Annexation of Siberia. Development of Siberia Researcher of Kamchatka - Vladimir Atlasov

Row of paintings

Godforgotten side

Stern gentleman

And a miserable worker - a man

With my head down...

How the first one got used to rule!

How the second one slaves!

N. Nekrasov

Humanity owes its civilization to two centers lying at two opposite ends of the continent of the Old World. European civilization arose on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Chinese civilization - on the eastern outskirts of the mainland. These two worlds, European and Chinese, lived separate lives, barely aware of each other's existence, but not completely without intercourse with each other. The works of these individual countries, and perhaps even ideas, were transmitted from one end of the continent to the other. In the interval between the two worlds lay the path of international relations, and this communication between East and West brought about greater or lesser successes of sedentism and culture along the path, despite the fact that the path itself passed through desert places, where fertile areas are found in fits and starts and separated by waterless spaces. Siberia, more convenient than these deserts for settlement and culture, lay aside from this international path, and therefore, until later centuries, did not receive any significance in the history of human development.

It remained almost completely unknown to both civilized worlds of the Old World, because the borders of this country were surrounded by such difficult conditions that penetration into the country presented serious obstacles.

In the north, the mouths of its large rivers, similar to sea branches, are blocked by ice Northern Ocean, along which only recently a path has been laid. To the east it borders the foggy, stormy and little-visited Sea of ​​Okhotsk and Bering Sea. It is cut off from the civilized south of Asia by the steppes. In the west, the forested Urals blocked the entrance to it. Under such conditions, relations with neighboring countries could not develop, civilization did not penetrate here either from the west or from the east, and information about this vast country was the most confusing and fabulous. From the father of history, Herodotus, almost to the famous imperial ambassador Herberstein, instead of reliable reports about Siberia, only fables were transmitted. Or they said that in the extreme northeast there live one-eyed people and vultures guarding gold; or they said that there people were imprisoned behind mountains that had only one opening through which they came out once a year to trade; or, finally, they assured that they hibernate for the winter, like animals, freezing to the earth's surface through the liquid that flows from their nose. The fabulousness of the news indicates that throughout the entire time it was taking shape Russian state, relations with Siberia were very difficult and rare, due to the impassability of the forested Urals. The pass over this ridge, along which the rail track now spans, was in ancient times a real international barrier. Even in the last century, the astronomer Delisle, who traveled through the Urals to Berezov for observations, stated that anyone who travels through the Urals will be surprised that there are people who do not dare to accept the Urals as the border between Europe and Asia.

In the 16th century, an attempt to form a state in Siberia was made by the Turkestans. The path from Turkestan to Siberia lay through the steppe inhabited by the Kirghiz, a people engaged in cattle breeding and raids on their neighbors. It was a predatory, mobile population that did not know any power over itself. Dissatisfied people from neighboring Turkestan settled states, both ordinary people and princes, fled here, and often some capable adventurer rallied around himself a significant gang of daredevils, with whom he made raids on settled areas, first for robbery, and then for conquest, - raids that sometimes ended with the founding of a new and strong dynasty. It was probably these brave men who founded the first embryos of Tatar, actually Turkestan, colonization in Siberia.

At first several separate principalities arose. One of them, the oldest, was Tyumen, another prince lived in Yalutorovsk, the third in Iskera. A strong colonization of Tatar settlements was established along the rivers. In the settlements that were the residences of the princes, fortresses or towns were built in which squads lived, obliged to collect tribute to the prince from the surrounding wandering tribes. These colonists pioneered agriculture and crafts. Farmers, tanners and other craftsmen, as well as merchants and preachers of Islam, came here from Turkestan; The mullahs brought letters and books here. Individual princes, of course, did not live peacefully among themselves; from time to time, personalities appeared between them, striving to unite the region under their personal power.

Prince Ediger managed to accomplish the first unification. Immediately this new kingdom became known on the western side of the Urals. Until Ediger formed the entire Siberian kingdom from all the small Tatar settlements, the Trans-Urals did not attract the attention of either Russian statesmen or ordinary industrialists. The small peoples of Siberia lived in their wilderness, without making themselves known. Under Ediger, clashes between border residents led to relations between Moscow and Siberia, and in 1555 the first Siberian ambassadors came to the capital of the Moscow state. Perhaps those gifts that were brought to Moscow indicated the wealth of the Siberian region in furs, and then the idea of ​​taking possession of this region appeared. The fate of the Trans-Ural region in the minds of Moscow government officials was decided; The Moscow Tsar began to communicate, through an embassy, ​​with Siberia. Ediger recognized himself as a tributary, and annually sent a thousand sables. But this tribute was suddenly stopped. The steppe rider Kuchum, with a crowd of the Tatar horde, attacked Ediger and conquered his kingdom. Of course, the Moscow governors would have forced Kuchum to recognize Moscow power, but they were warned by a gang of freemen led by Ermak. One of Siberian chronicles attributes the initiative to the eminent citizen Stroganov; the folk song is for Ermak himself.

The song hints that the Volga freemen were constrained on all sides and were not given room to roam, and so the Cossacks gathered on the Astrakhan pier “in a single circle to think a little thought out of the cry of the mind, with full reason.” - “Where to run and escape?” Ermak asks:

“What about living on the Volga? - reputed to be thieves...

Should I go to Yaik? - the transition is great.

Should I go to Kazan? - the king stands formidable.

Should I go to Moscow? - to be intercepted,

Seated in different cities,

And sent to dark prisons..."

Ermak decided to go to Usolye, to the Stroganovs, take their supply of grain and guns and attack Siberia. The chronicle says that Ermak arrived in the lands of the Stroganovs in the fall of 1579. The Stroganovs were rich peasants who made their money by extracting salt from the varnishes. They bought from foreigners big lands, established towns, kept garrisons and guns in them. Maxim Stroganov, the then head of this family, was frightened by Ermak’s gang that appeared in the Urals, but had to humble himself and do everything that the decisive ataman demanded of him; he supplied Ermak's squad with lead, gunpowder, crackers, cereals, they gave him guns and leaders from Zyryan. In the first summer, Ermak ran on a ship from Chusovaya to the wrong river, which he should have, and therefore he had to spend the winter here. Only in 1580, Ermak appeared on the Siberian slope of the Ural ridge; he went up in boats along Chusovaya and Serebryannaya and went down to Tura.

The first natives met him in the yurts of Prince Epanchi, where the city of Turinsk is now. Here the first battle was fought. Cossack shots rang out; The Tatar population, having never seen firearms before, fled. From here Ermak went down in boats, down the river, to Tobol and Tobol until it flows into the Irtysh. Here was the Tatar city of Siberia or Isker, i.e. a small village surrounded by an earthen rampart and ditch; it served as the residence of the Siberian Tsar Kuchum. Ermak previously attacked the small town of Atikin, which lay close to Siberia. The Tatars were defeated and fled. This battle decided the fate of Tatar rule in the country. The Tatars did not dare to confront the Cossacks anymore and abandoned the city of Siberia. The next day, the Cossacks were surprised by the silence that reigned outside the city ramparts - “and there was no voice anywhere.” The Cossacks did not dare to enter the city for a long time, fearing an ambush. Kuchum took refuge in the southern steppes of Siberia, and from a sedentary king turned into a nomad. Ermak became the owner of the region. He hit the Moscow sovereign with his forehead.

The song says that he came to Moscow and first bribed the Moscow boyars with sable fur coats so that they would report him to the tsar. The king accepted the gift and forgave Ermak and his comrades for the murder of the Persian ambassador. The royal army was immediately sent to Siberia under the command of the governor Bolkhovsky. It occupied the city of Siberia, but due to tedious marches, a lack of food supplies and the lack of management of the governor, starvation began among the troops and the governor himself died. Ermak again became the main ruler of the region, but not for long. At this time, he heard that a Bukhara caravan was heading along the Irtysh to Siberia. Ermak went to meet him, but on the way he was surrounded by Tatars and died in this dump.

This happened in 1584. The song says that there were only two kolomenki with him; Ermak wanted to jump from one road to another to help his comrades. He stepped onto the end of the passage; at this time, the other end of the board rose and fell on his “wild head” - and he fell into the water.

