TEXT 1 Yaroslavl region: history (part 1)

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The Yaroslavl Region is one of the most ancient parts of Russian State. The earliest settlements on its territory date back to the 1 millennium B.C.  As a result of Slavic colonization, in the IX - Xth centuries A.D. these lands became part of Old Russian State, known as Kievan Rus, with Kiev as the capital. Tradition has it that Yaroslavl was founded in 1010 by Prince Yaroslav-the-Wise to become the first fortress on the Volga River in order to defend Rostov-the-Great, the centre of North-Eastern Rus. According to the legend incorporated into the modern coats of arms both of Yaroslavl and the Yaroslavl Region, the mighty prince subdued the local pagan inhabitants by killing their sacred animal, a she-bear, in a hand-to-hand combat.  In the XI-XIIth centuries the Yaroslavl lands were part of the Rostov-Souzdal Principality.  In 1218 Yaroslavl became the administrative centre of an independent principality which was incorporated into a centralized Russian State in 1463.  In the XVI-XVIIth centuries Yaroslavl, as an important centre of crafts as well as domestic and international trade, eventually became a major transit point on a very important trade route connecting Moscow with Western and Oriental countries.  It was in this period that linen manufacturing, leather processing, production of salt, ceramics and blacksmith's trades were started and very actively developed in Yaroslavl which was then second only to Moscow in size and population.  In 1612 during the Polish-Lithuanian invasion and occupation of Moscow Yaroslavl for six months served as the capital of Russian State and the base for raising the famous militia commanded by commoner Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.  It was from Yaroslavl that the militia started off to liberate Moscow.  The XVIIth century proved to be a golden age for the Yaroslavl lands as it was a period of rapid economic growth as well as the heyday of its cultural development.  It was at this time that a specific style in architecture and painting known as "the Yaroslavl School" was established and many spectacular church buildings and ensembles were erected. 

The XVIIIth century witnessed a transition from handwork to manufactory production leading to a considerable industrial growth and prosperity of the land.  For example, the year 1722 saw the foundation of Great Yaroslavl Textile Mill, now known as Krasny-Perekop Industrial Complex.  A number of textile enterprises were started in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov-the-Great and Uglich. In 1796 the Yaroslavl Province was established with Yaroslavl as the principal town.  Besides the old towns of Rostov, Uglich and Romanov, the Yaroslavl Province included a number of newly established ones, such as Danilov, Myshkin and Rybinsk.  This administrative system survived till the beginning of the XXth century. At the beginning of the XIXth century Yaroslavl had 12 factories and 69 plants. In 1838 A. F. Vakhromeyev, a merchant, launched a plant to produce white lead.  Nowadays this enterprise, known as Russkiye-Krasky OJSC, is one of the leading manufacturers of varnish-and-paint materials.  At the end of the XIXth century the Village of Konstantinovka in the vicinity of Yaroslavl became the construction site of the first Russian oil refining works producing mineral oils, the world-famous chemist D.M. Mendeleyev being among its founders.  Seasonal work of all kinds, farming and cattle breeding flourished at that time too.  The period of 1870-1898 saw the construction of a railway network connecting Yaroslavl with Moscow, Vologda, Kostroma and St. Petersburg.  At the time Yaroslavl was 8th among 103 major industrial centres of Russia in the number of jobs available.  The existing name of the area, the Yaroslavl Region, appeared in 1936 when the Ivanovo Industrial Region was divided into two parts - the Ivanovo Region and the Yaroslavl Region.  The existing boundaries were established in 1944 after the establishment of the Kostroma Region.   Over the last decades the old textile, flax-processing, varnish-and-paint, meat and milk enterprises built at the end of the XIXth - the beginning of the XXth centuries, have been undergoing major reconstructions.  At the same time industries based on the latest achievements of science and technology and quite new to this land have appeared and are rapidly developing too.