Blagodarnoye

Blagodarnoye lies on the Buyvola in the North Caucasian steppe. The village was established in the later eighteenth century, as the Russian authorities encouraged service families and peasants from the interior to settle along the Buyvola, Kuma and Kalaus. An early name, Soldatskoye, recalled its association with soldiers; Kalmyk and Turkmen pastoralists also moved through the surrounding lands. The name Blagodarnoye, meaning “thankful,” became attached to the growing settlement by the river.