This 1822 map of Ryazan 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. Ryazan was an ancient principality in Kievan Rus’, perhaps as early as the ninth century. The principality was on the crucial boundary zone between forest and steppe, which left it within range of both rival Russian princes to the north and Mongol khans of the Golden Horde to the south. In its early history, Ryazan was sacked by armies from both the Russian principality of Suzdal’ and the Golden Horde. It nonetheless managed to maintain its independence, often by forming alliances with foreign powers. In the Battle of Kulikovo of 1380, Ryazan sided with the Mongols against the forces of Dmitrii Donskoi. The defeat of the Mongols in this battle weakened the position of Ryazan, which was absorbed into Muscovy by the early 16th century.