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878 COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIAe
‘CHap. XXMUL—Rie, Progrefs, and Termination of the Englifh Trade on the Cafpian
Sea.—Commerce of the Ruffians in the fame Quarter.—Defcription of the principal.
Ports. —Exports and Imports. —Average Value of the Trade.—Commerce with the Bucha-
srians and Chinefe.
‘IN the fourteenth century, the Venetians and Genoefe drew, by means of the Caf-
pian, through Aftracan to their fettlements at Azof* and Caffa, the Indian, Perfian,
and Arabian merchandize, with which they furnifhed the fouth of Europe. ‘The
‘northern part of this continent was fupplied likewife, through Aftracan, with Afiatic
goods, by the Ruffian merchants of Ladoga on the Volkof, who fent them to their
principal ftorehoufe at Wifby, a Hanfeatic town in the Ifle of Gothland. The devatta-
tion occafioned by the wars of Tamerlane, at the end of the fourteenth century, turned
this trade from Aftracan to Smyrna and Aleppo. The commerce of| Arabia, more
commodious for thofe ports, never returned to Aftracan ; but part of the Perfian traffic
was afterwards reftored to its old channel. :
While the provinces of Cafan and Aftracan were-under the government of the Tar-
tars, the cap, or head-quarters of the Khan, was a mart for the Ruffian and Perfian
merchants. But as, according to the cuftom of the roving Tartars, it was frequently
changed, Aftracan and Terkit became at length two principal places of refort. This
commerce, impeded and frequently interrupted by the numerous banditti, was precari-
ous; until the conqueft of Cafan and Aftracan opened a ready communication between
Mofcow and the Cafpian Sea; Ivan Vaflilievitch II. having garrifoned Aftracan with
troops, ‘rendered it the chief emporium of the eaftern trade. ‘This conqueft being com-
pleted in 1554, foon after the difcovery of Archangel, the Enghfh obtained the Tzar’s
permiffion to pafs through his dominions into Perfia, and carry on an exclufive irade
over the Cafpian.
Jenkinfon was the firft Englifhman who navigated that fea. In 1558, he landed at
Mangufhlak upon the Ealtern fhore, pafled by land through the country of the Turko-
man Tartars to Boghara, capital of Great Bucharia, and returned to Mofcow the fol-
lowing year. In 1561, he again failed over the Cafpian, and proceeding to the coaft
-of Shirvan, went by land to Cafbin, the refidence of the fophy, from whom he obtained
a permiflion of trading into Perfia. ‘Several merchants followed his example. The laft
expedition was made, in 1597, by Chriftopher Burroughs; whofe fhip being, on its
return, fhattered by the ice in the mouth of the Volga, he and his crew elcaped with
difficulty, and arrived at Aftracan after many dangers}. During thefe expeditions the
traffic was chiefly confined to the ports of Tumen, Derbent, Baku, and the coaft of
‘Ghilan.
The difafters which attended the voyage of Burrough, the banditti frequenting the
fhores of the.Cafpian, and the wars between the Turks and Perfians, obftru&ted the infant
commerce; .and during above a century and a half no Englifh veffel appeared dpon this
* See Guldenftaedt’s Treatife Von den Hafen am Cafpifchen Meere, in Journ. St. Pet. for 1777.
The Indian goods were brought, forthe moft part, through Perfia, acrofs the Cafpian to Aftracan, from
thence up the Volga, then by land to the Don, and down that river to Azof,
+ Terki was fituated near the river Terek, upon the weftern fhore of the Cafpian: no traces of it remain,
as the fite is covered by the fea.
¢ Hackluyt, p. 324—430. S. R. G. viii. 426-473.
6 fea,
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