Development of Siberia (briefly). Accession of Western Siberia to the Russian state

Ermak Timofeevich(1542 - August 6, 1585, Siberian Khanate) - Cossack chieftain, historical conqueror of Siberia.

The origin of Ermak is not known exactly; there are several versions. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Chusovaya River. Thanks to the knowledge of local rivers, he walked along the Kama, Chusovaya and even transferred to Asia, along the Tagil river, until he was taken to serve, to serve as a Cossack ( Cherepanovskaya chronicle), in other words - a native of the Kachalinskaya stanitsa on the Don (Bronevsky). Recently, the version about the Pomor origin of Ermak (originally "from Dvina z Borku") has been heard more and more often, it probably meant the Boretskaya volost, the center of which exists to this day - the village of Borok Vinogradovsky district Arkhangelsk region.

The name Ermak, according to Professor Nikitsky, is a colloquial version of the Russian name Ermolay and sounds like its contraction. The famous Russian writer, a native of the Vologda region, V. Gilyarovsky calls him Ermil Timofeevich("Moscow Gazetnaya"). Other historians and chroniclers derive his name from Herman and Eremeya (Eremes). One chronicle, considering the name of Ermak a nickname, gives him the Christian name of Vasily. According to the Irkutsk historian A.G. Sutormin, the full name of Ermak allegedly sounded like Vasily Timofeevich Alenin... The same version is played out in PP Bazhov's tale "Ermakov's swans". There is also an opinion that "Ermak" is just a nickname derived from the name of the boiler for cooking.

There is also a hypothesis about the Turkic origin of Ermak. In favor of this version, they argue that this typically Turkic name still exists among the Tatars, Bashkirs and Kazakhs, but pronounced as "Ermek" - fun, fun. In addition, the male name Ermak ("Yrmag") is found among the Alan-Ossetians, who widely inhabited the Don steppes up to the XIV century.

The version about the Turkic origin of Ermak is indirectly confirmed by the description of his appearance, preserved Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov in his "Remezovsky chronicler" of the late 17th century. According to S. U. Remezov, whose father, the Cossack centurion Ulyan Moiseevich Remezov, knew personally the surviving participants in the campaign of Yermak, the famous chieftain was “a courageous, human, and transparent, and pleased with all wisdom, flat-faced, black with brady, age [that is height] middle, and flat, and broad shoulders. "

Probably, Ermak was at first the ataman of one of the many Volga Cossack squads, who defended the population on the Volga from arbitrariness and robbery by the Crimean and Astrakhan Tatars. This is evidenced by the petitions of the "old" Cossacks, which have come down to us, addressed to the tsar, namely: Ermak's colleague Gavrila Ilyin wrote that he "fled" (carried out military service) with Ermak in the Wild Field for 20 years, another veteran Gavrila Ivanov wrote that he served king " on the field for twenty years at Ermak in the village"And in the villages of other chieftains.

In 1581, the squad of Cossacks (more than 540 people), under the command of atamans Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan, Matvey Meshcheryak, Cherkas Alexandrova and Bogdana Bryazgi, was invited by the Ural merchants Stroganovs to protect against regular attacks from the Siberian Khan Kuchum, and went up the Kama, and in June 1582 arrived on the Chusovaya River, in the Chusov towns of the Stroganov brothers. Here the Cossacks lived for two years and helped the Stroganovs to defend their towns from predatory attacks by the Siberian Khan Kuchum.

By the beginning of 1580, the Stroganovs invited Ermak to the service, then he was at least 40 years old. Ermak took part in the Livonian War, commanded a Cossack squadron during the battle with the Lithuanians for Smolensk. A letter from the Lithuanian commandant of Mogilev, Stravinsky, was preserved, sent at the end of June 1581 to King Stephen Batory, which mentions "Ermak Timofeevich - Cossack Ataman." ...

Conquest of Siberia

On September 1, 1581, a Cossack squad under the main command of Ermak set out on a campaign for the Stone Belt (Ural) from Nizhny Chusovsky Gorodok. According to another version, proposed by the historian R.G. Skrynnikov, the campaign of Ermak, Ivan Koltso and Nikita Pan to Siberia dates from the following - 1582, since peace with the Commonwealth was concluded in January 1582, and at the end of 1581 Ermak was still at war with the Lithuanians.

The initiative of this campaign, according to the annals of Esipovskaya and Remizovskaya, belonged to Yermak himself, the participation of the Stroganovs was limited to the forced supply of the Cossacks with supplies and weapons. According to the testimony of the Stroganov Chronicle (accepted by Karamzin, Solovyov and others), the Stroganovs themselves called the Cossacks from the Volga to Chusovaya and sent them on a campaign, adding 300 military men from their possessions to the detachment of Ermak (540 people).

It is important to note that at the disposal of the future enemy of the Cossacks, Khan Kuchum, there were forces several times superior to Yermak's squad, but much worse armed. According to the archival documents of the Ambassadorial Prikaz (RGADA), in total Khan Kuchum had an army of about 10 thousand, that is, one "tumen", and the total number of "yasak people" who obeyed him did not exceed 30 thousand adult men.

Khan Kuchum from the Sheibanid clan was a relative of Khan Abdullah, who ruled in Bukhara, and, apparently, was an ethnic Uzbek. In 1555, the Siberian Khan Ediger from the Taybugin family, having heard about the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan by Russia, voluntarily agreed to accept Russian citizenship and pay a small tribute to the Russian Tsar Ivan IV. But in 1563 Kuchum made a coup, killing Ediger and his brother Bekbulat. Having seized power in Kashlyk, Kuchum in the first years played a clever diplomatic game with Moscow, promising to obey, but at the same time delaying the payment of the tribute in every possible way. According to the Remezov Chronicle, compiled at the end of the 17th century Semyon Remezov Kuchum established his power in Western Siberia with extreme cruelty. This led to the unreliability of the detachments of the Voguls (Mansi), Ostyaks (Khanty) and other indigenous peoples, who were forcibly assembled by them in 1582 to repel the Cossack invasion.

The lion and the unicorn on the banner of Ermak, who was with him during the conquest of Siberia (1581-1582)

The Cossacks climbed on plows up the Chusovaya and along its tributary, the Serebryanaya River, to the Siberian drag separating the Kama and Ob basins, and dragged the boats along the drag into the Zheravlya River (Zharovlya). Here the Cossacks had to spend the winter (Remezov Chronicle). During wintering, according to the book Rezhevsky treasures, Ermak sent a detachment of companions to scout a more southerly route along the Neiva River. But the Tatar Murza defeated Ermak's reconnaissance detachment. On the place where that Murza lived is now the village of Murzinka, famous for its gems.

Only in the spring of 1582, along the rivers Zheravle, Barancha and Tagil, they sailed to Tura. They defeated the Siberian Tatars twice, on the Tura and at the mouth of the Tavda. Kuchum sent Mametkul against the Cossacks, with a large army, but on August 1 this army was also defeated by Yermak on the banks of the Tobol, near the Babasan tract. Finally, on the Irtysh, near Chuvashev, the Cossacks inflicted a final defeat on the Tatars in the battle of the Chuvashev Cape. Kuchum left the spot that defended the main city of his khanate, Siberia, and fled south to the Ishim steppes.

On October 26, 1582, Ermak entered the city of Siberia (Kashlyk) abandoned by the Tatars. Four days later, the Khanty from the r. Demianka, a right tributary of the lower Irtysh, brought furs and food supplies, mainly fish, as a gift to the conquerors. Ermak greeted them with "affection and greetings" and let them go "with honor." Local Tatars, who had previously fled from the Russians, reached for the Khanty with gifts. Ermak accepted them just as kindly, allowed them to return to their villages and promised to protect them from enemies, primarily from Kuchum. Then the Khanty from the left-bank regions began to come with furs and food - from the Konda and Tavda rivers. Ermak imposed an annual obligatory tax on everyone who came to him - yasak. From the "best people" (the tribal elite), Ermak took "wool", that is, an oath that their "people" would pay yasak on time. After that, they were considered as subjects of the Russian tsar.

In December 1582, Kuchum's commander, Mametkul, exterminated one Cossack detachment from an ambush on Lake Abalatskoye, but on February 23, the Cossacks struck a new blow at Kuchum, capturing Mametkul on the Vagai River.

In the summer of 1583, Ermak used to conquer Tatar towns and uluses along the Irtysh and Ob rivers, meeting stubborn resistance everywhere, and took the Ostyak city of Nazym. After the capture of the city of Siberia (Kashlyk), Ermak sent messengers to the Stroganovs and an ambassador to the tsar - ataman Ivan Koltso.

