Asha is a Russian town, the administrative center of the Ashinsky District of the Chelyabinsk Region.

Its population is 32.7 thousand people (as of 2005).

The town is located in the extreme West of the region, at the border with Bashkortostan, at the foot of Karatau Ridge, on River Sim (inflow of the Byelaya River), at the confluence of River Asha into it, 377 km to the West of Chelyabinsk.

It is a railway station of the Kuibyshev railroad on the line Ufa — Chelyabinsk.

History of Asha

The town was founded in 1898 in connection with construction of the iron plant Asha-Balashovo; in June 20, 1933 it became a town, and in February 1, 1963 it became a town of regional submission.

Its name has two interpretations. One considers the toponym from the point of view of assessment of local environment, pulling together with the Turkic verb “ash”, “as” with the meaning “cross over (mountains)”, i.e. the river (Asha), which is making its way through mountains. Another interpretation relates the river’s name to the Bashkir clan “Assy” and proceeds from the river’s name in primary sources — Assa.

In 2012 for the first time in the Urals a tooth of a porcupine, whose age was approximately estimated at 120 thousand years, was found in a cave near the town of Asha. Earlier it was considered that porcupines had never inhabited the Urals.