Astrakhan', a government in the SE. of European Russia, watered by the Volga, and washed on the SE. by the Caspian Sea. Area, 91,327 sq. m.; pop. (1893) 515,200. It is almost entirely a barren waste, the only fertile portions being along the Volga. Salt is procured from the marshes of the steppes, considerable numbers of cattle are reared, and fish are taken in the Volga, and sent to Nijni Novgorod. The climate is marked by its extremes, and the population by the variety of its nationalities.
ASTRAKHAN, its capital, and one of the chief towns of Russia, is situated on a high island in the Volga, 41 miles from its mouth in the Caspian Sea. It is surrounded by fruit-trees and vineyards, and consists of the fortress (Kreml), the White Town (Beloigorod), and 16 suburbs (Sloboden). The Kreml and the White Town alone have houses of stone; the suburbs contain wooden buildings only, and irregular, dirty, and unpaved streets. Length-wise through the middle of the city runs a canal which connects the Kutun arm of the Volga with the main stream. Of nearly 40 Greek churches, the finest is the cathedral (1696), on the highest point in the Kreml. Pop. (1891) 104,856, consisting of Russians, Armenians, Tartars, and Persians. Almost the entire commerce with Persia and Transcaucasia passes through the city. Its great markets attract every year many thousands of merchants, and its three bazaars are among the busiest marts in Europe or Asia. The city is connected by steamers with all parts of the Caspian, and is the principal harbour of that sea, although it is only when south winds raise the water that it can accommodate the largest vessels. The principal articles imported are wheat, barley, woollen stuffs, spirits, iron, tin, drugs, fruit, gold manufactures, raw silk, cotton, cotton yarn, and cotton fabrics. The industries are shipbuilding, dyeing, silk manufacture, shagreen-working, tallow-melting, seal-oil boiling, and soap-making. The fisheries are of high importance, and rank amongst the greatest in the world. Enormous numbers of sturgeon are taken.—Astrakhan is the name of a fine description of fur, the produce of a variety of sheep found in Bokhara, Persia, and Syria.