Morsha

Morsha stood on the Tsna at the point where the river became navigable. Recorded in 1623 as a village belonging to the bishops of Ryazan, it grew into a trading centre for the Tsna country in the second half of the seventeenth century. Waterways and overland roads connected its merchants with Moscow, the Volga towns and the Don basin. Grain passed through its river landing, and its commercial importance led Catherine II to raise Morsha to the status of a district town in 1779, under the name Morshansk.