Mongol invasion of Rus'
The town is believed to have originated in 1586 as Ust-Livny, a wooden fort on the bank of the Livenka River, although some believe that a town had existed on the spot previous to the Mongol invasion of Rus'. The fortress was important in guarding the southern border of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the case of a Crimean Tatar raid along the Muravsky Trail.