30 April 2003, 17:31
Konstantinovsk
Rayon (sector) centre in Rostov oblast (province), 169 km north-east of Rostov-on-Don. Located on the right bank of the River Don (a wharf), 25 km south-east of the terminal railway station of Ust-Donetskaya in the branch of the Likhaya - Rostov-on-Don line. Population (1992 est.) 18.4 thousand, (1979 est.) 16.4 thousand.
Arose in the 17th century as a Cossack town of Babey (Babsky); the stanitsa (Cossack village) of Babskaya since the early 18th century; merged with the stanitsa of Vedernikovskaya under the common name of Konstantinovskaya (after the veliky knyaz (Grand Prince) Konstantin Nikolayevich) in 1864; urban-type community since 1941, town since 1967.
Present Konstantinovsk is an agricultural centre (cultivation of grain and technical crops, including sunflower; dairy and beef cattle production); fish factory, butter-and-cheese factory; production of building materials, etc. School of arts.
The town keeps the general appearance of a large Don stanitsa. Cossack traditions, household manners and culture are revived.
