Kabanskoye Gorodische  (settlement): a view from the province!

Being a delegate at the VIII Congress of the World Congress of Tatars is prestigious, especially when the 30th anniversary of the World Congress of Tatars is celebrated. The named event took place in the city of Kazan and the Great Bulgar from July 30 to August 2, 2022.

Of course, the words expressed at the plenary session and discussion platforms by our leaders and delegates touched the hearts of every participant of the congress. Truly, these events have become a national color of the true lovers of their Motherland, their native Tatar language and their culture and our religion. At the congress, tasks were set and reflected in the resolution of the further worthy living of the Tatars, both throughout the territory of the Russian Federation and abroad.

This time the purpose of my stay in Kazan was another reason that I would like to share with you. Being a local historian – researcher and participating in various scientific and practical conferences, I first became interested in my genealogy, which dates back to 1613 (see Ashirov A.A. Islam in the life of the Mangushevs and their descendants / A.A. Ashirov, – Kazan, 2016 . – 120 pp.) to the princes Murza Mangushev, then studied the history of his village (the village of Lomaty, Mordovia), wrote and defended a series of articles on genealogy, based on archival data, published several books (Ashirov A.A. Yashlegem ezlare. Return to the origins / A.A. Ashirov. Kazan “School” 2022, – 148 pp.), participated in a number of local history scientific and practical conferences in the cities of Tomsk, Ufa, Omsk, Tara, Tuymazy, Kasimov, Penza, Tobolsk (Tyumen region ), Muslyumovo RT, Pestrechinsky district of RT, etc. (Ashirov A.A. The historical fate of the Tatars of Kuzbass / A.A. Ashirov, Novokuznetsk, Pechatnik LLC. – 281 p.).

Man and his history are two sides of the same coin. A person creates history, each time discovering more and more new facets of his abilities.

Ancient historical places (fortified settlements) have always interested and attracted archaeologists and historians, and recently local historians-researchers do not lag behind them, who, by virtue of their logical thinking, relying on archival acts, studying historical literature, try to make a feasible contribution to the study of the remains former civilizations. Local historians explore step by step the places of former camps, settlements, settlements, diligently examine the places of burial, study each mound, each tombstone, study the landscape and flora, explore the channels of rivers that have changed the direction of their flow. On the basis of what they have learned, a real picture is built, they are able to see obvious things, and all this is preserved in the form of articles and books that are discussed and presented at scientific and practical conferences attended by scientists, professors from leading universities of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and other regions of the country.

Sometimes, being carried away by some objects, one has to see and realize that it was here that the continuity of traditions took place, even the convergence of religions and religious objects, and, unfortunately, these historical places remain little studied.

Kabanskoye settlement.

Traditionally, according to the historical scheme, the settlement of Iski-Kazan (Iske Kazan – Old Kazan) in the middle reaches of the Kazanka River, 45 km from modern Kazan, was usually considered the site of the initial foundation of Kazan, but apparently also intermediate settlements related to Kazan: – Zilantovsky mountain, Kabanskoye settlement, Fedorovsky hillock and Kremlin hill.

On the basis of the studied archaeological materials, we are sure and we are not left in doubt that the earliest Bulgarian settlement on the Kremlin cape arises no later than the 2nd half of the 12th century.

In the capital of Tatarstan on the territory of present-day Kazan, these include the Kabanskoye settlement, also known as the former residence of the Kazan khans or Bishop’s dacha. It is located in the Privolzhsky district on the shore of the Sredny Kaban lake. The area of ​​the entire archaeological complex is 7.5 hectares.