ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how changes in policy in Moscow meant that trade through the Caucasus, still highly desirable because of access to the Great Silk Road to the south, became more a matter of diplomacy than previous aggression. The balance of powers in the region, particularly between Moscow and Constantinople, necessarily affected the region. Tersky gorod, the largest Russian city in the area, situated on the Terek river delta to the north of Dagestan, became pivotal: the nature of its traders and many of its trade-goods are described. Violent struggles between the Ottomans and Persia also had consequences in Dagestan.
