'The Golden Horde': stone Tatar mosques on the Akhtuba
Editorial contextIn one line the book marks the ruins of the Golden Horde's capital: 90 versts along the Akhtuba from Tsaritsyn lies 'the Golden Horde, stone Tatar mosques'. By 1600 the city was a field of ruins, and Muscovite clerks named both the builders (the Horde) and the material (stone).
And along the river Akhtuba, 90 versts from Tsaritsyn, is the Golden Horde, stone Tatar mosques.
Working translation
Original wording
А по рѣкѣ по Ахтубѣ на 90 верстахъ отъ Царицына, Золотая орда, мечети Татарскія каменныя.
About The Golden Horde (its ruined capital)
Keep in mind
The book gives no date or builder name beyond 'Golden Horde'; the identification with Sarai (Tsarev settlement) is by later scholars.
Seven Tatar mosques at Majar on the Kuma
Editorial contextOn the right bank of the Kuma the book lists '7 Tatar mosques, the Majar yurt', and another mosque across the river, the 'Chrak-Keshen'. These are the ruins of Majar, a Golden Horde town. The word 'keshen' (keshene, a domed tomb) appears again on the Dnieper, where the book records '7 keshens of Tatar mosques'. The clerks credit the ruins to Tatars.
And along the river Kuma, on the right side, are 7 Tatar mosques, the Majar yurt, and a mosque on the other side of the river Kuma, Chrak-Keshen.
Working translation
Original wording
А по рѣкѣ по Кумѣ, съ правыя стороны, 7 мечетей Татарскихъ, Мажаровъ юртъ, да мечеть, по другой сторонѣ рѣки Кумы, Чракъ-Кешень.
About Ruined Golden Horde town of Majar
A note on this quote
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
The Devil's Fort, 'also Yelabuga'
Editorial contextListing places on the Kama below the Ik, the book notes 'the Devil's gorodishche', with the variant reading 'the Devil's town, also Yelabuga'. This is the same haunted ruin that the author of the History of the Kazan Tsardom credited to the 'old Bulgars'. The map book gives only the name and position.
And 40 versts below the river Ik, on the river Kama, is the Devil's gorodishche [the Devil's town, also Yelabuga].
Working translation
Original wording
А ниже Ика рѣки 40 верстъ, на рѣкѣ на Камѣ городище Чортово [градъ Чортовъ, Елабуга тожь].
About Unnamed builders (a ruin on the Kama)
The Pig Road: how the Belgorod Tatars came raiding
Editorial contextThe book records the raiding roads the Tatars used. Along the 'Svinaia doroga' (Pig Road) the Belgorod Tatars from the Dnieper used to ride on the Rylsk, Karachev, Orel and Bolkhov districts, led by Bakai Murza, 'when there were no steppe towns yet'. They crossed the Seim 40 versts below Kursk, where there were now villages and a watch post. Muscovy's southern towns were built along these routes to block them.
And by the Pig Road the Belgorod Tatars used to come from the Dnieper onto the Rylsk and Karachev and Orel and Bolkhov districts; Bakai Murza used to come, when there were not yet the steppe towns; and they used to cross the Seim river below the Gorodensk gorodishche, about 40 versts below Kursk
Working translation
Original wording
А Свиною дорогою прихаживали отъ Днѣпра Бѣлогородскіе Татарове, на Рыльскіе, и на Карачевскіе, и на Орловскіе, и на Болховскіе уѣзды, хаживали Бакай Мурза, какъ не было Польскихъ городовъ, а Семь рѣку лаживали подъ Городенскимъ городищемъ, ниже Курска верстъ съ 40
About Belgorod (Akkerman) Tatars under Bakai Murza
Keep in mind
'Polskie goroda' here means the new towns of the 'Pole' (steppe frontier), not Polish towns.
Bashkirs who live on honey, game and fish
Editorial contextAlong the Belaya and Ufa rivers up to the Ural mountains, the book says, 'all live Bashkirs', and they feed on honey (from forest beekeeping), game and fish, and have no ploughland. It is a one-line ethnographic note from the frontier, about a Turkic people that western maps often put under 'Tartary'.
And from the mouth of the river Belaia Voloshka, upstream and along the river Ufa, on both sides as far as the Aral'tova mountain and beyond, all live Bashkirs, and their food is honey, game and fish, and they have no ploughland.
Working translation
Original wording
А отъ устья рѣки Бѣлыя-Воложки, съ верхъ и по рѣкѣ по Уфѣ, по обѣимъ сторонамъ и до Аральтовы горы и далѣе, все живутъ Башкиры, а кормля ихъ медъ, звѣрь, рыба, а пашни не имѣютъ.
About Bashkirs
A note on this quote
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Kazakh horde, Great and Lesser Nogais: the peoples on the old map
Editorial contextThe preface lists what the old Great Map showed in the south and east: the 'nomad Kazakh horde', the camps of the Great Nogais, the towns of Bukhara and Urgench, the Volga to Astrakhan and the Don to Azov, and the fields between Azov and Astrakhan 'where the Lesser Nogais roam'. The steppe is named by its nomad peoples, not by a single 'Tartary'.
and the nomad Kazakh horde, and the nomad camps of the Great Nogais, and the Bukharan and Urgench towns, and the river Volga to Astrakhan, and the river Don to Azov, and between Azov and Astrakhan to the Khvalyn [Caspian] and to the Azov and Black Seas, the fields and rivers where the Lesser Nogais roam.
Working translation
Original wording
и кочевую Казацкую орду, и большихъ Нагаевъ кочевье, и Бухарскіе и Юргенскіе города, и рѣку Волгу до Астарахани, и рѣку Донъ до Азова, и межъ Азова и Астарахани до Хвалинскаго, и до Азовскаго, и до Чернаго моря, поля и рѣки, что кочують малые Нагаи.
About Kazakhs ('Kazatskaia orda'), Great Nogai, Lesser Nogai; Bukhara and Urgench
A note on this quote
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Stone men by the salt spring
Editorial contextBy a stream in the Manych steppe, opposite the salt that the people of Azov gathered, the book marks 'stone men, idols'. These are the carved stone statues ('kamennye baby') that stood on steppe kurgans, set up by earlier nomads such as the Polovtsy. The clerks give no builder, only the landmark.
And along the right side of that stream are stone people, idols, opposite the salt that the Azov people take.
Working translation
Original wording
А по правой сторонѣ по тому истоку люди каменные болваны, противъ той соли, что емлютъ Азовцы.
About Unnamed makers of steppe stone statues
Keep in mind
The identification with kurgan stelae is the usual scholarly reading; the book does not describe them.
A giant's grave and a stone table on the Don
Editorial contextOn the upper Don the book lists a 'Volotova mogila', a giant's grave (volot is the old Russian word for a giant), at the mouth of the Mecha, and further down the 'Don beseda' (Don meeting-place), 'a stone table and stone vessels'. Nearby were the Tatar fords into Rus. These folk names for kurgans and rocks sit side by side with military route data.
and at the mouth of the river Mecha, on the upper side, is the Giant's Grave. … And below the mouth of the Sosna, on the Don, is the Don Meeting-place, a stone table and stone vessels.
Working translation
Original wording
а устьѣ рѣки Мечи съ вышія страны Волотова могила. … А ниже устья Сосны, на Дону, Донская бесѣда, каменной столъ и каменныя суды.
About Unnamed (folk landmarks on the Tatar frontier)
Keep in mind
The 1838 edition reads 'Bolotova' (marsh) where the 1773 edition reads 'Volotova' (giant's).