For the great stone belt, the Urals, the vast expanses of Siberia stretched. This territory occupies almost three-quarters of the entire area of our country. Siberia is larger than the second largest (after Russia) country in the world - Canada. More than twelve million square kilometers store in their bowels inexhaustible reserves of natural resources, with reasonable use, sufficient for the life and prosperity of many generations of people.
Stone Belt Hike
The beginning of the development of Siberia falls on last years reign of Ivan the Terrible. The most convenient outpost for moving deep into this wild and uninhabited region at that time was the middle Urals, the undivided owner of which was the Stroganov family of merchants. Taking advantage of the patronage of the Moscow tsars, they owned vast land areas, on which there were thirty-nine villages and the city of Solvychegodsk with a monastery. They also owned a chain of prisons, stretching along the border with the possessions of Khan Kuchum.
The history of Siberia, or rather, its conquest by Russian Cossacks, began with the fact that the tribes inhabiting it refused to pay the Russian Tsar yasyk - a tribute that they had been subject to for many years. Moreover, the nephew of their ruler - Khan Kuchum - with a large detachment of cavalry made a number of raids on the villages belonging to the Stroganovs. To protect against such unwanted guests, wealthy merchants hired Cossacks, led by ataman Vasily Timofeevich Alenin, nicknamed Yermak. Under this name, he entered Russian history.
First steps in an unknown land
In September 1582, a detachment of seven hundred and fifty people began their legendary campaign for the Urals. It was a kind of discovery of Siberia. On the whole route, the Cossacks were lucky. The Tatars who inhabited those regions, although they outnumbered them, were inferior militarily. They practically did not know the firearms, so widespread by that time in Russia, and fled in a panic every time they heard a volley.
To meet the Russians, the khan sent his nephew Mametkul with ten thousand troops. The battle took place near the Tobol River. Despite their numerical superiority, the Tatars suffered a crushing defeat. The Cossacks, building on their success, came close to the Khan's capital, Kashlyk, and here they finally crushed the enemies. The former ruler of the region fled, and his warlike nephew was captured. From that day on, the khanate practically ceased to exist. The history of Siberia is making a new turn.
Struggles with aliens
In those days, the Tatars obeyed a large number of tribes conquered by them and who were their tributaries. They did not know money and paid their yasyk with the skins of fur-bearing animals. From the moment of the defeat of Kuchum, these peoples came under the rule of the Russian Tsar, and carts with sables and martens were pulled to distant Moscow. This valuable product has always and everywhere been in great demand, and especially in the European market.
However, not all tribes resigned themselves to the inevitable. Some of them continued to resist, although it weakened every year. The Cossack detachments continued their march. In 1584, their legendary ataman Ermak Timofeevich died. This happened, as often happens in Russia, due to negligence and oversight - at one of the halts, sentries were not posted. It so happened that a prisoner who had escaped a few days before brought an enemy detachment at night. Taking advantage of the oversight of the Cossacks, they suddenly attacked and began to cut the sleeping people. Yermak, trying to escape, jumped into the river, but a massive shell - a personal gift from Ivan the Terrible - carried him to the bottom.
Life in the conquered land
Since that time, active development began. Following the Cossack detachments, hunters, peasants, clergy and, of course, officials were drawn into the taiga wilderness. All those who found themselves behind the Ural Range became free people. There was neither serfdom nor landlordism here. They paid only the tax established by the state. The local tribes, as mentioned above, were taxed with a fur yasyk. During this period, the income from the receipt of Siberian furs to the treasury was a significant contribution to the Russian budget.
The history of Siberia is inextricably linked with the creation of a system of forts - defensive fortifications (around which, by the way, many cities subsequently grew up), which served as outposts for the further conquest of the region. So, in 1604, the city of Tomsk was founded, which later became the largest economic and cultural center. After a short time, the Kuznetsk and Yenisei prisons appeared. They housed military garrisons and the administration that controlled the collection of yasyk.
Documents of those years testify to many facts of corruption of the authorities. Despite the fact that, according to the law, all furs had to go to the treasury, some officials, as well as Cossacks directly involved in the collection of tribute, overstated the established norms, appropriating the difference in their favor. Even then, such lawlessness was severely punished, and there are many cases when covetous men paid for their deeds with freedom and even with their lives.
Further penetration into new lands
The process of colonization became especially intensive after the end of the Time of Troubles. The goal of all those who dared to seek happiness in new, uncharted lands was this time Eastern Siberia. This process went on at a very fast pace, and by the end of the 17th century, the Russians had reached the shores Pacific Ocean. By this time, a new government structure appeared - the Siberian order. His duties included the establishment of new procedures for the administration of controlled territories and the nomination of governors, who were locally authorized representatives of the tsarist government.
In addition to the yassy collection of furs, furs were also purchased, the payment for which was carried out not in money, but in all kinds of goods: axes, saws, various tools, as well as fabrics. History, unfortunately, has preserved many cases of abuse. Often, the arbitrariness of officials and Cossack foremen ended in riots by local residents, who had to be pacified by force.