The Cossacks fled from Siberia. All the conquered cities were again occupied by the Tatar princes, and Prince Seydyak appeared in Isker. Moscow still knew nothing about this and sent new troops to Siberia to continue and strengthen the conquest. Therefore, the Cossacks had not yet reached the Urals when they met Governor Mansurov with troops and guns on his way to Siberia. Mansurov did not stop in Siberia, sailed down the Irtysh, until it flowed into the Ob, and then founded the town of Samarovo, in a desert country occupied by the non-warlike Ostyaks. Only the following governors began to build cities in more important places occupied by the Tatars.

For several years, the Russians were not the only masters in the region. Tatar princes lived next to them and collected yasak for themselves. Tatar fortresses interspersed with Russian ones. Voivode Chulkov founded the city of Tobolsk in 1587, several miles from Siberia, traces of which are still preserved near Tobolsk. The governor did not dare to take the Tatar city by force, as Ermak did. Once, the chronicle says, the Tatar prince Seydyak, with two other princes: Saltan and Karacha, and with a retinue of 400 people, left the Tatar city on a hawk hunt and drove up under the walls of the Russian city. Voivode Chulkov invited them to his city. When the Tatars wanted to enter with weapons in their hands, the governor stopped them with the words that “that’s not how people go to visit.” The princes left their weapons and, with a small retinue, entered the Russian city. The guests were brought to the governor’s house, where the tables were already prepared.

A long conversation began about “peaceful settlement”, i.e. peaceful division of power over Siberia and the conclusion eternal peace. Prince Seydyak sat thoughtful and did not eat anything; heavy thoughts and suspicions came into his head. Voivode Danilo Chulkov noticed the embarrassment and said to him: “Prince Seydyak! If you think evil of Orthodox Christians, neither drink nor taste.” Seydyak replied: “I don’t think any harm against you.” Then the Moscow governor took the cup of wine and said: “Prince Seydyak, if you and Tsarevich Saltan and Karacha do not think evil against us, Orthodox Christians, drink this to your health.” Seydyak took the cup, began to drink - and choked. After him, the princes Saltan and Karacha began to drink - and they also choked - God denounced them. Those who saw this, the governor and the army of people, as if Prince Seydyak and others thought evil of them, want their death - and the governor Danilo Chulkov waved his hand, and the people of the army began to beat the filthy.” Seydyak with the best people was captured and sent to Moscow. This happened in 1588. From that time on, the power of the Moscow governor was established in Siberia.

Before the discovery of Siberia, the Volga was a channel through which the so-called dangerous elements left the state. Both the tax evader and the criminal fled here; An energetic person who was looking for broad activities went here; not only serfs, tramps and walking people fled here, but also individuals from the common people, outstanding in intelligence and character, who did not have the proper course in life. When Ermak led part of the Volga freemen beyond the Ural ridge, everything that had previously fled to the Volga rushed to Siberia. Instead of robbing trade caravans on the Volga, emigration on new soil began to conquer wandering tribes and tax them with tribute from sables in favor of the Moscow sovereign, and, of course, a significant share fell to the conquerors themselves. But in order to take a sable from a foreigner, you must have an advantage in strength, you must have courage and other conditions. Therefore, part of the emigration turned directly to the sable fishery. Rumors about a countless number of sables in Siberia, stories, perhaps exaggerated, that foreigners for an iron cauldron would give as many sable skins as the cauldron would hold, caused increased emigration not only from serf Moscow, but also from the free population of ancient Novgorod region. Residents of the present Olonets, Vologda and Arkhangelsk provinces, who have long been familiar with animal trades, set off to Siberia to hunt for expensive animals. All these emigrants, starting with Ermak’s military squad, went to Siberia either by boat or on foot. Therefore, the first flood of emigration to the new country took place along the forest belt, through river communications. There was no emigration to the southern steppes because they did not have horses to raid the nomads living in the steppes; Moreover, the nomads had nothing but cattle, and the emigrants needed expensive sable skins - and the emigration climbed far to the north, closer to the Arctic Ocean. In view of this, in the XYII and early XYIII centuries, the north of Siberia was much busier than it is now. The northern cities of Siberia were founded earlier than the southern ones. The city of Mangazeya was especially famous in old Siberia (the songs give it the epithet “getting rich”), which lay almost off the coast of the Arctic Ocean and now does not exist at all. The geography of northern Siberia and even the Taimyr Peninsula was known to the Russians of the 18th century better than in later times. But when sable and other expensive animals were exterminated in the north, the population began to rise up the rivers and found southern cities.

The spread of Russian power in the region proceeded in this order. Having strengthened themselves on the Tobol and its tributaries, the Russians began to expand their possessions in Siberia down the Irtysh and Ob. In 1593, the city of Berezov was founded on the lower reaches of the Ob. In the same year, the Russians climbed the Ob River up from the mouth of the Irtysh and founded another city, Surgut. A year later, in 1594, a detachment of one and a half thousand military men climbed the Irtysh above the mouth of the Tobol and founded the city of Tara. At Tara, military enterprises up the Irtysh stopped and began again in this direction only after all of Siberia, right up to Pacific Ocean, and Kamchatka and Amur were conquered. The Omsk fortress, located just 400 versts south of Tara, was founded only in 1817, therefore, 224 years after the founding of Tara.

The only conquest made with the help of Tara was in the land of the Baraba Tatars. On the contrary, parties from northern cities went much further east. The Berezovites founded a city in 1600, almost at the very Arctic Sea, on the Taz River, and called it Mangazeya; Surgut Cossacks went up the Ob and founded the Ket fort on its tributary, the Keti River; having climbed even higher along the Ob, they met the Tom River, and on it, 60 versts above the mouth, the city of Tomsk was founded in 1604; fourteen years later, i.e. in 1618, the city of Kuznetsk was founded on the same Tom River, but above Tomsk.

Here the conquerors of Siberia first reached the South Siberian mountains, which separate it from Mongolia. The founding of Kuznetsk ended the occupation of the vast Ob River system; a third of Siberia was occupied; further to the east there remained two more equally large river systems: the Yenisei, which was occupied immediately after the conquest of the Ob system, and the Lenskaya, which lies east of the Yenisei.

The occupation of the Yenisei system began in the far north. In the same year as the city of Tomsk was founded in the Ob system, the Mangazeya Cossacks, or industrial people, established a winter quarters on the Yenisei, where the city of Turukhansk now stands. By 1607, the Samoyeds and Ostyaks, who lived on the Yenisei and the Pyasida River, were subject to tribute; and in 1610, the Russians, going down the Yenisei on ships, reached its mouth, i.e. went out into the Arctic Sea. The middle parts of the Yenisei system were discovered by the Ket Cossacks, who, taxing the Ostyaks up the Keti, in 1608 reached the Yenisei in the place where the Yeniseisk hill now stands, and from there rose to the outskirts of present-day Krasnoyarsk. Near Yeniseisk they found the Ostyaks, who were nicknamed blacksmiths because they knew blacksmithing. Soon after the tribute was imposed, the Ostyaks of the forge volost were attacked by the Tungus, who came from the Tunguska River. The Russians who were in the volost collecting yasak were also beaten. This was the first meeting of the Russians with a new tribe - the Tungus. The hostile actions of the latter against the tribute-laden Ostyaks caused the construction, around 1620, of the city of Yeniseisk, on the banks of the Yenisei River. After this, within two years, both the Tungus, who lived along the Tunguska River, and the Tatars, who lived up the Yenisei, were brought into submission, and subject to tribute. In 1622, the first news was received about a new people - the Buryats.

It was the Yeniseis who heard that the Buryats, numbering 3,000 people, had come to the Kan River, which flows into the Yenisei from the right. This lime made the Russians think about a stronger position on the upper Yenisei, opposite the Kan. For this purpose, in 1623, it was founded on the Yenisei, in the lands belonging to the Tatars-Arins, at the mouth of the Kacha, in 300 years. above Yeniseisk, new town– Krasnoyarsk. The sphere of action of the Krasnoyarsk people was directed mainly to the south, where they met the nomadic Tatar tribe of the Kirghiz, with whom the Tomsk Cossacks had previously fought a stubborn battle. In the east, the Krasnoyarsk people limited themselves to only exploring the valleys of the Kan and Mana rivers, in which they found hunting Samoyed-Ostyak tribes: Kamash, Kotovtsev, Mozorov and Tubintsev.

