Geographic location: 55°03'-55°19' N, 61°08'-61°17' E
Population: 1,078,300 (2002)
First noted as a fortress in 1736 city located in 1781.
Chelyabinsk is one of major industrial centers of Russia. Heavy industy predominates. During the World War II, Stalin decided to move a lot of Russian factory production to places out of the way of the advancing German armies - Chelyabinsk was one of the factory cities that was built pretty much from scratch at this time. A small town existed before this - this can be found in the centre of the city. Famous Katyusha rocket launchers and T-34 tanks were manufactured in Chelyabinsk and it gained the town nickname "Tankograd". A nuclear accident many many years ago still has effects on the population, although not as severe as Chernobyl.
A metro system is under construction.
" class="external">http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?X=6825000.97047513&Y=7350000.12074452&scale=1000000&coordsys=mercator Some Latin alphabet publications spell the city's name as Cheljabinsk.