This capital, which has since so completely disappeared that there is some doubt as to its site, is described by Ibn Batuta, who visited it in the fifteenth century, as a very great, populous, and beautiful city, possessing many mosques, fine market-places, and broad streets, in which were to be seen merchants from Babylon, Egypt, Syria, and other countries.

Here lived the Khans of the Golden Horde, who kept Russia in subjection for two centuries.
In conquering Russia the Mongols had no wish to possess themselves of the soil, or to take into their own hands the local administration.

What they wanted was not land, of which they had enough and to spare, but movable property which they might enjoy without giving up their pastoral, nomadic life.

They applied, therefore, to Russia the same method of extracting supplies as they had used in other countries.
As soon as their authority had been formally acknowledged they sent officials into the country to number the inhabitants and to collect an amount of tribute proportionate to the population.

This was a severe burden for the people, not only on account of the sum demanded, but also on account of the manner in which it was raised.