Sterlitamak

Sterlitamak takes its name from the mouth of the Sterlya, near the Belaya River. An early post station on the road from Ufa to Orenburg preceded the settlement. In Catherine II's reign the merchant Savva Tetushev established a landing on the Ashkadar, and the combined settlement became known as the Sterlitamak salt pier. During the rebellion of Yemelyan Pugachev in 1773–1775, insurgents held and burned it. Rebuilt afterward, it became the center of an uyezd and received town status in 1781.