About Nikopol

Nikopol', city in south central Ukraine, in the southern part of Dnipropetrovs'ka Oblast, located on the north shore of the Dnieper River on the Kakhovs'ke Reservoir, about 105 km (about 65 mi) southwest of Dnipropetrovs'k. Connected by rail, highways and a river port, Nikopol' is a center of an agriculturally rich area, and one of the world's richest manganese ore-mining regions. Industries in the city produce metal alloys, pipes, cranes, building materials, food products, and consumer goods. Nikopol' stands on the site of an ancient crossing of the Dnieper River. In 1628, known as Mykytyn Rih, it served as the Sich, or fortified headquarters of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. In 1652, after the Sich was relocated, the settlement was renamed Mykytyne. After Russians destroyed the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775, they built a fort nearby, called Slavyansk. The settlement that grew up around it was named Nikopol' in 1782. In Ukrainian it is also spelled Nykopil'. Population (1996 estimate) 157,000.