The “Tatar” Trade Route (“Via Tatarica”) in the International Trade System of the 13th–15th centuries

Abstract

Research objectives: A study of questions about the time of the emergence of the “Tatar” trade route (“Via Tatarica”), the influence of external factors and internal political processes in the ulus of Jochi on the formation and development of this trade route, and also identifying the causes of the decline and termination of the “Tatar Way”. Research materials: Travel notes of European diplomats and travelers such as John of Plano Carpini, William of Rubruck, Ambrogio Contarini and Guillebert de Lannoy, “Pratica della mercatura” of Francesco Pegolotti, “Descriptio veteris et novae Poloniae” of Stanisław Sarnicki, “Armenian History” of Kirakos of Ganjak, “History” of Vassaf, Compendium of Chronicles” of Rashid al-Din, Abu’l-Fida’s “Sketch of the Countries”, Gustynskaya Chronicle, notarial and administrative acts of the Republic of Genoa. Results and novelty of the research: This article for the first time ever considers the question of the time of formation and the stages of development of one of the transit trade routes of the northeastern Black Sea coast, which passed through the lands of the Golden Horde and the Galician-Volyn principality to the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, called the “Tatar Way” (“Via Tatarica”) in Western sources. The problem of dating the emergence of the “Tatar Way” is considered in the context of the military-political processes in the border areas between Galicia and the Golden Horde and also the relations between the Jochid ulus and the Ilkhanid state in the 1240–1290s. Based on an analysis of the sources, the author concludes that the end of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fourteenth century can be considered the most likely time of the formation of the “Tatar Way”. In the first half of the fourteenth century, it was one of the main transit trade routes passing through the territory of the Golden Horde. With the outbreak of internecine strife in the ulus of Jochi and the military expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Moldavian Principality, which caused a long period of military-political instability in the northwestern Black Sea region, the “Via Tatarica” gradually declined and finally ceased to exist in the first half of the fifteenth century.