Kaluga is a city and administrative centre of Kaluga oblast in the western Russia, west of Moscow on the Oka River. The population of the Kaluzhskaya oblast is 1.1 million people, of which 74.4% are urban inhabitants. There are 345,000 people living in Kaluga city, the capital of the oblast. Founded in the 14th century as a stronghold against the Tatars on the southern borders of Muscovy, it later became a seat of provincial administration. In the early 17th century it was devastated by Cossacks, plague, and fire, and in the winter of 1941 it was held by the Germans. Kaluga is traversed by major railways that connect Moscow with Ukraine, the Volga region, and Belarus. The Moscow-Kiev and Moscow-Brest highways are two important automobile roads. Kaluga claims 42 institutes, universities, and research centers that involve the work of 14 thousand scientists. Discovered natural deposits in Kaluzhskaya Oblast include brown coal, peat, phosphorites, gypsum, chalk; glass, moulding and construction sand, and clay, as well as a large stocks of mineral waters. One of Kaluga major enterprises produce turbine and gas turbine engines, electronics for the automobile industry, locomotives, radar-tracking equipment, digital radio-electronic equipment, as well as high quality footwear and clothes. The rest of the regional production includes building materials, chemical and petrochemical products, as well as glass and porcelain and light industry goods.