Glazed tiles and mosaic on a khan's tomb
Editorial contextPallas describes the finest building at the Selitrennoye ruins as a khan's family mausoleum with a prayer house above, its foundation walls two fathoms high. The brickwork was the most elegant he had seen among any Tartar ruins, set with glazed tiles in green, yellow, white and blue, with stucco flowers, shell-work and mosaic panels. He adds that whole cargoes of its bricks had been carried off to build Astrakhan.
In the whole brickwork, which consists of beautiful broad squares, disposed in the most regular manner, there is a degree of taste and elegance of which I have no where seen an instance among the ruins of the Tartars. The outside of the walls is not only embellished in all the interstices between the bricks with glazed earthen ornaments, of a green, yellow, white, and blue colour,
About Golden Horde Tartars (a khan's family)
Continue in this sourcePallas's travels through southern Russia and the Crimea1793 to 1794 · 20 passagesSarai, the Horde's capital, and its ruins on the Akhtuba
Editorial contextIn his survey of the towns of Kipchak, Hammer places Sarai, capital and residence of the khans, on the Akhtuba channel of the Volga, where ruins stretched forty versts into the steppe and at least ten versts along the river. He takes from the Persian historian Wassaf that Batu founded it, and from coins that there were several Sarais: the old and the new (the second only an extension of the first), with Gülistan apparently a suburb, and a third called Sali Serai. Elsewhere (p. 140 to 141) he says Batu built Sarai in his last years, as he had earlier built Kazan.
Sarai, the capital of Kipchak and residence of the khans of the Golden Horde, whose ruins [lie] forty versts into the steppe from the bank of the Volga and at least ten versts along the Akhtuba … There were, as the coins show, three Sarais: the old and the new, the latter being only an extension of the old, just as Gülistan, which often appears on coins, seems to have been only a suburb of the residence Sarai
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Serai, die Hauptstadt von Kiptschak und die Residenz der Chane der goldenen Horde, deren Ruinen vierzig Werste in der Steppe vom Ufer der Wolga, und wenigstens zehn Werste längs der Achtuba … Serai gab es, wie die Gepräge ausweisen, drey, das alte und neue, welches letzte nur ein Zubau des alten, so wie das auf Münzen häufig vorkommende Gülistan nur eine Vorstadt der Residenz Serai gewesen zu seyn scheint
About Golden Horde (Jochid Mongols and their Kipchak subjects)
Keep in mind
Hammer's scheme of several Sarais, and his claim of a Batu-built 'Sarai in the Crimea', were disputed by Fraehn, whose objections he prints in his notes.
How a Kalmyk kibitka is put up
Editorial contextCamped in bitter cold above Astrakhan, Bruce's detachment was lent sixty kibitkas by the Kalmyk prince Dasan. He describes them closely: 24 feet across, folding lattice walls six feet high, a round wooden crown raised on lances with holes for the rafters, and a felt covering laid from the bottom up. He found them warmer and more weatherproof than a house.
they are all round, the sides being made of a kind of checkered wicker-work, and the cross sticks neatly jointed for folding together or extending … they raise with their lances a round board, three feet diameter, with a hole in the middle of it … the large hole serves for their chimney, the small holes receive the ends of so many strait rafters
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols)
Continue in this sourcePeter Henry Bruce's memoirs of service under Peter the Great1700 to 1733 · 12 passagesSarai: a new city of merchants and the Turkish slave trade
Editorial contextAbu'l-Fida's entry on Seray (Sarai), capital of 'the states of Berke', says the present ruler is Uzbek, that the city lies in a plain on the Volga north-west of the Caspian, and that merchants crowd there and do a great trade in Turkish slaves. He calls it a modern city, founded by a descendant of Chinggis Khan named Sain Batu, and adds day-length information from a man of the city.
The prince now reigning is called Uzbek. Sarai lies in a plain, north-west of the Caspian Sea … It is a place much visited by merchants, and there is a great trade there in Turkish slaves. The town is of recent origin; its founding is attributed to a descendant of Chinggis Khan called Sain Batu.
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Le prince qui règne en ce moment s'appelle Uzbek. La situation de Seray est en plaine, au nord-ouest de la mer Caspienne … C'est un lieu très-fréquenté des marchands, et il s'y fait un grand commerce d'esclaves turks. La ville est d'origine moderne. On en attribue la fondation à un descendant de Djenguiz-Khan, appelé Saïn-Batou.
About Golden Horde (Uzbek Khan's realm)
Keep in mind
The entry opens on the previous page ('Seray, capitale des états de Berké'). Abu'l-Fida never went there; he cites a man from Sarai.
Nose rings of gold and pearls
Editorial contextGmelin describes how Astrakhan Tatar women braided their hair down the back, ending for girls in a long black silk tassel threaded with silver and for married women in a ribbon. Their finery included earrings and gold or silver rings, sometimes set with pearls or gems, worn in the nostrils. With a touch of irony he argues that if Europeans find it natural to pierce ears, Tatar women may fairly do the same to their noses. On the same page he describes the Sunni Tatars praying together in the open field at the end of Ramadan, kneeling and rising in step 'like a company of soldiers at drill'.
Finally, Tatar women's finery includes earrings and silver and gold rings, sometimes adorned with pearls or precious stones, which are worn in the nostrils. If in Europe it does not seem unnatural to mutilate the ears for earrings, one may fairly grant Tatar ladies the pleasure of performing a similar operation on their noses.
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Endlich gehören zu dem tatarischen Weiber-Putz die Ohrgehänge und die silberne und goldene manchmalen mit Perlen oder Edelgesteinen ausgezierte Ringe, welche in den Nasen-Löchern getragen werden. Wann es in Europa nicht unnatürlich läßt, durch die Ohr-Gehänge die Ohren zu verstümmeln, so kann man dem tatarischen Frauenzimmer das Vergnügen mit Recht gönnen eine ähnliche Operation mit den Nasen vorzunehmen.
About Astrakhan Tatar women
Continue in this sourceSamuel Gmelin's journey through southern Russia and Persia1768 to 1774 · 14 passagesHow Turks came to be called Tatars
Editorial contextKlaproth explains the mix-up. When Chinggis Khan's son was sent west, the steppes north of the Caspian and Black Sea were full of Turkic peoples (Cumans, Pechenegs, Bulgars), who became subjects of the Kipchak khanate. Its rulers were Tatars (Mongols) but its people mostly Turks. When the empire broke up into the khanates of Crimea, Kazan and Astrakhan, the khans were still descendants of Chinggis, so the states kept the name 'Tatar' even though their armies and people were Turkic. On the previous page he tells how Chinggis himself got his birth name from a captured chief of the 'White Tatars'.
Its rulers were Tatars, but its subjects mostly Turks. Towards the end of the fifteenth century this empire broke up into several small ones, of which those of Crimea, Kazan and Astrakhan were the most important. Their princes descended from [Chinggis Khan] and were Mongols or Tatars, but their armies no longer were … Nevertheless these khanates kept the name 'Tatar', because the khans were Tatars.
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Seine Herrscher waren Tataren, die Unterthanen aber grösstentheils Türken. Gegen das Ende des XV Jahrhunderts zerfiel dieses Reich in mehrere kleine, unter denen die von der Krym, Kasan und Astrachan die bedeutendsten waren. Die Fürsten derselben stammten von … ab und waren Mongolen oder Tataren, aber ihre Heere waren es nicht mehr … Dennoch behielten diese Chanate den Namen Tatarische bei, weil die Chane Tataren waren.
About Mongol (Tatar) khans ruling Turkic subjects in the Golden Horde and its successor khanates
Keep in mind
Klaproth's own synthesis, argued with some polemic against other scholars.
'Ask a Kazan Tatar if he is a Tatar'
Editorial contextKlaproth says that if you asked a so-called Tatar of Kazan or Astrakhan whether he was a Tatar, he would say no, and that he called his language Türki or Turuk, not Tatar. Remembering that his forefathers had been conquered by the Mongols or Tatars, he took 'Tatar' as an insult meaning robber. Klaproth concludes that Tatars must not be confused with Turks, rebukes the historian Schlözer for doing so, and adds that Chinese historians never called the Manchus 'Ta-ta', so the missionaries' phrase 'Tartar-Manchu' came only from their habit of calling every Central Asian a Tartar.
Ask, however, a so-called Tatar of Kazan or Astrakhan whether he is a Tatar, and he will answer no; just as he calls his language not Tatari but Türki or Turuk. Remembering that his forefathers were subjugated by the Mongols or Tatars, he considers 'Tatar' a term of abuse, which to him means the same as 'robber'.
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Man frage indessen einen sogenannten Tataren, von Kasan oder Astrachan, ob er ein Tatar sei, so wird er mit nein antworten; wie er denn auch seine Sprache nicht Tatari sondern Türki oder Turuk nennt. Eingedenk dass seine Vorältern von den Mongolen oder Tataren unterjocht worden, hält er Tatar für ein Schimpfwort, welches ihm mit Räuber gleich bedeutend ist.
About Volga Tatars of Kazan and Astrakhan
Keep in mind
A general claim about self-naming in Klaproth's day; other sources show Volga Muslims using several names for themselves.
'This is how Abraham lived'
Editorial contextWhile he sketched, the Tatars crowded round him, as surprised by his clothes as he was by theirs. The women spun and carded wool for the tent felts and burned dried cow dung for fuel. He found their way of life close to that of the Arabs, and thought this must be how Abraham and the patriarchs lived, content in tents as Europeans are in palaces.
Their way of life is quite close to that of the Arabs, and they seem as content with their dwellings as we are with palaces and the finest houses. This brings to my mind the ancient way of the Orientals, and I imagine that this is how Abraham and the other patriarchs lived
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Leur manière de vivre approche assez de celle des Arabes, & ils paroissent aussi contens de leurs demeures, qu'on l'est parmi nous des Palais, & des plus belles maisons. Cela me remet dans l'esprit l'ancienne manière des Orientaux, & je m'imagine que c'est ainsi que vivoient Abraham & les autres Patriarches
About Yurt Tatars (Nogai) of Astrakhan
Continue in this sourceDe Bruyn's travels down the Volga to Astrakhan, 17031701 to 1708 · 13 passagesKhan Janibek's giant cooking pot
Editorial contextThe buildings of the Russian saltpetre works at Selitrennoe, Gmelin notes, were mostly built from the rubble of the Tatar ruins. Among the old boiling kettles of the works lay one so huge that the local Tatars told a tale about it: that it was a relic of their past, in which Khan Janibek had twelve oxen cooked at once for his feasts. Gmelin says flatly that it is a Crown saltpetre kettle.
