ukraine's largest integrated steel company located in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.Bought in 2005 by Mittal Steel, the company is one of the most important businesses in Ukraine and a globally important steel producer. It is the largest steel manufacturer in Ukraine and...
to a political supporter for far below market value. This privatization was successfully challenged in court in 2005, and the same year the plant was re-privatized after an open bidding to the Dutch-Indian Mittal Steel for more than 5 times the initial value.
Buildings and structures
Kryvyi Rih TV Mast is a 185 m tall guyed tubular steel mast built in 1960, which carries in 2 levels 3 crossbars, which run from the mast structure to the guys. All three crossbars are equipped with gangways that carry additional smaller antennas.Demographics
Kryviy Rih has a population of around 700,000. There is a community of an estimated 12,000 Jews living in the city.Tourism
Kryvyi Rih is not a typical tourist destination and there are few hotels. There is an overnight sleeper train from Kiev or you can fly to Kryvyi Rih. The Kryvyi Rih (also known as Lozuvatka) International Airport after the restoration which had begun in 2002 and finished in 2007 handles charter flights,private planes and flights to Kyiv.Sport
Kryvyi Rih is home to the Ukrainian Premier LeagueUkrainian Premier League
The Ukrainian Premier League is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Supreme League it was founded in 1991 after the fold of the Soviet Union's Vysshaya Liga. In 2008 it was reformed into a more autonomous entity of the Football Federation of Ukraine and changed...
football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
team FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih
FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Kryvyi Rih. The club currently plays in Ukrainian Premier League and is based in the Metalurh Stadium, which seats 29,734....
. It was also the birth place of the Ukrainian tennis players Kateryna Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kateryna Volodymyrivna Bondarenko is a professional female tennis player from Ukraine and a doubles champion at Australian Open 2008.The younger sister of professional tennis players Valeria and Alona Bondarenko, she was born in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. She was...
and Alona Bondarenko.