b o o k the Ruffians, who purfued with perfeyerance the track which
our merchants had opened for them : their trade over the
Cafpian fea vvas not inconfiderable, and would: have been
puffied frill further, i f the caravans, in their journey- to and
from Aftracan, had not been frequently pillaged by the roving
Cofiacs *.
The commercial intercourfe between Perfia and Ruffia
was ftill further enlarged and extended under Boris Godu-
nof f , who formed an alliance with the fophy Shah-Abbas
the Great, which would have been extremely advantageous
i f the civil wars had not taken place : and though, under
Michael Feodorovitch, thefe commotions fubfided, and the
commerce was renewed; yet it was fo frequently interrupted
by the Tartar banditti and pirates, as to become it exceedingly
precarious. ' -
Alexey Michaelovitch having curbed the Coflacs, and rendered
the roads more fecure, Aftracan became again the center
o f the Perfian trade; to which place merchants from
Bucharia, Crim Tartary, Armenia, Perfia, and even India,
reforted. That fovereign turned his attention to the commerce
o f the Cafpian; and as the veflels o f the Ruffians
were rudely framed, without decks, and pf courfe expofed to
conftant fhipwrecks he drew from Amfter.dam feveral
ihip-builders, for the purpofe o f conftrucfting veftels more
1669. calculated to weather the ftofms o f this fea : but thefe de-
figns were fruftrated by the rebellion of the Coflacs o f the
Don, under the command o f Stenko Rafin §.
The trade o f Ruffia in thofe parts was fo entirely annihi-
¡671. dated by the devaluations o f thefe Cofiacs, that, upon the
* S. R . G . V I I . 489. ' § B u fch in g IX , 80— #8. F o r an irc-
4 lb . 490. cou n t o f Stenko Ra fin, fee- Sdhmidt. Ruf,
X Ib id . p . 499/ G e f. vol. I I . p. 3-2. M o r le y ’ s I l i i lo iy ot
Ca th a r in e , v o l. I . pi 227.
• 4 ’ quelling
C O M M E R C E OF T H E C A S P I A N .
quelling o f the revolt, and the puniihment o f their leader, CI^ P-
the greateft part o f it fell almoft entirely into the
hands o f the Armenian merchants eftabliffied in Aftracan,
who fettled factories both in the Ruffian and Perfian territories
®.
During this whole period the Ruffian: and Armenian
traders feem to have penetrated no further than Niezabad,-
at port between Derbent and Baku ; and their chief fettle-
ment was at Shamakee capital o f Shirvan, until, in r 7 1 1 ,
that town was taken by the Lefgees, and their factory pii- -
làged and deftroyed.
Towards the latter end o f Peter’s reign; this commerce
was again renewed on the following occafion : that5
monarch having marched a confiderable army into Perfia,*
took pofleffion of.the provinces of Dageftan, Shirvan, Ghilan,
and Mafàndèran, a tra£t o f country which cemprifes all the •
Eàftern and Southern coafts of the Cafpian ; and thefe provinces
were formally ceded* to Ruffia in 1723. Soon after'
this ceflion, the emperor having obtained all the neceflary
information relating to the ports o f that fea, and the pro-
du6tions-of the neighbouring countries, eftabliffied a Ruffian
company trading to the Cafpian : the low ftate o f which1
will fufficiently appear from this circumftance, that its'whole
capital confifted only o f 400 ftiares, o f the value o f
each. The chief fettlementS' were formed at Aftracan and!
Kiflar, from which places the whole traffick was carried on1
by fea.
The pofleffion o f thefe diftant provinces proved fo -expen-
five, and o f fuch little advantage to the Ruffians, that the
emprefs Anne was induced, in 1732 and 17 3 5 , to reftore
them to the fophy t upon the following conditions : that ■
* S. R , G» V I I . p . 5'Of? ' -j- S. R . G . I . p. 154; & c . • -
the -.