Alexandrov Gay

Alexandrov Gay stands beside the Bolshoy Uzen, among the wooded floodplain groves and reeds of the dry Trans-Volga steppe. Its name combines a settler's name with a word for a grove, recalling the trees beside the river. Peasants and other settlers made homes along the Uzen, where the wooded banks offered shelter amid the wide surrounding open country.

After Catherine II's 1762 decree permitting Old Believers to settle in the region, Alexandrov Gay became one of their centres. In 1774 Yemelyan Pugachev crossed the Volga after defeat and headed toward the Bolshoy Uzen with the remnants of his army. He was seized by his own followers in the Uzen country and delivered to the authorities, bringing the rebellion close to its end.