Belgorod [key], city, capital of Belgorod region, S central European Russia, on the Northern Donets River. It is a railway junction and one of the chief centers in Russia for the manufacture of cement and construction materials. These industries are based on nearby limestone deposits; the nearby iron deposits are part of the Kirsk Magnetic Anomaly. Known since the 13th cent., Belgorod was the center of the Muscovite southern defense against Crimean Tatar attacks in the 17th cent.
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