The early cartography of the mid-Volga region. Much of the history of Russian cartography has yet to be written. Until now, the names of many of the Russian geodesists and cartographers of the 17 th and 18 th centuries, who worked selflessly to develop precise geographical representations of their country, remained unknown. This essay recounts the story of a few of them - Aleksei Izvolov, Vasily Kipriianov, Aleksandr Svechin, and others - who created some of the early maps of the mid-Volga territory. This essay also publishes, for the first time, some of the hand-drawn, large-scale maps of the 18 th century, which provide a new look at the history of this region.