Ukek

{{Short description|City of the Golden Horde}}

{{coord| 51|25|15|N| 45|57|45|E|display=title}}

Ukek or Uvek (Turki/Kypchak: {{Script|Arab|اوکک}}; {{langx|tt-Latn|Ükäk}}; {{langx|ru| Увек}}) was a city of the Golden Horde,{{cite book |title=From Pax Mongolica to Pax Ottomanica: War, Religion and Trade in the Northwestern Black Sea Region (14th-16th Centuries) |date=29 January 2020 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-42244-5 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxfUDwAAQBAJ |language=en}} situated on the banks of the Volga River, at the Uvekovka estuary. Ukek marked the half-way distance between Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, and Bolghar, the former capital of Volga Bulgaria. Probably established in the 1240s, Ukek became an important trade center by the early 14th century. Its ruins are located about {{convert|22|km}} south of the city center, on the outskirts of the Zavodskoy district of Saratov. A settlement situated next to the ruins still has the name Uvek (Увек).

Several medieval chroniclers make reference to Ukek. Ibn Battuta stopped here, and called it "a city of middling size, with fine buildings and abundant commodities, and extremely cold".{{cite book|last1=Battutah|first1=Ibn|title=The Travels of Ibn Battutah|date=2002|publisher=Picador|location=London|isbn=9780330418799|pages=129}} It is also marked on some contemporary maps, including the 1367 map by Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano and the 1459 map by Fra Mauro.

Timur's troops sacked the city in 1395. The ruins of Ukek were described by Anthony Jenkinson in 1558.

In 2014, archaeologists associated with the Saratov museum unearthed what they believed to be the remains of two Christian temples, along with artefacts identified as being imported from Rome, Egypt, Iran and China, indicating the wealth of the city.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ancient-mongolian-city-christian-temples-unearthed-russia-1471777|title=Ancient Mongolian City with Christian Temples Unearthed in Russia|date=26 October 2014}}