Tetyushi

Tetyushi stands on the high right bank of the Volga, overlooking the river south of Kazan. Known in the time of the Kazan Khanate, it became a Russian frontier fortress in the sixteenth century. Its garrison and nearby line of forest defences guarded the middle Volga as Russian authority expanded into the region.

The date of the fortress is disputed, but it was established in the second half of the sixteenth century. Streltsy and other service people formed its garrison. After Simbirsk and a new fortified line were built farther south in the mid-seventeenth century, Tetyushi's military role diminished; some of its Cossacks were transferred to the new frontier. The town remained a local centre on the Volga, receiving district-town status under Catherine II's administrative reforms.