[the dwellings of] some people living here are mostly built from Tatar rubble … In the boiling works there are still furnaces and kettles. Among the latter lies one … The Tatars tell a fable that it is a Tatar relic and that Khan Janibek had 12 oxen cooked in it at once at his feasts. But it is certainly a saltpetre kettle belonging to the Crown.
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einige hier wohnenden Leute, sind meistens von tatarischen Trümmern erbauet … In der Siederey sind noch Oefen und Keßel. Unter letztern liegt einer … Die Tataren fabeln, daß er ein tatarisch Ueberbleibsel sey und daß Chan Dschanibek in demselben, bey seinen Schmausen, 12 Ochsen zugleich kochen laßen. Es ist aber gewiß ein der Krone gehöriger Salpeter-Keßel.
About Tatars of the lower Volga
Keep in mind
A local legend that Gmelin rejects on the spot.
Hunting the vegetable lamb
Editorial contextGerman authors claimed that a 'Tartarian lamb' (barometz) grew as a plant near Astrakhan, half animal and half vegetable, eating the grass around it. Bell walked many miles with local Tartars to find it and found only a dry prickly bush. The Tartars themselves, he reports, laughed at the story. A rare case of a traveller testing a legend on the spot.
In search of this wonderful plant I walked many a mile, accompanied by Tartars who inhabit these deserts; but all I could find out were some dry bushes, scattered here and there, … After further enquiry of the more sensible and experienced among the Tartars, I found they laughed at it as a ridiculous fable.
About Tartars of the Astrakhan steppe
Continue in this sourceJohn Bell's travels from St Petersburg across Asia1715 to 1738 · 18 passagesPortrait of a Tatar noblewoman in a headdress of gold ducats
Editorial contextDe Bruyn painted a young Tatar woman of high rank in the governor's house. Under her veils she wore a pointed, mitre-shaped headdress covered in gold ducats and embroidered with pearls, silver chains with little boxes for prayer books, and hair bound with black ribbon. She came with three women attendants and a Tatar escort known to the governor.
This headdress was entirely covered with gold ducats, as has already been said, and pointed like a mitre, embroidered with a great number of pearls … This young lady was one of the most considerable among the Tartars, and was accompanied by three women of her suite and escorted by a Tartar known to the governor.
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Cette coifure étoit toute couverte de ducats d'or, comme il a déjà été dit, & pointue en forme de mitre, brodée d'un grand nombre de perles … Cette demoiselle étoit une des plus considerables d'entre les Tartares; & étoit accompagnée de trois femmes de sa suite, & conduite par un Tartare, connu du Gouverneur.
About Yurt Tatars (Nogai) of Astrakhan
Keep in mind
The portrait was engraved for the book.
Sarai, an Islamic city built by Khan Berke
Editorial contextIbn Arabshah names Sarai as the throne city of the Dasht and calls it 'a city of Islamic building, of marvellous structure'. Khan Berke, he says, built it when he became a Muslim and made it his royal seat. Just before this he laments that today, from Khwarazm to Crimea, nothing stirs of those peoples, and only gazelles and camels are left.
The throne of the Dasht is Sarai, a city of Islamic building and marvellous structure … Sultan Berke, may God have mercy on him, built it when he became a Muslim, and took it as the seat of kingship and chose it.
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وتحت الدشت سراي وهي مدينة اسلامية البنيان بديعة الاركان … وكان السلطان بركه رحمه الله لما اسلم بناها واتخذها دار الملك واصطفاها
About Golden Horde (Khan Berke)
Keep in mind
Modern scholars credit Batu with founding the first Sarai; Ibn Arabshah gives it to his brother Berke, the first Muslim khan. The first word is printed tht, read as takht, 'throne, capital'.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
Crimean guides who led a Turkish army to starve
Editorial contextAsked how the Muscovites had inflicted a great defeat on the Turks when a river diversion was attempted, Possevino's informant said it was not the Muscovites but the Crimean Tatars who did it. Though allies of the Turks, they feared a heavier yoke if the scheme succeeded, so they offered themselves as guides and led the Turkish troops through vast forests and foodless country until nearly all died of hunger and toil.
... the Muscovite had inflicted [so great a defeat on the Turks], when he had ordered the Don to be diverted into the Borysthenes: he answered that this was done not by the Muscovites but by the Precop Tartars, though allies of the Turks, who resented the scheme because they foresaw a heavier yoke hanging over them. So, offering themselves as guides to the Turkish forces, they led them round through huge forests and places without supplies, so that almost all of them perished of hunger and toil.
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cladem Moscus intulisset, cùm Tanaim deriuari iussisset in Boristhenem: respondit, hoc non à Moscis, sed à Tartaris Præcopensibus, licèt Turcarum fœderatis, accidisse, ægrè ferentibus id fieri, vnde grauius sibi iugum pendere prospicerent. Quamobrem cùm sese duces itineris Copijs Turcicis exhibuissent, per ingentes syluas, & loca commeatus egena, eas circumduxisse, vt fame, ac labore pleræq; omnes fermè interierint.
About Crimean ('Precop') Tatars; Ottoman Turks
Keep in mind
Hearsay. The river named is garbled: the real 1569 Ottoman plan was a Don to Volga canal to reach Astrakhan (a reader of this copy wrote 'Volgam' in the margin).
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR garbled); long s normalized.
Dried fish for bread, and mare's milk from a leather bag
Editorial contextThe Nogais near Astrakhan lived on their herds, hunting and fishing. Sun-dried fish served them as bread, they ate camel and horse meat, and they prized mare's milk, which they offered the ambassadors from a leather bag. On the same page he describes their fat-tailed sheep, two-humped camels and small tough horses, and the white linen coifs hung with Russian coins worn by the women.
Their ordinary food is fish dry'd in the Sun, which serves them instead of bread. … They eat Camels and Horse-flesh, and drink water and milk. Mares milk they much esteem; with this they treated our Ambassadors, when we gave them a Visit, taking it out of a … Leather-bag, to present it to us.
About Nogai Tatars
Continue in this sourceOlearius's embassy down the Volga to Persia1633 to 1639 · 13 passagesWalls of ice at Astrakhan, and Timur's razing of Sarai
Editorial contextAfter defeating Tokhtamysh, Timur resolved to level Astrakhan. Its people used the hard winter to build walls of ice blocks cemented by pouring water over them, but Timur marched through the deep snow, emptied the town, razed it and had its headman (kelanter) Mahmudi drowned under the ice that was meant to protect him. He then went on to Sarai, capital and residence of the khans, and laid it waste, as revenge for the Horde's earlier destruction of a city of the Chagatai realm. The loot of both cities was divided among the army.
In spite of the severe winter, which still gave the inhabitants of Astrakhan the advantage of fortifying themselves with walls of ice, joined together by pouring water over them, and in spite of the deep snow, he marched on Astrakhan, emptied the town of its inhabitants and had it razed … From Astrakhan Timur moved to Sarai, the capital of Kipchak and residence of the khans, and laid it waste
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Trotz des strengen Winters, welcher den Bewohnern von Astrachan noch den Vortheil gewährte, sich mit Eismauern, welche, mit Wasser übergossen, zusammengefügt wurden, zu befestigen, und trotz des tiefen Schnees marschierte er auf Astrachan, leerte die Stadt von ihren Bewohnern, liess sie schleifen … Von Astrachan zog Timur nach Serai, der Hauptstadt von Kiptschak und der Residenz der Chane, und verheerte dieselbe
About Timur's army; townspeople of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Told from the victor's side: Hammer follows Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi's Zafarnama, written in the 1420s for Timur's grandson, through Pétis de la Croix's French version.
Nogai huts outside Astrakhan: round, of bark or reeds, covered with felt
Editorial contextThe Nogais, though natives of the land, may not live inside the walls of Astrakhan and build poor huts outside, later protected by palisades. The huts are round, about ten feet across, made of bark or woven reeds covered with roughly joined felt, with an opening in the roof that serves as chimney and is closed with felt to keep in the heat.
The Tartars of the Nogai, though natives of the country, are not free to live within the walls of the town … Their huts are built round and are usually ten feet across; they are made only of tree bark or woven reeds, and covered only with roughly joined felt. The roof is open like a trapdoor and serves them as a chimney
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Les Tartares du Nagai quoique naturels du pays, n'ont pas la liberté de demeurer dans l'enceinte de la Ville … Leurs hutes sont bâties en rond & ont d'ordinaire dix piés de diamètre: elles ne sont faites que d'écorce d'arbre ou de roseaux entrelacés, ni couvertes que de feutre grossiérement joint. Le toit est ouvert en forme de trape, & leur tient lieu de cheminée
About Nogai Tatars
Keep in mind
Some of this closely follows Olearius's description of the Nogai huts at Astrakhan.
A Tatar camp near Astrakhan, 'as Abraham must have lived'
Editorial contextVisiting the Tatar camp a short mile from Astrakhan, the traveller found families camped apart in tents shaped like parrot cages, very clean and well furnished. They lived from their herds, burned dried cow dung stacked around the tents like peat, and, he thought, lived as contentedly in their tents as Europeans in palaces. He sketched a finely dressed young woman and compared their life to the Arabs and the biblical patriarchs.