Ataman Ermak at the 1000th Anniversary of Russia Monument in Veliky Novgorod

Ivan the Terrible received him very kindly, richly endowed the Cossacks and sent the prince to reinforce them Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov, with 300 warriors. The tsarist governors arrived at Ermak in the fall of 1583, but their detachment could not deliver significant assistance to the Cossack squad, which had greatly diminished in the battles. The atamans perished one after another: first, Bogdan Bryazga was ambushed; then Nikita Pan was killed during the capture of Nazim; and in the spring of 1584 the Tatars killed Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov. Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak was besieged in his camp by the Tatars and only with heavy losses forced their leader Karachu, vizier Kuchum, to retreat.

Death of Ermak

On August 6, 1585, Yermak Timofeevich himself died. He walked with a small detachment of 50 people along the Irtysh. While spending the night at the mouth of the Vagai River, Kuchum attacked sleeping Cossacks and exterminated almost the entire detachment. According to one legend, the courageously resisting chieftain was burdened with his armor, in particular, a shell donated by the king, and, trying to swim to the plows, drowned in the Irtysh. According to Tatar legends, Ermak was mortally wounded by a spear in the throat by the Tatar hero Kutugai.

There were so few Cossacks that the chieftain Meshcheryak had to march back to Russia. After two years of ownership, the Cossacks ceded Siberia to Kuchum, in order to return there a year later with a new detachment of tsarist troops.

Performance evaluation

Some historians place very high on the personality of Ermak, “his courage, leadership talent, iron willpower,” but the facts transmitted by the chronicles do not indicate his personal qualities and the degree of his personal influence. Be that as it may, Yermak is "one of the most remarkable figures in Russian history," writes the historian Ruslan Skrynnikov.

The Russian people came to the motley environment of tribes and peoples, languages ​​and beliefs, customs and cultures of Siberia at the end of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Inter-clan and inter-tribal strife and wars, robberies, the transformation of captives into slaves, attacks by the rulers of neighboring states and tribes, the transformation of a number of tribes into kyshtyms (tributaries) constantly disrupted the life of the indigenous inhabitants of Siberia. Therefore, they themselves often surrendered themselves under the patronage of Russia.

V Siberia there were not only servicemen, bands of hunters, fur buyers, but also peasants looking for free land. Industrial, trading people in all ways, by hook or by crook, mined "soft rubbish" - furs. The peasants were interested in the land, the opportunity to work for themselves, without the landowners.

The advancement of the Russian people, military and “hunters,” took place very quickly. Their path is marked by the towns they built - ostrog, winter huts, for example Krasnoyarsk (1628). Bratsk on the Angara (1630), Verkholensky (1642), Kirensky (1631), Olekminsky (1635). Lensky, or Yakutsk (1632). In the 30-40s. Russians discovered and surveyed the mouths of all major rivers in Northeast Asia. Such a swift movement to the east was simply explained by the search for new riches, first of all, a fur animal.

The detachments of the Russian people, having reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean in half a century, numbered, as a rule, several dozen, only occasionally 200 - people.

In 1648, six kochis (ships) of Kholmogorets F.A.Popov and Cossack S. Dezhnev sailed from the mouth of the Kolyma. Dezhnevsky koch passed the strait past Bolshoy Kamenny Nos and soon the ship was thrown ashore, “passed the Nadyr mouth”. So the strait between Asia and America was opened. And FA Popov ended up in Kamchatka, where he sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 1648. The expedition of V. Atlasov (1697—) laid the foundation for the advance to Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands.

In the middle of the century, Russians also appear on the Amur. The main route there went from the north from the direction of Yakutsk, from where the expeditions of V.D. Poyarkov, then E.P. Khabarov, came.

Russian towns, winter huts, settlements appear in the Amur region: Albazinsky (1651), Kumarsky (1654), Kosogorsky (1655), Nerchinsky (1654), etc. The Amur region is part of the possessions of Russia. This is met with discontent, resistance from the rulers of Manchuria, who then seized China. The Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 delimits the possessions of Russia and China on the Amur and its tributaries.

By the end of the century, Russian possessions in the north and east came to the natural boundaries - the edge of the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

K. Vasiliev. Russian pathfinder

Siberia Administration was in charge of the Ambassadors' order in Moscow, then the Order of the Kazan Palace, in 1637 a special Siberian order was created. The city of Tobolsk has become a kind of Siberian capital... From him, the governor was in charge of the internal, partly foreign policy of the Siberian Territory. The governors and industrialists collected from the local population, more precisely - from adult men, yasak - an annual tax, mainly with furs.

By the end of the century, the Russian population of Siberia numbered 25 thousand families; of them 11 thousand, about half, were peasants. Accession of Siberia to Russia was a turning point in the history of the local population. It marked the beginning of an upsurge in the development of productive forces: agriculture, industry (the discovery and extraction of ores, salt), the rapprochement of the Russian and non-Russian peoples.

§Territorial boundaries of Russia XVII century
§Ivan IV the Terrible
§ The wedding of Ivan IV the Terrible to the kingdom
§Reform of the Elected Council
§Russia during the reign of Ivan IV

History of Russia 16 - 17 century.

Development of Siberia

History of Russia 16 - 17 century. Development of Siberia

source and documents on the history of the development of Siberia in the 16-17 centuries

From the very beginning of the annexation of Siberia and the entry of its peoples into Russia, the archives of central government institutions and provincial offices began to accumulate a huge amount of documentary material, reflecting and capturing the course of this process: administrative correspondence, "widespread speeches", "scammers" and "unsubscriptions" of service people , descriptions of hikes, travels, diplomatic and administrative trips. These materials later served historians to recreate the history of the annexation, study and development of Siberia, the history of Russian geographical discoveries in northeast Asia.

Already in the 17th century, the keenest interest of the Russian people in the initial period of the history of the annexation of Siberia, the desire to comprehend the significance of this event, was manifested.

Chronicle historical works about the "Siberian capture" appear (Esipovskaya, Kungurskaya, Stroganov chronicles), in which fundamentally different concepts of Ermak's campaign were put forward, various interpretations and assessments of the events described were given. The end of this "chronicle" period was the "History of Siberia" by S. U. Remezov, created at the very end of the 17th century.

The study of Siberia, including its history, made significant progress in the next, 18th century, which was the result of the work of many expeditions, which included specialists-scientists in various fields of knowledge. The merits of G. Miller, a member of the second expedition of V. Bering, should be especially noted. Its task was to collect materials on the history of the annexation of Siberia and the peoples inhabiting it. For ten years, from 1733 to 1743, G. Miller traveled all over Siberia, examined and described more than 20 archives, copied a lot of valuable documents, many of which have not reached us. He was one of the first to start collecting folklore of the Siberian peoples, as well as linguistic, archaeological and ethnographic material. On the basis of this vast material, he created a fundamental multivolume "History of Siberia", the first volume of which, brought to 1617, was published in 1750. This work has not lost its significance to this day.

A.N. Radishchev, who was exiled to Siberia and lived here from 1790 to 1797, showed a great interest in the study of Siberia, its history, economy, and life of the population. Among the "Siberian" works of A. N. Radishchev, written by him in exile - "Description of the Tobolsk governorship", "Letter about the Chinese bargaining", "Notes of a trip to Siberia", "Diary of a trip from Siberia", "Angel of darkness" ( excerpt from the poem "Ermak"). One of them is "An Abridged Narrative of the Acquisition of Siberia." When writing this work, AN Radishchev used the rich factual material contained in the first volume of the History of Siberia by G. Miller. But this does not mean that "Abridged Narrative ..." is simply a summary of the content of the book by G. Miller. An irreconcilable opponent of "autocracy", this "state most contrary to human nature," Radishchev could not accept his concept, in which the main role in the annexation of Siberia was assigned to state power, the fruitfulness of the autocratic principle and actions of the government administration was affirmed, and the success of the expansion of the feudal state was glorified. In contrast to this semi-official concept, Radishchev put forward a new, democratic explanation of the process of the annexation of Siberia, linking it with free people's colonization and emphasizing the role of the masses in this event. He did not consider the autocratic power to be the main driving force of this process, but the Russian people, "I was born to greatness," capable of "seeking everything that social bliss can do." He spoke out against national oppression, inciting "popular hatred, which even after the complete subjugation of the weakest do not disappear." At the same time, he especially emphasized the importance of the established voluntary agreement between the detachments of Ermak and the Russian settlers, on the one hand, and the Siberian peoples, on the other, paid great attention to the internal development of the Siberian peoples themselves. These views of A.N. Radishchev on the history of Siberia were further developed in the advanced Russian historical thought of the subsequent time and in Soviet historical science.

