Tyumen is the largest city and the administrative center of Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located on the Tura River 2500km east of Moscow.Tyumen was the first Russian settlement in Siberia. Founded in 1586 to support Russia's eastward expansion, the city has remained one of the most important industrial and economic centers east of the Ural Mountains. Located at the junction of several important trade routes and with easy access to navigable waterways, Tyumen rapidly developed from a small military settlement to a large commercial and industrial city. The central part of Old Tyumen retains many historic buildings from throughout the city's history.Today Tyumen is an important business center. Tyumen is the transport hub and industrial center of Tyumen Oblast— an oil-rich region bordering Kazakhstan —as well as the home of many companies active in Russia's oil and gas industry.GeographyTyumen covers an area of 235km2. Its primary geographical feature is the Tura River, which crosses the city from northwest to southeast. The river is navigable downstream of the city. The left bank of the Tura is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills. The Tura is a shallow river with extensive marshlands.The river floods during the snow melting season in the spring. The spring flood usually peaks in the second half of May, when the river becomes 8–10 times wider than during the late-summer low water season. The city is protected from flooding by a dike which can withstand floods up to 8m high. The highest ever flood water level in Tyumen was 9.15m, recorded in 1979. More recently, in 2007, a water level of 7.76 was recorded. In the spring 2005, a flood higher than the critical 8m mark was expected, but did not appear.