Their tents are like parrot cages, only not so high in proportion, very clean and provided with good furniture… They get their warmth from cow dung, which they dry and prepare as we do our peat, and lay in heaps around their tents. Their way of life agrees fairly well with the Arabs'
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Ihre Zelte sind wie die Papageyen Bauer, nur nach Proportion nicht so hoch, sehr reinlich und mit guten Meublen versehen… Ihre Wärme schaffen sie sich von Küh-Mist, den sie trucknen und zu recht machen, wie wir unsern Torff, und in Hauffens um ihre Zelte legen. Ihre Lebens-Art kommt mit der Arabischen ziemlich überein
About Tatars camping near Astrakhan (probably Nogais)
Continue in this sourceWeber's 'Russia Transformed', with reports on Siberia, the Kalmyks and the Tatars1714 to 1738 · 11 passagesTartars as runaway 'Indian lords' who came in 1212
Editorial contextBefore describing Astrakhan, Olearius turns to the Polish scholar Matthias of Miechow. Miechow said the Tartars must not be confused with the ancient Scythians and Sarmatians, since they were only known from the thirteenth century; a comet of 1211 foretold their coming, and they were 'Indian lords' who had killed their king David and fled west. Olearius then says he will stick to what he saw himself.
a Physician, and Canon of Cracow, who liv'd at the beginning of the last age, says that those, who confound the Tartars with those Nations, which the Antients called Getae, Scythae and Sarmatae, are much mistaken, in as much as the Tartars have not been known, but since the thirteenth Age. … They were certain Indian Lords, who having kill'd their King, David, got away
About Tartars in general (Crimean, Kazan, Nogai)
Keep in mind
Book learning passed on second-hand; the 'King David' story echoes medieval Prester John legends.
Sarai, Astrakhan, Bolgar and Kaffa: the cities of Great Tartary
Editorial contextSchiltberger lists the towns he visited 'that belong to Great Tartary': Urgench, Haitzicherchen (Hajji Tarkhan, old Astrakhan), Sarai 'the residence of the kings of the Tartars', Bolgar, Ibissibur, Tana on the Don, Solkhat in Crimea, and Kaffa with its double walls and its Italian, Greek, Armenian and Jewish quarters. So the Horde of his day had real cities as well as camps.
Item, a city called Haitzicherchen, which is a large city, and in a good country. Another city called Sarei ; there, is the residence of the kings of the Tartars. There is also a city called Bolar, in which are different kinds of beasts.
About Golden Horde Tartars and their subject towns
Keep in mind
He says he was in these places but gives almost no description of Sarai itself; editor Bruun's notes (p.173) add that its ruins lie on the Akhtuba.
'Now we call Tatars our kin in Tobolsk, Kazan and Astrakhan'
Editorial contextThe answer Bichurin got from Turkestanis in Beijing, and his conclusion. It shows 'Tatar' as a name used by outsiders for particular Turkic communities under Russian rule, not the name of a vast state.
I asked them whom they call Tatars. Here is their answer: 'Now we call Tatars a people of the same stock as us, living in Tobol, Kazan and Astrakhan.' The Tatars themselves, on the contrary, assert that this name was given them by neighbouring peoples. … but now there is not a single people, nor even a clan, in Central Asia that calls itself by this name.
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я спрашивалъ ихъ, кого они называютъ Татарами? Вотъ ихъ отвѣтъ: „нынѣ мы называемъ Татарами единоплеменный съ нами народъ, обитающій въ Тоболѣ, Казани и Астрахани.“ Напротивъ, сами Татары утверждаютъ, что сіе названіе дано имъ отъ сосѣднихъ народовъ. … но только нынѣ нѣтъ ни одного не токмо народа, но и поколѣнія въ Средней Азіи, которое бы называлось симъ именемъ.
About Volga and Siberian Tatars, as seen by Turkestani Muslims
A note on this quote
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Europeans kept calling the Muslim Turks 'Tatars'
Editorial contextThe authors argue that after the Mongol conquests Europeans went on calling all the Muslim, Turkic-speaking peoples of Kazan, Astrakhan, the Crimea and Turkestan 'Tatars', which caused endless confusion. On the same page they conclude that the name lost all meaning in Asia and survives 'only in the European vocabulary', and that the Tatars of southern Russia are really Turks, Cumans or Pechenegs once ruled by the Mongols.
After the Mongol torrent had subsided, Europeans persisted in giving the appellation of Tatars to all those Mussulman nations originally of Turkish origin, that to this day occupy the territory of Kasan and Astrakhan, the Crimea and the region called Turcomania
About Turkic Muslims of Russia and Central Asia
Continue in this sourceThe Hommaire de Hells in the Caspian steppes and the Crimea1838 to 1841 · 17 passagesA Nogai suburb of bulrush houses behind a wooden rampart
Editorial contextAvril describes Astrakhan as a mixed trading city. The Armenians had one suburb and the Nogai Tartars another, which looked like a town of its own: a wooden rampart, its own governor under the Russian governor, a mosque, and about two thousand houses made mostly of bulrushes. He adds that the Russians treated the Nogais more as allies than subjects because they fought for them.
Armenians possess one of the Suburbs entirely to themselves, and the Nogais Tartars another, which altogether resembles a City, being fortifi'd with a Wooden-Rampart, and having a Governour who commands there, under the Orders of the Chief Governor of Astrakan. Within that Enclosure stands a Mosquee ; but the Houses are for the greatest part made of Bulrushes, of which there may be about two thousand.
About Nogai Tatars under Russian rule
Continue in this sourceFather Avril's search for an overland road to China1680s · 11 passagesTatar tents like parrot cages, carried on carts
Editorial contextDe Bruyn often walked out to the Tatar camp three or four versts from Astrakhan and drew it. Each family camped apart. The tents were built like parrot cages from laths three or four inches wide, covered with felt, camel hair or horsehair, with a smoke hole and a pole carrying a turnable sail against wind and sun. When they moved, they set the tents on two-wheeled carts.
They camp in groups, each family apart and at some distance from the others. Their tents are made like parrot cages, except that they are not so tall in proportion; formed of laths three to four inches wide, covered with felt, camel hair or horsehair … When they change place, they put their tents on carts
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Ils campent par troupes, chaque famille separée, & à quelque distance des autres. Leurs tentes sont faites comme des cages de perroquets, hormis qu'elles ne sont pas si élevées à proportion; formées de lattes de trois à quatre pouces de large, couvertes de feutre, de poil de chameau ou de crin de cheval … Quand ils changent de lieu, ils mettent leurs tentes sur des chariots
About Yurt Tatars (Nogai) of Astrakhan
Keep in mind
De Bruyn drew these tents himself (plates 36 and 37 in the book).
Astrakhan: a low wall and a few brick houses
Editorial contextContarini spent May to August 1476 at Astrakhan ('Citracan'). He says it belonged to three nephews of the Tatar emperor who wintered there and roamed the steppe in summer. The town was small, with a low wall and a few brick houses, but showed signs of larger buildings not long before, and was said to have once been a great trading place.
These three brothers remain in Citracan a few months in the winter, but in the summer do like the rest. Citracan is a small town situated on the Volga, and surrounded by a low wall. The few houses it contains are built of bricks ; but it is evident that it possessed several edifices at no very distant period.
About Tatars of the Astrakhan khanate
Continue in this sourceTwo Venetians among the Tatars: Barbaro at Tana and Contarini at Astrakhanc. 1436 to 1479 · 19 passagesKalmyk fishing camps of felt tents
Editorial contextSailing down the Volga to the Caspian, Hanway slept within pistol-shot of a Kalmyk settlement and describes their round tents (kibitkas) of canes covered with thick camel-hair felt, with the fire in the middle and the smoke going out at the top. These were poor Kalmyks living by fishing, seven or eight tents together under a chosen chief; others migrated south for the winter.
At night we slept within pistol-shot of a Khalmuck settlement. The habitations of these people are round tents, which they call khabitka's, raised with canes in the form of a cone, and covered with wilocks. These tents are of 10, and some of 15 yards in circumference, and about 12 feet high; they make their fires in the center of the tent,
About Kalmyk Tartars
Continue in this sourceJonas Hanway's history of British trade over the Caspian1743 to 1745 · 17 passagesTatar tents that travel whole on high-wheeled carts
Editorial contextIn the Tatar villages around Astrakhan, the winter houses were wretched wooden huts without roofs, with yards and stalls fenced with reeds. In summer the Tatars moved into kibitkas (felt tents) smaller than Kalmyk ones, so low one could barely stand up, with a round hole at the top for light and smoke. Their wooden lattice was made so tight that it could never be taken apart: to move, the felt was lifted off and the whole frame loaded onto an arba, a two-wheeled cart with very tall, noisy wheels, which a single person could pull.
The Tatars live in them [the wooden houses] only in winter, and over the summer they move into their kibitkas. These are of quite a different kind from the Kalmyk ones, first of all much smaller … and the woodwork forming their lattice is made so tight that it would be impossible to take such a tent apart and put it up again. Once it is fitted together, so it must stay
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Original wording
Die Tataren wohnen auch nur im Winter darinnen, und den Sommer über begeben sie sich in ihre Kibitken. Diese sind von einer ganz andern Art als die Kalmückische, und fürs erste weit kleiner … Dann auch das ihr Gegitter ausmachende Holzwerk so dichte verfertiget, daß es eine Unmöglichkeit wäre ein solches Zelt aus einander zu trennen und wieder aufzusetzen. Wie es einmal zusammen gefüget ist, so muß es bleiben
About Astrakhan Tatars
Continue in this sourceSamuel Gmelin's journey through southern Russia and Persia1768 to 1774 · 14 passagesA white tent for a daughter who may marry
Editorial contextWhen a daughter of these settled Tatar farmers was ready to marry, her family covered her tent with white linen tied with red strings and set a painted cloth on top, with a painted wagon beside it as her dowry. Suitors took the hint, and the girl generally went to the man who offered her father the best present.
When any of their daughters become marriageable, they cover her tent with white linen, and put a painted cloth on the top, which is usually tied with red strings: they have also a painted waggon on the side of the tent; and this is to be her marriage portion. Those who design to marry observe this signal,
About Tatars of Crimean descent settled around Astrakhan
Continue in this sourceJonas Hanway's history of British trade over the Caspian1743 to 1745 · 17 passagesBlue-glazed stone at Selitrennoe: who taught the Tatars enamel?