The main directions of colonization
Eastern Siberia was developed in two main directions: to the north along the coast of the seas, and to the south along the border line with the states adjacent to it. At the beginning of the 17th century, the banks of the Irtysh and the Ob were settled by Russians, and after them, significant areas adjacent to the Yenisei. Cities such as Tyumen, Tobolsk and Krasnoyarsk were founded and began to be built. All of them were to eventually become major industrial and cultural centers.
The further advance of the Russian colonists was carried out mainly along the Lena River. Here in 1632 a prison was founded, which gave rise to the city of Yakutsk, the most important stronghold at that time in the further development of the northern and eastern territories. Largely due to this, two years later, the Cossacks, led by, managed to reach the Pacific coast, and soon saw the Kuriles and Sakhalin for the first time.
Conquerors of the Wild
History of Siberia and Far East keeps the memory of another outstanding traveler - the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev. In 1648, he and the detachment he led on several ships for the first time rounded the coast of North Asia and proved the existence of a strait separating Siberia from America. At the same time, another traveler, Poyarov, having passed along the southern border of Siberia and climbed up the Amur, reached the Sea of Okhotsk.
Some time later, Nerchinsk was founded. Its significance is largely determined by the fact that as a result of moving to the east, the Cossacks approached China, which also claimed these territories. By that time Russian empire reached its natural limits. Over the next century, there was a steady process of consolidating the results achieved during colonization.
Legislative acts related to the new territories
The history of Siberia in the 19th century is characterized mainly by the abundance of administrative innovations introduced into the life of the region. One of the earliest was the division of this vast territory into two general governments approved in 1822 by personal decree of Alexander I. Tobolsk became the center of the West, and Irkutsk became the center of the East. They, in turn, were subdivided into provinces, and those into volost and foreign councils. This transformation was the result of a well-known reform
In the same year, ten legislative acts signed by the tsar and regulating all aspects of administrative, economic and legal life saw the light of day. Much attention in this document was paid to issues related to the arrangement of places of deprivation of liberty and the procedure for serving sentences. TO XIX century penal servitude and prisons have become an integral part of this region.
Siberia on the map of those years is replete with the names of mines, work in which was carried out exclusively by the convicts. This is Nerchinsky, and Zabaikalsky, and Blagodatny and many others. As a result of a large influx of exiles from among the Decembrists and participants in the Polish rebellion of 1831, the government even united all Siberian provinces under the supervision of a specially formed gendarme district.
The beginning of the industrialization of the region
Of the main ones that received wide development during this period, it should be noted first of all the extraction of gold. By the middle of the century, it accounted for most of the total volume of the precious metal mined in the country. Also, large revenues to the state treasury came from the mining industry, which had significantly increased by this time the volume of mining. Many others have grown as well.
In the new century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the impetus for the further development of the region was the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The history of Siberia in the post-revolutionary period is full of drama. A fratricidal war, monstrous in its scale, swept across its expanses, ending with the liquidation white movement and establishing Soviet power. During the Great Patriotic War many industrial and military enterprises are evacuated to this region. As a result, the population of many cities is increasing sharply.
It is known that only for the period 1941-1942. more than a million people have come here. In the post-war period, when numerous giant factories, power plants and railway lines were being built, there was also a significant influx of visitors - all those for whom Siberia became a new homeland. On the map of this vast region, names appeared that became symbols of the era - the Baikal-Amur Mainline, the Novosibirsk Academgorodok and much more.
One of the most remarkable pages in the history of Russia is the development of Siberia. Today, the Siberian expanses make up most of the Russian territory. And at the beginning of the 15th century, Siberia was a real “blank spot”. For our country, the feat of Yermak, who conquered Siberia for Russia, became one of the most epoch-making events in the formation of the Russian state.
In the 15th century, between the lands of the Golden Horde (meaning the Astrakhan, Crimean and Kazan khanates) and the Moscow state, there were huge expanses of "no man's" land. Despite the fact that the territories were very attractive for development, the Russians looked with longing and pity at the fertile, fatty steppe lands that they did not dare to develop.
Only the brave Cossacks were not afraid to set up their settlements in the zone of "no man's" steppe. The most desperate people flocked to these villages, looking for a free life, ready to fight and not afraid of military campaigns.
In response to the raids of the steppes, the Cossacks made trips to the Nogai, Crimean and Kazan lands. Often the Cossacks took booty from the Tatar hordes returning from the robbery of Russian lands and freed the captives. Thus the Cossacks accepted the most Active participation in the war with the enemies of Rus'.
The most famous Cossack who fought for Rus' was Ermak Timofeevich (Ermak is his nickname, and his real name was Yerema). Even before the famous Siberian campaign, he honed his skills and gained experience, being the chieftain of the Cossack detachment on the border of the steppes. Little information has been preserved about Yermak's personality: it is known that he was strong, eloquent and "black with hair."
