Sarai

The capital of Golden Horde, founded by Batu-khan in the 1250s, near present-day Astrakhan. Moslem traveler Ibn Battuta wrote about its wide streets and beautiful bazaars in 1334. Khan Uzbek moved the capital to New Sarai in the Volgograd region circa 1350, but this city was destroyed by Timur the Great in 1395, in his war with Toktamysh.