Editorial contextAt the saltpetre works of Selitrennoi Gorodok, Gmelin walked over the ruins of a Tatar town some 3 versts long, which the Tatars called Dschigit-Adschi after a young pilgrim said to have built it. He found heaps of bricks, old masonry and the remains of a large vaulted building 10 by 5 fathoms whose stones were skilfully cut, glazed blue and inlaid with small coloured stones, and he asks who could have taught the old Tatars enamelling. Human bones lay everywhere from treasure-digging, which had turned up gold and silver objects, earrings, rings, coins and seals.
The old remains themselves consist of … the wreckage of a sizeable building 10 fathoms long and 5 fathoms wide, with cavities or vaults. Many stones of the ruined building are not only artfully cut but also glazed blue, and partly inlaid very painstakingly and skilfully with other smaller coloured stones. Who, one wonders, taught the old Tatars to enamel with smalt?
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Original wording
Die alten Ueberbleibsel selbst bestehen in … Trümmern von einem ansehnlichen Gebäude welches 10 Faden lang und 5 Faden breit ist und Höhlen oder Gewölber hat. Viele Steine der Trümmer des Gebäudes sind nicht nur künstlich gehauen, sondern auch blau glasiret und theils mit andern kleinern, gefärbten Steinen sehr mühsam und geschikt ausgelegt. Wer hat wohl den alten Tataren das Emailliren mit Smalte gelehret?
About 'The old Tatars' (the town the Tatars call Dschigit-Adschi)
Keep in mind
Pallas, as editor, calls Gmelin's account of the name 'inaccurate' and refers readers to his own description of the site. The question about enamel is Gmelin's rhetorical doubt, not an answer.
Brick-lined graves of the Astrakhan Tatars
Editorial contextAround Astrakhan Hanway found settled farmers 'of the race of the Crim Tartars', tributary to Russia. He contrasts their burial with the Kalmyks': they dig deep graves, line them with sun-dried bricks and whitewash them, build a cover over them, and raise mud walls around the tomb topped with white flags. The same page describes their marriage custom of the white tent (see below).
They dig their graves very deep, and after lining them with bricks dried in the sun, and whitewashing them in the inside, they build a cover over them. They also raise thick walls of mud round each tomb, on the top of which are fixed one or more white flags, according to the character of the deceased.
About Tatars of Crimean descent settled around Astrakhan
Continue in this sourceJonas Hanway's history of British trade over the Caspian1743 to 1745 · 17 passagesAstrakhan, great before Tamerlane
Editorial contextBarbaro calls Astrakhan ('Cithercan') a little town almost destroyed, but once great and famous: before Timur (Tamerlane) sacked it, spices and silk came up through it to Tana and were shipped to Venice. It is a clear statement that a Tatar trading city existed, flourished and was ruined by a known conqueror.
the ryver Ledil, whereon standeth Cithercan, which at this present is but a litle towne in maner destroied ; albeit, that in tyme passed it hath been great and of great fame. For, before it was destroied by Tamerlano, the spices and silke that passe nowe through Soria came to Cithercan, and from thense to Tana
About Tatars of the Volga
Continue in this sourceTwo Venetians among the Tatars: Barbaro at Tana and Contarini at Astrakhanc. 1436 to 1479 · 19 passagesTimur tears down Sarai, Saraichuk and Astrakhan
Editorial contextAfter defeating Toqtamish, Timur's raiders reached Azaq (Azov), and he destroyed Sarai, Saraichuk and Hajji Tarkhan (Astrakhan) and the surrounding lands. The line is short, but it records in plain words that the Golden Horde's cities were destroyed by Timur, not lost to any natural catastrophe.
… of wealth, captives and goods; his raiding parties reached Azaq, and he demolished Sarai, Saraichuk and Hajji Tarkhan and those regions.
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Original wording
من الاموال والاسرى والمتاع ووصلت طراشته الى ازاق وهدم سراي وسرايجوق وحاجي ترخان وتلك الآفاق
About Golden Horde (Toqtamish's realm)
Keep in mind
Ibn Arabshah was a child in Damascus in 1395; he learned this from others, later.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
Sarai: sixty-three years from building to ruin
Editorial contextIbn Arabshah says Sarai drew so many scholars, men of letters and wits in a short time that no other city could match it, not even the great mosque of Cairo and its villages. He puts the whole life of the city, from its building to its ruin, at sixty-three years, and calls it one of the greatest and most populous of cities.
So Sarai, through these masters, became a gathering place of learning and a mine of good fortune … Between the building of Sarai and its ruin there were sixty-three years; and it was one of the greatest of cities in layout and the most crowded with people.
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Original wording
فصارت سراي بواسطة هؤلاء السادات مجمع العلم ومعدن السعادات … وبين بنيان سراي وخرابها من الامكنه ثلاث وستون سنه وكانت من اعظم المدن وضعا واكثرها للخلق جمعا
About Golden Horde
Keep in mind
The sixty-three-year span is Ibn Arabshah's own reckoning; the city's history was longer and more complex.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
The vegetable lamb: 'I have seen several'
Editorial contextOn the salt steppe west of the Volga grows the 'Boranez', a fruit shaped like a lamb with feet, head and tail, covered in white down. Struys says the Tartars and Russians prize it and keep it in their houses, where he saw several, and that he had also seen one in Swammerdam's cabinet in Amsterdam. People in Astrakhan told him it grows on a stalk and dies when the grass around it is gone. This is the famous barometz legend, in real life probably a fern rhizome shaped to look like a lamb.
where the Boranez or Bornitsch grows, of which we have already spoken. This marvellous fruit has the shape of a lamb, with the feet, head and tail distinctly formed … The Tartars and the Muscovites think highly of it, and most keep it carefully in their houses, where I have seen several.
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où croît le Boranez ou Bornitsch dont nous avons déjà parlé. Ce merveilleux fruit a la figure d'un agneau, avec les piés, la tête & la queue distinctement formés … Les Tartares & les Moscovites en font grand état, & la plupart le gardent avec soin dans leurs maisons où j'en ai vu plusieurs.
About Tartars and Russians of Astrakhan
Keep in mind
He saw objects sold as barometz; how it grows is hearsay, and the whole idea is a legend.
The ruins of a great Tatar city on the Akhtuba
Editorial contextOn the way home the missionaries stopped at the 'saltpetre town', a Russian cordon post among ruins that stretched far along the Akhtuba, a navigable arm of the Volga. Zwick could see the city had once been large and splendid but could not learn its old name. Just before, he says these Tartars were subdued by Russia 'in 1562' and their lands laid waste from Kazan to Astrakhan (Kazan actually fell in 1552 and Astrakhan in 1556).
At noon we arrived at Selitrenoi Gorodok, (which the Tartars call Tschigit) where we stayed till noon the following day. This ancient Tartarian city must, as it is evident from the remains, have been remarkable for its size and splendour; its ancient name I have not been able to learn. … The ruins of the city extend far and wide along the shore of the river.
About Golden Horde Tatars
Keep in mind
Modern archaeologists identify the Selitrennoye ruins as Sarai (often called Sarai-Batu), a capital of the Golden Horde; Zwick did not know this.
Astrakhan: Tatar nomads outside, reed houses inside
Editorial contextEvliya says thousands of Astrakhan Tatars live outside the city along the Volga in their oba (tent camps), moving like the Nogays, and adds the local legend that the name comes from a dragon (azhder) that ravaged the country until a khan killed it. Inside the walls he counts monasteries, churches and a thousand-odd reed-roofed houses, and in the outer town thirteen thousand houses roofed with reeds and earth and seven mosques.
Many thousands of them live outside the city on the bank of the Volga in their tent-camps; these too are Tatars by origin, and like the Nogays they camp and move with their obas … In ancient times this city lay in ruins, and a dragon was born here … then a heroic khan killed this dragon, and because the land became safe they call this country Azhder-khan.
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نیجه بیکی شهر خارجنده نهر ادل کنارنده اوبالر ایله ساکن اولورلر بونلرك دخی اصلی تاتاردر همان نوغای کبی اوبالریله قنوب کوچرلر ... زمان قدیمده بوشهر خراب یاتوب بونده براژدرها تورهیوب ... بعده برخان بهادر بواژدرهایی قتل ایدوب ولایت امن وامان اولدوغیچون بودیاره اژدرخان دیرلر
About Astrakhan Tatars and Nogays under Muscovite rule
Keep in mind
The dragon etymology is folk legend (the name comes from Hajji Tarkhan). Evliya's presence in Astrakhan is doubted by some scholars.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR is partly garbled); bracketed variant markers omitted.
Itil: a city of felt huts with one brick palace
Editorial contextYaqut's excerpt describes the Khazar capital Itil on the lower Volga as two towns on either bank. The western part, where the king lived, was walled and about a parasang long, but its buildings were mostly huts of felt, with a few of clay, plus markets and baths. On the next page (n27) it says the king's palace, away from the river, was of fired brick, and that the king let nobody else build in brick.
This western part stretches for a parasang in length and is enclosed by a wall, but its buildings are scattered and few. Their dwellings are huts (or tents) made of felt, apart from a few built of clay. They have markets and baths.
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Original wording
Haec pars occidentalis in parasangae longitudinem extenditur, muro cincta, sed eo quidem sparsae raraeve structurae. Eorum autem aedificia sunt casae (seu mapalia) ex panno coactili confectae, paucis exceptis, quae e luto constructa. Sunt iis fora et balnea.
About Khazars
Keep in mind
Yaqut attributes this to Ibn Fadlan, but much of it matches the geographer al-Istakhri, and Ibn Fadlan probably did not visit Itil.
A Tatar history: 'The habitations of the Chans were stone buildings'
Editorial contextAt Mozdok Klaproth bought a history of the Tartars in the Nogai dialect and translates its list of where the khans lived: Sarai, the Akhtuba, Madzhar, and vice-khans at Astrakhan and Kazan. He notes that the word he renders 'stone buildings' is 'Madshar' itself. The Nogais near the ruins also told him it had been the residence of Khan Mamai.
The habitations of the Chans were stone buildings. The residence of one Chan was Urisch, and the residence of another Chan was Churssan… Dshan Beg Chan's residence was at Ack Adil, with the name of Ssaray Aldy… Jaick Chan's was Madshar. There were three vice-chans; at Adshdruchan was the place of abode of Timur Ckutlu-Chan, Borki Chan's habitation was at Ckathatdr, and Sheich Aly Chan's residence at Ckasan.
