Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tsaritsyn

TSARITSYN, a district town of the government of Saratoff, Russia, situated on the right bank of the lower Volga where it suddenly turns towards the south-east, only 40 miles distant from the Don. It is the terminus of a railway line which begins at Riga and, running southeastwards, crosses all the main lines which radiate from Moscow to the south. It is also connected by rail with Katatch on the Don, where merchandise from the Sea of Azoff is disembarked and transported by rail to Tsaritsyn, to be sent thence by rail or steamer to different parts of Russia. Corn from Middle Russia for Astrakhan is trans ferred from the railway to boats at Tsaritsyn; timber and wooden wares from the upper Volga are unloaded here and sent by rail to Katatch; and fish, salt, and fruits sent from Astrakhan by boat up the Volga are here unloaded and despatched by rail to the interior of Russia. The town has grown rapidly since the completion of the rail way system, and has a large trade in naphtha from Baku, which is shipped up the Volga to Tsaritsyn and sent thence by rail to the interior of Russia. The railway between the Baskunchak salt lakes of Astrakhan and the Volga has made Tsaritsyn also a depot for the salt trade. In 1882 10,000,000 cwts. of merchandise, valued at one million sterling, were lauded at Tsaritsyn, and since then the figures have notably increased. In addition Tsaritsyn is the centre of the trade connected with the mustard plantations of Sarepta, Dubovka, and the neighbourhood; 170,000 cwts. of mustard seed are either ground or con verted into oil annually, the exports being 70,000 cwts. of mustard and half the corresponding quantity of oil (valued at 250,000). The fisheries of the place are also important. The population (6750 in 1861) numbered 31,220 in 1882. It is still larger in summer, Tsaritsyn having become the gathering -place of poor people in search of work, and the misery and filth in its poorer quarters are very great. The buildings of the town do not improve proportionately with the increase of wealth. They include a (wooden) theatre, a public library, and two gymnasia for boys and girls. The old church of St John (end of 16th century) is a fine specimen of the architecture of its period.

Tsaritsyn was founded in the 16th century, when a fort was erected to prevent the incursions of the free Cossacks and runaway serfs who gathered on the lower Volga, as also those of the Kalmucks and Circassians. In 1606 Tsaritsyn took part in the rising in favour of the false Demetrius, and Razin took the town in 1670. The Kalmucks and Circassians of the Kuban attacked it repeatedly in the 17th century, so that it had to be fortified by a strong earthen and palisaded wall, traces of which are still visible.