1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mokshany

MOKSHANY, a town of Russia, in the government of Penza, 24 m. N.W. of the city of Penza. Pop. (1900), 10,710. The inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, or work in flour-mills, oilworks, tanneries and potash-works. Mokshany, which was built in 1535 as a fort to protect the country from the raids of the Tatars and the Kalmucks, is supposed to occupy the site of the Meshcheryak town of Murunza, mentioned as early as the 9th century.