LIPETSK

oblast (province), western Russia. It is situated on the rolling hills of the Central Russian Upland and, in the east, the low Oka-Don Plain. The Don and Voronezh rivers cross the centre of the oblast from north to south. The local agriculture has caused most of the natural oak forest cover and grass steppe to be ploughed up, resulting in severe gully erosion. Agriculture supports a large rural population and is intensively developed; rye, wheat, corn (maize), oats, sugar beets, potatoes, sunflowers, and hemp are grown, while livestock husbandry is less developed. Apart from Lipetsk city, the administrative centre, most local industry processes agricultural products. Area 9,300 square miles (24,100 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 1,241,000. city and administrative centre of Lipetsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along both banks of the Voronezh River in the Don Basin. A fortified settlement existed on the site in the 13th century, until its destruction by Tatars in 1284. The town was founded in 1703 as an ironworking centre by Peter I the Great. It also served as a spa resort; its natural springs and mineral-laden mud were valued as curatives. An ironworks dating from 1897 and another from 1934 were converted in the 1960s into huge iron- and steelworks. The city, favourably located owing to its proximity to Kursk Magnetic Anomaly iron ore and Donets Basin coking coal, is the centre of the major industrial region of Central Chernozem. Nitrogenous fertilizers are made from coke by-products in the city, and there are also engineering, chemical, cement, and foodstuffs industries. Pop. (1993 est.) 466,000.