In the history of the advancement of Russians to Siberia and the geographical discoveries made by them, there are still many "blank spots". The fact is that the real pioneers were most often not service people who were obliged to submit reports on their campaigns, which were preserved in the archives, but free industrialists, for the most part remained unknown. The little-known pages of the history of the development of Siberia are introduced to the reader by a chapter from the popular science book of Academician A. P. Okladnikov "The Discovery of Siberia". A.P. Okladnikov (1908-1981) - an outstanding Soviet historian, archaeologist, ethnographer, a world-renowned specialist in the ancient history of the peoples of North, Central and East Asia. In the published excerpt, we are talking about Penda's campaign from the Yenisei to the Lena, the memory of which was preserved only in oral legends recorded much later, as well as about the voyage of Russian polar sailors already at the beginning of the 17th century around Taimyr, which became known only thanks to the the accidental find of the remains of their wintering on the island of Thaddeus and in the Sims winter quarters.

Of great interest are the short, but capacious stories of the explorers themselves, preserved in the form of records of oral reports ("skats"), written reports ("replies") and petitions. These documents give a rather vivid idea of ​​the situation of ordinary service people, of the difficult conditions of their service associated with everyday risk, of the relationship with the local population, of the methods of collecting yasak. In them, explorers act not only as brave travelers and yasak collectors, but also as the first inquisitive explorers of Siberia. In the "new lands" they discovered, they were interested in everything: roads, rivers, ore deposits, flora and fauna, opportunities for hunting, fishing, agriculture, the composition and size of the population, its language, customs and customs. The source of this information was not only their personal observations, but also the testimony of local residents, which was also reflected in the documents. The information collected by the explorers served as the foundation for all subsequent knowledge about Siberia. Their reports were processed, summarized, on their basis, consolidated "drawings" (maps) and geographical overviews of individual regions and Siberia as a whole were compiled: lands of 1672 and, finally, the famous Drawing Book (atlas) of Siberia by S. U. Remezov (1701).

Interesting is the "skaska" of the Cossack I. Kolobov, one of the participants in the campaign of the detachment of the Tomsk Cossack Ivan Moskvitin to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. This campaign, which took place in 1639, was an important milestone in the history of Russian geographical discoveries. Its participants were the first Russian people who went to the Pacific coast and sailed along the Sea of ​​Okhotsk: northward to the mouth of the Okhota and southward to the mouth of the Amur. The story of this campaign by N. Kolobov served as one of the sources of the "Painting of Rivers and Tribes", which is the first geographical and ethnographic description of the Okhotsk coast.

In the mid-30s of the 17th century, a stormy period of development of the northeastern Siberian rivers begins. The petition of the Cossack Ivan Erastov and his comrades contains a rather detailed story about the campaigns of Posnik Ivanov Gubar to Yana and Indigirka (1638-1640) and Dmitry Zyryan (Yerilo) to Indigirka and Alazeya (1641-1642), as a result of which there were the basins of these rivers were examined and for the first time a land road was laid from the Lena to the upper Yana and from the Yana to the middle reaches of the Indigirka, which until the end of the century served as the main north-eastern land highway. D. Zyryan's trip to Alazeya was a prelude to the opening of Kolyma in the next year, 1643.

In the 30s, navigation began between the Lena and other northeastern rivers. By the 50s, it had become quite lively. Food and equipment were brought to Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma by sea, furs were exported. By sea, servicemen went to serve in distant prison and servicemen returned to Yakutsk. But sailing in the harsh polar conditions has not become less dangerous and risky. About what difficulties had to be overcome during these voyages, about the fate of sailors, covered by ice and carried off to the open sea, is described in Timofey Buldakov's "formal notes" about his voyages to the Kolyma (in 1650) and back (in 1653) ...

Also about sea voyage, but already in the waters of the Pacific Ocean (from Anadyr to the Chukotka moment), Kurbatov's “formal reply” tells. He came to Lena as a Cossack at the very beginning of its development and took a direct part in the discovery of new lands and in bringing the Siberian peoples into Russian citizenship. In 1643 he was the first of the Russians to reach Lake Baikal. He is also known as a cartographer: he compiled the first drawings of the upper reaches of the Lena, Lake Baikal, the Okhotsk coast and some other regions of Siberia. In 1657 he was sent to the Anadyr prison to replace Semyon Dezhnev. Arriving there in the spring of 1660, the next year he made a voyage in search of a new walrus rookery, which he told about in his "unsubscribe".

Two other documents - Vasily Poyarkov's "skask" and the Yakut governor's "unsubscribe" - tell about the first campaigns on the Amur, the fourth of the great Siberian rivers. The first Russian military expedition to the "Daurian land" was V. Poyarkov's campaign in 1643-1646. His "skaska" contains not only a detailed story about this campaign, but also the richest information collected during its course about the geography and natural conditions of this region, about the peoples who lived here, about their relations with the Manchus. And although it was not possible to gain a foothold on the Amur pa this time, this information played a large role in the further development of the Amur region by the Russians.

The Amur region was annexed to Russia only as a result of the campaign of a large detachment of "willing people", organized and headed by the famous explorer and prominent businessman Erofei Khabarov. The story of Khabarov himself about the first stage of this campaign is given in the formal letter of the Yakut governors.

Russian history

To main

The conquest of Siberia by the Cossacks led by Ermak

Muscovite Russia finally got rid of the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

Development of Siberia 16-17 centuries (page 1 of 13)

After that, the Russians themselves went to conquer the east. At the end of the 15th century. Kazan was taken by the troops of Ivan III. But it was not possible to keep it and the Tatar khan got it back.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible achieved great success in conquering the eastern lands. They are in the 16th century. two very powerful fortresses Kazan and Astrakhan were captured and annexed to Russia. These cities were very rich, and also had an important strategic and commercial importance.

Ermak's hike to Siberia

In ancient times, there were quite a lot of energetic people in Russia, eager for adventure. They formed Cossack detachments on the lower reaches of the Don. From where they could raid neighboring states or trade with them. Naturally, such people simply could not help but be offended by the idea of ​​conquering the vast eastern lands. In addition, the owner of those lands, the Mongol-Tatar state by the middle of the 16th century had long lost its former power, it was fragmented, lagging behind in development and could only respond to Russian firearms with arrows from a bow. At that time, only the Blue Horde (the territory from Tyumen to Mangyshlak) could pose a serious threat to the Russians. The Khan of the Blue Horde, Kuchum, disturbed the towns on the territory occupied by the Russians with his raids. Of these settlements, the town of the Strogonovs stood out, which in order to protect themselves from the enemy hired a detachment of Ataman Yermak for an expedition to the east in 1581. His army was about 800 people.

Ermak's campaign to Siberia, despite the small composition of his detachment, went on successfully. The Russians captured the capital of Kuchum - Isker. A letter came from Ermak to Moscow, which spoke of the vast Siberian territory. After that, the princes Bolkhovsky and Glukhov went to reinforce the Cossacks. In 1583 they united with Yermak. All this time there was a battle of the Cossacks with Kuchum. In 1584, the Horde Khan nevertheless won and occupied his capital, at the same time Yermak himself died. However, later the Russian advance to the east was irreversible, Kuchum was finally defeated and promised obedience to the Russian tsar. The history of the Blue Horde ended and Siberia was annexed to Russia.
The Russians covered the vast territory of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. As a result, the Russians will take possession of Alaska and the fortress, which is now located in California and will call it Fort Ross. However, they sold Alaska and Fort Ross to the United States in the 19th century.
Ermak's campaign to Siberia played a huge role in the development of this territory by the Russians.

Reasons for the success of the Russian expedition

The development of the Russian Far East and all of Siberia was successful. What were the reasons for the success of Yermak's campaign to Siberia and subsequent expeditions to the east?
Many peoples of these lands were part of Russia without problems, and those who resisted were not so united and decisive in driving out the foreigners. And such clashes were rather local in nature for each nation. The peoples of Siberia did not unite among themselves against the Russians, as, for example, the Arabs did against the crusaders. One of the main reasons for this may be the special mentality of the Russian people. Russians were tolerant of the faith, culture, life, customs and language of a foreign people. Our ancestors did not try to break the mentality of others; they themselves willingly adopted the customs of foreigners. Of course, the peoples of the lands conquered by the Russians had to agree to become part of Russia and pay tribute to it, but this tribute was so small that it could easily be regarded as a gift. In return, these peoples received protection and could write a letter to the tsar in case of any big problems, after which this issue was subject to analysis in Moscow.
Largely due to these features of the Russian mentality, Siberia was annexed to Russia and other lands.