Discoveries in an eastern direction were developed with more significant consequences from the middle and lower Yenisei. One of the Yenisei parties, sent up the Tunguska and Angara, under the command of Perfiryev, reached the mouth of the Ishim; the other, under the leadership of centurion Beketov, rose even higher, she crossed dangerous rapids, reached the Oka River, and imposed tribute on the Tungus living here. The Ishim River, flowing into the Angara above the Oka, opened the way for the Russians to a new, more eastern region, to the system of the large Lena River. In 1628, the foreman Bugor with ten Cossacks climbed up the Ishim, dragged himself into the valley of the Kuta River and along it descended into the Lena River, along which he sailed to the mouth of the Chai River. High quality the sables exported by this party to Yeniseisk were tempting for the Yeniseis. In the same year, they sent another party to Lena, under the command of Ataman Galkin; and in 1632 they sent Beketov, already famous for his dexterity and ability to conduct such enterprises, with orders to build the city of Yakutsk in the lands occupied by the Yakuts. These parties, going down the Lena, already found here Russian industrial people from the city of Mangazei, who, through Turukhansk, reached the Lena and the land of the Yakuts ten years earlier than the Yeniseis. Five years after the founding of Yakutsk, precisely in 1637, the Cossacks under the command of the foreman Buza, descending the Lena, first reached its mouth and went out into the Arctic Sea; from here they entered the Olensk and Yana rivers in order to impose tribute on the Tungus and Yakuts living on them. Two years later, in 1639, therefore, sixty years after the capture of Siberia by Ermak, a party of Tomsk Cossacks, who came to Yakutsk with Ataman Kopylov, looking for new lands and taxing foreigners with tribute, having climbed up the Aldan and May, saw the waves of the Pacific Ocean for the first time. They came ashore where the small river Ulya flows into the ocean.

Still unoccupied in Siberia were the Baikal region, Transbaikalia, Amur and the extreme northeast, with Kamchatka. The Russians approached the northern shores of Lake Baikal, gradually expanding their power up the Angara River. In 1654, the Balagansky fort was built on the Angara, where now the city of Balagansk is, 200 versts below Irkutsk; and in 1661 Irkutsk was built, 60 versts from the shores of Lake Baikal. The Russians arrived on the southern shore of Lake Baikal, going around the lake from the east. The first fort in Transbaikalia, Barguzinsky, was founded in 1648, i.e. 13 years earlier than Irkutsk and 6 years earlier than Balagansk. From here the Russian wave gradually spread across Transbaikalia to the west and south, to Kyakhta and Nerchinsk. The parties that walked along the southern tributaries of the Lena, i.e. According to Olekma and Aldan, they learned about the existence of the large Amur River, flowing behind the ridge on the south side. The first one dared to cross the Poyarkov ridge in 1643. He went down the Zeya River, swam along the Amur River to its mouth, and went out to sea. and, making his way north near the shore, he reached the Ulya River, from where he crossed to Aldan along the very road along which the Tomsk Cossacks first discovered the Pacific Ocean. After 1648, the industrialist Khabarov, having recruited a squad of hunters on the Lena, came to the Amur, climbing the Olekma and Tugir. He reached the Amur far above the mouth of the Zeya, and from here he descended to the mouth of the Sungari and returned back along the old road with enormous booty. This was the case in general outline geographical course of the conquest of Siberia.

This conquest was more the work of the men than the governor. Things usually happened in this way: Before a Cossack party, sent from the nearest fort or city, appeared in a new country, sable industrialists appeared in it and set up winter huts or trapping huts in it. Having caught sables with their own traps, or having collected them from local residents under the pretext of collecting yasak, they brought the prey to the city or prison to sell the goods to Moscow merchants. The news of a new country rich in sables reached the governor or the ataman in charge of the prison, and he sent a Cossack party to the newly discovered country. In this way, long before the appearance of the Cossack parties, the Yenisei and Lena were discovered. When the Cossack detachments arrived in these places, they already found the Mangazeans, who had established their winter quarters here and caught sables. At the end of the conquest period in Siberia, campaigns to discover new lands turned into a very profitable trade. Small parties began to be formed from private individuals, from simple fur traders, with the goal of opening lands, conquering them under the sovereign's hand and taxing them with tribute. Such parties, having collected sables from foreigners, gave a smaller part to the treasury, and kept the larger part, as Siberian chroniclers testify, for their own benefit. Eventually, these parties began to become crowded; simple fur traders began to appear as conquerors of vast countries. Khabarov, a simple fur trader from the Lena River, who was engaged in cooking salt on Kirenga, gathered a squad of one and a half hundred volunteers and with it destroyed almost the entire Amur region. Cossack search parties, presumably, were formed not so much at the initiative of the governor, but rather at the Cossacks’ own hunt. The Cossacks founded an artel, approached the governor with requests to supply them with gunpowder, lead and supplies, and set off on a campaign, hoping to bring a significant number of sables to their share. The Cossack conquest parties were mostly small: 20 or even 10 people.

So, the main role in the occupation and colonization of Siberia belongs to the common people. The peasantry singled out from among itself all the most important leaders of the cause. From his own environment came: the first conqueror of Siberia - Ermak, the conqueror of the Amur - Khabarov, the conqueror of Kamchatka - Atlasov, the Cossack Dezhnev, who rounded the Chukotka nose; ordinary industrialists discovered mammoth bone. These were brave people, good organizers, created by nature itself to control the crowd, resourceful in difficult situations, able to turn around with small means in case of need, and inventive.

The first batches of Russian settlers to Siberia brought with them primary forms to the new soil public organization: Cossacks - military circle; sable-industrialists - artel, farmers - community. Along with these forms of self-government in Siberia, a voivodeship administration was also established. Ermak was forced to call him; he realized that without sending new people and a “fiery battle” - in a word - without the support of the Moscow state, he, with his small Cossack artel, would not be able to hold Siberia. In Siberia, two colonizations developed simultaneously: the free people's, which led the way, and the government, led by the governors.

In the early days of Siberian history, Cossack communities retained their self-government. They were especially independent far from the voivodeship cities, on the Siberian outskirts, where they maintained garrisons of forts abandoned among hostile tribes. If they themselves, without the governor’s initiative, went in search of new tributaries, then the entire administration of the newly occupied region was in their hands. The first Siberian cities were nothing more than settled Cossack squads or artels, controlled by a “circle”. These settled Cossack artels divided yasak Siberia among themselves, and each of them had its own area for collecting yasak. Sometimes disputes arose about who should collect yasak from this or that tribe, and then one Cossack city went to war with another. Tobolsk was considered the eldest among the Siberian cities, which insisted that it alone had the right to receive foreign ambassadors. In later times, the freedom and initiative of these artels and communities decreased; but back in the 18th century, many cases, even criminal ones, were resolved by remote Cossack communities themselves. In the event of a conspiracy being discovered, the garrison of a remote fort would gather a gathering, sentence the criminals to death and carry it out, then only informing the nearest voivode's office. This is, for example, what the residents of the city of Okhotsk did with the rebellious Koryaks at the end of the last century. This self-government and lynching, however, gradually disappeared in the face of the expanding voivodeship power. But occasionally attempts to restore Siberian antiquity flared up. So the stories about the deposition of the governors in Irkutsk and Tara remained. Traces of this struggle have been preserved in Siberian archives in small numbers; but in reality, there were more. By the last century, self-government in Siberian cities had completely fallen. The remnants of self-government survived only in villages abandoned in the taiga, far from the main highway.

