Irbit is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located 203km from Yekaterinburg by train or 250km by car, on the right bank of the Nitsa River. Population:HistoryFounded in 1631 as Irbeyevskaya Sloboda, its name was changed in 1662 to Irbit. It was granted official town status by Catherine the Great in 1775 for the town's loyalty to the Empress during the Pugachev uprising of 1773–1774. In 1776, she awarded the town its official crest.In the 19th century, the Irbit Fair was an important event for the trade in Siberian fur and Chinese tea.Administrative and municipal statusWithin the framework of the administrative divisions, Irbit serves as the administrative center of Irbitsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the Town of Irbit—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the Town of Irbit is incorporated as Irbit Urban Okrug.