During the Middle Ages,
Bashkir tribes inhabited the Southern
Urals; they formed part of the
Golden Horde,
Nogai Horde, and smaller Bashkir unions. The
Tsardom of Russia incorporated the area in the late 16th century. However, Russian colonization of the region only began in the 18th century, with the establishment of a system of fortresses and trade posts on the then-Russian border by the in 1734. Many cities of Chelyabinsk Oblast, including the city of Chelyabinsk itself, trace their history back to those forts. In 1743 the
Chelyabinsk fortress became a center of the , a constituent part of the
Orenburg Governorate (a direct successor of the Orenburg Expedition). The period from the 1750s to the 1770s saw the emergence of industrial enterprises in the Southern Urals when the first factory-centered towns like
Miass,
Kyshtym, and
Zlatoust were founded. After the Southern Urals recovered from the
Pugachev's Rebellion of 1773–1775, the territory of modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast started to attract more people from the European part of Russia. By the mid-19th century Chelyabinsk was a major trade center in the Urals, and after the construction of the
Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1890s, it became an important transport hub that connected
Siberia to the rest of the
Russian Empire. In 1919, Chelyabinsk became the regional capital of the newly formed
Chelyabinsk Governorate of the
Russian SFSR, which combined eastern portions of the
Orenburg Governorate with
Kurgan of the
Tobolsk Governorate. At this time, the population of the new region has already exceeded one million people. In 1923, together with the
Perm, and
Tyumen governorates, it merged into a single
Ural Oblast that lasted only ten years, until 1934. On 17 January 1934, Chelyabinsk Oblast was finally established. Its current boundaries were formed when
Kurgan Oblast was detached from it in 1943.
Soviet industrialization During the 1930s the regional economy and industrial output grew as Chelyabinsk Oblast became a key focus of the
First Five-Year Plan. Key factories and enterprises that formed the core of the modern Chelyabinsk economy, including the
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the
Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and the
Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant, originated at this time. The economy continued to grow after the outbreak of the
Great Patriotic War in 1941, as industries evacuated from the western parts of the
Soviet Union to the
Urals, and to Chelyabinsk Oblast in particular. During the war,
Magnitogorsk alone produced one third of all Soviet steel, while the city of Chelyabinsk became the main center of Soviet tank production, earning the nickname "Tankograd" (Tank City).
Nuclear research Chelyabinsk Oblast has been home to top-secret nuclear research since the 1940s. While there are no nuclear power stations in Chelyabinsk, a number of production reactors were located there starting with the early Cold War. A
serious nuclear accident occurred in 1957 at the
Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, north-west of the city, which led to evacuations and fatalities throughout the oblast, although not in Chelyabinsk city. The province was
closed to all foreigners until 1992, with the sole exception of allowing a British medical team in following a two-train rail explosion in the mid-1980s.
Sławomir Grünberg has made the documentary
Chelyabinsk: The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet (1994) about the unsafe dumping of
radioactive waste in the
Techa River and in
Lake Karachay.
Recent history On 4 July 1997, Chelyabinsk, alongside
Bryansk,
Magadan,
Saratov, and
Vologda signed a power-sharing agreement with the government of Russia, granting it autonomy. The agreement would be abolished on 2 February 2002. On 15 February 2013, a
10,000 ton meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere over Russia at about 09:20
YEKT (03:20 UTC). It passed over the southern Ural region and
exploded in a
meteor air burst over Chelyabinsk Oblast. About 1,500 people were reported injured, including 311 children. Health officials said 112 people had been hospitalized, mainly from injuries caused by glass from windows shattered by a shock wave; two were reported to be in serious condition. As many as 3,000 buildings in six cities across the region were damaged by the explosion and impacts. The meteor created a dazzling light as it air burst, bright enough to cast shadows during broad daylight in Chelyabinsk. ==Geography==