To main

Founding of Siberia

Previous12345678910111213141516Next

The Stroganovs developed agriculture, hunting, salt production, fishing and mining in the Urals, and also established trade relations with Siberian peoples,
Around 1577 Semyon Stroganov (English) Russian. and other sons of Anikey Stroganov invited the Cossack Ataman Ermak to the service to protect their lands from the attacks of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. In 1580, the Stroganovs and Ermak prepared a military expedition to Siberia with the aim of waging a war with Kuchum on his own territory. In 1581, Yermak began his campaign deep into Siberia. After several victories over the army of Khan, Ermak finally defeated Kuchum's forces on the Irtysh River in a three-day battle on the Chuvashev Cape in 1582.

The history of the development of Siberia in the 17th century

The remnants of the Khan's army retreated into the steppe, and Ermak conquered the entire Siberian Khanate, including the capital Kashlyk near modern Tobolsk. However, the Cossacks suffered heavy losses, and in 1585 Kuchum suddenly attacked Ermak, destroying almost his entire detachment. In this battle, Ermak died. The Cossacks were forced to leave Siberia, however, thanks to Ermak, the main river routes of Western Siberia were studied, and the Russian troops, just a few years later, successfully continued the conquest of Siberia.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Russia's advance to the east was slowed down by the country's internal problems during the Time of Troubles. Nevertheless, soon the exploration and colonization of Siberia resumed, mainly thanks to the Cossacks, who were interested in the extraction of furs and ivory. While the Cossacks advanced from the southern Urals, another wave of Russian settlers marched across the Arctic Ocean. These were the Pomors from the Far North, who had been trading furs through Mangazeya in the north of Western Siberia for a long time. In 1607, the settlement of Turukhansk was founded in the lower reaches of the Yenisei, not far from the confluence of the Lower Tunguska, and in 1619, the Yenisei stockade in the middle reaches of the Yenisei, not far from the confluence of the Upper Tunguska.
In 1620-1624, a group of fur buyers led by Pyanda left Turukhansk and explored about 2300 km of Lower Tunguska, wintering near the Vilyui and Lena rivers. According to later records (based on collected local legends a century after the events), Pyanda discovered the Lena River. He allegedly walked about 2,400 km along it, reaching central Yakutia. He returned back along the Lena, until she became too shallow and rocky, after which he dragged the goods to the Angara. Thus, Pyanda became the first Russian traveler to meet the Yakuts and Buryats. He built new boats and walked about 1400 km along the Angara, returning to Yeniseisk and discovering that the Angara (Buryat name) and the Upper Tunguska are one and the same river.
In 1627, Pyotr Beketov was appointed governor of the Yenisei. He successfully completed a campaign to collect taxes from the Trans-Baikal Buryats, making the first step to annex Buryatia to Russia. He founded the first Russian settlement here, the Rybinsk prison. In 1631, Beketov was sent to the Lena, where in 1632 he founded Yakutsk and sent the Cossacks to study the Aldan and the lower reaches of the Lena, create new forts and collect taxes.
Yakutsk soon became an important starting point for future Russian exploration in the east, north and south. Maxim Perfiliev, one of the founders of Yeniseisk, founded the Bratsk prison on the Angara in 1631, and in 1638, having left Yakutsk, became the first Russian explorer of Transbaikalia.

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 further fate of the region took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In our article, we will briefly describe how the development of Siberia in the 17th century took place, but we will outline 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, Chukotka, which significantly expanded the borders of the Russian state and consolidated its economic and strategic positions.

Stages of the development of Siberia by Russians

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

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

The goals of the development of Siberia and the Far East

The peculiarity of the annexation of the Siberian lands to the Russian state lies in the fact that the development was carried out in a spontaneous manner. The pioneers were peasants (they fled from the landowners to work quietly on free land in the southern part of Siberia), merchants and industrialists (they were looking for material benefits, for example, the local population could exchange fur, very valuable at that time, for mere trinkets worth a penny). Some went to Siberia in search of glory 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 ones, was carried out with the aim of expanding the territory of the state and increasing the population. The vacant lands beyond the Ural Mountains were attracted by their high economic potential: furs, valuable metals. Later, these territories really became the locomotive of the country's industrial development, and even now Siberia has sufficient potential and is a strategic region of Russia.

Features of the development of Siberian lands

The process of colonization of vacant lands beyond the Ural ridge included the gradual advance of the discoverers to the East to the very 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 moved mainly along the rivers. On land they went only at the watershed. 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. The negotiations did not always end successfully. Then the matter was decided by military means. On the lands of the local population, forts or simply winter quarters were set up. A part of the Cossacks remained there to maintain the submission of the tribes and collect yasak. Peasants, clergy, merchants and industrialists followed the Cossacks. The greatest resistance was offered 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"

As early as the eleventh century, the Novgorodians reached the 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 was already mastered by the Novgorodians, but this dependence was not strong. After the fall of Novgorod, the tasks of developing Siberia passed to Moscow.

Free land beyond the Ural ridge

Traditionally, the first stage (11-15 centuries) is not yet considered the conquest of Siberia. Officially, it was started by Yermak's campaign in 1580, but even then the Russians knew that beyond the Ural ridge there were vast territories that remained practically no-one after the collapse of the Horde. Local peoples were few in number and poorly developed, the only exception was 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.

The history of the development of Siberia in the 16-17 centuries

The first campaign was undertaken under Ivan III. Prior to that, internal political problems did not allow Russian rulers to turn their gaze to the east. Only Ivan IV took seriously the vacant land, and even then 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 Yermak's detachment there. Hundreds of Cossacks, led by five chieftains, 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 16-17 centuries is associated with the following names:

1. Semyon Kurbsky and Peter Ushaty (a trip to the Nenets and Mansi lands in 1499-1500).
2. Cossack Ermak (campaign of 1851-1585, development of Tyumen and Tobolsk).
3. Vasily Sukin (was not a pioneer, but laid the foundation for the settlement of the Russian people in Siberia).
4. Cossack Pyanda (in 1623, the Cossack began a hike in wild places, discovered the Lena River, reached the place where Yakutsk was later founded).
5. Vasily Bugor (in 1630 he 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 the Kolyma, in 1648 he completely passed the Bering Strait and discovered Alaska).
10. Vasily Poyarkov (made the first trip to the Amur).
11. Erofei Khabarov (assigned the Amur region to the Russian state).
12. Vladimir Atlasov (annexed Kamchatka in 1697).

Thus, in a nutshell, the development of Siberia in the 17th century was marked by the founding of the main Russian cities and the opening of ways, thanks to which the region later began to play a great national economic and defense significance.

Ermak's Siberian campaign (1581-1585)

The development of Siberia by the Cossacks in the 16-17 centuries was begun by Yermak'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 was made up of the 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 manually, at times they even dragged ships on themselves, like barge haulers. At the pass, they erected an earthen fortification, where they remained until the ice melted in the spring. Along Tagil, the detachment sailed to Tura.

The first skirmish of the Cossacks with the Siberian Tatars took place in the modern Sverdlovsk region. Ermak's detachment defeated the cavalry of Prince Yepanchi, and then occupied the town of Chingi-turu without a fight. In the spring and summer of 1852, the Cossacks, led by Yermak, fought several times with the Tatar princes, and by the fall they occupied the then capital of the Siberian Khanate. A few days later, Tatars from all over 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 tax on everyone who came to him.

At the end of 1582, Ermak sent his assistant Ivan Koltso to Moscow to inform the tsar of the defeat of Kuchum, the Siberian khan. Ivan IV generously endowed the envoy and sent him back. By order of the tsar, Prince Semyon Bolkhovskaya equipped another detachment, the Stroganovs allocated forty more volunteers from among their people. The detachment arrived at Yermak 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 ahead was a cold winter, which could not survive not only Semyon Bolkhovskaya, appointed governor of Siberia, but also most of the detachment. Temperatures dropped to -47 degrees Celsius and there was not enough supplies.

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

In August 1985, Yermak died at the mouth of the Wagai. 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 the voivode Vasily Sukin, the first Siberian city of Tyumen was founded.

