The Old Russian city of Saransk is the capital of Mordovia
Since 1934, the city of Saransk is the capital of the Republic of Mordovia, thus inheriting the history of all previous state entities that existed on this territory. Like most ancient cities, Saransk, initially did not have the status of a city. It was a small wooden fortress, which was part of the fortification structures that were part of the so-called Atemar zasechnuyu line, built from 1638 to 1653, and connected the conventional line from Belgorod to Simbirsk.
And the first inhabitants of the Saransk shtock were not only Russian Cossacks, Streltsy and Pushkari, but also the local population, which mainly consisted of Tatars, Erzians and Russian settlers who, as a rule, settled in the vicinity of the fortress and mainly engaged in crafts, trade and fishing , thereby providing the servicemen with all the necessary provisions. At the same time, as noted in the historical documents of the Fortress of Saransk, in addition to defensive functions, its garrison controlled and navigating along the small river Insar, which is a tributary of the Volga.
However, the special economic and cultural blossom of Saransk reached, beginning with the middle of the XVIII century, when it lost its defensive and military importance. The city became more trade and craft, in which two or three times a year a fair was held, mainly selling wholesale lots of grain, hemp, wood and leather, as well as honey and local meat.
And this rapid development was greatly facilitated by the geographical location of the city, which was at the crossroads of large trade routes such as Astrakhan-Moscow and the trade route from Crimea to Kazan. The significance of these trade routes in the economy of the Russian state was quite substantial. In view of this, it is not difficult to assume the location of the supply centers of the same Emelian Pugachev and Stepan Razin in Saransk.
To date, Saransk is a modern city, in the central part of the Russian Federation, which has developed infrastructure, as well as being both a cultural and religious center of the Republic of Mordovia.