Astrakhan stands on the River Volga, leading to the shores of which sea?
Volga trade route the Volga only after the fall of the Khanates of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan in (1556), when the entire length of the Volga came under the Russian control. But the river kept its importance for long-distance trade—this time, trade within Russia as well as between Russia and Persia. Volga trade route In the Middle Ages, the Volga trade route connected Northern Europe and Northwestern Russia with the Caspian Sea, via the Volga River. The Rus used this route to trade with Muslim countries on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, sometimes penetrating as far as Baghdad. The route functioned
Astrakhan Cossacks Astrakhan Cossacks Astrakhan Cossack Host (Russian: "Астраханское казачье войско") was a Cossack host of Imperial Russia drawn from the Cossacks of the Lower Volga region, who had been patrolling the banks of the Volga River from the time of Russia's annexation of Astrakhan Khanate in 1556. In 1737, the Russian government relocated a number of the Volga Cossacks to Astrakhan and formed a Cossack unit of 3 sotnyas, or 300 men, for escorting couriers and correspondence and for guard duty, which would be re-organized into the Astrakhan regiment (5 sotnyas, or 500 men) on March 28, 1750. It was settled