Foundation of Chita, Yakutsk, Nerchinsk

The first significant event in the development of Siberia in the 17th century was the campaign of Peter Beketov along the Angara and the Lena tributaries. 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 Perfiliev. In 1631, Pyotr Beketov became the head of a detachment of thirty Cossacks, who were to pass along the Lena River and gain a foothold on its banks. By the spring of 1631, he cut down the prison, which was later named Yakutsk. The city became one of the centers of the development of Eastern Siberia in the 17th century and later.

Ivan Moskvitin's hike (1639-1640)

Ivan Moskvitin took part in Kopylov's campaign in 1635-1638 to the Aldan River. The leader of the detachment later sent some of the soldiers (39 people) under the command of Moskvitin to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In 1638, Ivan Moskvitin came to the shores of the sea, made trips to the Uda and Taui rivers, and received the first data about the Udsky region. As a result of his campaigns, the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was explored for 1300 kilometers, and the Udskaya Bay, the Amur Estuary, Sakhalin Island, the Sakhalin Bay, and the Amur estuary were also discovered. In addition, Ivan Moskvitin brought good catch to Yakutsk - a lot of fur yasak.

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 Yakutsk prison presumably in 1638, showed himself to pacify 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 the Kolyma. The Cossacks founded the Kolyma winter hut, which later became a large prison, which they 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 the return voyage, strong ice blocked the way, 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 took place 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 the strait completely, limiting himself only to its southern part.

Securing the Amur region by Erofei Khabarov

The development of Eastern Siberia in the 17th century was continued by the Russian industrialist Erofei Khabarov. He made his first trip in 1625. Khabarov was engaged in the purchase of furs, discovered 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 gathered a new expedition and continued his work. Khabarov treated hard 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 rioters, who refused to continue the campaign with Erofei Khabarov, were acquitted, he himself was deprived of his salary and rank. After Khabarov filed a petition to the Russian Emperor. The tsar did not restore the monetary allowance, but gave Khabarov the title of boyar's son and sent him to govern one of the volosts.

Kamchatka Explorer - Vladimir Atlasov

For Atlasov, Kamchatka has always been the main goal. Before the start of the expedition to Kamchatka 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 pass almost the entire peninsula from west to east. Vladimir Vasilievich described his journey in detail and made 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 a clerk for Kamchatka.

THE JOINING OF SIBERIA TO RUSSIA, the incorporation of Siberia and its population into the Russian state in the second half of the 16th - early 17th centuries. It was accompanied by the military-political and administrative-legal subordination of the Siberian peoples to the Russian government, their political, legal and cultural integration into the Russian society, geographical and historical-ethnographic study of new territories, their economic development by the state and settlers from Russia. The annexation of Siberia to Russia was a continuation of Russian (East Slavic) colonization and expansion of its state territory by Russia-Russia, it ensured the transformation of Russia into a European-Asian power.

The reasons that directly caused in the XVI-XVII centuries. the advance of the Russians to the east, were the elimination of the military threat from the Siberian Khanate, the extraction of furs as an important article of Russian export, the search for new trade routes and partners, the occupation of territories that had economic potential (agricultural land, minerals, etc.), an increase in the number of citizens-taxpayers by means of obscuration of the Siberian aborigines, the desire of a part of the Russian population (peasants, posadskys, Cossacks) to avoid the strengthening of serfdom and fiscal oppression in European Russia. Since the beginning of the XVIII century. an increasing role was played by the geopolitical interests of the Russian government - the strengthening of Russia's positions in the Asia-Pacific region and claims to the status of a great colonial empire. The prerequisites for the annexation of Siberia to Russia were the strengthening of the military-political potential of Moscow Rus, the expansion of trade relations with Europe and Asia, the annexation of the Urals and the Volga region (Kazan and Astrakhan khanates). The main Russian routes through Siberia were largely determined by the hydrography of the region, its powerful waterways, which were for the Russians in the 17th century. the main routes of movement. In the annexation of Siberia to Russia, state and free people colonization, government and private interests were organically combined and interacted. The main role in this process in the second half of the 16th - early 18th centuries. played by service people who acted both on government orders and on their own initiative (mainly in Eastern Siberia), as well as industrial people who went to the east in search of new areas of fur extraction. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. the main role of the military colonization element was played by the Cossacks. The completion of the accession process was the establishment of Russian political power and jurisdiction, which was expressed at first in the creation of strongholds, a declaration on behalf of the monarch of the citizenship of the local population ("the sovereign's word of honor"), his swearing-in (sherti) and taxation (announcing), the inclusion territory into the state administrative-territorial management system. The most important factor that ensured the success of the annexation was the resettlement to new lands and the settling there of the Russian population (primarily the peasantry).

Siberian ethnic groups perceived the establishment of Russian power in different ways, depending on the characteristics of ethnogenesis, the level of their socio-economic and political development, the degree of familiarity with the system of domination-subordination, the ethnopolitical situation, interest in Russian protection from hostile neighbors, the presence of external influence from foreign states. The pace and nature of the annexation was largely determined by the interethnic and intra-ethnic contradictions that existed among the Siberian peoples, which, as a rule, greatly facilitated the subordination of disparate aboriginal societies. The skillful actions of the Russian government in attracting the aboriginal elite to the side of Russia (distribution of gifts, honors, exemption from paying yasak, enrollment with payment of salary, baptism, etc.) played a role, which turned it into a conductor of Russian politics.

The annexation of different territories of Siberia had a wide range of options: from quick to long-term, from peaceful to military. The Russian-aboriginal armed confrontation, however, did not have the character of a large-scale war: military. actions, sometimes accompanied by serious battles and mutual cruelty, were interspersed with periods of peaceful contacts and even allied relations.

The acquaintance of Russians with Siberia began at the end of the 11th century, when the Novgorodians paved the way into the land of the mysterious Yugra, located in the north of the Urals and Trans-Urals (see Campaigns of Novgorodians in the Northern Trans-Urals in the XII-XV centuries). In the XII - the first half of the XV century. Novgorod squads periodically appeared in Ugra, carried out fur trade here, bargaining and collecting tribute. In the XII - early XIII century. on the "fur route" the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, which subordinated the Kama region, competed with the Novgorodians. However, the expansion was interrupted by the Mongol invasion. In 1265, the Yugorsk land was mentioned among the volosts subordinate to Novgorod. But the dependence of the Ugra princes on the boyar republic was nominal and was limited to the irregular payment of tribute-yasak. By the beginning of the XIV century. most of the Ural Ugras, fleeing the Novgorod campaigns and the bracing, migrated beyond the Urals. The first known campaign of the Novgorodians across the Urals, in the Lower Ob region, dates back to 1364. From the second half of the XIV century. in the Urals, the influence of the Moscow principality began to spread, organizing the Christianization of the Komi-Zyryans and the subordination of the Kama region. In the second half of the 15th century. Moscow troops conducted several raids into the Urals and Siberia, in the lower reaches of the Ob and Irtysh, where they collected tribute to the grand ducal treasury (see Hikes of Moscow governors to the Northern Trans-Urals in the 15th-16th centuries). After Novgorod lost its independence in 1478, all of its northern possessions became part of the Moscow state. By the end of the 15th century. the Moscow authorities formally recognized a number of Ostyak and Vogul principalities of the Lower Ob region, and the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III appropriated the title of "Prince of Yugorsky, Kondinsky and Obdorsky". By 1480, Moscow had established relations with the Tyumen Khanate, which from the original allies turned into hostile ones: in 1483 the Moscow army fought with the Tatars at Tavda and Tobol, in 1505 the Tyumen Tatars raided the Russian possessions in Velikaya Perm. At the beginning of the XVI century. The Tyumen Khanate disappeared, its lands went to the emerging Siberian Khanate, in which the Taibugid dynasty was established.

