The city was founded on August 19, 1628 as a Russian border fort when a group of service class people from Yeniseysk led by Andrey Dubenskoy arrived at the confluence of the Kacha and Yenisei Riversand constructed fortifications intended to protect the frontier from attacks of native peoples who lived along Yenisei and its tributaries. Along with Kansk to the east, it represented the southern limit of Russian expansion in the Yenisei basin during the seventeenth century. In the letter to Tsar the Cossacks reported:
...The town of trunks (log buildings) we have constructed and around the place of fort, we the servants of thee, our lord, have embedded posts and fastened them with double bindings and the place of fort have strengthened mightily...
The fort was named Krasny Yar (Russian: ???????? ??) after the Yarin (a dialect of Khakas) name of the place it was built, Kyzyl Char ('red steep-riverbank'), which was translated as Krasny Yar (using the old meaning of krasny). An intensive growth of Krasnoyarsk began with the arrival of the Siberian Route (the road M53nowadays) in 1735 to 1741 which connected the nearby towns of Achinsk and Kansk with Krasnoyarsk and with the rest of Russia.
In 1749, a meteorite with a mass of about 700 kilograms (1,500 lb) was found 145 miles (233 km) south of Krasnoyarsk. It was excavated by Peter Simon Pallas in 1772 and transported to Krasnoyarsk and subsequently to St. Petersburg. The Krasnoyarsk meteorite is important because it was the first pallasite ever studied and the first meteorite ever etched.
The name Krasnoyarsk was given in 1822 when the village of Krasny Yar was granted town status[citation needed]and became the administrative center of Yeniseysk Governorate. In the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk was the center of the Siberian Cossack movement. By the end of the 19th century, Krasnoyarsk had several manufacturing facilities and railroad workshops and an engine-house. Growth continued with the
