History
It was founded in 1556 as a Russian outpost on the Sosnovy Island on the Volga. In 1606, the whole settlement was relocated to the spot of today's Khvalynsk and came to be known as Sosnovy Ostrov (Сосновый Остров, lit. pine island). In 1780, the settlement was granted uyezd town status and renamed Khvalynsk.
In the 18th–19th centuries, Khvalynsk was known as a local center for trading bread and agricultural produce. It was also one of the centers of the Old Believers. Some scholars believe that Khvalynsk was used by Nikolai Gogol as a setting for his play The Government Inspector.
Read more about this topic: Khvalynsk
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