Astrakhan
Astrakhan (;
Tatar: Ästerxan), 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. Estimated
2004 population: 502,800. The 2002 census population was 504,501.
Astrakhan is situated in the
Volga Delta, rich in
sturgeons 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. 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 gates to the Orient. Many merchants from
Armenia,
Persia, and
Khiva settled in the downtown, giving it a multinational and variegated character.
|
Astrakhan in the 17th century. |
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 shipbuilding yard 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
1580s to
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.
*
Boris Kustodiev, a
Russian
art deco painter*
Joseph Deniker, French naturalist and anthropologist.
*
Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov, public figure in the field of
public education, father of
Aleksandr Ulyanov and
Vladimir Lenin.
*
Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet.
*
Rinat Dasaev, USSR goalkeeper.
Football legend.
*
Astrakhan State University*
Satellite picture by Google Maps |
Astrakhan Kremlin dates back to the 1580s. |
|
One of the Astrakhan Kremlin cathedrals. |
