On the Boh, at the point where the river becomes navigable, lies Vosnesensk, an important river port, with some industry and considerable wood and grain trade. On the deep Boh liman, at the mouth of the Inhul, lies Mikolaiv (103,000 pop.), a verv important naval and
commercial harbor, which has the greatest exportation of grain, after Odessa, and large shipyards, foundries and machine-shops. Krivi Rih (15,000 pop.), on the Inhul, has 33 iron mines, and is the center of Ukrainian iron mining.
On the Dnieper, on the border of the Pontian and Dnieper Plains, lies the city of Katerinoslav (218,000 pop.), hardly more than a century old. Katerinoslav owes its great importance to its position on the Dnieper at the beginning of the rapids section, and at the end of the upper steamboat navigation, where an important railroad line crosses the river, connecting the iron mines of Krivi Rih with the coal fields on the Donetz. Hence, Katerinoslav is, above all, an industrial city with large foundries, forges and machine shops. Katerinoslav carries on the greatest lumber trade in the entire Ukraine. Its grain and coal trade is very important too. Below the rapids, in the old Zaporog country, sacred to every Ukrainian, lies the rapidly rising city of Olexandrivsk (51,000 pop.), an important river port and railroad junction, with a metal and milling industry. Nikopol (17,000 pop.), the point of crossing of the old commercial road over the Dnieper into Crimea, is the center for manganese mining, and has some milling industry. Its harbor is exceptional in that it is reached by smaller sea-vessels, which, however, sail up the Dnieper only as far as Berislav (12,000 pop.), where the grain is transferred from river boats to sea-vessels. On the left Dnieper bank, opposite Berislav, lies the important river harbor of Kakhivka. Oleshki has considerable vegetable, fruit and melon-culture, fishing and crab-fishing.
Not far from the outlet of the Dnieper into its liman, lies the government capital, Kherson (92,000 pop.), like Odessa, Mikolaiv and Katerinoslav, a young city of the end of the 18th Century. Its harbor was first made accessible to large sea-vessels by the dredging of the ship-canal of
Otshakiv in the Dnieper liman (1887), and since then the city has been growing rapidly. Kherson carries on a very important lumber and grain trade, and has large saw-mills, grain-mills, soap and tobacco factories. Two fortresses defend the entrance to the Dnieper liman, Ochakiv (12,000 pop.), with an insignificant harbor for coast vessels, and Kinburu.
In the narrow strip of low country on the north shore of the Black Sea, all the larger cities keep close to the coast. Melitopol on the Molochna (17,000 pop.), carries on considerable trade in cattle, lumber, skins, eggs and wool, and has large mills, alcohol-stills and factories, which make agricultural machinery. Berdiansk (36,000 pop.), despite its poor harbor, exports much grain, and has machine factories, mills, breweries, and fine fruit gardens and vineyards. The former great importance of Berdiansk has been inherited by Mariupol (53,000 pop.), with a good harbor at the mouth of the Kalmius, a city which possesses some factory industry, and carries on an active export trade in coal, coke, metal and grain. Still more important are the harbors at the mouths of the Don. Opposite the Don delta lies Tahanroh (75,000 pop.) with a leather and metal industry, as well as an extensive trade in grain, fish, beef, oil, bacon, leather and fruit, the most important grain exporting harbor of the Ukraine, after Odessa and Mikolaiv. In the Don delta lies Rostiv (172,000 pop.), the most important commercial city of Southeastern Ukraine, with an extensive trade in grain, cattle, wool and flax, large mills, shipyards, tobacco and machine factories. The Armenian city of Nakhichevan (71,000 pop.) forms the suburbs, as it were, of Rostiv, taking considerable part in its industrial and commercial activity. The historically memorable city of Osiv (Azof, 31,000 pop.) is an important center of the Don and Azof fishing industry, and has some grain trade. Yesk (51,000 pop.), on the eastern shore of the
Sea of Azof, has some grain export, and is a not insignificant importing city.