According to one of the legends, Yermak's grandfather, Afanasy Alenin, helped the Murom robbers. Yermak himself worked for some time on plows that traveled along the Volga and Kama. But soon he took up robbery.
There were many rumors about Yermak's robbery past. For example, the English traveler John Perry in his notes claimed that Yermak was a noble robber: he did not kill anyone, robbed only the rich and shared the proceeds with the poor. However, historians doubt the reliability of this information. Thus, they reject the widespread legend that Yermak, together with the Volga Cossacks, robbed the Persian ambassadors. However, based on information from the Land Book embassy order”, it follows that the ambassadors were robbed a few years after the death of Yermak. Thus, we can conclude that information about Yermak's robbery past may be incorrect - and this is the first mystery.
The second historical mystery is that it is not known in what year Yermak Timofeevich went with his comrades on a Siberian campaign. According to various sources, this could have happened in the period 1579-1582. And it happened like this.
Having beaten off another attack by the soldiers of the Horde prince Ali, the Cossacks began to gather in long hike. The rich merchant clan of the Stroganovs provided them with everything they needed, including ammunition and a large supply of bread. All stocks should have been enough for two years. About a thousand Cossacks went on a campaign.
Why did Yermak and his army move precisely towards Siberia?
At that time, the Siberian Khanate was part of the previously disintegrated Golden Horde. For a long time it lived peacefully with neighboring Russia. However, when Khan Kuchum took power in the khanate, numerous detachments of Tatars began to attack the Russian lands located in the Western Urals. In one of these raids, the horde of Tsarevich Ali, who lost the battle to the Cossacks near Nizhny Chusovsky, did not return to their Siberian estates, but retreated to Cherdyn. The Yermakovites did not catch up with him, they decided to take advantage of the unique moment when the Siberian expanses were left without the protection of the horde in order to conquer Siberia and, at the same time, end this endless war. The Cossacks understood that the defeat of Ali's hordes was not enough for a complete victory, and the whole force of the numerous khan's detachments settled in the Siberian region would come out against them.
Before the campaign, the priests in the churches of Chusovskie Gorodoki served a prayer service and blessed the soldiers on their hard journey, the bells rang, the Cossacks marched under the banner with the face of Jesus Christ. The chronicles say that during all Siberian campaign Cossacks observed all Orthodox fasts and participated in prayers before battles. In the meantime, the Cossacks on three dozen plows set off along the river. At that time, the safest way to travel across the southern Russian steppes was to move along the river on plows, since in this way it was easiest to get away from the fast Tatar horses. Each plow was about ten meters long, 18 rowers were placed at the sides. The Cossacks rowed alternately, and when the enemy appeared, they took up arms. Plows had to be dragged by hand in case of crossing the watershed.
It is not known exactly who became the instigator of the Siberian campaign of the Cossacks. But it has been established for certain that the performances were financed by the merchants Stroganovs. The merchants hoped that the military campaign would stop the Tatar raids and serve to protect their property. It is possible that Ivan the Terrible instructed the Stroganovs to organize and pay for a trip to the unexplored Siberian lands. There is a version that the tsar, having learned about the impending campaign of the Cossacks in Siberia, wrote a letter to the Stroganovs, demanding that the Cossacks be sent to defend the towns that were attacked by the detachments of Khan Kuchum and his eldest son Alei.
Yermak's campaign developed successfully, in several battles the army of the Cossack chieftain defeated the Tatar detachments. With fighting, the Cossacks led by Yermak reached the Irtysh River and captured the capital of the Siberian Khanate - now the city of Kashlyk. Yermak received numerous delegations of the indigenous peoples of Siberia, took an oath on behalf of Ivan the Terrible and forced them to pay tribute in favor of the Russian state.
Ermak did not stop at the capture of the main city of the Siberian Khanate: his detachment went further along the Irtysh and the Ob. The Cossacks captured one ulus after another and took the oath to the Russian Tsar. For several years, until 1585, Yermak's squad fought with the soldiers of Khan Kuchum in the expanses of Siberia.
After Yermak considered his duty to annex Siberia under the hand of the Russian Tsar fulfilled, he sent an ambassador to Ivan the Terrible with a victorious report. Ivan IV was very pleased and hastened to thank not only the ambassador for the good news, but also all the Cossacks participating in the campaign. For Yermak himself, the ambassador took two chain mail pieces of excellent workmanship. According to the chronicles, one of them, earlier, belonged to the famous voivode Shuisky. The chain mail weighed about 12 kg, it was made in the form of a shirt, it consisted of 16 thousand rings, on the right side a copper plate with the image of a double-headed eagle was attached to the chain mail.
On August 6, 1585, a detachment of Cossacks numbering up to 50 people, together with ataman Ermak Timofeevich, stopped for the night on the Irtysh, not far from the mouth of the Vagai River. Several detachments of Khan Kuchum unexpectedly attacked the Cossacks, killing all the fighters of Yermak. The ataman himself tried to swim to the plows. He was wearing two, donated by the king, chain mail. They became the cause of the death of Yermak, he drowned in the water of the Irtysh.