In the first half of the XVI century. The Moscow state was not active in the Siberian direction. The initiative passed to merchants and industrial people, who, in addition to the land route, mastered the sea route from Dvina and Pechora to the Ob. Around the middle of the XVI century. in the north of Western Siberia, the first Russian settlements began to appear - trading and fishing trading posts, winter quarters. During the Moscow-Kazan wars of 1445-52, the rulers of the Siberian Khanate participated in the anti-Russian coalition, their troops raided the Great Perm. In the 1550s. there was a turning point in Russian-Tatar relations. The Kazan and Astrakhan khanates were annexed to the Moscow state, the Big Nogai Horde recognized Russian citizenship. In 1555-57 the Siberian khan Ediger, seeking support in the fight against Kuchum, the son of the Bukhara ruler Murtaza, recognized himself as a vassal of Ivan IV with an annual tribute. However, the outbreak of the Livonian War did not allow the tsar to provide assistance to Ediger, who in 1563 was defeated by Kuchum. The new ruler of the Siberian Khanate led a hostile policy towards Moscow, in 1573-82 his troops, with the support of the Pelym prince Ablegirim, attacked the Russian possessions in the Urals. In the conditions of the Livonian War, Ivan IV entrusted the defense of the northeastern borders of the state to merchants, salt producers and landowners Stroganov, who hired free Cossacks. In 1581 or 1582, a Cossack detachment under the leadership of Ataman Yermak, on its own initiative, supported by the Stroganovs, set out on a Siberian campaign, which, starting as a typical Cossack robbery raid, radically changed the situation in Western Siberia and the nature of Russian-Siberian politics. Having defeated the army of Kuchum and allied Ostyak and Vogul princes in battles on the Babasan tract (the Tobol river) and on the Chuvashev Cape (the Irtysh river), the Ermakov squad occupied the capital of the khanate - Kashlyk. By 1585, the Cossacks inflicted a number of defeats on the Kuchum Tatars and exiled some of the Tatars, Ostyaks and Voguls. After the death of Ermak, the remnants of his squad in 1585 went to Russia. But by this time, the Russian government, having learned about the successes of the Cossacks, decided to occupy the eastern territories rich in furs.

From 1585, government troops began to arrive in Western Siberia. They took up the construction of forts and the subordination of the surrounding population. By the end of the XVI century. Obsk town (1585), Tyumen (1586), Tobolsk (1587), Lozvinsky town (1588), Pelym (1593), Berezov (1593), Surgut (1594), Tara (1594), Obdorsk town (1595), Narym (1595), Ketsk (1596), Verkhoturye (1598), Turinsk (1600), and the lands of the Siberian Tatars, Ob Ugrians (Ostyaks and Voguls) and part of the Samoyeds were part of Russia. Some of the local princes (for example, Lugui, Alach, Igichi, Bardak, Tsyngop) recognized the Russian government without resistance and provided it with military support. But the Pelymskoye, Kondinskoye, Obdorskoye, Kunovatskoye, Lyapinskoye principalities, as well as the Pied Horde, were conquered by force of arms. In the Siberian Khanate, civil strife began: the last representative of the Taibugid dynasty, Seyid-Akhmad (Seydyak), came out against Kuchum, a number of Kuchum's murzas deserted to his side. Kuchum fled to the Baraba steppe and continued to fight the Russians. In 1587, Sayyid-Ahmad was captured. After that, most of the Siberian Tatars recognized the new government, their nobility was enrolled in the Russian service. In 1598, the Russian-Tatar detachment of A. Voeikov on the Irmen River (a tributary of the Ob) inflicted a final defeat on Kuchum. The Siberian Khanate ceased to exist.

By the beginning of the 17th century. Russian citizenship was recognized by the Tara, Baraba and Chat Tatars. The prince of the Eushta Tatars, Toyan Yermashetev, who arrived in Moscow, asked for the construction of Russian fortifications in his lands to protect them from the raids of the Yenisei Kyrgyz. In 1604, a Russian-Tatar detachment, with the support of the Kod Ostyaks, founded Tomsk, which became the main base for the Russian development of the Middle Ob region. In 1618 Kuznetsk was established on the land of the Kuznetsk Tatars (Abintsy and Kumandy). As a result, almost the entire territory of Western Siberia was subordinated to the Russians. However, certain groups of the local population during the 17th century. periodically raised uprisings (unrest of the Voguls on the Konda in 1606, the siege of Berezov by the Pelym Voguls and the Surgut Ostyaks in 1607, the Ostyaks and Tatars against Tyumen in 1609, the Voguls against Pelym and Verkhoturye in 1612, the Ostyaks and Samoyeds against the Berezov in 1665) Lower Ob Ostyaks and Samoyeds in 1662-63 and at the beginning of the 18th century, etc.). For a long time in a special position, with the preservation of the status of principalities and semi-independence, remained the Kod principality (until 1644), headed by the princes Alachevs, and the Obdorsk principality (up to the 19th century), where the Taishin dynasty was established. Tundra Samoyeds, who roamed from Pechora in the west to Taimyr in the east, irregularly paid yasak and repeatedly in the 17th-18th centuries, were practically beyond the reach of the Russian authorities. who attacked the Ostyaks, yasak collectors, industrial and commercial people, Russian winter huts and even Obdorsk (1649, 1678/79). The crown administration preferred to build relations with them through the Obdorsk Ostyak princes.

The main goal of the Russian movement to Siberia - fur hunting - also determined its main routes - along the taiga zone, where there was an insignificant density of the aboriginal population. By the 1580s. Russian sailors mastered the sea route from the White Sea to Mangazeya - the area of ​​the mouths of the Taz and Yenisei rivers. By the beginning of the 17th century. industrial people established winter huts here and established trade with local Samoyeds. In 1600-01, government troops appeared. On the Taz River, they founded the city of Mangazeya (1601), which became an important base for the explorers who traveled further east. By 1607, the Turukhanskoye (at the mouth of the Turukhan) and Inbatskoye (at the mouth of the Eloguy) winter quarters were built, then the Russians began to advance along the Podkamennaya and Nizhnyaya Tunguska, Pyasina, Khete and Khatanga. The subjugation and obedience of the nomadic Samoyeds and Tungus who lived here dragged on for the entire 17th century, and some of their groups ("Yuratskaya Purovskaya samoyad") resisted the Russians in the subsequent.

The Russians got to Mangazeya mainly by sea, but by 1619 the government, worried about the attempts of English and Dutch sailors to master the route to the Ob and Yenisei and dissatisfied with the duty-free export of Siberian furs, banned the Mangazey sea route. This led to the development of the southern routes from Western Siberia to the Eastern - along the tributaries of the middle Ob, primarily along the Ket River. In 1618, the Makovsky prison was founded on the portage between Ketya and the Yenisei, on the Yenisei in 1618 - Yeniseisk and in 1628 - Krasnoyarsk, in 1628 on the Kan River - Kansky prison and on the Angara river - Rybensky prison. The Samoyed and Keto-speaking peoples of the Middle Yenisei quickly recognized Russian citizenship, but the Tunguses who lived to the east of the Yenisei in the Western Angara region put up stubborn resistance, their submission dragged on until the 1640s. And later, until the beginning of the 19th century, part of the Tungus who roamed in the taiga regions remote from Russian settlements tried to minimize contacts with both government officials and Russian settlers.

The advance of the Russians to the south of Siberia in the 17th century. ran into active resistance from nomadic peoples. In the western Siberian steppes, the descendants of Kuchum, the Kuchumovichs, tried to oppose the Russian authorities, who, using the support of first the Nogai, then the Kalmyks and the Dzungars, raided Russian and yasak settlements and initiated uprisings in 1628-29 Tara, Baraba and Chat Tatars, in 1662 - part of the Tatars and Voguls. By the beginning of the 18th century. the Kuchumovichs as an active political force left the historical scene. In the first half of the 17th century. the Russian steppe borderland was disturbed by the Kalmyks who roamed across Kazakhstan from Mongolia to the Volga region, in the second half of the century - by the Bashkirs, who raised anti-Russian uprisings (1662-64 and 1681-83). From the end of the 17th century. raids of the Kazakhs began, migrating to the West Siberian borders. In the upper reaches of the Irtysh, Ob and Yenisei, the Russians faced the military-political associations of Teleuts (ulus Abak and his descendants) and the Yenisei Kyrgyz (Yezersk, Altysar, Altyrsk and Tuba princedoms), who did not want to put up with the loss of the territory under their control and the population dependent on them. kyshtyms, whom the Russians sought to transfer to their citizenship. Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Yeniseysk and stockades - Melessky (1621), Chatsky (about 1624), Achinsky (1641), Karaulny (1675), Lomovsky (1675) served as the support bases for the spread of the Russian authorities in the steppe. From part of the local "Tatars" (Eushtins, chats, Teleuts) in Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kuznetsk, divisions of service Tatars were formed.

