DON COSSACKS, NoviNcE ot• THE. A re gion in southern Russia, bounded by the govern ments of Voronezh and Saratov on the north. Saratov and Astrakhan on the east, Stavropol and Kuban on the south. the lea of _Um' and the governments of Ekaterinoslav, Kharkov, and Voronezh on the west (Map: Russia, I" 51. its area is about 63,000 square miles. The surface is generally level. the portion lying west of the Don being slightly elevated. The whole territory belongs to the basin of the Don. The soil is for a large part fertile.
Agriculture is the leading industry. Rye, wheat, oats, and barley are the chief cereals The cultivation of the vine is carried on extensively, the output of wine being exported all over 1111,,ht. The of live stock is also an important industry, and fishing. especially for herring, gives occupation to a considerable por tion of the inhabitants. The territory has some
of the richest coal deposits in Russia, known as the Donetz Coal Basin. Coal has been mined in the territory since the end of the eighteenth cen tury. and the present annual output exceeds 2.000,000 tons, a large portion of which is anthra cite. Iron, lead, and salt are also mined. The manufacturing industry is hut slightly developed. Tobacco and cigarette factories and tlour-mills are practically the only establishments. The territory is administered by an ataman of the Cossacks, and is divided for administrative pur poses into nine districts. The capital is Novo Teherkask; the chief commercial centre is Ros tov. The population in 1897 was 2,575.81g. of whom Cossacks (q.v.) and other Russians com posed nearly OS per cent., the rest consisting ehieilv of Nalmucks.