Tyumen (Russian: Тюме́нь) is the largest city and the administrative center of Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located on the Tura River 2,144 kilometers (1,332 mi) east of Moscow. Population: 581,758 (2010 Census preliminary results);[5] 510,719 (2002 Census);[6] 476,869 (1989 Census). Tyumen is the oldest Russian settlement in Siberia. Founded in 16th century to support Russia's eastward expansion, the city has remained one of the most important industrial and economic centers east of the Ural Mountains. Located at the junction of several important trade routes and with easy access to navigable waterways, Tyumen rapidly developed from a small military settlement to a large commercial and industrial city. The central district of Old Tyumen retains many historic buildings from throughout the city's history. Today Tyumen is one of Russia's most important business centers, it is also prominent in the political and cultural life of the country. Tyumen is the transportation hub and industrial center of Tyumen Oblast—a vast oil-rich region stretching from the Kazakh border to the Arctic Ocean—as well as the home of many companies active in Russia's oil and gas industry. The Tyumen area, originally part of the Siberia Khanate, was annexed to Russia by the Cossack hetman Yermak Timofeyevich in 1585, and on July 29, 1586, Tsar Feodor I ordered two regional commanders, Vasily Borisov Sukin and Ivan Myasnoy, to construct a fortress on the site of the former Tatar town of Chimgi-Tura. The site where Tyumen was founded corresponded to the so called "Tyumen Portage" on the historical trade route from Central Asia to the Volga region, control of which had been continuously contested by various South Siberian nomads in the preceding centuries. As a result, early Russian settlers were often attacked by Tatar and Kalmyk raiders, and until the middle of the 17th century Tyumen's population was dominated by the Streltsy and Cossack garrisons stationed in the town. As the area became less restive, the town began to take on a less military character. At the beginning of the 18th century Tyumen became an important center of trade between Siberia and China in the east and Central Russia in the west, as well as an important industrial center, known for its leather goods makers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. In 1763, 7000 people were recorded as living in the town.