Everything about Astrakhan totally explained
Astrakhan (; ; from an Old Turkic-Hun word:
As-Tarkhan Persian: حاجیترخان
Haji-Tarkhan) is a major
city in southern European
Russia and the administrative center of
Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the
Volga River, close to where it discharges into the
Caspian Sea. Population: 502,800 (2004 est.); 504,501 (
2002 Census); 509,210 (
1989 Census).
Medieval history
Astrakhan' was originally called
As-Tarkhan, which is another name for
Ras Tarkhan (meaning "Lord of the
Alans", a
Scythian tribe.)
Astrakhan' is situated in the
Volga Delta, rich in
sturgeon and exotic plants. The fertile area formerly contained the capitals of
Khazaria and the
Golden Horde. Astrakhan' itself was first mentioned by travellers in the early
13th century as
Xacitarxan.
Tamerlane burnt it to the ground in 1395. From 1459 to 1556, Xacitarxan was the capital of
Astrakhan Khanate. The ruins of this medieval settlement were found by archaeologists 12 km upstream from the modern-day city.
In 1556, the khanate was conquered by
Ivan the Terrible, who had a new fortress built on a steep hill overlooking the Volga. In 1569, Astrakhan' was besieged by the
Ottoman army, which had to retreat in disarray. A year later, the Sultan renounced his claims to Astrakhan, thus opening the entire Volga River to Russian traffic. In the
17th century, the city was developed as a Russian gate to the Orient. Many merchants from
Armenia,
Persia,
India and
Khiva settled in the downtown, giving it a multinational and variegated character.
Modern history
For seventeen months in 1670–1671 Astrakhan' was held by
Stenka Razin and his
Cossacks. Early in the following century,
Peter the Great constructed a
shipyard here and made Astrakhan the base for his hostilities against Persia, and later in the same century
Catherine II accorded the city important industrial privileges.
The city
rebelled against the tsar once again in 1705, when it was held by the Cossacks under
Kondraty Bulavin. A
Kalmuck khan laid an abortive siege to the kremlin several years prior to that. In 1711, it was made a capital of a
guberniya, whose first governors included
Artemy Petrovich Volynsky and
Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev.
Six years later, Astrakhan served as a base for
the first Russian venture into Central Asia. In 1702, 1718, and 1767, it suffered severely from fires; in 1719 it was plundered by the Persians; and in 1830 the
cholera swept away a large number of its people.
Astrakhan's
kremlin was built from the 1580s to the 1620s from bricks pillaged at the site of
Sarai Berke. Its two impressive cathedrals were consecrated in 1700 and 1710, respectively. Built by masters from
Yaroslavl, they retain many traditional features of Russian church architecture, while their exterior decoration is definitely
baroque.
In the autumn of
1942, Astrakhan' became one of the easternmost points in the
Soviet Union reached by the invading German
Wehrmacht, during
Case Blue, the offensive which led to the
Battle of Stalingrad. Light armored forces of German Army Group A made a brief scouting mission to the city before withdrawing.
Notable people
Sister Cities
Ahmedabad, IndiaFurther Information
Get more info on 'Astrakhan'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://astrakhan.totallyexplained.com">Astrakhan Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