However, there is circumstantial evidence that this story had a continuation. Popular rumor says that a day later (according to some sources, after eight days), Yermak's body fell into the fishing nets of a Tatar fisherman, who hastened to report his find to Khan Kuchum himself. In order to ascertain the death of the famous Russian ataman, the entire Tatar nobility gathered. The joy was so great that the Tatars continued to celebrate the death of Yermak for several days. Having fun, the Tatars, for a week, shot Yermak's body with bows. They took his chain mail with them. The remote ataman was buried secretly and the exact place of his grave is still unknown.
The further fate of Khan Kuchum also did not work out. After the annexation of the Siberian lands to Russia, he wandered for a long time near Tobolsk, but did not enter into battle with the Russians, ruining only the settlements of his former subjects. All his sons were gradually taken prisoner and taken to Moscow. He was repeatedly offered to go to the service of the Russian Tsar, but the aged Kuchum answered that he was a free man and wanted to die free too. He failed to regain the throne of Siberia.
It so happened that the death of two opponents - Kuchum and Yermak remained secrets. Both of them have unknown graves, legends live about them among the Tatar people.
In history, Ermak looks like a hero, and Khan Kuchum got the fate of a villain, although, in fairness, he should be recognized for his desire for independence and love of freedom, which means it is worth looking at his personality from the other side.
It so happened that Ermak Timofeevich became not only historical personality, but also a key figure in Russian national folklore. There are many tales, legends and songs about him. In them, the dashing ataman Ermak Timofeevich is described as a person of exceptional courage and courage. Although it must be admitted that there is very little real data on the conqueror of Siberia, and the available information is rather contradictory. It is this circumstance that makes many researchers look again and again for new information about the national hero of Rus', and now Russia.
That's why:
in January 1555, the ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Yediger came to Moscow to congratulate Ivan IV on the acquisition of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and to ask him to take the entire Siberian land under his hand.
Ivan the Terrible agreed and laid a tribute: to give 1 (one) sable and 1 squirrel from each person. "And we have people," said the Siberian ambassadors, "30,700 people." [It must be assumed that this figure included only the adult population and was, for obvious reasons, an underestimate.]
Ambassador and tribute collector Dmitry Kurov was sent to Siberia from Moscow, who returned to Moscow at the end of 1556, two years later, together with the Siberian ambassador Boyanda. They brought only 700 tribute sables, i.e. "undercollected" 30 thousand pieces, or 98.7% of the tribute!
The tsar put the ambassador Boyanda in custody, confiscated all his personal property, and sent the Moscow Tatars to Siberia with a letter - to collect all the tribute by all means.
In September 1557, the messengers returned, bringing 1,000 sables and 104 sables instead of 1,000 squirrels, as well as Yediger’s written obligation to pay tribute annually with the explanation that, due to his continuous war with the Sheibanids (Uzbeks, Kazakhs), it was impossible to collect the entire tribute.
But Moscow was not interested in the internal strife of the Tatars, the tsar even refused to understand Ediger's hint about the need to help him against the Sheibanids.
Ivan IV was only interested in one thing - to receive the largest possible tribute, and he demanded it, threatening punishment.
In 1563, Yediger was killed by a new khan, the Sheibanid Kuchum. The latter decided that, due to the distance to Moscow and the impossibility of control, he could afford to stop collecting tribute for Ivan IV. To make it perfectly clear, he killed the Moscow ambassador, who arrived with a reminder of the timely collection of tribute. Moreover, Kuchum began to persecute the Mansi and Khanty (Voguls and Ostyaks), who paid tribute to Moscow in Perm region.
In 1572, he finally broke off relations of vassalage with Moscow. [As you can see, the hostility of Kuchum's policy towards Moscow especially intensified after the raid on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray in 1571-1572]
In 1573, the Khan began to disturb the Stroganovs, who had seized the Perm land. (The army of Tsarevich Mametkul (son of Kuchum, according to other sources, his nephew) came to the Chusovaya River.) The Stroganovs began to hire Cossacks to protect their possessions.
In July 1579, 540 people came to them. Volga Cossacks led by ataman Yermak Timofeevich and his henchmen - Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan, Matvey Meshcheryak. They served two years with the Stroganovs, until September 1581.
In July 1581, about 700 people attacked. Tatars and Ostyaks (from the Khanate of Kuchum) to the Stroganov towns. The attackers were defeated by Yermak's Cossacks. In this regard, the idea arose to pursue them beyond the Urals, to send a military expedition to the Trans-Urals, "to fight the Siberian Saltan."
September 1, 1581 Ermak and his comrades, having 840 people. (300 warriors were given by the Stroganovs), armed with squeakers and cannons, with the necessary supplies of winter shoes, clothes, food, supplied with local guides along the rivers of Siberia and translators (interpreters) from local languages (Tatar, Mansi, Khanty, Perm), set off to conquer the Siberian khanates.
