a city under republic (ASSR) jurisdiction and the administrative center of Sterlitamak Raion, Bashkir ASSR. Landing on the left bank of the Belaia River at the river’s confluence with the Ashkadar and Sterlia rivers. Railroad station 130 km south of Ufa. Population, 209,000 (1975; 39,000 in 1939, 112,000 in 1959).
Sterlitamak was founded in 1766 as a storage and transit point for the salt from Iletskaia Zashchita, which was shipped down the Belaia River from Sterlitamak to the Kama and Volga. The city has developed, mostly since the Great Patriotic War of 1941—15, into a major chemical and machine-building center. Sterlitamak has a combine producing soda and cement, a machine shop, and plants producing synthetic rubber, chemicals, machine tools, and construction machinery. Light industry is represented by factories producing leather goods, clothing, and footwear. Sterlitamak also has a pedagogical institute, a polytechnical department of the Ufa Petroleum Institute, eight secondary specialized educational institutions, a drama theater, and a museum of local lore.