Not only the first conquerors who came with Ermak - the Cossacks and the rabble of the Volga freemen - but also the later emigrants, the more peaceful fur traders, were people either averse to farming, or who had never engaged in it. These parties took care of provisions, put them on sleighs, or the so-called chunits, which had to be dragged on themselves, and left to the east one after another. They found the beginnings of local agriculture only where settlements were founded by Tatar colonization. Of course, these rudiments were insignificant and could not satisfy the trapping teams that arrived one after another. In addition to bread, these latter also needed “fiery combat.” Both of these circumstances made trapping artels dependent on the distant metropolis. Since the sable trade was immediately appreciated by Moscow, the Moscow state took upon itself the responsibility of supplying industrialists with provisions and shells. In general, the passion for sable fishing was beneficial for the state. All the fur-hunters' spoils were transferred to the state treasury. Sable, like gold later, was recognized as a state regalia; It was ordered that all sable caught in Siberia be handed over to the treasury. Some of the sables went into it as tribute; but even those sables that came for sale from foreigners or were caught by Russian industrialists and then bought by buyers could not escape the treasury. The buyers, under severe punishment, were obliged to bring them to Moscow and hand them over to the Siberian Prikaz, from which they were given money based on their assessment, just as they are now given to a gold industrialist when he pours the gold he has mined into a smelting furnace in Barnaul or Irkutsk. In his orders or instructions to the Siberian governors, Moscow government insisted - to try by all means, “so that in all of Siberia sables would be in the Great Sovereign’s treasury alone.” Only thin furs were allowed to be exported to China; Bukhara merchants were completely prohibited from exporting furs to Turkestan; The governors themselves were strictly forbidden to wear sable fur coats and sable hats. The governors had to select both undressed skins and sewn furs from the region and send them to Moscow. To do this, goods were sent to them from Moscow, which they had to give to the Ostyaks, Yakuts and Tungus for production; They were also allowed to sell vodka from the treasury to the uluses in order to exchange furs for it.

Trying to turn all the production from the sable fishery into favor of the treasury, the government had to fulfill two tasks: to provide food for industrial parties and to combat smuggling. To prevent Russian merchants from bringing sables secretly, customs outposts were established in cities along the large Moscow highway. But, in addition to Russian merchants, Bukhara merchants were involved in smuggling in Siberia. The latter consisted partly of the descendants of those Turkestans who settled in Siberia before Ermak, partly of immigrants who came to Siberia after its conquest by the Russians. They had land in Siberia and were the only landowners in it. Even before the Russians appeared, they were already conducting a lively trade with Siberian foreigners - they took sables from them, and they were given paper fabrics. Russian merchants, in exchange for sables, began to offer Russian canvas and dye to the Siberian residents; but Russian material was both worse and more expensive, so competition with the Bukharians was difficult. In addition to the fact that Bukharan's goods were more profitable for foreigners, Bukharan gained an advantage over Russian and the long history of his relations with Siberia; The Bukharians had wives and families in foreign camps, and were related to local princelings; finally, they were more educated than the Russian newcomers. In the XYII century they were the only people in Siberia who had a book in their hands. In the XYIII century, foreigners who came to Siberia found rare manuscripts there. For example, the captured Swede Stralenberg discovered a Turkestan chronicle written by the Khivan prince Abulgazi, entitled “Genealogy of the Tatars” from one of the Tobolsk Bukharians. The Russians had to withstand competition in Siberia with the trade-savvy Turkestanis, famous for the antiquity of their culture, dating back to the Christian era. This struggle continued throughout the 17th and 18th centuries and partly even into the 19th century. The depopulation of foreigners continued to take place under Russian rule; The conversion of pagans to Islam went hand in hand with the conversion to Christianity, and some tribes, such as the Barabinsk Tatars, only in the half of the last century switched from shamanism to Mohammedanism - and the voices of the Tobolsk bishops were heard in vain about taking measures against Muslim preaching. The struggle with the Bukharans was no less difficult in terms of trade. In the 17th century, the Bukharians controlled all internal trade in Siberia; in the 18th century, only Asian trade remained in their hands; but even forced out of the domestic market, the Bukharans seemed to be serious rivals to the Ustyug merchants, who controlled the trade of Siberia with European Russia. Siberian residents, both foreigners and Russians, loved Asian fabrics more than Russian ones. In the last century, all of Siberia, according to the famous Radishchev, dressed in underwear made from Asian calico, and on holidays they wore silk shirts from Chinese fanza. On Sundays, peasant women wore scarves and caps made of Chinese silk fabric - goli; priestly vestments were also made from Chinese goli; all correspondence from Siberia was written in Chinese ink; An Irkutsk merchant wrote a petition to Moscow with it, and all the papers in the regimental offices on the Irtysh were written with it.

Both the Ustyug merchant and the Moscow government could not like this filling of the Siberian market with Asian goods and the primacy of the Bukharans. The government could have liked it all the less because Bukharetz demanded furs from foreigners in exchange for his fabrics. Contrary to government decrees, there was an extensive fur smuggling trade in Siberia. It was difficult for the local administration to keep track of it, because the entire population was interested in the existence of smuggling. The population wanted to wear silk, not canvas shirts, and therefore everyone - Russians, foreigners, merchants, and Cossacks - were secretly selling furs to the Bukharians. To put an end to the smuggling and export of sables to Turkestan, the government completely banned Bukharians from entering Siberia. By this measure, in early XIX century, the government managed to give an advantage to the Russian merchant over Bukharts and establish Russian manufacturing in Siberia. Already at the end of the last century this change became noticeable. Not only did the import of Asian paper goods into Siberia decrease, but the export of Russian paper textiles to China and Turkestan began. And in the first half of the 19th century, the export of this product took precedence over the import.

Another concern of the government in relation to Siberia was its food supply. These concerns continue throughout the 18th century, and partly into the present century. Animal traders, carried away by the ease of profit from sable hunting, did not want to take up the plow. The government began to establish villages in Siberia, build roads, establish postal pits, recruit cultivators in Russia and settle them along Siberian roads. Each settler, according to the royal decree, had to take with him the required amount of livestock and poultry, as well as agricultural tools and seeds. The immigrant's wagon looked like a small Noah's Ark. Sometimes the government recruited horses from Russia and sent them to Siberia for distribution to settlers. But these measures were not enough. The government established state-owned arable land in Siberia, obliged the peasants to cultivate them, forced them to build planks and melt grain on them to grain-starved places.

The establishment of arable land, cattle breeding, and settled settlements required an increase in women in Siberia, and in new country It was a predominantly male population. Due to the lack of women, at first Siberia was not distinguished by morality. In the absence of Russian women, the Russians took foreign wives and, according to the custom of the Bukharts, had several of them, so that the Moscow Metropolitan Philaret had to preach against Siberian polygamy. Foreign wives were obtained either by purchase or by capture. Numerous riots of foreigners, which were caused by unjust exactions and oppression of yasak collectors, gave rise to numerous military campaigns in foreign camps, and the imaginary disobedients were beaten, and their wives and children were taken captive and then sold into slavery in Siberian cities. Hunger from lack of bread and lack of catch of animals often forced the foreigners themselves to sell their children into slavery. The nomadic tribe of the Kirghiz, who occupied the southern steppes of Siberia, raiding the neighboring Kalmyks, always returned with prisoners and captives and also sometimes sold them in the Siberian border cities.

The Tsar's decree of 1754 limited the right of distillation to one class of nobles; merchants were prohibited from smoking wine. But since there was no nobility in Siberia, this law did not initially apply to Siberia. Suddenly, two years later, a certain Evreinov, a trustee of Prosecutor General Glebov, appears in Irkutsk and demands the surrender of distilleries, or “kashtak” in Siberian, into the possession of Glebov, to whom they were supposedly leased by the treasury. The merchants did not believe it; Irkutsk Vice-Governor Wulf himself took this as a mistake. But it wasn't a mistake. Prosecutor General Glebov actually rented taverns and kashtaki in Siberia in order to engage in a profitable wine trade.

The next year, after Evreinov’s arrival, investigator Krylov, sent by the Senate at the request of Glebov, came to Irkutsk. Before starting the investigation, Krylov consolidates himself in his apartment; he sets up a guardhouse, surrounds himself with soldiers, hangs the walls of his bedroom with various weapons, and goes to bed only with a loaded pistol under his pillow. Everything showed that Krylov was plotting something evil against the city society, capable of causing popular revenge, and was strengthening himself in his apartment in advance.