About Golden Horde khans
Keep in mind
A late native chronicle of unknown date and author; place names are Klaproth's transcriptions.
Ruined Tatar towns along the Volga
Editorial contextOn the left bank of the Volga, Haxthausen says, the Tatars were not only nomads: they had fixed towns and farms, as shown by ruins and by place names. The Akhtuba valley where Sarai stood is covered with ruins for about 85 versts (roughly 90 km). When the Horde broke up, the towns were destroyed and the settlers driven off by Kirghiz and Bashkir raiders, leaving only ruins and broken mosques.
This is evident not merely from the ruins of cities (the whole district on the Akhtuba, where Sarai stood, for eighty-five versts, is covered with ruins), but the names of nearly all denote that the Tatars had fixed settlements here. When the Mongol-Tatar empire was dissolved, the cities were destroyed … only here and there a ruin or dilapidated mosque bore witness to their former existence.
About Tatars of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
He reports this from local knowledge and place names while passing through the Saratov region; he did not visit the Akhtuba ruins himself.
The ruined city at Selitrennoye
Editorial contextOn the Akhtuba, a branch of the lower Volga, Pallas found an abandoned saltpetre works standing among the ruins of a great city: rubbish heaps, traces of buildings and brick tombs spread over a strip one to two versts wide and more than ten versts long. He calls it 'an extensive city of the Nagays'. Historians today usually identify the site as Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde founded in the thirteenth century.
…here, along the banks of the Akhtouba, on a place from one to two versts broad, we discovered in every direction heaps of rubbish, traces of buildings, and tombs of brickwork, being the ruins of an extensive city of the Nagays. There had been a small fort erected on a hill, which unquestionably contained the principal and most elegant buildings of the place,
About 'Nagays' in Pallas's words; the site is Sarai, capital of the Golden Horde
Keep in mind
Pallas credits the city to 'Nagays'; the identification with Sarai is modern, not his.
Kalmyk leather huts shaped like a hooped petticoat
Editorial contextWeber's informant Poussett described the Kalmyk caravan that came to trade at Astrakhan each year, grazing its way along the Volga. They carried leather huts called 'Kubiten' (kibitkas), which looked like a whalebone hooped petticoat; they raised them on poles, cooked inside, and closed the top hole when the fire was out to keep warm at night. Each morning the houses were loaded back onto the pack animals.
They had a kind of leather huts, which looked like a whalebone petticoat and were called Kubiten; these they set up with poles, made fire and food inside, and when the fire had burned out stopped up the hole at the top, and so kept warm at night. In the morning they loaded their houses onto the pack animals and moved on.
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Original wording
Sie hätten eine Art Hütten von Leder, die einer jupe de baleine ähnlich sähen, und Kubiten genennet würden, diese stelleten sie mit Stangen auf, machten Feuer und Essen darinn, und stopfeten wenn das Feuer ausgebrannt, oben das Loch zu, und wärmeten sich auf solche Art des Nachts. Des Morgens lüden sie ihre Häuser auf die Last-Thiere und jagten weiter fort.
About Kalmyks (Volga Kalmyk caravan)
Keep in mind
Cited from the 1744 reissue, which reprints the 1721 text page for page with clearer OCR.
A Kalmyk princess in a silk-lined felt tent
Editorial contextSent to treat the widowed Kalmyk princess, held under Russian guard in a dispute over the khanate, Cook entered a very large beehive-shaped tent covered with felt and lined with Persian silk. She lay on a down bed covered with silk, with priests and chiefs standing round. He decided her illness was confinement and grief.
In company with the major, the governor's only son, I went to a very large tent, in form of a bee-hive, covered with felt, and lined with Persian silk. When I entered into the tent, the Princess was lying on a bed of down covered with silk; her face was from us. Many Kalmucks well dressed were standing with great decorum
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols)
Continue in this sourceJohn Cook's travels as a doctor on Russia's Tartar frontier1730 to 1749 · 11 passagesNogais said to be Indians, and Astrakhan named after King Astra
Editorial contextIn his 'short account of the Tartars', Bruce says the ancients knew them only as Scythians and Sarmatians, and that the Tartars were really several nations. He repeats a story that the Nogais and Kazan Tatars were Indians who rebelled around 1212 and migrated to the Sea of Azov, and that Astrakhan was named after its founder, a Tartar king called Astra.
The Nagayans, with the Tartars of Casan, and some others inhabiting between the Wolga and the Don, or Tanais, are said to have been Indians, who revolting from their sovereigns about the year 1212, emigrated … Astrachan, their principal city, they relate to have been built by a Tartar king, whose name being Astra, gave his city the name of Astra chan, or king.
About Nogai and Kazan Tatars
Keep in mind
Both stories are origin legends reported as hearsay ('are said', 'they relate'); they appear in earlier writers such as Olearius.
Glazed brick and blue mosaic at Sarai
Editorial contextFrom the same ruins Zwick describes walls of glazed, pointed brick decorated with coloured mosaic on a deep blue ground, which he compares to the building styles of the Turks and Saracens from the Near East to Egypt and Spain. He says the same was true at 'Seray' further up the river. On the next page he describes a six-foot panel of this work, with a white inscription 'in the Tartarian language', reused in the wall of a peasant's cottage.
We perceived, from the ruins of this city, that here as well as at Seray, … walls were built of glazed brick and pointed, and mosaic work of various colours was employed in decoration here, as throughout the ancient Turkish, Tartar, and Saracen tribes, in the East, in Egypt, and Spain. The ground is usually deep blue, with other colours let in.
About Golden Horde Tatars
Keep in mind
The omitted words call Seray the capital of an empire whose name is garbled in the OCR.
Reed huts shaped like chicken coops, outside Astrakhan's walls
Editorial contextAt Astrakhan the Tatars were not allowed to live inside the Russian-held city or to build walled towns. They lived in round huts of reeds or canes about twelve feet across, with a smoke hole and a cloth flap turned to the wind. In summer they loaded the huts onto carts and followed the pasture, which is why, Olearius says, the Russians called them wanderers.
The Inhabitants of the Country, who are the Tartars of Crim and Nagaia, are not permitted to live within the City … because they are not suffer'd to build Cities, nor to fortify their Towns nor Villages with walls. Their Huts are made either with Bull-rushes or Canes, being about twelve foot diameter, round, and towards the top, like the Coops wherein Chickens are kept in Europe.
About Nogai and Crimean Tatars under Russian rule
Continue in this sourceOlearius's embassy down the Volga to Persia1633 to 1639 · 13 passagesTwo kinds of Tatar marriage
Editorial contextGmelin explains that at a Tatar betrothal the bride's side names a fine, from fifty to a hundred roubles, that the groom must pay if he mistreats his wife, withholds food and clothing, or is caught in adultery. In a footnote he adds that there are two ways of marrying. In one, the wife is kept for life in the women's quarters, may not even look out of the window and does no housework, sitting 'like a statue with folded hands'. In the other she may go where she likes and appear in public, but must run the household.
The Tatars marry their wives in two ways. In the one, the wives are confined and so given over to the power of their husbands that they must stay for life in the women's quarters assigned to them and are not allowed to look out of the window … In the other, Tatar wives have the freedom to go wherever they like and to appear in public without fear.
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Die Tataren verheurathen sich mit ihren Weibern auf eine zweyfache Art. Bey der einen werden die letztern eingeschränkt, und so der Gewalt der Männer übergeben, daß sie Lebenslang in dem ihnen angewiesenen Weiber-Behältniß verbleiben müßen, nicht Erlaubniß haben aus dem Fenster zu sehen … Bey der andern Art haben die tatarische Weiber die Freyheit überall hinzugehen, wo sie wollen, und ohngescheut in dem Publiko zu erscheinen.
About Astrakhan Tatars
Continue in this sourceSamuel Gmelin's journey through southern Russia and Persia1768 to 1774 · 14 passagesRussian towers built from Tatar rubble
Editorial contextThe few towers still standing among the ruins were not Tatar work at all, Zwick decided, but early Russian forts. His reasons are practical: the towers are held together with clay, while the Tatar buildings used a hard mortar, and they were patched together from broken pieces of fine older buildings, with glazed tiles stuck in any which way.
In the first place, they are built with clay cement, whereas the Tartars used a durable mortar; in the next place, they are evidently piled up from the ruins of handsome buildings, as may be seen by the glazed tiles which are stuck on at random, without any respect to the glazed side.
About Golden Horde Tatars; early Russian settlers
Keep in mind
The judgement that the towers are Russian is Zwick's own reading of the masonry.
Running the gauntlet past Tatar Astrakhan by moonlight
Editorial contextNikitin sails down the Volga past Kazan, the Horde and Sarai, then meets three Tatars who warn of a sultan watching for merchants. Paid to guide the party around Astrakhan, they betray it to the khan ('zar'), and the Russian boats are chased. It is a first-person glimpse of the Volga still ruled by Tatar khanates.
We passed unmolested through Kazan, the Orda, Ooslan, Sarai, and Berekezany, and we entered the river Buzan. Here we fell in with three godless Tartars, who told us false tidings … We sailed by Astrakhan at moonlight. The zar perceived us, and at once the Tartars cried : " Do not fly ;" and the zar ordered the whole orda to chase us.
About Tatars of the Astrakhan khanate
Keep in mind
Translated from a difficult late fifteenth-century Russian text; 'zar' is the translator's rendering of the title Nikitin gives the khan of Astrakhan.
Huts on wagons, and guns lent only for the winter
Editorial contextIn summer the Nogais, like the Kalmyks, move camp for food and fodder, carrying their goods on camels and setting their huts on great wagons made for the purpose. In winter they camp around Astrakhan for mutual defence against Kalmyk raids across the frozen Volga, and the Russian governor lends them weapons each winter and takes them back each summer, keeping one of their princes as hostage.
for carrying their goods they have camels, and they put their huts on great wagons made for the purpose … To repel the attacks they suffer from them, the Governor of Astrakhan, who protects them, lends them arms every winter and takes them back every summer
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Original wording
pour le transport de leurs meubles, ils ont des chameaux, & mettent leurs hutes sur de grands chariots faits exprès … Pour repousser les insultes qu'ils en reçoivent, le Gouverneur d'Astracan qui les protège, leur prête des armes tous les Hivers, & les reprend tous les Etés
About Nogai Tatars (and Kalmyks)
Keep in mind
How the governor handled weapons and hostages was information Struys had from others.
