Chelyabinsk Oblast (Russian: Челя́бинская о́бласть, Chelyabinskaya oblast) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the city of Chelyabinsk. Population: 3,476,217 (2010 Census).

During the Middle Ages, the Southern Urals were populated by Bashkir tribes that were part of the Golden Horde, Nogai Horde, and smaller Bashkir unions. The area was incorporated into the Tsardom of Russia in the late 16th century. However, Russian colonization of the region only began in the 18th century, with the establishment of a system of fortresses and trade posts on the then-Russian border by the Orenburg Expedition in 1734. Many cities of Chelyabinsk Oblast, including the city of Chelyabinsk itself, trace their history back to those forts.

In 1743, the Chelyabinsk fortress became a center of the Iset Province, a constituent part of the Orenburg Governorate (a direct successor of the Orenburg Expedition). The 1750s-1770s saw the emergence of industrial enterprises in South Ural, when the first factory-centered towns like Miass, Kyshtym, and Zlatoust were founded. After South Ural recovered from the Pugachev's Rebellion, the territory of modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast started to attract more people from the European part of Russia. By the mid-19th century, Chelyabinsk was a major trade center in Ural, and after the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1890s it became an important transport hub that connected Siberia to the rest of the Russian Empire.

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