Rostov-on-Don (Russian: Ростóв-на-Донý, tr. Rostov-na-Donu; IPA: [rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu]) is a city and the administrative center of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia, located on the Don River, just 32 kilometers (20 mi) from the Sea of Azov. Population: 1,089,851 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,068,267 (2002 Census); 1,019,305 (1989 Census).

Rostov-on-Don is located to the southeast from the East European Plain, mostly on the right bank of the Don River, 32 kilometers (20 mi) from its confluence with the Sea of Azov. The southwestern suburbs of the city side with the delta of the Don River.

The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak.

Rostov-on-Don was founded on December 15, 1749, as a customs house was set up on the Temernik River (a tributary of the Don) to control the trade with Turkey.^{[citation needed]} The custom house was built according to the edict of the Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Not far from the customhouse grew the fortress. It was named after Russian metropolitan, Saint Dimitry of Rostov, a newly-glorified bishop from the old Northern town of Rostov the Great. Later the name was changed to Rostov (in 1806) and then to Rostov-on-Don. As Azov gradually declined, a settlement near the new fortress superseded it in importance as a chief commercial center of the region. In 1756, the "Russian commercial and trading company of Constantinople" set up there, establishing a settlement on the high bank of the Don known as the "Kupecheskaya Sloboda" ("the merchants' settlement"). In 1796, this settlement was granted town rights and was renamed Rostov-on-Don, in order to distinguish it from its ancient namesake.^{[citation needed]}