Ermak Timofeevich's campaign in the Siberian Khanate
(September 1, 1581 – August 15, 1584)
September 1, 1581 the beginning of the campaign [according to R.G. Skrynnikov, Yermak's campaign began exactly a year later - September 1, 1582]
1. For four days, the detachment walked [from the Nizhne-Chusovsky town] on plows up the Chusovaya River to the mouth of the Silver River.
2. Then, for two days, we sailed up the Silver River up to the Siberian road, which passed through the portage that separated the basins of the Kama and Ob rivers.
3. From Kokuy, boats were dragged along the portage to the Zharovlya (Zheravlya) river.
spring 1582
4. Zharovley, Barancha and Tagil sailed to the Tura River, where the Tatar Tyumen (Siberian) Khanate began with its capital in Chimge-Tura, which was then transferred in the 16th century. in Isker, on the Irtysh.
5. Sailing down the Tura, the Cossacks captured the Tatar towns and twice defeated the Tatar troops, who fled in panic from the numerically smaller Russian army, equipped with firearms, completely unknown to the Tatars of Siberia.
It is no coincidence that, characterizing the reasons for the rapid conquest of Siberia by Ermak, the Russian historian S.M. Solovyov confines himself to a single, but exhaustively explaining the situation, phrase - "The gun defeated the bow and arrows."
summer 1582
6. Having crossed from Tura to the Tavda River, Yermak's detachments continued to instill fear in the Tatars and sought to find out the whereabouts of the main military forces of Khan Kuchum. At the mouth of the Tavda, detachments of the Tatars were defeated.
7. Meanwhile, Khan Kuchum, waiting for the approach of the Russian Cossacks, fortified himself in the city of Isker (Siberia) on the steep right bank of the Irtysh, at the mouth of the Sibirka River, on a slope rising 11.5 m above the river level.
8. Towards Yermak, who had already approached the Tobol, Kuchum sent the army of Prince Mametkul, which Yermak also easily defeated in the Babasan tract, on the banks of the Tobol.
9. The next battle took place already on the Irtysh, where the army under the leadership of Kuchum was again defeated. Here the Cossacks took the town of Atik-Murza.
10. In connection with the onset of frost, Prince Mametkul and the Ostyak princes allied with him hoped that the Russians would be stopped, especially since a special notch was set up in front of Isker to prevent the enemy from moving.
11. However, Yermak launched a night attack on enemy positions, used artillery and won a victory in a fierce battle, forcing the Tatars to flee, abandoning the capital's fortifications.
winter 1582-1583
12. On October 26, 1582, Yermak's detachments entered the deserted capital of the Khanate, where they wintered. In December 1582, they were subjected to an unexpected attack by the Tatars, however, having suffered losses in people, they held their positions.
spring 1583
13. Yermak again began hostilities against the Tatars and finally defeated Mametkul's troops in his camp on the Vagai River, and captured Mametkul himself.
summer 1583
14. Yermak undertook the conquest of the Tatar settlements along the Irtysh and the Ob. He also took the capital of the Khanty Nazym.
September 1583
15. Returning to Isker (Siberia), Yermak let know about his successes, firstly, to the Stroganovs, and secondly, to Moscow, sending Ivan IV, as a personal representative of the ataman Ivan, a Ring with gifts (mainly with furs - sable, squirrel).
In his message, Yermak reported that he defeated Khan Kuchum, captured his son and commander-in-chief - Prince Mametkul, captured the capital of the Khanate of Siberia, subdued all its inhabitants in settlements along the main rivers.
November-December 1583
16. The tsar, having received news from Yermak in Moscow, immediately sent two tsarist governors - Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with 300 people. warriors to reinforce Yermak in order to take the "Siberian Khanate" from Yermak.
In early December 1583, the governors left Moscow and went to the Stroganovs, from whom they were to learn the way to Yermak.
winter 1584
17. The tsar's governors arrived at the Stroganovs in Chusovsky towns only in February 1584, i.e. in the midst of winter, and immediately with great difficulty began to move towards the Irtysh, where Yermak was, taking with him another 50 people. warriors at the Stroganovs.
18. At that time, in Moscow, they realized that, in fact, they sent completely unprepared people into the unknown and that they should be detained, let them spend the winter with the Stroganovs, because it is dangerous to move along the Siberian impassability in winter.
On January 7, 1584, the tsar sends an order to the Stroganovs to build 15 plows by the spring, with a team of 20 people. on each, with a supply of food, building materials, clothing, tools, in order to transport all this to Yermak in the spring along with the ambassadors.
spring-summer 1584
19. However, Bolkhovsky and Glukhov had already reached the Irtysh, where they arrived only at the end of summer, without food, weapons, food, without sleds, and thus not only could not help Yermak, but also turned out to be a burden.
When the Tatars saw that Yermak had decided to seriously settle in Siberia, that reinforcements were coming to him, this made them extremely worried and intensified their actions against Yermak.
