Ukek or Uvek (

Turki Chagatai (, ), also known as Turki, Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (), is an extinct Turkic language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia. It remained the shared literary language in the region until the early 20th century. It was ...

/ Kypchak: ; ; ) was a city of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

, situated on the banks of the

Volga River The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, at the ''Uvekovka'' estuary. Ukek marked the half-way distance between Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and

Bolghar Bolghar (; Tatar language, Tatar: Болгар, بلغار, ''Bolğar''; Chuvash language, Chuvash: Аслă Пăлхар, ''Aslă Pălhar'') was intermittently the capital of Volga Bulgaria from the 10th to the 13th centuries, along with Bilär, ...

, the former capital of

Volga Bulgaria Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate) was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now Europea ...

. Probably established in the 1240s, Ukek became an important trade center by the early 14th century. Its ruins are located about south of the city center, on the outskirts of the Zavodskoy district of

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

. A settlement situated next to the ruins still has the name Uvek (Увек). Several medieval chroniclers make reference to Ukek.

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

stopped here, and called it "a city of middling size, with fine buildings and abundant commodities, and extremely cold". It is also marked on some contemporary maps, including the 1367 map by

Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, known as the Pizzigani brothers, were 14th-century Venetian cartographers. Their surname is sometimes given as Pizigano (only one 'z') in older sources. 1367 chart ] The Pizzigani brothers are principally kno ...

and the 1459 map by

Fra Mauro Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., (c.1400–1464) was an Italian ( Venetian) cartographer who lived in the Republic of Venice. He created the most detailed and accurate map of the world up until that time, the Fra Mauro map. Mauro was a monk of the Ca ...

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

's troops sacked the city in 1395. The ruins of Ukek were described by

Anthony Jenkinson Anthony Jenkinson (1529 – 1610/1611) was born at Market Harborough, Leicestershire. He was one of the first Englishmen to explore Tsardom of Russia, Muscovy and present-day Russia. Jenkinson was a traveller and explorer on behalf of the ...

in 1558. In 2014, archaeologists associated with the Saratov museum unearthed what they believed to be the remains of two Christian temples, along with artefacts identified as being imported from Rome, Egypt, Iran and China, indicating the wealth of the city.

Literature

*Christian Martin Joachim Frähn: ''Über die ehemalige mongolische Stadt Ukek im Süden von Saratow und einen dort unlängst gemachten Fund'', Sankt Petersburg, Buchdruckerei der Kaiserlichen Akademie, 1835 *Leonard F. Nedashkovsky: ''Ukek : the Golden Horde city and its periphery'', Oxford, 2004 Germany tried to reach Ukek in 1942. The Whites fought the Reds in Ukek in 1919–1920.

References

History of Tatarstan Geography of Saratov Oblast Defunct towns in Russia Destroyed populated places Populated places on the Volga Populated places in the Golden Horde Former populated places in Russia Cultural heritage monuments in Saratov Oblast Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of federal significance {{SaratovOblast-geo-stub