Kurgan

Kurgan, city and administrative centre of Kurgan oblast (region), west-central Russia, on the Tobol River. In 1553 the fortified settlement of Tsaryovo Gorodishche was founded on a large ancient tumulus or artificial mound (Russian kurgan); it became a town in 1782, and by the late 19th century it was the focus of the surrounding farming area, especially after the building of the railways to Omsk, Chelyabinsk, and Yekaterinburg. The Tobol River, which is frozen from...