Alexander Pol

• Name — Alexander Pol • Native Name — Aлександр Поль • Born — 20 August 1832 • Birthplace — Maloaleksandrovka, Verkhnedneprovsk uezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (Polivske, Verkhivtseve urban hromada, Kamianske Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine) • Died — 26 July 1890 • Place of death — Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire (Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine) • Occupation — * Archaeologist • geologist • ethnographer • businessman • Education — Imperial University of Dorpat • Known for — Discovery of the Kryvbas mining region • Awards — Order of Saint Stanislaus Alexander Nikolayevich Pol (20 August 1832 – 26 July 1890) was a Russian archaeologist, geologist, ethnographer and businessman of Baltic German descent. He is best-known for discovering Kryvbas, a major iron ore region of Eastern Europe.

Alexander Pol was the descendant of a noble family of Baltic Germans on his father's side, and of a well-known Ukrainian Cossack starshyna family on his mother's, in Maloaleksandrovka, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine). On his mother's line he was a far relative of Polubotok and Poletika families. Pol attended local schools before studying at the Imperial University of Dorpat (Tartu, Estonia), where he graduated. He studied geology and archeology. Pol studied the iron ore of Krivoy Rog (Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine) for 15 years and proved its industrial importance. He is credited with discovering the Kryvbas, a major iron ore region, and is most well-known for this. While studying ore deposits, he also made archeological findings and related them to his interest in ethnography. Pol contributed to the industrialization of the town and its area. In 1881, industrial development began, stimulating the rapid economic growth of Krivoy Rog and, more broadly, of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of what was then the Russian Empire.