Zavetnoye

The grasslands around Zavetnoye lie west of the Volga in the broad steppe between the river and the Don country. Before the village was founded, Kalmyk pastoral communities moved their herds across this region, using different pastures as the seasons changed. The Lesser Derbet ulus, formed in 1788, occupied extensive lands across the Kalmyk steppe. Routes through its territory joined the lower Volga to the northern Caucasus, crossing streams and dry open ground.