The history of the khan’s capital of Kasimov before the seventeenth century (based on materials from archaeological research)

Research objectives: The aim of the study is to analyze the history of the city of Kasimov, show its development, and explore the issues of chronology and localization of individual urban areas. Research materials: Archaeological research data, written and cartographic sources, previously published works on this issue. Results and scientific novelty: This article deals with the history of the medieval city of Kasimov. This was the capital of the Kasimov Khanate from the middle of the 15th to the end of the 17th centuries. The study is based on the results of archaeological excavations and extensive historical data. It provides a detailed analysis of the development of a medieval city from the pre-Mongolian center on the Volga-Oka trade route to the capital of the Kasimov Khanate. The author highlighted the areas that arose at different times. The Kasimov archaeological complex is historically associated with the pre-Mongol period in the city’s history. At the end of the 13th century, the city was moved to the area of the Old Posad. In historical sources, it was called Gorodets Meshchersky (13th – the first half of the 16th centuries). Kasimov of the Khan’s time (middle of the 15th – middle of the 16th century) was located in the same place. In historical sources, it was known as Tsarevichev Gorodok. Settlement in the area of Tatarskaya Gora and Tatarskaya Sloboda began later than the middle of the 16th century. The Khan’s mosque bilding was also built at the same time. The territory of the modern city center with the Kasimov Kremlin was being developed at the end of the 16th – beginning of the 17th century. The author has traced the continuity of the development of medieval settlements from the Kasimov archaeological complex (the ancient settlement of Zemlyanoy Strug, the settlement of Dorofeevo Pole of the 9th – 13th centuries) to the Gorodets Meshchersky (13th – the first half of the 15th century) and to the capital of the Kasimov Khanate and the modern city. The article establishes the time of formation of the historical core of the medieval city and the stages of development of territories on the basis of archaeological research.