Until this home fortress was ready, Krylov, appearing in society, was very affectionate and friendly; but then he suddenly changed and began by shackling the entire magistrate and putting him in prison. Extortion of money from merchants began; under torture and lashes they were forced to confess to abuses in city government and the illegal trade in wine. Not only members of the magistrate, but also many other persons from the city society were implicated in this case through false denunciations. It has always been easy to do this in Siberia. As soon as a person in power showed an inclination to listen to denunciations, there were always more helpful people than the authorities asked for. One of the Irkutsk merchants, Elezov, left a particularly bad memory of himself. From the very beginning, he curried favor with Krylov and then showed him from whom and how much money could be obtained through imprisonment and torture. The merchant Bichevin turned out to be more stable than the others. He was a rich man who traded on the Pacific Ocean and thus made a great fortune. It is unlikely that, judging by the nature of his trading activities, he was involved in the abuses of the Irkutsk magistrate in the wine trade; but his wealth was a bait for Krylov, and therefore he was brought into the case and tortured. He was raised on his hind legs or temple: i.e. tied to his feet was a piece of wood or a raw block, like the one on which our butchers chop beef, weighing from 5 to 12 pounds. The martyr was lifted up the block by ropes tied to his hands and quickly lowered, preventing the log from hitting the ground; then, with the joints in his arms and legs turned out, the unfortunate man hung for the duration of the time determined by the tormentor, from time to time receiving blows from the whip on his body. Suspended from his temple, Bichevin stood strong and refused to admit his guilt. Without removing it from the whiskey, Krylov went to the merchant Glazunov for a snack. He stayed there for three hours. Bichevin hung on his hind legs all this time. When Krylov returned, Bichevin felt death approaching and agreed to sign up for 15,000 rubles. He was taken off the rack and taken home. And here Krylov did not leave him alone. He came to his house and before his death he extorted the same amount. In a similar brutal way, about 150,000 rubles were extorted from Irkutsk merchants and townspeople. In addition, Krylov, under the pretext of rewarding the treasury for losses, confiscated merchant property. He especially selected precious things, which he partly appropriated directly, without pretense, and partly he sold at auction, and he himself was both an appraiser, a seller, and a buyer. With this order, of course, everything valuable and best went into the chests of the investigator himself for next to nothing. These extortions and robbery of private property were accompanied by Krylov’s insulting treatment of Irkutsk residents. Krylov always appeared at the meeting drunk and went on a rampage; he hit merchants in the face with his fists and a cane, knocked out their teeth, and pulled their beards. Using his power, Krylov sent his grenadiers after the daughters of merchants and dishonored them. When the fathers complained to Vice-Governor Wulf, he only threw up his hands and said that Krylov was sent by the Senate and was not subordinate to him. Neither age nor lack of beauty guaranteed Irkutsk women from Krylov’s violence. He grabbed ten-year-old girls. The old women were also not spared from his persecution. One of the Siberian everyday life writers tells how Krylov forced the love of the merchant Myasnikova. The grenadiers grabbed her, brought her to Krylov, beat her, shackled her, locked her up; but the woman heroically endured the beatings and refused his caresses. Finally, Krylov called the husband of this woman, gave him a stick in his hands and forced him to beat his wife - and the husband beat, persuading his own wife to break the marriage...

The Siberian merchants behaved incredibly cowardly in this story. No one dared to complain and expose before the highest authorities the violence of a rabid man who accidentally fell into the hands of power over the region due to the greed of such an important government official as Governor-General Glebov. In Irkutsk there was a wealthy merchant Alexey Sibiryakov, who was known as a lawyer in the city. He loved to study laws, collected decrees and instructions for governing the Siberian region, since a set of laws did not yet exist, and compiled full meeting these government acts. Instead of coming out to defend his city, armed with knowledge, Sibiryakov fled somewhere in a remote village or just in the forest, living in a fur-trading hut. Krylov was frightened, thinking that Sibiryakov had gone to St. Petersburg with a denunciation, and sent a messenger in pursuit to bring the fugitive back. The messenger reached Verkhoturye and returned empty-handed. The fugitive abandoned his wife and family and brother in the city. Immediately Krylov put them in shackles and demanded directions to where Sibiryakov had disappeared. But, despite the lashes, neither the wife nor the fugitive’s brother could say anything, because Sibiryakov fled furtively even from his family. To top off the outrages against Irkutsk society, Krylov invited the Irkutsk merchants to send a deputation to St. Petersburg in order to ask Glebov for merciful leniency towards the accused merchants, among whom there were many allegedly guilty - and, according to Krylov’s wishes, his favorite and whistleblower was elected as a deputy Elezov.

For two years Krylov committed outrages in this manner in the region. The representative of the authorities, Lieutenant Governor Wulf, was silent and did not have the courage not only to stop him with his own power, but even to report the atrocities. Bishop Sophrony also hid and tried to make his existence invisible to Krylov, who began to interfere in all parts of the administration. One day, having been drunk at a meeting, Krylov wanted to flaunt his power in front of Wulf and began to scold him for omissions in his service. Although Wulf timidly objected to him, trying to refute the accusation, Krylov, under the influence of intoxication, became heated, ordered Wulf’s sword to be taken away, declared him arrested and dismissed from office, and himself took over the administration of the region. Only then, fearing for his freedom, and perhaps his life, did Wulf decide to notify his superiors about the events in Irkutsk. Secretly, he and Bishop Sophrony thought about this matter. The bishop wrote a denunciation, and Wulf sent him to Tobolsk with a secret messenger. An order came from Tobolsk to arrest Krylov. Wulf, however, did not dare to do this openly; he undertook this matter with great precautions. At night, a team of twenty selected Cossacks approached the investigator’s apartment, first seized the guns that were standing in bipods in front of the guardhouse, and then changed the guard. Then, the Cossack constable Podkorytov, famous for his daring, entered with several comrades into the room of the violent administrator. Krylov, seeing him, grabbed a gun from the wall and wanted to defend himself, but Podkorytov warned him and overpowered him. Krylov was put in shackles and sent to prison, and then, by order of the highest authorities, to St. Petersburg, where he was to stand trial. Empress Elizabeth, having learned about this matter, ordered that “this villain be dealt with regardless of any person.” The Senate, ignoring all of Krylov’s atrocities, charged him only with the arrest of Wulf and insulting the state emblem, which Krylov had the imprudence to nail to the gate of his apartment along with a plaque on which his own name was displayed, and deprived him of his ranks. “Even after a hundred years,” says one Siberian writer of everyday life, “it is difficult to judge this disgusting event in cold blood, especially for us, Siberians, whose ancestors died or went bankrupt under Krylov’s whip; but what must this executioner have seemed like to those who experienced his torture and violence?...”

Unrest in Siberia grew; news about them began to reach the supreme authorities more often. To help matters, the powers of the chief commander of the region were increased. Such extensive powers were vested in Governor General Selifontov, who ended in disgrace - dismissal from service with a ban on entry into the capital. Then Pestel became the governor general in Siberia. He was a painfully suspicious man. Upon his very appointment to this high post, Pestel wrote with a trembling hand, among other things, to the Emperor: “I am afraid, Emperor, of this place. How many of my predecessors were broken by the Siberian sneak! I don’t even hope to leave this position safely; It’s better to cancel your will, the Siberian informers will destroy me.” The Emperor did not agree to cancel his order, and Pestel had to go to Siberia upon taking office; he stated that he had come to crush the sneak. However, he did not directly govern Siberia: he transferred management matters into the hands of his closest relatives and favorites, and he himself left for St. Petersburg and never returned. For eleven years he ruled Siberia, living in St. Petersburg, altered the Highest commands, circumvented them and replaced them with Senate orders. On the one hand, he deceived the government with false representations; on the other hand, he deceived the local population with intimidation that in St. Petersburg the higher authorities had turned their backs on him and despised him for his sneaking.

