Sarai (city)

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For other uses, see Sarai.

Sarai Batu (Old Sarai, Sarai-al-Maqrus, also transcribed as Saraj or Saray) was a capital city of the Golden Horde and one of the largest cities of the medieval world, with a population estimated by the 2005 Britannica at 600,000.

The city was likely located on the Akhtuba channel of the lower Volga River near contemporary village (selo) Selitryannoye in Kharabalinsky District, Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, about 120 km north from Astrakhan. Mongol ruler Batu Khan is credited with building the city in the 1240s.

The existence of Sarai Berke (New Sarai, Sarai-al-Jadid), reputedly founded by Khan Berke, is disputed. If it existed, the most likely location was Tsarev, an archeological site also on the Akhtuba channel 55 km south of Volgograd. The bishops of Krutitsy resided there from 1261 to 1454.

Either one or both cities were destroyed several times. Tamerlane destroyed Sarai (Berke?) around 1395, Meñli I Giray of Crimea destroyed Sarai (Berke?) around 1502. The final destruction happened after 1556 when Ivan IV of Russia conquered Astrakhan Khanate.

In 1623-24, merchant Fedot Afanasyevich Kotov took a journey to Persia. He gave the following account of the lower Volga: Here by the river Akhtuba stands the Golden Horde. The khan's court, palaces, and courts, and mosques are all made of stone. But now all these buildings are being dismantled and the stone is being taken to Astrakhan. Most likely, this was a description of Sarai Berke.