See Also: Zaporizhzhya(encyclopedia)

Zaporizhzhya (sh)




formerly (until 1921) Aleksandrovsk

City (pop., 2001: 815,000), on the Dnieper River in southeastern Ukraine.

In 1770 the fortress of Aleksandrovsk was built to ensure government control over the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, whose headquarters were nearby. The settlement became a town in 1806. The city expanded during the 1927-32 construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric station, then the largest in the world. The dam was destroyed in World War II but was later rebuilt. Zaporizhzhya has a major iron and steel plant; automobiles are also manufactured.