Finally, Pestel’s opponents managed to convince the Emperor to carry out an audit of Siberia. They say that one day, Emperor Alexander I looked out of the window of the Winter Palace and noticed something black on the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. He called Count Rastopchin, famous for his wit, and asked if he would consider what it was. Rastopchin answered: “We need to call Pestel. From here he sees what is happening in Siberia.” And in Siberia, something truly terrible was happening. The Emperor sent Speransky to Siberia. At one rumor of this, the Siberian administration went mad with fear. One of the tyrannical despotic tycoons of Siberia fell into wild madness, from which he soon died; the other became haggard and old at once; the third hanged himself just before the start of Speransky’s investigation.

Speransky appeared in Siberia. His management was actually only an “administrative tour” across Siberia. Two years later he left the region and returned to St. Petersburg. Suffering Siberia met him, the messenger of God. “A man was sent from above!” wrote his contemporary, an educated Siberian, Slovtsov. And Speransky himself understood that his arrival in Siberia was an era for Siberian history. He called himself the second Ermak, because he discovered socially living Siberia, or as he put it: “discovered Siberia in its political relations,”

One of the Siberian writers, Mr. Vagin, tells the following anecdote. In some remote town in Transbaikalia they were waiting for Speransky. The officials were in a pack, but the Governor General was not coming. The company got bored, sat down to play cards, got tipsy, and then fell asleep. The Governor-General arrived at night and woke up this company with the words: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming at midnight!” The results were as follows: the Governor-General, two governors and six hundred officials were subject to trial for abuses; the amount of stolen money reached three million rubles! Presenting his report on the audit, Speransky petitioned the Emperor to limit punishment to only the largest culprits. This was prompted, firstly, by necessity, since expelling six hundred officials from service meant leaving Siberia without officials; secondly, it was not so much the people who were to blame for the abuses of Siberian officials, but rather the management system itself. Only two hundred people were injured; Of these, only forty people suffered a more severe punishment.

Having discovered the abuses of officials and punished the most important culprits, Speransky changed the very system of governance of Siberia, giving it the well-known special “Siberian Code”. Each Siberian governor and governor-general is assigned a council consisting of officials appointed by ministries. The Arakcheevsky party prevented Speransky from introducing elected representatives from local society into these councils. The practice of subsequent years proved that this new Code contributed very little to reducing administrative arbitrariness in Siberia.

The beneficial consequences of Speransky's stay in Siberia lie rather in the charming impression that he made on the local population with his personality. “In the nobles,” says Vagin, “the Siberians saw a man for the first time.” Instead of the previous rulers, a simple, approachable, friendly, highly educated man with a broad view of government came to Irkutsk - in a word, a man whom Siberia had never produced before. Speransky behaved extremely simply in society. He formed friendly relations with the old-timers; showed love and patronage for the sciences. The ruler of a vast region, its reformer, overwhelmed with revision cases, bombarded with thousands of petitions, drawing up several projects at once for the management of individual parts - he, at the same time, follows with the keenest interest current Russian literature, studies German literature, studies English language and teaches himself Latin language to one young student. Speransky's stay in Siberia is a bright episode in the history of this country, a continuous, so to speak, picture of the triumph of truth over arbitrariness. The punishment that befell the perpetrators of the abuses and, most importantly, the personal influence of Speransky, made unrest on the previous scale impossible for some time. Then, the development of education in the metropolis, from where the governors of the region came, a change in views on government in general and the management of the outskirts in particular, a softening of the morals of the rulers - finally made it completely impossible for the repetition of Krylovism and Pestelism in Siberia. The special “Siberian Code” was aimed at weakening the administrative disorders that arose from the remoteness of the region, by limiting the power of the region’s leaders through councils; they thought that this limitation would make the Siberian order similar to the Russian one. However, the Siberian Code did not achieve this equality. Siberian orders are still constantly worse than those that exist in European Russia. True, they are better than those who were before Speransky, but the people in Siberia are not the same. Siberia, which has already entered the fourth century of its existence under Russian rule, is awaiting a new, more fundamental reform in governance.

On the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of Siberia, the Sovereign Word was heard from the height of the throne, giving the right to hope that, in the near future, probably, the reforms that European Russia is using will be extended to Siberia. The urgent importance and necessity of this was finally announced by the Siberian administration, and the highest government authorities treated this statement with special attention and care.

Indeed, bringing Siberia into one with European Russia by establishing unity in the system of governance of both of these Russian territories is the first thing necessary in order to make Siberia not only a definitively Russian country, but also an organic part of our state organism - in the consciousness as a European- Russian and Siberian populations. Then, it is necessary to finally consolidate the connection between Siberia and European Russia by rail running through the entire Siberian territory. Then, of course, quite naturally, there will be a proper influx of population from European Russia to Siberia and the abundance of Siberian natural resources will receive appropriate sales on the Russian and Western European markets. Only under this condition can there be an opportunity for Siberia to justify its ancient reputation as a “gold mine”.

* Picturesque Russia. - St. Petersburg; M., 1884. - T. 11. - P. 31-48.

For the great Stone belt, the Urals, stretches across the vast expanses of Siberia. This territory occupies almost three quarters of the entire area of ​​our country. Siberia is larger than the second largest country (after Russia) in the world - Canada. More than twelve million square kilometers contain inexhaustible reserves of natural resources, which, if used wisely, are sufficient for the life and prosperity of many generations of people.

Trekking beyond the Stone Belt

The development of Siberia began in last years reign of Ivan the Terrible. The most convenient outpost for moving deeper into this wild and uninhabited region at that time was the middle Urals, the undivided owner of which was the Stroganov family of merchants. Using the patronage of the Moscow kings, they owned vast territories of land, on which there were thirty-nine villages and the city of Solvychegodsk with a monastery. They also owned a chain of forts that stretched along the border with the possessions of Khan Kuchum.

The history of Siberia, or more precisely, its conquest by the Russian Cossacks, began with the fact that the tribes inhabiting it refused to pay the Russian Tsar yasyk - the tribute that they had been subject to for many years. Moreover, the nephew of their ruler, Khan Kuchum, with a large detachment of cavalry, carried out a series of raids on villages belonging to the Stroganovs. To protect themselves from such unwanted guests, rich merchants hired Cossacks led by ataman Vasily Timofeevich Alenin, nicknamed Ermak. 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 beyond the Urals. It was a kind of discovery of Siberia. Along the entire route, the Cossacks were lucky. The Tatars who inhabited those regions, although superior in numbers, were inferior militarily. They had virtually no knowledge of firearms, which were so widespread by that time in Russia, and fled in panic every time they heard a volley.

The khan sent his nephew Mametkul with an army of ten thousand to meet the Russians. 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 their 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 taking a new turn.

Fights with foreigners

In those days, the Tatars were subject to a large number of tribes that they conquered and 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 reached distant Moscow. This valuable product has always and everywhere been in great demand, and especially in the European market.

However, not all tribes accepted the inevitable. Some of them continued their resistance, although it weakened every year. The Cossack detachments continued their campaign. In 1584, their legendary ataman Ermak Timofeevich died. This happened, as often happens in Russia, due to negligence and oversight - no sentries were posted at one of the rest stops. It so happened that a prisoner who had escaped a few days earlier brought an enemy detachment at night. Taking advantage of the Cossacks' oversight, they suddenly attacked and began to slaughter the sleeping people. Ermak, 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 a conquered land

From that time on, active development began. Following the Cossack detachments, hunters, peasants, clergy and, of course, officials flocked to the taiga wilderness. Everyone who found themselves beyond the Ural ridge became free people. There was no serfdom or landownership here. They paid only the tax established by the state. Local tribes, as mentioned above, were taxed with a fur yasyk. During this period, income from the treasury from Siberian furs 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), which served as outposts for the further conquest of the region. Thus, in 1604 the city of Tomsk was founded, which later became the largest economic and cultural center. After a short time, Kuznetsk and Yenisei forts appeared. They housed military garrisons and the administration that controlled the collection of yasyk.

Documents from those years testify to many facts of corruption among government officials. Despite the fact that, by law, all furs had to go to the treasury, some officials, as well as Cossacks directly involved in collecting tribute, inflated the established norms, appropriating the difference in their favor. Even then, such lawlessness was strictly punished, and there are many cases where covetous people paid for their deeds with freedom and even their lives.

