Staraya Mayna

Staraya Mayna lies on the Volga's eastern side near the mouth of the Mayna, in the open country north of Simbirsk. A fortified post was built here around 1670 during the expansion of Russian settlement into the Trans-Volga region. Tradition also recalls an earlier monastic settlement abandoned because of raids. In 1774 a detachment of Pugachev's followers under Ataman Somov stopped here while retreating from Kazan toward Bely Yar.