20. Meanwhile, the forces of Yermak, forced to fight continuously for two years, were depleted. Bearing losses in people, constantly experiencing a lack of food, a lack of shoes and clothing, Yermak's detachments gradually began to lose their combat effectiveness. Kuchum, who migrated to the upper reaches of the rivers - the Irtysh, Tobol and Ishim, inaccessible to Yermak's plows, all the time closely followed all the actions and movements of Yermak and his squads and tried to inflict damage on parts of Yermak's detachments with unexpected attacks.
21. Following the destruction of the detachment of Nikita Pan in Nazim (summer 1583), Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov, who returned from Moscow, were killed (March 1584), and also suffered heavy losses, although he defeated the Kuchumovsky detachment, ataman Meshcheryak (summer 1584 G.).
August 1584
22. On the night of August 5-6, 1584, Yermak himself died, leaving with a small detachment of 50 people. along the Irtysh and fell into a Tatar ambush. All his people were also killed. [According to R.G. Skrynnikov, which he justifies in the book below, and most other researchers, the chronology of Yermak's campaign is shifted by one year and, accordingly, Yermak died in August 1585 and the circumstances of his death were somewhat different. Actually, V. Pokhlebkin indirectly confirms this date with the facts given below. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the gap of a whole year between the death of Yermak and the expedition of I. Mansurov.]
23. There were so few Cossacks left that the voivode Glukhov and the only surviving atamans Matvey Meshcheryak decided on August 15, 1584 to leave the city of Siberia and flee along the Irtysh and Ob, and then across the Ural Range to Russia.
Thus, two years after the "victorious conquest" Siberia was lost. The Khanate of Kuchum was restored there. By this time, Ivan IV had also died, and the new tsar, Fedor I Ioannovich, did not yet know about the death of Yermak and the flight of his governors from Siberia.
Not receiving any news from Siberia, Boris Godunov, who actually managed state affairs under Fedor I, decided to send a new governor and a new military detachment to the Kuchum Khanate.
Secondary conquest of the Siberian Khanate
(summer 1585 - autumn 1598)
1. In the summer of 1585, governor Ivan Mansurov was sent to Siberia with a detachment of archers and Cossacks, who met Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak returning from Siberia on the Tura River. According to other sources, Mansurov did not meet Meshcheryak, and when he arrived in Siberia and did not find any of the Russians there, he wintered at the confluence of the Irtysh with the Ob, founding the Big Ob town on the right bank of the Ob (until the 18th century it was called Rush-Vash in Khanty - Russian city, [according to other sources, the Obsky town existed only until 1594]).
2. Following Mansurov, archery heads were sent from Moscow to Siberia - Vasily Sukin, Ivan Myasnoy, Daniil Chulkov with three hundred warriors and a supply of firearms and artillery. These detachments did not go to the capital of Kuchum on the Irtysh, but went up the Tura to the former Tatar capital of Chimgi-Tura and founded the Tyumen fortress (1586) at the mouth of the Tyumenka River, and the Tobolsk fortress (1587) at the mouth of the Tobol River. ).
These fortresses became the bases for all further advancement of the Russians in Siberia. Occupying strategically dominant heights and key points on the rivers, they became a solid military-defense basis for further colonization of the region and for control over the local population.
3. The tactics of hasty military campaigns were changed to the tactics of consistently securing on the rivers by building fortresses on them and leaving permanent garrisons in these fortresses.
4. The steady, consistent movement of the Russians and the consolidation of garrison points are carried out primarily along the rivers Tura, Pyshma, Tobol, Tavda, and then Lozva, Pelym, Sosva, Tara, Keti and, of course, the Ob.
5. In the 90s, the following network of Russian fortresses was created:
1590 Lozva town on the Lozva river;
1592-1593 Pelym on the river Tavda;
1593 Surgut on the Ob River;
Berezov on the river Sosva;
1594 Tara on the Tara river;
Obdorsk on the Lower Ob;
1596 Ket town on the Ob River;
1596-1597 Narym town on the Ket river;
1598 The city of Verkhoturye was founded, in which the customs house was located;
The official Babinovskaya road to Siberia was opened
6. All this forced Kuchum, who was actually ousted from the most attractive region of Siberia, to migrate with his hordes to the south, and, continuing to disturb the lands colonized by Russians from time to time, at the same time reduce their activity, being deprived of the main transport and water network and operational space.
7. At the same time, the new plan for the conquest of Siberia developed by Boris Godunov practically ruled out bloody battles and other direct military operations (and losses!), Forcing the enemy to take up passive defensive positions.
8. Kuchum's attempts in the 90s of the 16th century. repeatedly to build up strength and take revenge by attacking concentrations of Russian forces, or to take a large Russian fortress invariably ended in defeat.
In 1591, Kuchum was defeated by the governor Vladimir Masalsky-Koltsov.
In 1595, Kuchum's troops were put to flight by the governor Domozhirov.
