Stavropol

Capital city, economic and cultural centre of Stavropol krai (territory) in the southwestern Russian Federation; population (1996 est) 344,000. Stavropol is located in the foothills of northwestern Caucasia, at the centre of a major agricultural region. Heavy industry in the city produces automobiles, building materials, and construction equipment. There are also food, wool, and leather industries here. An important natural-gas pipeline runs from here to Moscow.

The city was founded in 1777 as a fort, and until the 1850s was the supply centre for Russian campaigns of conquest in Caucasia.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who was born in a village north of the city in 1931, began his political career in Stavropol. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Stavropol has experienced an influx of refugees from the many inter-ethnic conflicts that have broken out in Caucasia.