The city is situated on the banks of the Dnipro where the river is divided by the Khortytsia island. The territory of city was inhabited in the Scythian days. During XV-XVI centuries real masters of the land behind the Dnipro rapids were Zaporozhian Cossacks. In 1775 tsarina Catherine ordered to destroy Zaporiz'ka Sich. The formation of the Olexandrivs'k city on the territory of Sich was connected with the constructing the Dnipro fortification.