Astrakhan: Tatars kept outside the stone walls
Editorial contextBruce describes Astrakhan as a Russian city with high stone fortifications, stone towers and wooden houses. The Tartars, the former inhabitants, were no longer allowed to live inside the walls, only in suburbs fenced with palisades. He dates the Russian capture to 1554, after the fall of Kazan.
The city is of a considerable bigness, and at present inhabited almost entirely by Russians ; the former inhabitants of the country, being Tartars, are not permitted to live within the walls, but in the adjacent suburbs, which are only fenced round with pallisades : the fortifications of the city are all of stone, very high
About Nogai Tatars under Russian rule
Keep in mind
Astrakhan fell to Ivan IV in 1556; Bruce's 1554 marks the first Russian campaign.
1771: why the Volga towns escaped the Kalmyk flight
Editorial contextBergmann retells the great flight of the Torghut Kalmyks from the Volga back towards Zungharia in 1771. The common people were told the march would only go as far as the Emba, as a threat to win concessions from Russia, and were promised plunder of Russian property. Because the hordes on the western bank could not cross to join the rest, the Russian towns on that side were saved, and the fleeing Kalmyks contented themselves with plundering the stores of the Russian, Armenian and Tatar merchants in the horde's bazaar.
Whatever prevented the western hordes from crossing saved the Russian towns lying on that side of the Volga. Their destruction would have been unavoidable if the Kalmyks on this side and that had been able to join hands.
Working translation
Original wording
Was den Uebergang der westlichen Horden verhinderte, rettete die russischen Städte, die auf derselben Seite der Wolga lagen. Die Zerstörung derselben wäre unvermeidlich gewesen, wenn die Kalmüken auf dieser und jener Seite im Stande gewesen wären, sich einander die Hände zu bieten.
About Torghut Kalmyks under vice-khan Ubashi
Keep in mind
Retrospective history written thirty years later from informants and documents.
'Yurt' Tatars: named for being born there
Editorial contextDe Bruyn records the Russian name for the Tatars around Astrakhan, 'Jurtsge' (the Yurt Tatars), explaining it as 'because they were born there'. They paid no tribute to the Tsar but had to send a few hundred men to his wars, though they could field 20,000. On the same page he notes that Nogais tented near Terki and that Crimean Tatars came only to sell horses and cattle.
The Russians call the Tartars who live in those parts Jurtsge, because they were born there. Nor do they pay any tribute to the Tsar; they are only obliged to send some hundreds of their people to war when that prince wishes it.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Russiens nomment les Tartares, qui habitent en ces quartiers-là, Jurtsge, parce qu'ils y sont nez. Aussi ne payent-ils aucun tribut au Czar; ils sont seulement obligés d'envoyer quelques centaines de leurs gens à la guerre, lors que ce Prince le souhaite.
About Yurt Tatars of Astrakhan
Continue in this sourceDe Bruyn's travels down the Volga to Astrakhan, 17031701 to 1708 · 13 passagesAstrakhan falls to the Russians without bloodshed
Editorial contextIn his history of Astrakhan, drawn from Russian records, Gmelin tells how the Russian flotilla sailing down the Volga halted at the ruins of Tsarevy Pody, 'which the Russians also call Bolshoi Sarai' (Great Sarai), before sailing on to Astrakhan. The few inhabitants opened the gates and fled, and the city passed to the Russians without bloodshed, while Prince Vyazemsky stormed the camp of the khan 'Emchurtschey' (Yamgurchi) and found many cannon once carried off from Russia. The khan had already sent his treasure and his harem out to sea on ships and fled.
at the famous remains, already described by me, of the Tatar city of Tsarevy Pody, which the Russians also usually call Bolshoi Sarai, … The few inhabitants, as soon as they saw the Russians arrive, opened the gates and fled into known hiding places. In the midst of their flight, however, most fell into the hands of the Christians, and so the city passed to the latter without any bloodshed.
Working translation
Original wording
bey … den von mir schon beschriebenen berühmten Ueberbleibseln der Tatarischen Stadt Zarewpody, welche die Rußen auch sonsten Bolschoi Saray zu nennen pflegen, … Die wenigen Innwohner, so bald sie die Ankunft der Rußen erblickten, öfneten die Thore, und flohen in bekannte Schlupfwinkel. Mitten in ihrer Flucht aber fielen die meiste in die Hände der Christen, und die Stadt übergieng daher an die letztere ohne alles Blutvergießen.
About Astrakhan Tatars under Khan Yamgurchi
Keep in mind
Second-hand history written two centuries after the event, from the Russian side.
Astrakhan, 'ancient capital of the Tatar kingdom'
Editorial contextThe authors sketch Astrakhan's history: part of Batu Khan's Kipchak empire (the Golden Horde), then an independent Tatar khanate, taken by Ivan the Terrible in 1554, after which its prosperity faded. In their day it was a provincial town, but its old walls and battlemented towers still recalled its past. Over 5,000 Tatars lived there as traders, and their mosques and bath domes gave the town an oriental look.
At present the ancient capital of the Tatar kingdom is merely the chief town of a government … It contains a great number of squares, churches, and mosques. Its old embattled towers and its walls, which still include a considerable space of ground, remind the traveller of its ancient warlike renown.
About Tatars of the Golden Horde and the Astrakhan khanate
Keep in mind
The history is the authors' summary; they do not say who built the walls and towers they saw.
A Kalmyk prince's temple: Tibetan plan, Petersburg colonnades
Editorial contextHumboldt's party visited the Kalmyk prince Serebdzhab Tyumen at his Volga residence. His temple was an oblong building with a 'Japanese' (pagoda-style) roof, and the curved colonnades on either side recalled the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg. Rose was told the prince had added these to his own design, while the temple itself was built strictly on Tibetan models: a building that mixes steppe Buddhism and Russian neoclassicism.
…as at the Kazan Church in Petersburg. The prince had these added to his church according to his own idea; otherwise, as we were told, it was built strictly on Tibetan models.
Working translation
Original wording
…bei der Kasanischen Kirche in Petersburg. Diese hatte der Fürst nach eigener Idee seiner Kirche hinzufügen lassen, die sonst streng nach tibetanischen Modellen, wie man uns sagte, erbaut war.
About Kalmyks (Buddhist Oirat Mongols of the lower Volga)
Keep in mind
The OCR of this page is badly garbled; the wording was restored and should be checked against the scan.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Astrakhan, where the khan wintered on a road of hay
Editorial contextIbn Battuta travelled with the khan's court to Astrakhan, 'one of his cities', on the Volga (Athal). The khan wintered there, and when the river froze the local people were ordered to lay thousands of bundles of hay on the ice as a roadway.
At this place the Sultan resides during the very cold weather ; and when this river, as well as the adjoining waters, are frozen, the King orders the people of the country to bring thousands of bundles of hay, which they do, and then place it upon the ice, and upon this they travel.
About Golden Horde (Uzbek Khan)
Continue in this sourceIbn Battuta's travels, in Samuel Lee's 1829 abridged translation1325 to 1354 · 17 passagesThe runaway slave who hid in Sarai for ten years
Editorial contextTo show how vast Sarai was, Ibn Arabshah tells a story: a slave ran away from one of the city's notables, opened a shop in an out-of-the-way street and made his living there for about ten years, and in all that time his master never came across him or saw him.
It is told that a slave of one of its notables ran away to a spot off the main road, opened a shop there, traded in it and earned his living; this went on for about ten years, and his master never came upon him there, nor met him, nor saw him, because of the city's size and the multitude of its peoples.
Working translation
Original wording
حكي ان رجلا من اعيانها هرب له رقيق في مكان منحي عن الطريق وفتح له حانوتا يتسبب فيه ويحصل له قوتا واستمر ذلك الحين نحوا من عشر سنين لم يصادفه فيه مولاه ولا اجتمع به ولا رآه وذلك لعظمها وكثرة اممها
About Townspeople of Sarai (Golden Horde)
Keep in mind
A 'they say' anecdote, told to make a point about size, not a checked fact.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this print is garbled); vowel marks and the asterisk dividers of the rhymed prose omitted.
Not a single house between Saratov and Astrakhan
Editorial contextBelow Saratov Bruce entered Kalmyk country on the left bank of the Volga. He says the whole huge tract had not one house: the Kalmyks lived in tents, moved with horses, camels, cattle and sheep, grew no crops and ate meat (especially horse), fish and game, with plenty of milk and a strong clear spirit made from mare's milk.
in all which immense tract there is not so much as one single house to be seen, as they all live in tents, and remove from one place to another in quest of pasturage for their large herds of cattle, consisting of horses, camels, cows, and sheep ; they neither sow, nor reap, nor make hay for their cattle, so that they live without bread
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols)
Continue in this sourcePeter Henry Bruce's memoirs of service under Peter the Great1700 to 1733 · 12 passagesNogai round huts of bulrushes, each with its hawk
Editorial contextBruce says the Nogais around Astrakhan lived mostly in small round huts of bulrushes or canes with a smoke hole at the top, and that even the smallest had a hawk, since they were great falconers. On the next page he says they packed the huts onto carts in summer and moved with their herds.
The Nagayans live for the most part in round huts made of bull-rushes, or canes, and seldom exceed twelve or thirteen yards in circumference, with a hole at the top to let out the smoak ; yet the least of these huts has a falcon, or hawk, as those Tartars are great masters of this sport
About Nogai Tatars ('Nagayans')
Keep in mind
This description closely follows Adam Olearius's account of the 1630s and may be borrowed rather than observed.
No images in the mosque
Editorial contextAfter visiting the Indian temple at Astrakhan, Hanway contrasts the Muslim Tatars, who abhor image worship so much that they will not carry coins stamped with a man, bird or beast into their temples. Their worship is silent prostration, with the priest calling on the lord of nature through Muhammad. He adds that the Nogais are Muslims who look like the Kalmyks 'but better favoured'.