In 1597, Kuchum's detachments unsuccessfully tried to capture the Tara fortress, and
in August 1598, Kuchum's army was utterly defeated by the troops of the governor Andrei Matveyevich Voeikov, almost all of it was killed, the family was captured. The khan himself barely escaped and was later killed in the Nogai steppes [The further fate of Kuchum is not known for certain: according to other sources, the Bukhara people, having lured him "to Kolmaki, killed him with Oman", according to others, he drowned in the Ob].
This last fight Russian troops with detachments of Khan Kuchum, which ended the conquest of the Siberian Khanate, which had been going on for two decades, later colorfully painted in various fiction novels, historical works, reflected in folk songs and even in Surikov's paintings, in reality did not have any epic, grandiose character at all and did not even have any significant military scale.
If the conquest of Kazan took part Russian army in 150 thousand people. and in battles, and even more so in repressions after the Russian victory, a total of about a quarter of a million Tatars, Chuvashs, Maris and Russians died, then only 404 people participated in the last decisive battle with Kuchum for the Siberian Khanate from the Russian side:
397 soldiers, among whom were Lithuanians (prisoners exiled to Siberia), Cossacks and appeased Tatars, and in command staff included: 3 sons of the boyars (Russians), 3 chieftains (Cossacks), 1 Tatar head, i.e. 7 officers in the rank of company commanders, platoons (or cell).
From the side of Kuchum, the army was also no more than 500 people. and had no firearms.
Thus, in " great battle Less than one thousand people participated on both sides for the conquest of Siberia!
9. Kuchum as the Khan of Siberia was nominally succeeded by his son Ali (1598-1604), who was forced to roam in uninhabited, desert territories Western Siberia, having no shelter, and with his death the history of the Siberian Tatar state both formally and actually ceased (captured in 1604, ended his life in a Russian prison in 1618, his younger brother Altanay was captured in 1608 at the age of about 12 years and sent to Moscow).
In 1594, after a long struggle, the Pelym principality, the most significant of the Mansi principalities, was finally annexed to Russia (it has been known since the middle of the 15th century, it included the basins of the Pelym and Konda rivers). The Pelym princes repeatedly invaded Russia. For example, in 1581, the Pelym prince Kihek captured and burned Solikamsk, devastated settlements and villages, and took away their inhabitants. The further annexation of Siberia to Russia proceeded relatively peacefully, and in 1640 the Russians already came to the Pacific coast.
"From Ancient Rus' to the Russian Empire". Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
A.N. Radishchev "Abridged narrative about the acquisition of Siberia".
Skrynnikov R.G. "Siberian expedition of Yermak". Novosibirsk, "Science" Siberian branch, 1982.
Accession of Siberia to Russia
“And when a completely ready, populated and enlightened land, once dark, unknown, appears before the astonished humanity, demanding a name and rights for itself, then let the story of those who erected this building be interrogated, and they will also not try, just as they did not try, who set up pyramids in the desert... And creating Siberia is not as easy as creating something under the blessed sky...» Goncharov I.A.
History assigned the role of a pioneer to the Russian people. For many hundreds of years, the Russians discovered new lands, settled them and transformed them with their labor, defended with weapons in their hands in the fight against numerous enemies. As a result, vast areas were settled and developed by Russian people, and the once empty and wild lands became not only an integral part of our country, but also its most important industrial and agricultural regions.
Adygea, Crimea. Mountains, waterfalls, herbs of alpine meadows, healing mountain air, absolute silence, snowfields in the middle of summer, the murmur of mountain streams and rivers, stunning landscapes, songs around the fires, the spirit of romance and adventure, the wind of freedom are waiting for you! And at the end of the route, the gentle waves of the Black Sea.
By river and sea routes, Russian people made their way further and further north and east, to the Urals. Dense spruce and pine forests - taiga - stood in their way.
Beyond the Urals lies Siberia. In the 16th century, Russian people set foot on her land. The boundless taiga opened up before them. Mighty rivers flowed from south to north to the Arctic Ocean.
In the 16th century Siberian Tatars owned the lands of Siberia. Tribes of hunters and fishermen lived among dense forests, hunted fur-bearing animals. The Russians exchanged furs - “soft gold” for goods that were brought from Russia. On foot, without roads, you will not pass through the Urals with goods. Sailed to Siberia along the seas and rivers. Fur trading took place on the banks of the Ob and its tributaries.
Cossacks lived in the steppes of southeastern Europe. These were Russian people who fled from the power of the tsar and the boyars to the "wild field" - the so-called steppes, where one could meet a Tatar detachment, and a caravan of merchants moving towards the Caspian Sea, and robbers. Led by ataman Yermak Timofeevich, the Cossacks crossed the Urals and Irtysh river, the left tributary of the Ob, defeated the army of the Siberian Khan Kuchum.
Thus began the annexation of Siberia to Russia. Very soon on the Irtysh, Tobol and other rivers of the Ob basin appeared Russian fortresses, which then grew into large cities: Tobolsk, Surgut, Tomsk and others.
