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A settlemement at Voronezh was first documented in 1177; the city was founded in 1586 as a Muscovite frontier post against the Tatars. Industry developed here in the late 17th century, with the city building ships for Peter (I) the Great's Azov campaign of 169596. It was made the provincial capital in 1711, and has been an important commercial and cultural centre since the 1830s. From 192834. it was the capital of the central black earth region. Intense fighting took place around Voronezh during the Russian Civil War (1919), and World War II (194243).