The Tartars hold this image worship in the utmost abomination; they will not carry even money which has any impression of man, bird, beast, creeping thing, or insect, into their temples. Their devotion is in silence and prostrations,
About Muslim Tatars of Astrakhan
Continue in this sourceJonas Hanway's history of British trade over the Caspian1743 to 1745 · 17 passages70,000 Turks and Tatars besiege Astrakhan
Editorial contextThe English merchants Banister and Ducket were held up at Astrakhan for six weeks by a great army of Turks and Tatars sent by the Sultan to take the town from Russia. Winter and news of a Russian relief army made them give up. The editors' note adds that this was the Ottoman campaign that also tried to dig a canal between the Volga and the Don.
In this towne of Astracan they were somewhat hindered of their iourney, and staied the space of 6. weekes by reason of a great armie of 70,000. Turkes and Tartares, which came thither vpon the instigation of the great Turke, hoping either to haue surprised it suddenly, or by continuance of siege to win the same.
About Ottoman Turks with Crimean Tatars
Continue in this sourceEarly English voyages to Russia and Persia, volume IIc. 1550 to 1579 · 11 passagesThe Volga, 'the river on which the city of Sarai stands'
Editorial contextIn his list of rivers al-Umari describes the Athil (Volga) as the river on which the city of al-Sarai is set, flowing through 'the deserts of the Qipchaq' into the Caspian. Sarai was then the capital of the Golden Horde, with which the Mamluks were allied.
Among them is the river Athil. It is the river on which the city of al-Sarai is set. Its source is a spring welling up at the foot of Mount Qaquna; then it turns south, heading west through the deserts of the Qipchaq, north of the silver mines, until it flows into the Sea of Tabaristan [the Caspian].
Working translation
Original wording
ومن ذلك نهر أثيل . وهو المركب عليه مدينة السراى . ومخرجه من عين تنبع فى ذيل جبل قاقونا ، ثم يقتبل الجنوب آخذا بغرب فى صحارى القبجاق على شمالى معادن الفضة ، حتى يصب فى بحر طبرستان
About Golden Horde (Qipchaq steppe)
Keep in mind
Geographical summary; the source and course are partly traditional.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR is partly garbled); vowel marks omitted.
A ten-year-old breaks a wild stallion
Editorial contextAt Prince Tumene's, Kalmyk riders lassoed wild horses from the herd and rode them bareback, clinging to the mane, until they were caught up by other horsemen. Then a boy of about ten did the same on a huge white stallion. Adèle adds that even Kalmyk women practise the sport.
But what was our amazement when we saw a boy of ten years come forward to undertake the same exploit! They selected for him a young white stallion of great size, whose fiery bounds and desperate efforts to break his bonds, indicated a most violent temper.
About Kalmyks
Continue in this sourceThe Hommaire de Hells in the Caspian steppes and the Crimea1838 to 1841 · 17 passagesAstrakhan, city of a Tartar founder
Editorial contextHanway gives the history as he heard it: Astrakhan was named after a Tartar founder, Hadgee Terkan, was ruled by Tartars for ages and taken by Ivan the Terrible in 1554. In his day it had some 70,000 people, including many Armenians and 'Tartars of various denominations', an 'epitome of Asia'. The old brick wall was ruinous and the houses mostly mean wooden ones.
…and derives its name from Hadgee Terkan a Tartar by whom it was founded. It was for many ages subject to the Tartars, from whom it was taken by Ivan Wassilowitz czar of Muscovy in 1554, … It contains about 70,000 inhabitants, among whom are many Armenians and Tartars of various denominations, with a few Persians and Indians.
About Tartars of Astrakhan (the former khanate)
Keep in mind
The founder story (Hadji Tarkhan) is a traditional etymology repeated by Hanway.
Yurt Tatars, village Tatars and wandering Tatars
Editorial contextGmelin explains the Russian names for the Astrakhan Tatars. They were first called 'Yasak Tatars' because after the conquest of the Astrakhan kingdom the tsar took into service all who had deserted the khan and the murzas, and laid a tribute (yasak) on them. They were divided into settled 'Yurt' Tatars and wandering ones, with 'Aul' Tatars for those living in villages, since aul means village in Tatar. He adds that most of the wandering Tatars had joined the Kalmyks or gone off to the Crimea, the Kuban, the Kazakhs and the Bashkirs.
They were at first called Yasak Tatars, … because after taking the kingdom of Astrakhan the tsar took into service at Astrakhan all who had deserted the khan, the murzas and the black [common] Tatars, and laid on them a yasak, or tribute. They are conveniently divided into Yurt and Kochevye [nomadic] Tatars. The former are settled Tatars, the latter move about in hordes … Aul means a village in the Tatar language.
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Jassaschnije Tataren wurden sie anfänglich, … weil der Zaar … nach der Einnahme des Astrachanischen Königreichs alle von dem Chan den Mursas und schwarzen Tataren … abgefallene zu Astrachan in Diensten genommen und mit einem Jassak oder mit einem Tribut belegt hat. Man theilt sie füglich in die Jurtowische und in die Kotschewnyesche ein. Jene sind seßhafte Tataren, diese ziehen Hordenweise … Aul bedeutet in der Tatarischen Sprache ein Dorf.
About Astrakhan Tatars
Keep in mind
Marginal headings break into the OCR lines here and are left out with ellipses.
Old wells lined with pine and tile
Editorial contextAt the 'Pine-tree Wells' in a treeless steppe, Zwick guessed the name came from a time when the Tartars had boarded the wells with pine floated down the Volga from the north. Bits of tile lay in the sand, and nearby grave mounds showed traces of masonry. He adds that Kalmyk and Tatar tradition credited such works to Janibeg Khan, who ruled from the Akhtuba and died in 1357.
Probably these wells were so called by the Calmucs, because they had been in former times boarded at the sides with pine by the Tartars, and the wood for the purpose might have been brought on the Volga from northern Russia, as it is at this day. Fragments of tiles are still to be found in the sand, and appear also to have been used in forming the wells.
About Golden Horde Tatars (by Kalmyk tradition)
Keep in mind
The explanation of the name is Zwick's guess; the credit to Janibeg is local tradition he heard.
A Tatar cart turned to stone
Editorial contextNear the same wells the Kalmyks told Zwick they had once cleared an old well and found a Tatar cart (arba) turned to stone, and he heard of similar finds in the Kuma marshes. He did not see it himself, and offers a sober explanation: salty soil hardens wood, as the Volga fishermen knew from their salting tubs.
In an old well in this neighbourhood, which the Calmucs cleared out some years ago, they are said to have found a Tartar arba in a state of petrifaction. Similar cases, as we were elsewhere told, have been found in the Kuma Morass. That the saltness of the soil may have contributed to the preservation of the wood is the more probable
About Kalmyks; Tatars
Keep in mind
Hearsay; Zwick reports it and explains it but did not see the cart.
Coins of the Khans dug from the ruins
Editorial contextZwick picked up antiquities at the site: an inscribed alabaster, a copper amulet, a seal, inscribed gems including one bearing the Muslim creed 'There is no God but God', and silver and copper coins of the Khans dated from 710 to 766 of the Hijra, which he converts as 1310 to 1364 AD, from 'Tochtocho-Chan' (Tokhta Khan) to 'Asis Chan' (Aziz Khan). The finds tie the city to the Muslim Golden Horde of the fourteenth century.
I here procured several antiques; amongst others, an alabaster with an inscription, a copper amulet with magical characters, a seal with a name upon it ; a number of ring-jewels, and jewels with inscriptions, … also a quantity of silver and copper coins of the old Chans, from 1310 A.D. (or 710 of the Hegira) to 1364 (or 766.)
About Golden Horde Tatars
Keep in mind
The OCR reads the last date as '1864'; 766 of the Hijra is 1364 to 1365.
Astrakhan's Tatars: the town's craftsmen
Editorial contextRose calls the Astrakhan Tatars the descendants of the city's and the region's former inhabitants, still numerous, and like the Kazan Tatars. As in Kazan they were the real manufacturers of the town, especially dyers, tanners and soap-boilers, though the famous madder-dye works he visited was run by an Armenian.
Finally, as for the Tatars, they are the descendants of the former inhabitants of the city and the land and are still numerous. They are like the Tatars of Kazan, and in Astrakhan as there they are the real manufacturers, especially dyers, tanners and soap-boilers.
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Was endlich die Tataren betrifft, so sind sie die Abkömmlinge der ehemaligen Bewohner der Stadt und des Landes und auch jetzt noch zahlreich. Sie sind den Tataren von Kasan ähnlich, und auch in Astrachan wie dort, die eigentlichen Fabrikanten, besonders Färber, Gerber und Seifensieder.
About Astrakhan Tatars
Keep in mind
Damaged OCR on this page; several words were restored.
'You are both right': a Sunni and a Shia before the judge
Editorial contextPoussett told Weber that a Persian and a Muslim Tatar at Astrakhan had quarrelled over religion and taken their complaint to the Russian commandant. When he learned that the Tatar had called the prophet Ali, and the Persian the prophet Muhammad, a cheat and a vagabond, the commandant shrugged and ruled that he could punish neither, since both were right. Poussett also praised the Astrakhan Tatars' orderly life and hospitality.
that the Tartar had abused the prophet Ali, and the Persian in turn the prophet Muhammad, as a cheat and vagabond, the commandant shrugs his shoulders and pronounces judgement: Gentlemen, I can punish neither the one nor the other of you, for you are both right.
Working translation
Original wording
daß der Tartar den Prophet Aly, und hinwiederum der Persianer den Propheten Mahomet, vor einen Betrüger und Landstreicher gescholten, so ziehet der Commendant die Schulter, und spricht das Urthel: Ihr Herren, ich kan weder einen noch den andern von euch strafen, denn ihr habt alle beyde recht.
About Muslim Tatars and Persians at Astrakhan
Keep in mind
Cited from the 1744 reissue, which reprints the 1721 text page for page with clearer OCR. Two words ('Persianer', 'Betrüger') are damaged in this copy and read from the 1721 edition (T0707 n187).