Further penetration into new lands

The process of colonization became especially intense after the end of the Time of Troubles. The goal of everyone who dared to seek happiness in new, unexplored lands was this time Eastern Siberia. This process proceeded at a very rapid pace, and by the end of the 17th century the Russians reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. By this time, a new government structure had emerged - the Siberian Order. His responsibilities included establishing new procedures for managing controlled territories and promoting governors, who were locally authorized representatives of the tsarist government.

In addition to the fur collection, furs were also purchased, the payment for which was made not with money, but with all kinds of goods: axes, saws, various tools, as well as fabrics. History, unfortunately, has preserved many cases of abuse here too. Often, the arbitrariness of officials and Cossack elders ended in riots of local residents, which had to be pacified by force.

Main directions of colonization

Eastern Siberia was developed in two main directions: to the north along the sea coast, and to the south along the borders with neighboring states. At the beginning of the 17th century, the banks of the Irtysh and Ob were settled by Russians, and after them large areas adjacent to the Yenisei. Cities such as Tyumen, Tobolsk and Krasnoyarsk were founded and began to be built. All of them were destined to become major industrial and cultural centers over time.

Further advance of the Russian colonists was carried out mainly along the Lena River. Here in 1632 a fort 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 thanks to this, just two years later the Cossacks, led by them, managed to reach the Pacific coast, and soon they saw the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin for the first time.

Conquerors of the Wild Land

The history of Siberia and the Far East preserves the memory of another outstanding traveler - the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev. In 1648, he and the detachment he led on several ships circumnavigated the coast of North Asia for the first time and proved the existence of a strait separating Siberia from America. At the same time, another traveler, Poyarov, passed along the southern border of Siberia and climbed up the Amur, reaching the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

After some time, Nerchinsk was founded. Its significance is largely determined by the fact that as a result of moving east, the Cossacks came closer to China, which also laid claim to 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 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 governor generals, approved in 1822 by a personal decree of Alexander I. Tobolsk became the center of the Western, and Irkutsk became the center of the Eastern. They, in turn, were divided into provinces, and those into volost and foreign councils. This transformation was a consequence of the well-known reform

In the same year, ten legislative acts were published, signed by the tsar and regulating all aspects of administrative, economic and legal life. 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 19th century hard labor and prisons became an integral part of this region.

The map of Siberia in those years is replete with the names of mines in which work was carried out exclusively by convicts. These are Nerchinsky, and Zabaikalsky, and Blagodatny and many others. As a result of the 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 gendarmerie district.

The beginning of industrialization of the region

Of the main ones that received widespread development during this period, gold mining should be noted first of all. By the middle of the century, it accounted for the majority of the total volume of precious metal mined in the country. Also, large revenues to the state treasury came from mining enterprises, which by this time had significantly increased the volume of mineral extraction. Many other branches are also developing.

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 scale, swept across its expanses, ending with the liquidation of the White movement and the establishment of Soviet power. During the Great Patriotic War Many industrial and military enterprises are being 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 arrived here. In the post-war period, when numerous giant factories, power plants and railway lines were built, there was also a significant influx of visitors - all those for whom Siberia became their new home. On the map of this vast region appeared names that became symbols of the era - the Baikal-Amur Mainline, Novosibirsk Akademgorodok and much more.

Annexation of Siberia to Russia

“And when a completely ready, populated and enlightened region, once dark, unknown, appears before the astonished humanity, demanding a name and rights, then let history interrogate about those who erected this building, and also not inquire, just as it did not inquire who placed pyramids in the desert... And creating Siberia is not as easy as creating something under the blessed sky...” Goncharov I. A.

History has assigned the role of a pioneer to the Russian people. For many hundreds of years, Russians discovered new lands, settled them and transformed them with their labor, and defended them with arms in hand in the fight against numerous enemies. As a result, vast spaces were populated 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 areas.

Adygea, Crimea. Mountains, waterfalls, herbs of alpine meadows, healing mountain air, absolute silence, snowfields in the middle of summer, the murmuring of mountain streams and rivers, stunning landscapes, songs around the fires, the spirit of romance and adventure, the wind of freedom await you! And at the end of the route are the gentle waves of the Black Sea.

The process of incorporating vast territories of Siberia and the Far East into the Russian state took several centuries. The most significant events that determined the future fate of the region occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In our article we will briefly describe how the development of Siberia took place in the 17th century, but we will present all the available facts. This era of geographical discoveries was marked by the founding of Tyumen and Yakutsk, as well as the discovery of the Bering Strait, Kamchatka, and Chukotka, which significantly expanded the borders of the Russian state and consolidated its economic and strategic positions.

Stages of Russian exploration of Siberia

In Soviet and Russian historiography It is accepted to divide the process of development of northern lands and their inclusion into the state into five stages:

1. 11th-15th centuries.
2. Late 15th-16th centuries.
3. Late 16th - early 17th centuries.
4. Mid 17th-18th centuries.
5. 19-20th centuries.

Goals of development of Siberia and the Far East

The peculiarity of the annexation of Siberian lands to the Russian state is that development was carried out spontaneously. The pioneers were peasants (they fled from the landowners in order to work quietly on free land in the southern part of Siberia), merchants and industrialists (they were looking for material gain, for example, from the local population they could exchange fur, which was very valuable at that time, for mere trinkets worth a penny). Some went to Siberia in search of fame and made geographical discoveries in order to remain in the memory of the people.

The development of Siberia and the Far East in the 17th century, as in all subsequent centuries, was carried out with the aim of expanding the territory of the state and increasing the population. The vacant lands beyond the Ural Mountains attracted people with their high economic potential: furs and valuable metals. Later, these territories really became the locomotive of the country’s industrial development, and even today Siberia has sufficient potential and is a strategic region of Russia.

Features of the development of Siberian lands

The process of colonization of free lands beyond the Ural ridge included the gradual advance of discoverers to the East up to the Pacific coast and consolidation on the Kamchatka Peninsula. In the folklore of the peoples inhabiting the northern and eastern lands, the word “Cossack” is most often used to designate Russians.

At the beginning of the development of Siberia by the Russians (16-17 centuries), the pioneers advanced mainly along rivers. They walked by land only in watershed areas. Upon arrival in a new area, the pioneers began peace negotiations with the local population, offering to join the king and pay yasak - a tax in kind, usually in furs. Negotiations did not always end successfully. Then the matter was resolved by military means. On the lands of the local population, forts or simply winter huts were set up. Some of the Cossacks remained there to maintain the obedience of the tribes and collect yasak. Following the Cossacks were peasants, clergy, merchants and industrialists. The greatest resistance was provided by the Khanty and other large tribal unions, as well as the Siberian Khanate. In addition, there have been several conflicts with China.

Novgorod campaigns to the “iron gates”

Back in the eleventh century, Novgorodians reached Ural mountains(“iron gates”), but were defeated by the Ugras. Ugra was then called the lands of the Northern Urals and the coast of the Arctic Ocean, where local tribes lived. From the middle of the thirteenth century, Ugra had already been developed by the Novgorodians, but this dependence was not strong. After the fall of Novgorod, the tasks of developing Siberia passed to Moscow.

Free lands beyond the Ural ridge

Traditionally, the first stage (11-15 centuries) is not yet considered the conquest of Siberia. Officially, it began with Ermak’s campaign in 1580, but even then the Russians knew that beyond the Ural ridge there were vast territories that remained practically no man’s land after the collapse of the Horde. Local peoples were few in number and poorly developed, with the only exception being the Siberian Khanate, founded by the Siberian Tatars. But wars were constantly raging in it and civil strife did not stop. This led to its weakening and to the fact that it soon became part of the Russian Kingdom.

History of the development of Siberia in the 16th-17th centuries

The first campaign was undertaken under Ivan III. Before this, Russian rulers were prevented from turning their gaze to the east by internal political problems. Only Ivan IV took the free lands seriously, and only in the last years of his reign. The Siberian Khanate formally became part of the Russian state back in 1555, but later Khan Kuchum declared his people free from tribute to the tsar.

The answer was given by sending Ermak’s detachment there. Hundreds of Cossacks, led by five atamans, captured the capital of the Tatars and founded several settlements. In 1586, the first Russian city, Tyumen, was founded in Siberia, in 1587 the Cossacks founded Tobolsk, in 1593 - Surgut, and in 1594 - Tara.

