With some 1.1 million inhabitants, Dnepropetrovsk is Ukraine’s third largest city. Human habitation in the area actually goes back some 150,000 years; by the end of the last Ice Age (10,000 years ago) there were farmers and then equestrian nomads who bred cattle. Slavic peoples had begun to settle here by 2,000 years ago. By the Middle Ages the area was pivotal in the ongoing rivalry of Poland, Turkey and Russia. Eventually the Russian Empire took control and Prince Grigori Potemkin was appointed governor. The city had an active Jewish population of about 80,000 until World War II when the Nazis conquered the city. During the past century Dnepropetrovsk has specialized in military technology critical to the Soviet Union and it continues to be a major industrial center as part of Ukraine since the USSR was disbanded.