At the end of the 16th century, a "Big Drawing" was created - a map of the entire Russian state with lands from the White to the Black Sea and from the Baltic Sea to the Ob River. It showed about 800 rivers and lakes, more than 300 cities, salt extraction sites were indicated. The drawing itself has not survived. An appendix to it has come down to us: "The Book of the Great Drawing". It describes in detail the roads and distances between cities and rivers.
The main stages of the conquest and settlement of Siberia by Russian people took place in the 17th-18th centuries. Brave explorers went around the entire coast of the North Arctic Ocean, went to the banks of the Pacific, sailed along many Siberian rivers. During their travels, they made descriptions and drawings. By order of the tsar, in the 17th century, a map-drawing of the whole of Siberia was prepared. She was still very inaccurate, reminiscent of a drawing. But already at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, Semyon Remizov created the Drawing of All Siberia on the same scale using a compass, and released the first atlas of Siberia from 23 maps.
Development of the Urals
The development of the Urals began even with the Novgorodians, who called the Ural Mountains the Yugorsky stone (after the name of the Ugra tribes living there).
In the XVI century. For the development of the middle and southern Urals, the merchants Stroganovs, who owned salt mines in the city of Sol-Vychegodskaya, did a lot. Ivan IV granted the Stroganov merchants land along the Kama and Chusovaya rivers (a tributary of the Kama). Their possessions approached the borders of the Siberian Khanate.
The Siberian Khan Kuchum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, recognized himself as a vassal of the Moscow Tsar and paid tribute to him. At the same time, the Khan made raids on the lands of the Urals. To protect against raids, the Stroganovs built fortresses, which were guarded by detachments of Cossacks.
Ermak
One of the leaders of the Cossacks was Yermak. The Stroganovs entrusted the protection of their possessions to Yermak Timofeevich not by chance. Documentary sources claim that Yermak was a professional and talented military commander. For two decades he served on the southern borders of Russia, repelling raids Crimean Tatars. During the Livonian War, he was one of the most famous Cossack atamans.
Participants of the campaign
For retaliatory actions against Khan Kuchum, the Stroganovs equipped in 1581 detachments of Cossacks. At the head were chieftains Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Groza, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, captain Bogdan Bryazga. In September 1582, 840 Cossacks crossed the Ural Range and reached the Irtysh in boats along the rivers.
The defeat of the Siberian Khanate
Near the capital of the khanate - Kashlyk - took place major battle. The Khan's army was defeated and fled. Yermak entered the capital and announced that from now on the inhabitants should pay tribute to the Russian Tsar with furs. This was the beginning of the development of Siberia.
Destroying the few detachments of Tatars who did not want to give up power over the khanate, the Cossacks made swift marches along the rivers of Siberia. They managed to quickly win over the strong and numerous peoples of the Khanty and Mansi to the side of the Russian kingdom.
Help from Moscow
However, the Cossacks had few forces. They sent messengers to the Stroganovs and Moscow asking for reinforcements. The capital sent military supplies, salaries to the Cossacks and 500 archers, led by the governor.
Kuchum attack
Kuchum gathered strength and waited for the right moment. In the summer of 1584 he laid siege to the capital. But Yermak's soldiers repulsed this attack.
The death of Yermak
Then a detachment of Cossacks set off along the Irtysh River. Kuchum followed the movement without revealing himself. The detachment settled down to rest without posting guards. The enemy took advantage of this. The Cossacks were defeated. Ermak, escaping by swimming, drowned in the Irtysh.
The beginning of the development of Siberia
But the Moscow troops and the Cossacks detachment after detachment went to Siberia. There began the construction of fortresses. This is how the Ob, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Narym, Tomsk prisons appeared, which later turned into cities.
Trade people were drawn to Siberia. Peasants fled from the central regions of the country "to free lands." The economic development of the region began. In the 90s. 16th century Kuchum was finally defeated.
The campaign of the Cossacks and archers (1581-1585) marked the beginning of the Russian era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Russian pioneers rushed into the vast expanses of Siberia, the Far East and North America.
Exploring Siberia, the first explorers - detachments of Cossacks - got acquainted with the local population and "brought them under the high hand of the sovereign." The peoples of Siberia had to pay tax to the treasury - yasak- fur.
The Cossacks built fortified settlements. Despite the harsh conditions of Siberia - impenetrable taiga, lack of roads, many rivers, streams and swamps, - in a short time many fortress cities (forts) were built: Tyumen, Tobolsk, Kurgan, Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Novaya Mangazeya, Krasnoyarsk, Yakutsk, Irkutsk. material from the site
In the first half of the XVII century. Siberian fortresses are turning into complex engineering structures. Towers and wooden walls disappear, bastions appear. The layout of the fortresses becomes regular and symmetrical. On the southern borders of the country, standard designs of fortresses for large sections of the borders appear. The border line is fortified from the Tobol to the Irtysh. In 1640, the Ishim border line was created, in 1652 - the Kolyvanskaya (in Altai), protecting the southern borders of Western Siberia.
