Makhachkala

Makhachkala, city in southern European Russia, capital of the autonomous republic of Dagestan, and a major Caspian Sea port. Its main industries are oil-refining, shipbuilding, and fish- and fruit-canning. The city was founded in 1844 as Petrovskoye (later Petrovsk) on the site of a military camp of Peter I. In 1921 the city was renamed and made the capital of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which became the Dagestan autonomous region within Russia after the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991. Population 466,800 (2002).