Novocherkassk

City in the Rostov oblast (region) of the southwestern Russian Federation, 40 km/25 mi northeast of Rostov-on-Don; population (1996 est) 189,000. Employment is mainly in the heavy engineering industry (manufacturing locomotives, machine tools, and mining equipment) and electricity generation. Novocherkassk is the centre of Don Cossack culture, and contains a Museum devoted to Cossack military history.

Novocherkassk's many educational establishments include the Polytechnic Institute (established in 1907), the Zootechnic and Veterinary Institute, and the Don Cossack Military Academy (Kadestsky Korpus). The city was founded in 1805 as capital of the Don Cossacks Region. In 1918–20 it was one of the main centres of the anti-Bolshevik Don Cossack counter-revolution. It was occupied by German forces in 1942–43.