The first historical record of a product very similar to the caviar used today dates back to 1240 AD and was found in Uglich, Russia. Caviar became a very popular product of the Russian tradition, especially in relation to the arrangements of the Orthodox Church. 

In 1675 Tsar Alexei Michailovich (the second Romanov Tsar) establishes the exclusive authority of the tsar in the caviar trade. Twenty years later, in 1695, Peter the Great founded the first office for fishing in Astrakhan.