Historically, at various times, the territory was ruled either entirely or partly by Scythia, ancient Greeks, Old Great Bulgaria, Khazars, Kipchaks, Italians (Pisa,[14] Venice, Genoa)[15] the Mongol Empire, the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire,[15] Russia and Soviet Ukraine.

Taganrog served as the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic in March-April 1918,[16] and was the place of establishment of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

Other important groups are the 35,902 Turks (0.9%); 16,493 Belarusians (0.4%); 13,948 Tatars (0.3%); 17,961 Azerbaijanis (0.4%); 11,449 Chechens (0.3%); 16,657 Romani (0.4%); 11,597 Koreans (0.3%); 8,296 Georgians (0.2%), and 2,040 Assyrians (.05%).

In addition, 26% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 12% is atheist, and 3.5% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.

[25]The Ascension Cathedral is the largest Russian Orthodox church in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, Russia.

The status changed in 1822, when Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the decree of the Holy Synod was declared cathedral.

These include lower-Gnilovskaya, a settlement and a necropolis, fragments of the walls of the Genoese fortress of the 14th century, the archaeological Museum-reserve "Tanais", and many burial mounds and necropolises.

[citation needed] The theater has two stages as well as a music and entertainment center, and hosts about 300 performances and concerts annually, as well as various forums and festivals.

[30] The largest companies in the region include Novoshakhtinsk Petrochemical Plant, Gloria Jeans Corp., Rostvertol, Oil-extracting factory "Yug Rusi", North Caucasian Railway.

[34] On 28 August 2024 a fire broke out at the Atlas oil depot in the Kamensky District in the Rostov region following a drone strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.