Petrozavodsk (;
Karelian/
Vepsian/) is the
capital city of the
Republic of Karelia,
Russia, which stretches along the western shore of
Lake Onega for some . Population:
History
Archeological discoveries in the urban area indicate the presence of a settlement as far back as seven thousand years ago, and during the
Middle Ages the site of modern city was marked by several
lakeside villages. Within the city limits, the district of Solomennoje appears in surviving records dating back to the sixteenth century, and a map produced by the
Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius at the end of that century places a settlement here called Onegaborg on the site of modern Petrozavodsk.