Pages: 203-211

The article addresses the causes and evolution of the crisis in relations between the Golden Horde and the Italian settlements in the Azov-Black Sea Region — Tana (Azov) and Caffa (Theodosia) — in 1340s. Reconstruction of the events is based on the documents from the Venice State Archives compared with the information from the narrative sources (Venetian, Florentine, Genoese, Byzantine, Swiss etc.). The author estimates the size of losses incurred by the Italian merchants due to the incident in Tana in 1343 that unleashed a war between the Golden Horde and the Italian maritime republics of Genoa and Venice. The author points out the significance of the events for the Golden Horde and for the Western Europe in the mid-14th century.

Keywords: Venice, Golden Horde, North Black Sea region, Tana, Caffa, crisis, trading posts, conflict, war, navigation.

Information about author:

Sergey Karpov (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow Lomonosov State University. Lomonosovsky Ave., 27/4, Moscow, 119992, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]