Pages: 559-569

The author examines political, economic and ethno-cultural developments in North-Western Pontic Area after the Mongol conquest and establishment of the Golden Horde (Jochi’s Ulus). He specially focuses on issues of urbanization of these territories in the Golden Horde Period, and first of all on the city of Akja Kerman (modern Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi). It is commonly accepted now that development of urban centers in the North-Western Pontic Area under the Golden Horde started during Nogay’s Ulus (1270—1302). It was the time when such forts as Jangi-Shekhr (Old Orhei) and Costesti appeared in the territory between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers, and Chilia and Isaccea in the Danube Region; the first account of Bilhorod dates to the same period (1290). The author reviews documents containing data on political status and economic development of this city, its ethnic and confessional groups under the Golden Horde’s rule, and its accession by Moldavia in late 14th c.

Keywords: North-Western Pontic Area, Jochi’s Ulus, Dniester region, Danube region, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Golden Horde period, urbanization, urban centers.

Information about author:

Gregory Boguslavskiy (Odessa, Ukraine). Archaeology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Pushkinskaya St., 37, Odessa, 65101, Ukraine.
E-mail: [email protected]