Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblastʹ, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation () or simply as the subjects of the federation (), are the administrative division, constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political division ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

), located in the Southern Federal District. The

has an area of and a population of 4,200,729 ( 2021 Census), making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia. Its

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

is the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, which also became the administrative center of the Southern Federal District in 2002.

Geography

Rostov Oblast borders

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

(

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

and

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...

s) and also

Volgograd Volgograd,. formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of , with a population ...

and

Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Voronezh. Its population was 2,308,792 as of the Russian Census (2021), 20 ...

s in the north,

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

and Stavropol Krais in the south, and the Republic of Kalmykia in the east. The Rostov oblast is located in the Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is directly north over the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

and west of the Yergeni hills.

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

It is within the Russian Southern Federal District.

Rivers and lakes

The Don River, one of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's longest rivers, flows through the oblast for part of its course. Lakes cover only 0.4% of the oblast's area.

Administrative divisions

History

Historically, at various times, the territory was ruled either entirely or partly by

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

Old Great Bulgaria Old Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th-century Turkic noma ...

Khazars The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...

Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...

, Italians (

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

) the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

, the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

, the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. Under the Soviet one-party m ...

. The ancient Greek city of Tanais is located in the province.

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

served as the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic in March-April 1918, and was the place of establishment of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 and claimed to be the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991. In 2002 it held a "unifi ...

. The Rostov Oblast was formed in 1937 out of the Azov-Black Sea Krai. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in 1941–1943.

Demographics

Population: Life expectancy in Russian subject -Rostov Oblast

Vital statistics for 2024: *Births: 31,734 (7.7 per 1,000) *Deaths: 55,483 (13.4 per 1,000) Total fertility rate (2024):
1.29 children per woman Life expectancy (2021):
Total — 69.79 years (male — 65.80, female — 73.67)

Ethnic groups

Residents identified themselves as belonging to 157 different ethnic groups, including 27 of more than 2,000 persons each. The largest ethnicities are the 3,795,607

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

(90.3%); the 110,727

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

(2.6%) and the 77,802

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

(1.9%). Other important groups are the 35,902 Turks (0.9%); 16,493

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

(0.4%); 13,948

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

(0.3%); 17,961

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

(0.4%); 11,449 Chechens (0.3%); 16,657 Romani (0.4%); 11,597

Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...

(0.3%); 8,296

Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...

(0.2%), and 2,040

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

(.05%). There were also 76,498 people (1.8%) belonging to other ethno-cultural groupings. 76,735 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.

Religion

According to a 2012 survey, 49.5% of the population of Rostov Oblast adheres to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, 6% are unaffiliated generic

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, 1% are either Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to church or are members of other (non-Russian) Orthodox bodies, 1% are

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s, and 1% are adherents of the

Slavic native faith The Slavic Native Faith, commonly known as Rodnovery and sometimes as Slavic Neopaganism, is a modern Paganism, modern Pagan religion. Classified as a new religious movement, its practitioners hearken back to the Slavic paganism, historica ...

(Rodnovery) movement. In addition, 26% of the population declares to be " spiritual but not religious", 12% is

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 3.5% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question. RND-Pokrovskaya cerkva

The Ascension Cathedral is the largest

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

church in

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

, Rostov Oblast,

. It used to be one of the largest churches of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

and the main church of the

Don Host Oblast Don Host Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Russian Empire which consisted of the territory of the Don Cossacks, coinciding approximately with present-day Rostov Oblast in Russia. Its administrative center was Cherkassk, and later Nov ...

. The five-domed building, which stands 75 meters tall, is a notable example of Russian

Neo-Byzantine architecture Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Or ...

. It was erected between 1891 and 1904 on the site of an earlier church. The first church on the site was built to Luigi Rusca's designs. It collapsed in 1846. A replacement church collapsed 17 years later. Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin ― one of the oldest churches in Rostov-on-Don. For a considerable period of time, Intercession Church served as the principal church not only for the fortress of St. Dimitry of Rostov but also for the people of local settlements. Since the end of the 18th century, the Church of Intercession had been considered to be a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

. The status changed in 1822, when Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the decree of the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox ...

was declared cathedral. St. Nicholas' Church in Bogdanov is one of only four churches in the Kamensky district of Rostov Oblast which have survived since the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

. There is also Church of St. Nicholas in Elanskaya village. St. George's Church in Sandata village was built in the early 20th century. St. Catherine Church in Krasnodonetskaya (1879) and The Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior (1910) are officially declared as objects of cultural heritage of Russia.

Culture

Attractions

Theatres

* Rostov academic drama theatre, named after Maxim Gorky. * Rostov State Musical Theater. The theater opened in September 1999, and is the successor to the 1919 Rostov Musical Comedy Theater, one of the best operetta theaters in the Soviet Union. The theater has two stages as well as a music and entertainment center, and hosts about 300 performances and concerts annually, as well as various forums and festivals. Its repertoire encompasses both musical traditions, as well as experiments in the field of contemporary art. * Rostov state puppet theatre. * Rostov regional academic youth theatre (former Rostov theatre for young spectators). * Taganrog Theatre. The Taganrog Theater was established in 1827 by governor Alexander Dunaev. The theater was subsidized by the Taganrog's City Council since 1828, and its first director was Alexander Gor. The first group of Russian drama artists was directed by Perovsky and toured around the region, giving performances in Rostov on Don, Novocherkassk, Bahmut. The repertoire consisted mainly of dramas, melodramas and vaudevilles. In 1874, the Taganrog Municipality acquired the theater building by the purchase of its stocks. * Don theatre of drama and Comedy V. F. Komissarzhevskaya (the Cossack drama theatre) Novocherkassk. * Shakhty drama theatre, Shakhty. * Novoshakhtinskiy drama theatre, Novoshakhtinsk.

