Srednyaya Akhtuba

Srednyaya Akhtuba lies in the floodplain between the Volga and its branch the Akhtuba. In the eighteenth century Russian authorities encouraged settlement and silk production in this watered valley. A Russian state silk works was established on the Akhtuba, and peasants were assigned to raise silkworms at home and deliver their cocoons for processing.

The settlement grew among villages associated with the works. In 1773 Catherine II ordered further families brought to the Akhtuba valley, adding to the farming communities there. The work could be burdensome: households were required to produce cocoons, and some peasants obtained them from Kizlyar when they could not meet their obligations locally. The records of 1782 list Srednyaya Akhtuba among the villages attached to the silk enterprise.