Vyatka

Vyatka stands on the river of the same name, in a region where Novgorodian settlers, other Slavs and Finno-Ugric peoples met. The town is first mentioned in a chronicle in 1374, when river raiders plundered it on their way to Bolghar. Like Novgorod and Pskov, Vyatka was governed by an assembly, and its militias raided neighboring lands. During the fifteenth century Moscow repeatedly sought to subdue the self-governing Vyatka country; in 1489 it was finally annexed.

Known as Khlynov under Russian rule, the town gradually became more prominent as a center of trade. In the seventeenth century the Semenovskaya fair attracted merchants from Siberia, the Urals and the northern coast. The Vyatka diocese was established in 1657, and the town's kremlin was rebuilt under Tsar Aleksei. Its five-domed Dormition Cathedral was completed in 1689. Local makers became known for clay figures and whistles. In 1780 Catherine II restored the name Vyatka and made the town a provincial center. It also served as a place of exile. Grain, cloth, flax and other goods passed through its markets, linking the Vyatka valley to trade across the Russian interior.