Izhevsk

Izhevsk grew beside the Izh River around an ironworks founded in 1760. The land had earlier belonged to the Kazan Khanate; after its conquest, Ivan IV granted lands by the Izh and Karlutka to the Tatar noble Bagish Yaushev. Count Pyotr Shuvalov later obtained permission to build ironworks in the Kama region. Serfs from nearby villages and craftsmen from his other plants began a dam on the Izh, and the first iron was produced in 1763. That year the works passed to the Crown for the Shuvalov family's debts.

Harsh labor conditions helped fuel support for Yemelyan Pugachev's uprising. Rebel detachments entered the settlement in January 1774 and destroyed parts of the works; Pugachev himself returned in June, and some workers joined his army. The plant was restored by the end of 1775. Its iron had already been supplied for building works in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the factory settlement continued to develop as a center of metalworking.