Prokhladny (literally: cool) is a city in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic of the
Russian Federation. The city is the administrative center of the
Prokhladnensky district, which is not part of as a city of
republican subordination. Forms the municipal formation urban
district Prokhladny as the only settlement in its composition.
This is the second (after Nalchik) in terms of population in
Kabardino-Balkaria. A significant industrial center, the center of
an agricultural region, a junction of roads and railways.
There are several legends about the origin of the
name of the village. One of them says that once Pavel Sergeevich
Potemkin, the governor of the region, visited these places. Driving
along the dusty road that passed along the banks of the Malka River,
he noticed smoke in the dense oak forest. After a while, Potemkin
saw a small settlement on the bank of the river, only six
households. It was summer. The heat was sweltering. But coolness
blew from the river, the dense crowns of oak trees did not let the
hot rays of the sun pass through. The settlement, located by the
river, in a wide forest clearing, everything was buried in dense
greenery of herbs, and it was surprisingly cool here.
So,
under the impression of the beauty and coolness that surrounded him,
and allegedly PS Potemkin gave the settlement he saw the name
Prokhladny.
Prokhladny is located in the
northeastern part of the republic, on the left bank of the Malka
River (with the exception of the Novopokrovka microdistrict, located
on the right bank of the river). It is located 50 km (in a straight
line) northeast of Nalchik. From west to east, the city is about 11
km long, from south to north - about 4 km.
The area of the
urban district is 35.08 km2.
Prokhladny is located in the
lowland forest-steppe zone of the republic. The terrain is
relatively flat steppe lands. Fluctuations in relative heights are
insignificant. In the southern part of the city, along the Malka
River, there is a chain of hilly hills. The floodplain of the Malka
River is slightly raised by high terraces. Average heights in the
territory of the urban district are 214 meters above sea level.
The hydrographic network is mainly represented by the Malka
River; the Baksan River flows into it to the southeast of the city.
A few kilometers downstream, the Malka flows into the main transit
river of the Central and Eastern Caucasus - the Terek. There are
several lakes to the south of the city, the largest of which is Lake
Komsomolskoye. The Big Prokhladnensky Canal runs along the northern
outskirts of the city. The area is also rich in groundwater, which
lies close to the earth's surface.
Natural resources are
represented mainly by deposits of loam and gravelly sands.
The town of Cool is located in a semi-arid temperate
climate (Dfa according to the Köppen climate classification). There
are features of the semiarid climate of temperate latitudes. The
semiarid climate of temperate latitudes (BSk - cold semiarid
climate) is characteristic of the temperate zone. As a rule, such a
climate is typical for areas remote from the ocean and large seas
and usually separated from them by high mountains. This type of
climate is characterized by hot (often extremely hot) and dry
summers and cool winters. Summers are hot, and absolute temperatures
in July-August usually rise to + 35 ... + 40 ° С and higher. Winters
are mild with average January temperatures of around −3 ° C ...
Stable snow cover is rare. Winter can be either cool with snowfalls
or warm with no snow. It is extremely rare, during invasions, frosts
down to -20 ° C. The average annual rainfall is about 500 mm. In the
period from April to July, there are heavy thunderstorms with hail.
In early August, dry winds blowing from the Caspian lowland often
reach the city's territory.
Due to its favorable climate and
soil, Cool is a large agricultural center.
Prokhladny grew out of the Prokhladnaya Cossack village, founded in
1784 on the Mozdok military fortified line as a settlement,
inhabited mainly by Little Russians. In 1824, in connection with the
establishment of the Gorsk Cossack Regiment, the settlement became a
village, and its inhabitants were converted into Cossacks. A postal
road ran through Prokhladnaya, connecting Russia with the
Transcaucasus.
The village began to develop especially
quickly since the 1860s, when, with the construction of a railway
from Rostov-on-Don to Vladikavkaz, the nearby railway station became
the center for collecting and sending products of the vast
agricultural region of the Tersk region.
Since 1867 the
village Prokhladnaya was part of the Pyatigorsk department of the
Terek region.
At the end of the 19th century, the population
of the village was about 5 thousand people, there were over 60
different commercial and industrial establishments. Prokhladnensky
bazaar and Vozdvizhenskaya fair turned the village into a large
shopping center in the North Caucasus.
During the Civil War,
the village several times became the site of a clash between the Red
Guards and the White Guards, who alternately occupied the village.
In March 1932, the Prokhladnensky village council and the
Prokhladnensky village council were transferred from the liquidated
Prokhladnensky district to the Primalkinsky district.
In
1937, the stanitsa was given the status of a city of regional
subordination, which was named Prokhladny.
From August 26,
1942 to January 5, 1943, the city was occupied by fascist troops.
On May 28, 1962, the city was separated from the Prokhladnensky
district and transformed into an independent city council of
republican subordination.
In 2003, the Prokhladny city
council was transformed into the Prokhladny urban district.