Nikopol is city in south central Ukraine, situated in the southern part of Dnepropetrovskya Oblast. It is located on the north shore of the Dnieper River on the Kakhovske Reservoir, about 105 km (about 65 mi) southwest of Dnepropetrovsk. Connected by rail, highways and a river port, Nikopol is a center of an agriculturally rich area, and one of the world's richest manganese ore-mining regions. Industries in the city produce metal alloys, pipes, cranes, building materials, food products, and consumer goods. Nikopol stands on the site of an ancient crossing of the Dnieper River. In 1628, known as Mykytyn Rih, it served as the Sich, or fortified headquarters of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. In 1652, after the Sich was relocated, the settlement was renamed Mykytyne. After Russians destroyed the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775, they built a fort nearby, called Slavyansk. The settlement that grew up around it was named Nikopol in 1782. In Ukrainian it is also spelled Nikopol'. The population of this city is 157,000.