Perm, originally known as Yagoshikha (Ягошиха; 1723–1781) and briefly as Molotov (Молотов; 1940–1957), is the administrative centre of Perm Krai in the European part of Russia. It sits on the banks of the Kama River near the Ural Mountains, covering an area of 799.68 square kilometres (308.76 square miles). With over one million residents Perm is the 15th-largest city in Russia and the 5th-largest in the Volga Federal District.

Perm is located in the old Permiak area. Perm was first mentioned as the village of Yagoshikha (Ягошиха) in 1647; however, the history of the modern city of Perm starts with the development of the Ural region by Tsar Peter the Great. Vasily Tatishchev, appointed by the Tsar as a chief manager of Ural factories, founded Perm together with another major centre of the Ural region, Yekaterinburg.

Modern Perm remains a major railway hub and one of the chief industrial centers of the Urals region. The city's diversified metallurgical and engineering industries produce equipment and machine tools for the petroleum and coal industries, as well as agricultural machinery. A major petroleum refinery uses oil transported by pipeline from the West Siberian oilfields, and the city's large chemical industry makes fertilizers and dyes. The city's institutions of higher education include the Perm A.M. Gorky State University, founded in 1916.

Perm grew considerably as industrialization proceeded in the Urals during the Soviet period, and in 1940 was named Molotov in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov. In 1957 the city was returned to its historical name.^{[citation needed]}

The name Perm is of Uralic etymology (Komi-Permyak: Перем, Perem; Komi: Перым, Perym). Komi is a member of the Permic branch of the Uralic languages, which is also named for Perm. In Finnish and Vepsian perämaa means "far-away land"; similarly, in Hungarian perem means "edge" or "verge". The geologic period of the Permian takes its name from the toponym.

In 1723, a copper-smelting works was founded at the village of Yagoshikha. In 1781 the settlement of Yagoshikha became the town of Perm. Perm's position on the navigable Kama River, leading to the Volga, and on the Siberian Route across the Ural Mountains, helped it become an important trade and manufacturing centre. It also lay along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In the 19th century, Perm became a major trade and industrial centre with a population of more than 20,000 people in the 1860s, with several metallurgy, paper, and steamboat producing factories, including one owned by a British entrepreneur. In 1870, an opera theatre was opened in the city, and in 1871 the first phosphoric factory in Russia was built. In 1916, Perm State University—a major educational institution in modern Russia—was opened.^{[citation needed]}

After the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Perm became a prime target for both sides because of its munitions factories. It was heavily rumored from July–September 1918 that the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and her four daughters were imprisoned at the perception and Berezine buildings. According to the file on the Tsar,^{[clarification needed]} the Grand Duchess Anastasia would have attempted to flee. On 25 December 1918, the Siberian White Army under Anatoly Pepelyayev (who acknowledged the authority of the Omsk Government of Aleksandr Kolchak), took Perm. On 1 July 1919, the city was retaken by the Red Army.^{[citation needed]}