Cotton Trade at the Astrakhan Port in the First Half of the 19th Century

In the structure of Russian-Asian trade, Astrakhan from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 19th century played an important role as practically the main trade gateway to the East. For centuries, Central Asian and Persian merchants brought “works” of their countries to the Astrakhan port. In the first place in the structure of import trade here were raw materials for the Russian textile industry — silk and “Bukhara” and Persian cotton. Based on the analysis of the available data from the office of the Astrakhan Governor and the customs authorities, we were able to analyze the volume of trade in cotton (raw and spun paper) at the Astrakhan port in the first half of the 19th century, prices for these types of goods. It is also relevant to identify the reasons for the significant reduction in cotton imports through Astrakhan at the end of the specified period.