Museums

In Rostov-on-Don

* Center for Contemporary Art "Tobacco Factory". * Rostov Regional Museum of Local History. * Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts. * Museum of Contemporary Art at Dmitrovskaya. * Museum of Russian-Armenian Friendship. * Museum of North Caucasus Railway. The first museum of history of North Caucasus Railway opened on 4 November 1960 in a Community Center of railwaymen at Rostov-Glavny station. Permanent exposition includes: information boards about famous North Caucasus railwaymen, model trains on a scale 1:15, uniform, cases, panoramas, implements of various times. The exhibition covers the period from emergence of

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the region up to the present moment. The various collections from the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

and the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, now exceed 12,000 objects in the main fund.

In other cities of the region

* Aksai Military History Museum, Aksay. * Archaeological museum-reserve "Tanais", Nedvigovka. * Azov Museum of History, Archaeology and Palaeontology, Azov. The bulk of the museum is located in the three-story building erected in 1892 which belonged to the former town council, there are 22 rooms. The symbol of the museum is the skeleton of a Trogontherium mammoth that existed 800-600 thousand years ago in the interglacial period. This is the world's unique skeleton with the whole skull. The museum's areas: permanent exhibitions - 2852 m², temporary exhibitions - 580 m², storage facilities - 1896 m², park (open air) - 7.13 hectares. * Bataysk Museum of History, Bataysk. * Gukovo Museum of Mining Work, Gukovo. * House-Museum of S. Budyonny, Stan. Budennovskaya. * Novocherkassk Museum of the History of the Don Cossacks, Novocherkassk. * Razdorsk Ethnographic Museum-Reserve, the camp. Razdorskaya. * Salsk Art Museum named after People's Artist VK Nechitailo, Salsk. * Shakhty Museum of Local History, Shakhty. * Taganrog military museum, Taganrog. The start of museum exhibition creation refers to May 9, 2004, when the club Auto-Retro Taganrog was founded. Subsequently, several vehicle units were purchased and repaired. In 2008, club activity concept got military direction. On May 6, 2010, permanent exhibition consisting of several thousands of exhibits was opened. In July 2012, the name Taganrog military museum got official status. * The State Museum-Reserve of MA Sholokhov, St. Veshenskaya. * Volgodonsk Art Museum, Volgodonsk. * Volgodonsk Ecological and Historical Museum, Volgodonsk.

Economy

Major industries of Rostov Oblast are

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, agricultural industry, food processing, heavy industry,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

manufacture. The largest companies in the region include Novoshakhtinsk Petrochemical Plant, Gloria Jeans Corp., Rostvertol, Oil-extracting factory "Yug Rusi", North Caucasian Railway. In the Rostov Region in 1989, the first commercial bank in Southern Russia, Rostovsoсbank, was created on the basis of the regional division of the Zhilsotsbank USSR. The bank existed from 1989 to 1998, with four branches operating in Rostov-on-Don. In addition, the bank had branches in the cities of Taganrog, Shakhty, Gukovo and Donetsk. In 1998 Rostovsotsbank lost solvency, but was able to ensure full repayment of deposits to all depositors before the establishment of the Deposit Insurance System, even before the revocation of the banking license. From 1999 to 2010, one of the largest banks in Southern Russia was Donskoy Narodny Bank (''Don People's Bank''), located in Rostov-on-Don. As of 2022, there are 7 regional credit organizations and 21 bank branches operating in Rostov Oblast. The leading positions are taken by Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Center-Invest and Fora-Bank.

2024 drone attack

On 28 August 2024 a fire broke out at the Atlas oil depot in the Kamensky District in the Rostov region following a drone strike by the

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

.Ukrainian Drone Strike Sparks Another Oil Depot Fire in Russia’s Rostov Region
''The Moscow Times'', August 28, 2024 The depot stores petroleum products for the Russian army.Explosions Rock Russian Oil Depot After Drone Attacks: Reports
''Newsweek'', August 28, 2024

Gallery

File:Rostov Obl Adm.JPG, alt=, Rostov Oblast Government building File:Teatr Gorkogo.jpg, alt=, Rostov Academic Drama Theatre named after Maxim Gorky File:Раздорские склоны.jpg, alt=, Steppe of the Rostov Oblast in the Ust-Donetsky District belongs to the Pontic-Caspian steppe File:Раздорские склоны донского правобережья.jpg, alt=, Forest-steppe in Rostov Oblast File:Rostov-on-Don, Don, Russia.jpg, Don River in summer, Rostov-on-Don File:Don River in ice, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.jpg, Frozen Don River in winter, Rostov-on-Don File:Merzhanovo, Sea of Azov, Taganrog Bay, Russia.jpg, The coast of the Sea of Azov in Taganrog Bay File:Taganport.jpg, alt=, The Port of Taganrog File:Свято — троицкая церковь.JPG, Holy Trinity Church, Bolshaya Martynovka File:Армянская Апостольская церковь Сурб Хач (Святой Крест) (1792г.) в городе Ростове-на-Дону.jpg, Armenian Church (1792) in Nakhichevan-on-Don File:RR5514-0043R 10 рублей биметалл 2007 Российская Федерация Ростовская область реверс.png, alt=, Reverse side of 2007 commemorative coin

References

Sources

* *

External links

Official website of Rostov Oblast

Russian South
News and events of Rostov Oblast
Official Tourism Portal of Rostov Oblast

Official Tourism Portal of Rostov Oblast

Central Eurasian Information Resource: Images of Rostov Oblast
- University of Washington Digital Collection {{Use mdy dates, date=August 2014 1937 establishments in Russia History of the Don Cossacks States and territories established in 1937 Southern Federal District