From the History of the Donbass and Donetsk

From the History of the Donbass and Donetsk

The Donbass (taking its name from its location in the basin of the river Don) covers a total area of 1860 sq. km and stretches 110 km from East to West and 50 km from North to South.

The Russian scientist Dmytro Mendeleev spent three months in the Donbass in 1888 and wrote, «I was struck by the unexhaustible richness of the area, surpassing anything I have ever seen not only in Russia but in Europe and America as well».

The geologists found coal to a depth of 1800 m. In 1957 it was estimated that there were 240 620 million tons. In 1721 Petro showed the Great interest that coal was to be found in the area but things moved slowly. The area was taken from the Crimean tatars in 1739 and mining began only in 1789. There were settlements on the site of Donetsk at the end of the 18th century but the first mine was not opened there until 1820.

The name of John Hughes is well-known to everybody who lives in Donetsk. He started his career as a blacksmith. In 1869 with a capital of 300,000 pounds and having the sanction of the Russian government he founded the New Russian metallurgical company in London. Still with no knowledge of Russia or of the Russian language, he organized a new factory in the north country of the Sea of Azov. The equipment shipped from Britain was put ashore in Таганрогский, the nearest port. Some experts and skilled workers came from England but the majority were from the provinces of Northern Russia.

The settlement was called Yuzovka after Hughes. The railway connection added to Yuzovka's importance and the expanding village grew into a town by 1917.

Questions:

1. What does the area Donbass cover?

2. How many months did Dmytro Mendeleev spend in the Donbass?

3. When did Petro the Great show interest that coal was to be found in the area?

4. Why is the name of John Hughes well-known to everybody who lives in Donetsk?

5. When did the expanding village grow into a town?

Vocabulary:

location - размещение

unexhaustible - неисчерпаемый

to surpass - превосходить, превышать

to be struck - быть пораженным, удивленным

blacksmith - кузнец

3. Прочитать текст о Донбасс-Арене и коротко передать его смысл.

Construction site in August 2007

Donetsk Donbass Arena in 2012

Donbass Arena or Donbas Arena (Ukrainian: Донба́с Аре́на [donˈbɑs ɐˈrɛnɐ]; Russian: Донба́сc Аре́на) is a stadium with a natural grass pitch in Donetsk, Ukraine (under occupation by the Donetsk People's Republic) that opened on 29 August 2009. The facility is located in the center of the city, in the Lenin Comsomol park. With a capacity of 52,518 spectators, the stadium used to host FC Shakhtar Donetsk matches and also hosted some matches of Euro 2012. The final cost of construction for Donbass Arena was $400M.[2][3] The stadium has been unused and closed to the public since May 2014, due to the War in Donbass.

The name of the stadium represents the simplified and shortened name of the Donets Basin - huge industrial region of Donbas, hence – Donbas.

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