In short, the development of Siberia in the 16th and 17th centuries is associated with the following names:

1. Semyon Kurbsky and Peter Ushaty (campaign in the Nenets and Mansi lands in 1499-1500).
2. Cossack Ermak (campaign of 1851-1585, exploration of Tyumen and Tobolsk).
3. Vasily Sukin (was not a pioneer, but laid the foundation for the settlement of Russian people in Siberia).
4. Cossack Pyanda (in 1623, the Cossack began a hike through wild places, discovered the Lena River, and reached the place where Yakutsk was later founded).
5. Vasily Bugor (in 1630 founded the city of Kirensk on the Lena).
6. Peter Beketov (founded Yakutsk, which became the base for the further development of Siberia in the 17th century).
7. Ivan Moskvitin (in 1632 he became the first European who, together with his detachment, went to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk).
8. Ivan Stadukhin (discovered the Kolyma River, explored Chukotka and was the first to enter Kamchatka).
9. Semyon Dezhnev (participated in the discovery of Kolyma, in 1648 he completely crossed the Bering Strait and discovered Alaska).
10. Vasily Poyarkov (made the first trip to the Amur).
11. Erofey Khabarov (assigned the Amur region to the Russian state).
12. Vladimir Atlasov (annexed Kamchatka in 1697).

Thus, in short, the development of Siberia in the 17th century was marked by the founding of the main Russian cities and the opening of routes, thanks to which the region later began to play great economic and defense importance.

Siberian campaign of Ermak (1581-1585)

The development of Siberia by the Cossacks in the 16th and 17th centuries began with Ermak’s campaign against the Siberian Khanate. A detachment of 840 people was formed and equipped with everything necessary by the Stroganov merchants. The campaign took place without the knowledge of the king. The backbone of the detachment consisted of atamans of the Volga Cossacks: Ermak Timofeevich, Matvey Meshcheryak, Nikita Pan, Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov.

In September 1581, the detachment climbed the tributaries of the Kama to the Tagil Pass. The Cossacks cleared their way by hand, at times even dragging the ships on themselves, like barge haulers. At the pass they erected an earthen fortification, where they remained until the ice melted in the spring. The detachment rafted along Tagil to Tura.

The first clash between the Cossacks and the Siberian Tatars took place in the modern Sverdlovsk region. Ermak’s detachment defeated the cavalry of Prince Epanchi, and then occupied the town of Chingi-tura without a fight. In the spring and summer of 1852, the Cossacks, led by Ermak, entered into battle with the Tatar princes several times, and by the fall they occupied the then capital of the Siberian Khanate. A few days later, Tatars from all corners of the Khanate began to bring gifts to the conquerors: fish and other food supplies, furs. Ermak allowed them to return to their villages and promised to protect them from enemies. He imposed taxes on everyone who came to him.

At the end of 1582, Ermak sent his assistant Ivan Koltso to Moscow to inform the Tsar about the defeat of Kuchum, the Siberian Khan. Ivan IV generously rewarded the envoy and sent him back. By decree of the tsar, Prince Semyon Bolkhovskoy equipped another detachment, the Stroganovs allocated another forty volunteers from among their people. The detachment arrived at Ermak only in the winter of 1584.

Completion of the hike and foundation of Tyumen

Ermak at that time successfully conquered the Tatar towns along the Ob and Irtysh, without encountering fierce resistance. But there was ahead Cold winter, which not only Semyon Bolkhovskoy, appointed governor of Siberia, but also most of the detachment could not survive. The temperature dropped to -47 degrees Celsius, and there were not enough supplies.

In the spring of 1585, the Murza of Karacha rebelled, destroying the detachments of Yakov Mikhailov and Ivan Koltso. Ermak was surrounded in the capital of the former Siberian Khanate, but one of the atamans launched a sortie and was able to drive the attackers away from the city. The detachment suffered significant losses. Less than half of those who were equipped by the Stroganovs in 1581 survived. Three of the five Cossack atamans died.

In August 1985, Ermak died at the mouth of the Vagai. The Cossacks who remained in the Tatar capital decided to spend the winter in Siberia. In September, another hundred Cossacks under the command of Ivan Mansurov went to their aid, but the servicemen did not find anyone in Kishlyk. The next expedition (spring 1956) was much better prepared. Under the leadership of governor Vasily Sukin, the first Siberian city of Tyumen was founded.

Founding of Chita, Yakutsk, Nerchinsk

The first significant event in the development of Siberia in the 17th century was the campaign of Pyotr Beketov along the Angara and tributaries of the Lena. In 1627, he was sent as a governor to the Yenisei prison, and the next year - to pacify the Tungus who attacked the detachment of Maxim Perfilyev. In 1631, Pyotr Beketov became the head of a detachment of thirty Cossacks who were to march along the Lena River and gain a foothold on its banks. By the spring of 1631, he had cut down the fort, which was later named Yakutsk. The city became one of the centers of development of Eastern Siberia in the 17th century and later.

Campaign of Ivan Moskvitin (1639-1640)

Ivan Moskvitin took part in Kopylov’s campaign in 1635-1638 to the Aldan River. The leader of the detachment later sent part of the soldiers (39 people) under the command of Moskvitin to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In 1638, Ivan Moskvitin went to the shores of the sea, made trips to the Uda and Tauy rivers, and received the first information about the Uda region. As a result of his campaigns, the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was explored for 1,300 kilometers, and the Udskaya Bay, Amur Estuary, Sakhalin Island, Sakhalin Bay, and the mouth of the Amur were discovered. In addition, Ivan Moskvitin brought good booty to Yakutsk - a lot of fur tribute.

Discovery of Kolyma and Chukotka Expedition

The development of Siberia in the 17th century continued with the campaigns of Semyon Dezhnev. He ended up in the Yakut prison presumably in 1638, proved himself by pacifying several Yakut princes, and together with Mikhail Stadukhin made a trip to Oymyakon to collect yasak.

In 1643, Semyon Dezhnev, as part of Mikhail Stadukhin’s detachment, arrived in Kolyma. The Cossacks founded the Kolyma winter hut, which later became a large fort called Srednekolymsk. The town became a stronghold for the development of Siberia in the second half of the 17th century. Dezhnev served in Kolyma until 1647, but when he set out on his return voyage, strong ice blocked the route, so it was decided to stay in Srednekolymsk and wait for a more favorable time.

A significant event in the development of Siberia in the 17th century occurred in the summer of 1648, when S. Dezhnev entered the Arctic Ocean and passed the Bering Strait eighty years before Vitus Bering. It is noteworthy that even Bering did not manage to pass through the strait completely, limiting himself only to its southern part.

Consolidation of the Amur region by Erofey Khabarov

The development of Eastern Siberia in the 17th century continued by the Russian industrialist Erofey Khabarov. He made his first campaign in 1625. Khabarov was engaged in buying furs, opened salt springs on the Kut River and contributed to the development of agriculture on these lands. In 1649, Erofey Khabarov went up the Lena and Amur to the town of Albazino. Returning to Yakutsk with a report and for help, he assembled a new expedition and continued his work. Khabarov treated harshly not only the population of Manchuria and Dauria, but also his own Cossacks. For this he was transported to Moscow, where the trial began. The rebels who refused to continue the campaign with Erofey Khabarov were acquitted, and he himself was deprived of his salary and rank. After Khabarov submitted a petition to the Russian sovereign. The tsar did not restore the monetary allowance, but gave Khabarov the title of son of a boyar and sent him to govern one of the volosts.

Explorer of Kamchatka - Vladimir Atlasov

For Atlasov, Kamchatka has always been the main goal. Before the expedition to Kamchatka began in 1697, the Russians already knew about the existence of the peninsula, but its territory had not yet been explored. Atlasov was not a discoverer, but he was the first to traverse almost the entire peninsula from west to east. Vladimir Vasilyevich described his journey in detail and drew up a map. He managed to persuade most of the local tribes to go over to the side of the Russian Tsar. Later, Vladimir Atlasov was appointed clerk in Kamchatka.