Razin, Stenka (stĕng`kä rä`zēn), d. 1671, Don Cossack Don Cossacks, Cossack settlers (see Cossacks ) who in the 16th cent. founded the virtually independent republic of the Don Cossacks on the fertile steppes along the lower course of the Don River. Novocherkassk was their chief town.
..... Click the link for more information. leader, head of the peasant revolt of 1670. As commander of a band of propertyless Don Cossacks, he raided and pillaged (1667–69) through the lower Volga valley and across the Caspian Sea. On his return (1670) to the Don, Razin rebelled against the authority of the czar. His force of some 7,000 men took Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), Astrakhan, Saratov, and Samara, and was joined by serfs, peasants, and non-Russian tribes of the middle and lower Volga region. However, he was defeated by government troops at Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) and fled to the Don, where the propertied Cossacks delivered him to the government. Razin was executed at Moscow. His exploits have long been celebrated in song and legend.

Razin, Stenka

orig. Stepan Timofeyevich Razin

(born c. 1630, Zimoveyskaya-na-Donu, Russia—died June 16, 1671, Moscow) Russian Cossack rebel. Born in the prosperous Don Cossack area, he supported the runaway serfs from Poland and Russia who escaped into the region to find land. In 1667 he led a band of newcomers to establish an outpost on the upper Don River. They raided Russian and Persian settlements on the Caspian Sea (1667–70), acquiring great fame and wealth. He then led his Cossack anarchists on a campaign into the Volga River region, where he was joined by disaffected peasants. After seizing Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), Astrakhan, and Saratov, his force of 20,000 undisciplined rebels was defeated by the Russian army at Simbirsk. Razin was captured, tortured, and executed. He became a popular Russian folk hero and was immortalized in songs and legends.