Belekes

Belekes was named for the river flowing through the settlement, later called Iglino. It was established on hereditary Bashkir land acquired in 1786 by Sergei Iglin, whose first settlers were serfs brought from Kazan Governorate. Carpentry, pottery and harness-making developed in the early nineteenth century. Construction of the Church of the Archangel began in 1822, giving the village another name, Arkhangelskoye. Its history joined the older Bashkir landholding landscape to the estates and villages established under Russian rule.