CHERKASY

Russian Cherkassy, or Cerkassy, oblast (province), central Ukraine. The smaller part of the oblast lies on the low left-bank floodplain of the middle Dnieper River; the larger, western part lies on the rolling hills of the Dnieper Upland and is much dissected by small valleys and erosion gullies. The natural vegetation of steppe grasses, with occasional oak groves, has largely been removed by the plow, greatly accelerating erosion of the subsoils. Agriculture predominates, and about half of the population is rural. Winter wheat and sugar beets are the main crops, though barley, corn (maize), sunflowers, tobacco, and hemp are important; and dairying and hog raising are well developed. Industry is concentrated mainly in Cherkasy city, the oblast headquarters. Area 8,100 square miles (20,900 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 1,531,800. Russian Cherkassy, or Cerkassy, city and administrative centre, Cherkasy oblast (province), central Ukraine. It lies on the high right bank of the Dnieper River, along the reservoir created by the Kremenchuk hydroelectric station. Founded in the 15th century in the Polish Ukraine, Cherkasy became Russian in the first partition of 1772 and received town status in 1795. It began to grow only in the late 19th century, when the Moscow-Odessa railway crossed the Dnieper there. Modern Cherkasy developed rapidly in the 1960s, when a chemical industry supplemented the older machine, food-processing, and furniture industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 302,000.