Muravsky Trail

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Muravsky Trail or Muravsky Warpath (Russian: Муравский шлях, Ukrainian: Муравський шлях) was a favourite invasion route of the Crimean Tatars during the Russo-Crimean Wars of the 16th and early 17th centuries. As described in the Great Chart of Muscovy (1627), the route went north from the Tatar fortress of Perekop across the vast expanses of the Wild Fields to the Muscovite fortress of Tula.

In order to avoid being noticed and to take their victims by surprise, the Tatars moved through the least populated part of the steppe region, surrounded by high grass, hence the name, stemming from the Slavic word for "grass". They preferred to avoid crossing the rivers, instead passing over eleven creeks at convenient fords between the basins of the Vorskla, Seversky Donets, and Seym rivers. Apart from the main warpath, there were a number of branches and byways, of which the Kalmius Trail and the Izyum Trail were by far the most important.

Vasily III and Ivan the Terrible attempted to counter the threat of Crimean invasions (of which forty three were attested between 1500 and 1550) by erecting a system of timber obstructions (zasechnaya cherta) in the vicinity of Tula. In the wake of the Russo-Crimean War (1571), it became increasingly clear that only a chain of permanent forts would put an end to annual incursions. Such a chain of forts was constructed at the behest of Boris Godunov, including, among other fortified settlements, the towns of Livny (1586), Voronezh (1586), Kursk (1587, rebuilt), Yelets (1592, rebuilt), Stary Oskol (1593), Valuyki (1593) and Belgorod (1596, rebuilt).