Sloviansk

Sloviansk grew beside the saline lakes of Tor in the Siverskyi Donets basin. Long before it received its later name, people came to the lakes to boil salt, a valuable resource on the edge of the steppe. The salt works and the fortifications built to protect them gave rise to a permanent settlement.

Ukrainian migrants established a fort at Maiak Lake in 1663. Under its protection, state salt production began at Tor in 1664, and a fortress was built beside the salt lakes in 1676. Tor became a company town of the Izium Cossack regiment in 1685. Salt boiling ended in 1782 as cheaper Crimean salt competed with the local product. Two years later Tor became a district town and was renamed Slovensk, the forerunner of Sloviansk.