This 1822 map of Simbirsk Province is from a larger work, Geograficheskii atlas Rossiiskoi imperii, tsarstva Pol'skogo i velikogo kniazhestva Finliandskogo (Geographical atlas of the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland), containing 60 maps of the Russian Empire. Compiled and engraved by Colonel V.P. Piadyshev, it reflects the detailed mapping carried out by Russian military cartographers in the first quarter of the 19th century. The map shows population centers (six gradations by size), postal stations, roads (four types), provincial and district borders, monasteries, and factories. Distances are shown in versts, a Russian measure, now no longer used, equal to 1.07 kilometers. Legends and place-names are in Russian and French. The Simbirsk region rose to prominence in the 17th century, when a fort was established there on the western bank of the Volga River as part of a string of fortifications to protect the eastern flank of the nascent Russian state. Like other borderlands of Russia, the region was home to Cossack troops and the scene of numerous uprisings, including the one led by Stenka Razin (real name, Stepan Timofeevich Razin), who was defeated at Simbirsk in 1670.