History
In medieval times, there was a small Noghai aul of Kyzyl-Yar where the modern Melitopol is settled. In July 1769, Russian military commanders built a redoubt there, and Zaporizhia Cossacks carried out their duty service there. On February 2, 1784, Ekaterina II issued the decree to create the Taurian Province on the lands that had been won back. The deputy of Novorossiya His Highness Prince Potemkin signed the relation to establish a town that very year - and Cossacks' families and those of retired soldiers of Suvorov settled on the right bank of the Molochna River.
In 1816, the settlement got the name sloboda of Novoalexandrovka. Its population was increasing due to the importation of peasants from the northern provinces of Ukraine and Russia. On January 7, 1842, the sloboda was recognized as a town and received the new name of Melitopol after a port city of Melita (from Greek Μέλι (meli) - "honey") which had been situated on the mouth of the Molochna River. At the end of the 19th century, the Honey-city had been developed as a trade center - there were some banks, credit organizations and wholesale stores. The largest enterprises in the city at the time were the iron foundry and the Brothers Klassen's machinery construction factory (1886), the railroad depot and the workshops.
Further development of the city was closely connected with trade, iron and engineering industries, and Crimean direction railway service. In the early twentieth century there were 15 thousand people living in Melitopol. 30 industrial and 350 retail outlets operated in the city at that time. In the second half of the twentieth century there was a strong economic growth of the city: new factories, plants, and housing estates were constructed. 16 Melitopol business enterprises have received the All-Soviet Union significance status. Industrial enterprise production was exported to more than 50 countries worldwide.
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