Yaroslavl

River port and capital city of Yaroslavl oblast (region), western Russian Federation; population (1996 est) 628,000. Situated 230 km/143 mi northeast of Moscow, it is the oldest settlement on the River Volga, and is an important manufacturing and transportation centre. Industries here include engineering (automobiles), chemicals (synthetic rubber), oil refining, textiles, and flour milling. There are many fine buildings in the city dating from the 13th to 17th centuries.

Known since 1071, Yaroslavl became the capital of an independent principality in 1216, Muscovite in 1463, and a provincial capital in 1777. It was a flourishing commercial centre on the Moscow-Archangel trade route in the 16th-17th centuries. The city's industrial development dates from 1564, when shipyards were built here; flour milling began in 1722. Yaroslavl was Moscow's Volga port until the construction of the Moscow Canal in 1937. The first Russian provincial theatre was founded here in 1750.