Astrakhan once belonged to the Nogai Tartars
Editorial contextStruys explains that Astrakhan used to belong to the Nogai Tartars under a king, allied with the Cheremis and Kazan Tatars. After taking Kazan the Tsar marched on Astrakhan, took it just as easily and drove out the Tartars. The town, he adds, was then neither as fine nor as large as it later became under Russian rule.
This town formerly belonged to the Tartars of the Nogai, who obeyed a king … The capture of Kazan having opened the way, the victor went before Astrakhan, which he took with the same ease, and from which he drove out the Tartars
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Original wording
Cette ville étoit autrefois aux Tartares du Nagai, qui obeïssoient à un Roi … La prise de Cazan ayant rendu le chemin libre, le Vainqueur alla devant Astracan qu'il emporta avec la même facilité, & dont il chassa les Tartares
About Nogai and Kazan Tatars
Keep in mind
History from books; the Astrakhan khanate was ruled by a Chinggisid khan and conquered in 1556.
Left behind with a sheep and a jar of water
Editorial contextBruce says the Kalmyks feared smallpox like the plague. When someone caught it they struck camp and fled, leaving the sick person in their worst kibitka with a killed sheep, water and firewood; few survived. On the same page he describes being served roast and boiled suckling foal by Prince Dasan, and calls it delicious.
The small-pox is as much dreaded among the Kalmucks as the pestilence amongst us : when any of them are seized with it, they immediately break up their camp and fly, leaving the sick person in one of their worst kibbets with a killed sheep, part of which is roasted and part raw, and a jar of water and some wood for fire
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols)
Continue in this sourcePeter Henry Bruce's memoirs of service under Peter the Great1700 to 1733 · 12 passagesTwo horses each, and the Volga swum
Editorial contextAfter a Kalmyk raid on the Karakalpaks, Cook describes how Kalmyks went to war: bow, quiver and scimitar, at least two horses per man, herds grazing as they marched. He says he had seen thousands cross the Volga by swimming their animals, and that lame or dead horses were cut up and shared as food.
The Kalmucks in time of war are armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows of different shapes, and a large scymitar. Every man has at least two horses … They need neither bridges nor boats to cross rivers, for I have seen thousands cross the Volga by swimming their cattle over
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols)
Continue in this sourceJohn Cook's travels as a doctor on Russia's Tartar frontier1730 to 1749 · 11 passagesA hundred thousand Kalmyks every winter
Editorial contextAt Astrakhan Avril learned that the Kalmyks, though at peace with the Nogais, came every winter into the milder plains between Astrakhan and the Caspian to feed their herds, which were all their wealth. The Russians could not stop these visits of over 100,000 people, and paid yearly presents to prevent raids, which the Kalmyks came to treat as a duty owed.
Which Annual Visits of above a hunder'd thousand men at a time, though they Be no way pleasing to the Muscovites, however they are forc'd to suffer 'em, and not only so, but to humble themselves to that degree, as to make 'em Presents duely every year, to hinder their Incursions
About Kalmyks (Oirat Mongols) and Russians
Keep in mind
The number is a report, not a count.
Astrakhan, the great emporium of the Tartars
Editorial contextHerberstein calls Astrakhan a wealthy city and the Tartars' main trading hub near the Volga delta, which he pictures splitting into some seventy branches. On the same page he lists forest-dwelling Siberian Tartars and says the Kalmyks are called that because they alone let their hair grow.
Astrachan is a wealthy city, and the great emporium of the Tartars, which gives its name to all the surrounding country. It lies on this side of the Volga, near to its mouth, ten days' journey below Kazan.
About Tartars of Astrakhan
Continue in this sourceHerberstein's Notes upon Russia (Muscovy and its Tartar neighbours)1517 to 1526 · 15 passagesAstrakhan, a city of many Asian peoples
Editorial contextRose found Astrakhan smaller than Kazan but more mixed than almost any city he knew, drawn together by trade from the far ends of Asia and Europe. Russians were slightly under half the population; besides Cossacks and Europeans there were Armenians, Tatars, Georgians, Bukharans, Khivans, Turkmens, Persians, Hindus, Kazakhs and Kalmyks. Delegations of many of them called on Humboldt.
…one will rarely find a city in which, as here, such a mixed population lives, brought together by commercial interest from the farthest ends of Asia and Europe. For besides the Russians, who make up somewhat less than half of Astrakhan's inhabitants, the Cossacks and the other Europeans settled here, there are also Armenians, Tatars, Georgians, Bukharans, Khivans, Turkmens, Persians, Hindus, Kirghiz and Kalmyks
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Original wording
…man wird selten eine Stadt finden, in welcher wie hier eine so gemischte Bevölkerung lebt, die das merkantilische Interesse aus den entferntesten Enden von Asien und Europa zusammengeführt hat. Denn ausser den Russen, die etwa die kleinere Hälfte der Bewohner Astrachans ausmachen, den Kosaken und den übrigen hier ansässigen Europäern, finden sich hier noch Armenier, Tataren, Georgier, Bucharen, Chiwensen, Truchmenen, Perser, Hindus, Kirgisen und Kalmücken
About Tatars, Kalmyks, Kazakhs, Armenians, Persians, Indians and others
Continue in this sourceGustav Rose's narrative of Humboldt's Russian journey, 18291829 · 13 passagesA Nogai town outside Astrakhan's walls
Editorial contextWintering at Astrakhan, Christopher Burrough's party saw half of the Nogai Tatar settlement beside the Russian castle burn by accident. He notes that these Nogais were the Tsar's vassals, some seven thousand men, women and children. Weeks later other Nogais and Crimeans camped around Astrakhan with 1,400 horsemen but did not attack.
The Nagayes that inhabit that towne are the Emperour of Russia his vassals. It is supposed there are of them inhabiting that place, of men, women, and children, the number of seuen thousand. … The seuenth of March 1580. the Nagayes and Crims came before Astracan to the number of one thousand foure hundred horsemen, which incamped round about
About Nogai Tatars (vassals of the Tsar) and raiding Crimeans
Keep in mind
The town's name (given on the previous page as the 'Yurt') is badly garbled in this OCR.
A Buddhist temple of stuccoed brick on the Volga
Editorial contextAt Prince Tumene's island seat, Adèle attended a service in the Kalmyk 'pagoda'. She describes the din of drums, gongs, conch shells and three-metre trumpets, and the building itself: large windows, slender columns of stuccoed brick, a domed gallery and walls hung with painted tapestries of spirits and monsters. This was a settled Kalmyk prince's temple, not a tent.
The temple, lighted by a row of large windows, is adorned with slender columns of stuccoed brick work, the lightness of which reminds one of the graceful Moorish architecture. A gallery runs all round the dome, which is also remarkable for the extreme delicacy of its workmanship.
About Kalmyks (Prince Tumene's people)
Continue in this sourceThe Hommaire de Hells in the Caspian steppes and the Crimea1838 to 1841 · 17 passagesA jar of old Tartar coins falls out of a cliff
Editorial contextResting under red gravel cliffs on the Volga near Astrakhan, Cook was told by his colonel that merchants picnicking there had seen part of the cliff collapse, releasing an earthen jar full of old Tartar coins in gold and silver. The colonel said he had seen some of them.
when they were taking their dinner, part of the cliff fell down, and with it, an earthen jar full of old Tartar coin, some of which he had seen, both gold and silver.
About Tartars (Golden Horde era, by implication)
Keep in mind
Second-hand; the coins are not described further.
Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia conquered
Editorial contextIn his summing up of Ivan the Terrible's reign, Horsey lists the conquest of the Tatar 'kingdoms' of Kazan and Astrakhan and the peoples along the Volga to the Caspian, the end of tribute to the Crimean khan, and the conquest of the 'kingdom of Siberia'.
he conquered the kingdom of Casan and the kingdom of Astracan, and all the regions and great people of the Nagaie and Chercas Tartors, and many other of that kinde, inhabitinge above two thowsand miells of each side that famous river of Volga, sowthward eaven to the Mare Caspian Sea.
About Kazan, Astrakhan, Nogai and Circassian Tartars
Keep in mind
Horsey overstates: the Nogais and Circassians were never fully conquered in Ivan's lifetime.
Skulls without sutures on the Kalmyk steppe
Editorial contextRiding back from Astrakhan, Hanway saw many human skulls lying about, as if on a battlefield, because the Kalmyks leave their dead unburied. He examined several and claims he could find no sutures in them. A footnote adds that surgeons doubted any race lacked sutures. A small, odd moment of amateur anatomy on the steppe.
I observed here many human sculls, as if the place had been a field of battle; for the Khalmucks always leave their dead uninterred. Upon examining several of these sculls, I could not discover any sutures,
About Kalmyk Tartars
Keep in mind
Hanway's anatomical claim is his own impression; his footnote records that surgeons doubted it.
Nogai 'Kundurov Tatars': felt tents in summer, houses in winter
Editorial contextIn his section on the Nogais, Klaproth traces how the Kalmyks drove them west from the steppe between the Tobol and the Yaik, how Peter the Great moved most of them to the Kuma and Kuban, and he lists their tribes and numbers of tents (5,849 felt tents north of the upper Kuban and Kuma, 4,286 between the Terek and the Kuma). The Kundur tribe, called 'Kundurov Tatars' by the Russians, wandered in felt tents like the Kalmyks along the Akhtuba but spent the winter in houses near Krasny Yar on the Caspian.
The Kundur tribe (called Kundurov Tatars by the Russians) now wanders in felt tents like the Kalmyks along the Akhtuba, an arm of the lower Volga, but lives in winter in houses around Krasny Yar near the Caspian Sea.
Working translation
Original wording
Der Stamm Kundur (von den Russen Kundurowsche Tataren genannt) zieht jetzt in Filzzelten wie die Kalmüken, an der Achtuba, einem Arme der unteren Wolga herum, lebt aber im Winter in Häusern um Krasnojarsk am Kaspischen Meere.
About Nogais of the Kundur tribe ('Kundurov Tatars')
Continue in this sourceKlaproth's map of the languages of Asia1700 to 1808 · 4 passages