The main concern for the Russians was the Kyrgyz principalities, which themselves were vassals and tributaries of the first Western Mongolian (Hotogoit) state of the Altyn Khan, then the Dzungar Khanate. Maneuvering between the interests of the Russian Tsar, the Mongolian Altyn Khan and the Dzungarian Khuntaiji, the Kyrgyz either made peace and even agreed to pay yasak, then attacked the Russian and yasak volosts of Tomsk, Kuznetsk and Krasnoyarsk districts, including besieging Tomsk (1614), Krasnoyarsk ( 1667, 1679, 1692), Kuznetsk (1700), Abakansky (1675), Achinsky (1673, 1699), Kansky (1678) stockades were burned. Relations with the Teleuts from the originally allied (agreements of 1609, 1621) also turned into hostile (participation of the Teleuts in the Tatar uprising of 1628-29), then into peaceful ones. The Russian side, using the contradictions between the Altyn-khans and Dzungaria, the Teleuts and the Kyrgyz, not only held back the onslaught of the nomads, but also inflicted repeated tangible defeats on them and stubbornly explained the ethnically motley South Siberian population - the Kumandins, Tubalars, Teles, Tau-Teleuts , Chelkans, Telengits, Chulyms, Kachins, Arins, Kyzyls, Basagars, Meles, Sagays, Shors, Mad, Mator, Sayan-Soyots and others. In addition to military force, the tsarist government sought to use negotiations with the Kyrgyz princes, the Altyn-khans and the Khuntaydzha for its consolidation in southern Siberia.

The struggle for subjects between Russia, the Altyn-khans and Dzungaria, as well as between Russia, the Teleut and Kyrgyz principalities led to the establishment in the Barabinskaya steppe, Altai, in the Mountain Shoria, Kuznetsk and Khakasso-Minusinsk basins and the Western Sayan (Sayan and Kaysotskaya lands) many tributes, when a significant part of the local population was forced to pay tribute to the Russians, Kyrgyz, Teleuts, Dzungars and Hotogoits. In the course of this struggle, the Kyshtyms were guided by the one who was stronger at the moment. They either recognized the Russian government, or refused to pay yasak and took part in anti-Russian protests. But the number of independent uprisings of the Yasak Kyshtyms was small, they, as a rule, joined the Kyrgyz, Teleuts, Dzungars or enjoyed their support. In 1667 the state of Altyn-khans was defeated by Dzungaria and disappeared in 1686. After that Altai (Teleut land) and the south of the Khakasso-Minusinsk depression (Kyrgyz land) became part of the Dzungarian possessions. On the Russian-Dzungarian borderland, a regime of double tribute was established. Separate groups of Teleuts, not recognizing the domination of Dzungaria, in the 1660s-70s. migrated to the Russian borders, were settled in the Kuznetsk and Tomsk districts, some of them, instead of paying tribute, pledged to carry out military service to the tsar (the so-called outgoing Teleuts).

Having reached the Yenisei, the Russians in the 1620s. moved further east and began to subjugate the Baikal region, Transbaikalia and Yakutia. In contrast to Western Siberia, where relatively large military contingents conducted operations according to government orders, in Eastern Siberia, although under the general control and leadership of the authorities, small detachments of explorers operated on their own initiative and at their own expense.

In 1625-27 V. Tyumenets, P. Firsov and M. Perfiliev went up the river and collected information about the “fraternal people” (Buryats). In 1628, P.I. Beketov - along the Angara to the upper reaches of the Lena and V. Chermeninov - along the Uda. The Baikal Buryats (Bulagats, Ashekhabats, Ikinats, Ekhirits, Khongodors, Khorintsy, Gotels) initially reacted peacefully to the Russians, however, the explanations and robberies committed by the Cossacks (actions of the detachment of Ya.I. Khripunov and the Krasnoyarsk Cossack, and the construction (1630), Bratsk (1631), Kirensky (1631), Verkholensky (1641), Osinsky (1644/46), Nizhneudinsky (1646/48), Kultuk (1647) and Balagansky (1654) forts forced them to take up arms. In 1634, the Buryats defeated the detachment of D. Vasilyev and destroyed the Bratsk prison, in 1636 they besieged the Bratsk prison, in 1644 the Verkholensk and Osinsk prison, in 1658 a significant part of the Ikinats, Ashehabats, Bulagats, Ekhirits and Khongodors, having raised an uprising, fled to Mongolia. But the resistance of the Buryats was scattered, among them civil strife continued, in which rival clans tried to rely on the Cossacks. By the 1660s. the active resistance of the Baikal Buryats was suppressed, they recognized Russian citizenship. The Baikal Tunguses, who were tributaries of the Buryats, relatively quickly and peacefully reoriented themselves to the recognition of the Russian authorities. With the founding of Irkutsk in 1661, the annexation of the Baikal region was completed. In 1669 the Idinsky prison was established, in 1671 - Yandinsky, about 1675 - Chechuysky, in the 1690s. - Belsky, in 1676 - Tunkinsky prison, which marked the border of Russian possessions in the Eastern Sayan Mountains.

In 1621, the first news of the "big river" Lena was received in Mangazeya. In the 1620s - early 1630s. from Mangazeya, Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk and Tobolsk to Lena, Vilyui and Aldan went military-fishing expeditions of A. Dobrynsky, M. Vasiliev, V. Shakhov, V.E. Bugra, I. Galkina, P.I. Beketova and others, who explained to the local population. In 1632 the Yakutsk (Lensky) prison was founded, in 1635/36 - the Olekminsky, in 1633/34 - the Verkhnevilyuisk winter hut, in 1633/35 - the Zhiganskoe. The Yakut clans (Betunts, Megins, Katylins, Dypsins, Kangalas and others) at first tried to resist the Cossack detachments. However, the contradictions that existed between them, used by the Russians, doomed their struggle to failure. After the defeat in 1632-37 and 1642 of the most irreconcilable Toyons, the Yakuts quickly recognized the Russian power and subsequently even helped in the conquest of other peoples.

Having occupied the central regions of Yakutia, the Cossacks and industrialists rushed further to the northeast. In 1633-38 I. Rebrov and M. Perfilyev went along the Lena to the Arctic Ocean, reached Yana and Indigirka by sea, discovering the Yukagir land. In 1635-39 E.Yu. Buza and P. Ivanov laid a land route from Yakutsk through the Verkhoyansk ridge to the upper reaches of the Yana and Indigirka. In 1639, the detachment of I. Moskvitin went to the Pacific Ocean (at the mouth of the Ulya River on the Okhotsk coast), in 1640 sailed to the mouth of the Amur. In 1642-43 the explorers M.V. Stadukhin, D. Yarilo, I. Erastov and others penetrated Alazeya and Kolyma, where they met the Alazey Chukchi. In 1648 S.I. Dezhnev and F.A. Popov circled the northeastern tip of the Asian continent by sea. In 1650 M.V. Stadukhin and S. Motor. From the middle of the 17th century. detachments of explorers and sailors began to master the paths to Chukotka, to the Koryak land and to Kamchatka. In the annexed lands in the second half of the 1630s and 40s. forts began to be erected (Verkhoyansky, Zashiversky, Alazey, Srednekolymsky, Nizhnekolymsky, Okhotsk, Anadyrsky) and winter quarters (Nizhneyanskoye, Podshiverskoye, Uyandinskoye, Butalskoye, Olyubenskoye, Verkhnekolymskoye, Omolonskoye and others). In 1679, the Udsky prison was founded - the extreme southern point of the Russian presence on the Okhotsk coast. All these fortifications became strongholds for the subordination of the surrounding population - the Yukaghirs, Tungus, Koryaks and Chukchi, most of whom, with weapons in their hands, tried to resist the encroachment, repeatedly attacking Russian detachments, forts and winter quarters. By the beginning of the 18th century. the Russians mostly managed to break the resistance of the Yukaghirs and Tungus.

