Our ambassadors arrive in the Russian city of Astrakhan on June 15, 1638, and stay until September 7. Bruggeman has a guilty conscience for his “many imprudent actions” during the journey. He also fears being punished by Duke Frederick upon returning to Holstein, a fear which causes him to make even more bad decisions.

They leave Astrakhan on September 7, after being informed by some local rogue Cossacks that they have successfully robbed so many people on the river that they are eager to see if they can also rob the Germans.

The Volga is beginning to freeze, and the three ships barely make Casan on November 6. The river is impassable the next morning, and the mayor of the city – who has a decidedly unfriendly view of the German trade mission – prohibits them from coming ashore.

They reach Moscow on January 2, 1639, staying at the ordinary house appointed for the reception of ambassadors.

Everyone is back at Duke Frederick’s home at Schloss Gottorp on August 1, 1639.

Olearius writes: “And so they concluded their Travels into MUSCOVY, TARTARY, and PERSIA. FINIS.”

It is the middle of April, 1638, and our German trade ministers are roughly two-thirds of the way through their 9,000-mile round-trip to Isfahan.

They are stuck in the city of Tarku, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, which today bears the name of Makhachkala and is the capital of Russia’s Republic of Dagestan.

They are stuck because independent warlords control every village, city, and river crossing in Dagestan, all of them have their own plans for robbing or killing the Germans, none of them want to let the other warlords get the upper hand, and none of them want to supply the Germans with the food they need to reach the Russian city of Astrakhan.

All of this makes Tarku most dangerous place of the entire journey.

Our ambassadors leave the city of Schamachie on March 30, 1638, keeping an eye out for highway robbers, and a week later arrive in Derbent.

The coastline of Derbent is pure rock, and serves as the foundation of the city wall, which is so broad that a wagon easily be driven on top of it. The city is sometimes called the Gate of Persia, since it lies on the extreme northwestern edge of the empire, and its walls extends from the sea to the top of a nearby mountain.

This long defensive wall is known as Dagh Bary, which literally means “Mountain Wall” from the Turkish word for mountain and the Persian word for wall. According to the Encyclopedia Iranica, it stretched “many kilometers” into the mountains and had numerous fortresses and towers of its own.

It is also called Alexander’s Wall because legend has it that Alexander the Great built the wall to defend against the tribes of Gog and Magog to the north.

An order comes down from the ambassadors that no one should tempt any citizen of Derbent to quarrel with them, lest the locals fall upon the whole company and murder them.

Before leaving, the ambassadors take stock of their weapons, counting 52 muskets and firelocks, 19 cases of pistols, two brass cannons, and four murdering-pieces (the stone-firing cannons), all fit for service.