Ethno-political situation in the Oka estuary region on the eve of the Mongol invasion

The article is devoted to the ethno-political situation in the region of the Oka estuary up to 1238. In 1221 Nizhny Novgorod was founded in this region. The forthcoming 800th anniversary of the city lends particular social and cultural relevance to the present study; these aspects of the history of Eastern Europe and North-Eastern Russia are considered here for the first time. The research is based on the study of chronicles and narratives from the 17th to 19th centuries, as well as of toponyms. The source corpus is represented here by the Lavrentyevskaya chronicle, the Ipatyevskaya chronicle, the Simeonovskaya chronicle, the Tolkovaya Paleya, as well as the “Slovo o pogibeli russkoi zemli” (“The word about the death of the Russian land”), in addition to results of archaeological and toponymic research. The author offers a novel interpretation of the Cheremis-Meshcher group in the region of the Oka estuary, by demonstrating that these Cheremis lived between the rivers Volga, Oka and Klyazma; these Cheremis has no direct relation to the Mari. The article presents arguments in favor of the hypothesis that before 1221 there had been no Slavic population in the Oka estuary. The assumption that Brodniks were living in this region cannot be confirmed. There are not enough representative sources to interpret the occurrence of the term Purgasova Rus ’ . The Mordvins lived far from the Oka estuary. Polovtsy (Cumans), however, were present in the region. This territory remained beyond the political influence zone of Volga Bolgaria. Accordingly, it must be accepted that Nizhny Novgorod was founded on an uninhabited place. The area around Nizhny Novgorod was a frontier zone where the interests of Volga Bolgaria clashed with those of the Vladimir Principality. The foundation of Nizhny Novgorod changed the nature of the conflict in this frontier. The Cheremis were blocked, and a military-diplomatic offensive was launched on the Mordvins. The Polovtsy (Cumans) acted as allies of the Vladimir Principality, and the latter was victorious in the Russian-Bolgarian war of 1223-1230. The reconstruction of the complex ethno-political situation in the region of the Oka estuary enables us to study the imperial practices of the princes of Vladimir before the Mongol invasion.