Voronezh is a large city in southwestern Russia, not far from Ukraine. Population: 848,752 The Voronezh River was first mentioned in Hypatian Codex of 1177. Human settlement on the site is attested since the Stone Age. The present town was founded in 1585 or 1586 by Feodor I as a fort protecting the Russian state from the raids of Crimean and Nogay Tatars. In the 17th century, Voronezh gradually evolved into a sizeable town, especially after Tsar Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh, where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line. Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, Voronezh became, for a short time, the largest city of Southern Russia and the economic centre of a large and fertile region. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voronezh
