Donetsk History, Ukraine

The foundation of the city of Donetsk was laid down in 1869, by John Hughes, a famous Welsh businessman of those years. He started many coal mines in this region along with a steel plant. During those years this land was part of southern Russia. Initially this newly formed town was named Hughesovka (also called Yuzovka). It was during the first few years of the 20th century when the town had started to flourish with its population touching around 50,000 inhabitants. It was officially tagged a city by 1917 due to its phenomenal growth.

During the famous Russian Revolution, the city became under the newly formed republic called Donetsk – Krivoy Rog. It was later on merged with the Ukrainian part of the USSR and hence Donetsk became part of Ukraine. In 1924, the city name was changed to Stalino while under the control of the Soviet Union. The population was around 64,000 inhabitants during that year and around 80,000 inhabitants in the upcoming year.

In 1931 Donetsk received its own drinking water system, its total length being around 55 kilometers. By 1933 Donetsk was tagged the administrative center of Donetsk Oblast which was a province in the Ukrainian USSR. The next year it was done the first ever exploitation of gas. All these steps marked the progress of Donetsk towards modernization.

Before World War II started, the population of Donetsk was around 507,000 but soon after it ended, there were only 175,000 inhabitants left. This reflects the intensity of the attacks the city had to face during World War II.

1970 was a very important year for Donetsk as this was the time when it was tagged by UNESCO the cleanest city on the planet. This did help the city gain some international recognition and acted as a booster for its tourism business.