Yugra or Iuhra (Old Russian Югра Jugra; Byzantine Greek Οὔγγροι Oὔggroi; ) was a collective name for lands and peoples in the region to the east of the northern Ural Mountains (modern north-west Russia), in the Russian annals of the 12th–17th centuries. During this period the region was inhabited by the Khanty (a.k.a. Ostyaks; Hanty) and Mansi (Vogul; Maansi) peoples. Yugra was also the source for the name of the Ugric language family (including both the Khanty and Mansi languages, as well as Hungarian). In a current context, the word "Yugra" generally refers to a political constituent of the Russia Federation formally known as Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, located in the lands historically known as Ioughoria. In modern Russian this word is rendered "Югория" (Yugoria) and is used as a poetic synonym of the region. History The 12th century missionary and traveller Abu Hamid al-Gharnati gives one of the earliest accounts of the region, which he calls Yura in Arabic: But beyond Wisu by the Sea of Darkness there lies a land known by the name of Yura. In summers the days are very long there, so that the Sun does not set for forty days, as the merchants say; but in winters the nights are equally long. The merchants report that Darkness is not far (from them), and that the people of Yura go there and enter it with torches, and find a huge tree there which is like a big village. But on top of the tree there sits a large creature, they say it is a bird. And they bring merchandise along, and each merchant sets down his goods apart from those of the others; and he makes a mark on them and leaves, but when he comes back, he finds commodities there, necessary for his own country ... (Al Garnati:32) The Golden Lady of the Obians was apparently an idol of the Yugrans. The first reports of the Golden Lady are found in the 14th-century Novgorod Chronicles, with reference to Saint Stephan of Perm. Next, the golden idol is mentioned in the 16th century by the subjects of the Grand Duke of Moscow, commissioned to describe the trade and military routes of the expanding Russia. The first non-Russian known to have examined the Golden Lady is Maciej Miechowita, a professor at Cracow University. The golden idol appeared on Sigismund von Herberstein's map of Moscovia published in 1549,