The city stands on the River Kuban, 250 km/155 mi south of Rostov-on-Don, in the centre of a highly fertile agricultural region. Its industries include food processing, engineering and oil refining. It is also an important railway junction. There has been considerable development of financial, business, and other services since the collapse of communism in 1991. It is linked by pipeline with the Caspian oilfields.
Founded in 1794 by Zaporozhe (Black Sea) Cossacks upon orders from Catherine II, it was organized as their administrative center and called Ekaterinodar (Yekaterinodar). It served as a military center protecting Russia's Caucasian frontier. After 1918 it was the capital of the Kuban-Black Sea Soviet Republic and was renamed in 1920.
