Omsk is a capital city of the western Siberian region of Omsk - this predominantly industrial city is located at the confluence of the Irtysh and Om Rivers. A major river port, Omsk is also an important junction of the Trans-Siberian Railways. The city was established in 1716, during the reign of Tsar Peter the Great by Ivan Buchholz as a fortified garrison, transport and administrative centre for the remote northwestern parts of the empire. All too soon, Omsk gained the dubious distinction of being the favourite detention and exile destination of the Tsars, a practise later carried to new heights by the Communist big bosses. The most illustrious of those banished to Omsk was the writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, exiled here between 1849-1853. He tells the story of his days  in exile in his book, ‘Buried Alive in Siberia’.

But right at the beginning, most of the residents of this faraway town were military men. As Omsk grew, so did its population and soon the denizens of Omsk included merchants, artisans, government officials as well as the soldiers and officers of the Imperial Russian Army. By 1894, once the Trans-Siberian railroad connected Omsk to Moscow, St Petersburg and the Far East, it became the Gateway to Siberia - paving the way for the economic exploitation and commercial development of this rich region. Many national and international companies opened their offices in Omsk, banks set up shop, business boomed and so did construction activity. The old fortress remained the symbolic and actual heart of Omsk but the city sprawled in the open spaces around the two rivers.

During the civil war in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution of  1917, Omsk served as headquarters of the anti-Bolshevik armed forces under Admiral A. V. Kolchak. World War II forced the Russians, now under Communist rule, to shift a number of vital heavy industries to Omsk, as safe a destination as possible from German air raids. In the last fifty years, Omsk has become a major industrial capital with motor works, defence industries, oil refineries supplied by pipeline from West Siberia and factories producing footwear, clothing, tyres and consumer durables.