KHARKOV (eharldiv) (Ukrainian Kharkiv), the admin istrati centre of the Ukrainian S.S.R., at the junction of two small rivers, the Lopan and Kharkov, which are not navigable, in 5o° N., 36° 13' E. The town was founded in 1654 as a fort of the Free Ukraine (i.e., free from Polish domination) and was an outpost of Moscow in its struggle with the Tatars. The Cossacks of Kharkov remained faithful to the Tsar during the rebellions of the I7th century and received many privileges in return, Kharkov becoming the administrative centre of the Ukraine in 1765.
In the latter half of the 19th century, industrial development in the Donetz coal field and the Krivoi Rog iron district, led to rapid growth and the building of railways, six of which radiate from Kharkov and compensate for the absence of navigable waterways. Air services now run weekly to Moscow, Kiev and Odessa and there are air routes going via Grozny and Baku to Teheran and via Batum and Tiflis to Baku. The industrial pro gress of the town was interrupted by war conditions from 1914 on wards and especially by the civil war of 1917-2o, during which the town was successively occupied by the Germans, the Ukrai nian Nationalists, the Red army, Denikin's troops and was finally captured by the Red army in 1920, and declared the capital of the Ukrainian S.S.R. The Kharkov Kreshtenskaya fair was re-opened
in 1923 and is a centre for the agricultural, peasant and metallur gical industries of the Ukraine. The manufactures of Kharkov are mainly metallurgical, smelting, engine building, the manu facture of machinery and agricultural implements, bicycles, elec trical fittings, etc. Ropes, chemicals and wooden wares are made, and various chemical extracts from coal. The town is the head quarters of the Donetz State Coal trust, and of the Southern Machinery and Metallurgical trusts. Recently established indus tries are those connected with the growing air traffic, the manu facture of elevators, tractors, and hydro-electric generators.
The former university is now an Institute of People's Education, and there is an important agricultural and economic institute, and exhibitions of agricultural implements and methods are held in two museums, with sections on field culture, land surveying, cattle breeding, forestry and fire prevention. Pop. (1933) 654,300.