The city was founded in the 18th century by Zaporozhian Cossacks. Kryvyi Rih in Ukrainian literally means Crooked Horn. According to local legend, the city was founded by a crooked (Ukrainian slang for one-eyed) Cossack named Rih. However, records pre-dating the existence of the city refer to the area by the same name, due to the shape of the landmass formed by the merging of the river Saksagan into the Inhulets.
The area's industrial growth began in the 1880s, when European investment founded a mining syndicate. The metallurgical works in the city, Kryvorizhstal, in particular, expanded through Soviet times, and now remain some of the largest in the world.
During the Russian Civil War, the city and its hinterland were at the nucleus of Nestor Makhno's anarchist insurgency.
During World War II, Kryvyi Rih was almost totally destroyed by the fleeing Red Army. After the war, people lived among the ruins while housing stocks were rebuilt. The housing shortage was met by innovative technological solutions, which meant temporary barracks and houses could be built quickly. The two kinds of cheap new materials were used later for years afterwards