In 1643 the Russians - S. Skorokhodov's detachment - first went to Transbaikalia, to the region of the Barguzin River. In the second half of the 1640-50s. beyond Baikal, where Buryats-Khorintsy, Mongols-Tabanguts, Tunguses and Samoyedic-Turkic-speaking Kaysots, Yugdins and Soyots (in the Eastern Sayan mountains) lived, the troops of V. Kolesnikov, I. Pokhabov, I. Galkin, P. Beketov, A.F. ... Pashkov. Cossacks founded Verkhneangarsky (1646/47), Barguzinsky (1648), Bauntovsky (1648/52), Irgensky (1653), Telenbinsky (1658), Nerchinsky (1658), Kuchidsky (1662), Selenginsky (1665), Udinsky (1666) , Yeravninsky (1667/68, 1675), Itantsinsky (1679), Argunsky (1681), Ilyinsky (1688) and Kabansky (1692) prison. The annexation of Transbaikalia was predominantly peaceful, although there were separate armed clashes with tabanguts and tungus. The proximity of large North Mongolian (Khalkha) khanates forced the Russians to act with great caution and be loyal to the local population. At the same time, the Mongol raids pushed the Trans-Baikal Khorins and Tungus people to quickly accept Russian citizenship. The Mongols, who considered Transbaikalia as their Kyshtym territory, but worried at that time by the threat posed by the Manchus and Dzungars, did not interfere with the Russians, whose small numbers initially did not cause them much concern. Moreover, the northern Mongol rulers Tushetu Khan and Tsetsen Khan at one time hoped to receive Russian support in the struggle against possible aggression by the Manchus. But the situation soon changed. In 1655, Khalkha-Mongolia fell into vassalage to the Manchu emperor. Since the 1660s. the attacks of the Mongols and Tabanguts began on the Russian forts and settlements in the Baikal and Transbaikal regions. At the same time, there were Russian-Mongolian negotiations on the ownership of the territory and population, but they were not successful. In 1674, the Cossacks on the Uda River defeated the Tabanguts, who left their lands in the Yeravninskaya steppe and went to Mongolia.

Simultaneously with Transbaikalia, the Russians began to occupy the Amur region. In 1643-44 V. Poyarkov, leaving Yakutsk, climbed the Aldan and its tributary Uchur to the Stanovoy ridge, then went down the Zeya to the Amur and reached its mouth. In 1651, along the Lena and Olekma rivers, E. Khabarov went out to the Amur at the confluence of the Shilka and Argun. In 1654 the detachment of P. Beketov joined the Khabarovskites. On the Amur and its tributaries, explorers built Ust-Strelochny (about 1651), Achansky (1651) and Kumarsky (1654) forts. By the mid-1650s. they organized the collection of yasak from the entire population of the Amur, the lower reaches of the Sungari and Ussuri - daurs, duchers, Tungus, nats, gilyaks and others. The actions of the Poyarkovites and Khabarovskites, among whom the Cossack freemen prevailed, provoked an armed rebuff from the Daurs and Duchers. In addition, the Manchus, who founded the Qing dynasty in China and considered the Amur region as a sphere of their interests, came out against the Russians. After repelling their attacks in 1652 and 1655, the Cossacks were defeated in 1658 near the mouth of the Sungari. Having knocked out the Russians from the Amur and taken away from there almost all the Daurs and Duchers, the Manchus left. In 1665 the Russians reappeared in the Amur region and set up there Albazinsky (1665), Verkhozeisky (1677), Selemdzhinsky (Selenbinsky) (1679) and Dolonsky (Zeisky) (1680) forts. In response, the Manchus resumed hostilities. They were supported by a number of Khalkha khans, dependent on the Qing and interested in eliminating the Russian presence in Transbaikalia. Attempts by the tsarist government to diplomatically settle relations with Qing China failed. The result of the armed confrontation on the Amur with the Manchus and in Transbaikalia with the Mongols was the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, according to which Russia ceded the Amur region to China, and the state border was determined along the Argun and Stanovoy ridge to the upper reaches of the Uda, which flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. During the hostilities in Transbaikalia, the Buryats and Tunguses mainly supported the Russian government. In 1689, most of the Tabanguts settled between Selenginsk and Nerchinsk took Russian citizenship.

By the end of the 17th century. the main territories of Siberia became part of Russia. In the south, Russian possessions went out to the forest-steppe borderland and were roughly outlined along a line passing slightly south of Yalutorovsk, Tobolsk, Tara, Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhneudinsk, Tunkinsky stockade, Selenginsk, Argunsky stockade, further along the Stanovoy ridge to the coast of the Okhotsk sea ... In the north, the natural border was the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In the east, the extreme points of the Russian authorities were the Okhotsk and Anadyr fortresses.

The process of Russia's annexation of new territories continued in the 18th century. As a result of the campaign of 1697-99 V.V. Atlasov began the subordination of Kamchatka. Relying on the Nizhnekamchatsky (1697), Verkhnekamchatsky (1703) and Bolsheretsky (1704) forts, the Cossacks by the 1720s. explained the Itelmens and the "Kuril men". Their attempts to resist (1707-11, 1731) were suppressed. In 1711, a Cossack expedition led by D.Ya. Antsiferov and I.P. Kozyrevsky visited the first (Shumshu) and, possibly, the second (Paramushir) islands of the Kuril ridge. At the same time, from Anadyrsk and Okhotsk, the communication of the Koryaks intensified, a significant part of whom stubbornly did not recognize Russian domination. Equally ineffectual were attempts to explain the Chukchi who lived on the Chukchi Peninsula.

Since the end of the 1720s. The Russian government, planning to expand and strengthen Russia's position in the northern Pacific Ocean, has stepped up efforts to subjugate the peoples and lands in the far north-east of Siberia. In 1727, a military expedition was created, later called the Anadyr Party, headed by A.F. Shestakov and D.I. Pavlutsky. The expedition, having conquered the "non-peaceful foreigners", was supposed to provide the rear and the base for the Russian advance to North America, the search for ways to which was one of the tasks of the First and Second Kamchatka expeditions. But the campaigns of 1729-32 by Shestakov and Pavlutsky, who preferred brute force to diplomacy, provoked armed opposition from the Koryaks and Chukchi. The situation was complicated by the fact that the Chukchi reindeer herders from the end of the 17th century, expanding their grazing lands, began to make systematic attacks on the Yukaghirs and Koryaks. The Russians were supported by the reindeer Yukaghirs and Koryaks who lived in the Anadyr region and suffered from the Chukchi raids, as well as the Tungus Lamut, who settled in the territory of the Okhotsk Sea Koryaks. All territorial groups of the Chukchi resolutely resisted the Russians. The sedentary Koryaks, who lived along the coast of the Okhotsk and Bering Seas, either fought with the Russians, then stopped hostilities and even brought in yasak. Arms took place at the same time. clashes between the Chukchi and the Koryaks. The apogee of the military. actions fell on the 2nd floor. 1740s - 1st half. 1750s K ser. 1750s as a result of punitive campaigns and the construction of fortresses (Gizhiginskaya, Tigilskaya, Viliginskaya and others), the Koryaks were broken and recognized the Russian power. In 1764, Empress Catherine II announced their admission to Russian citizenship. At the same time, having failed to cope with the Chukchi, the Russian government abandoned the use of force and switched to diplomacy. During negotiations in the second half of the XVIII century. with influential Chukchi toyons, peace agreements were reached on the terms of payment of yasak by the Chukchi on a voluntary basis. In 1764 the Anadyr party was abolished, in 1771 the Anadyr prison was liquidated. In 1779 the Chukchi were declared subjects of Russia.

The annexation of the north-east of Siberia was accompanied by sea expeditions to survey the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean (see Geographical Exploration of Siberia), which led to the discovery of Alaska, the Aleutian and Kuril Islands. The initiative in their development was taken by merchants and industrial people, who rushed there in pursuit of furs. By the end of the 18th century. they founded several Russian settlements in Alaska, the islands of Kodiak, Afognak and Sitka, which led to the emergence of the so-called Russian America. In 1799, the Russian-American company was created, which included the Kuril Islands in the sphere of its interests.

In the XVIII century. the international situation on the South Siberian borders has changed. From the end of the 17th century. began an acute rivalry between Dzungaria and Qing China for the possession of Mongolian lands. A struggle also developed between Dzungaria and the Kazakhs. All this distracted the attention and forces of the Dzungars from the south of Western Siberia, Altai and Khakassia, forced them not to aggravate relations with Russia. In 1703-06, in order to increase their troops, the Dzungars took to their lands most of the Yenisei Kyrgyz and Altai Teleuts. Taking advantage of this, the Russian side, having eliminated the remaining small groups of Kyrgyz, quickly occupied the vacated territory, where the yasak people began to move - Beltirs, Sagays, Kachins, and koibals. With the construction of Umrevinsky (1703), new Abakansky (1707), Sayansky (1718), Bikatunsky (1709, 1718), Chaussky (1713), Berdsky (1716) forts and Beloyarsky fortress (1717), the Northern (steppe) Altai became part of Russia and the Khakas-Minusinsk Basin. Since the end of the 1710s. fortresses, outposts and redoubts are erected from the Southern Urals to Altai to protect against raids of nomads, from which fortified (border) lines are made. Their advancement to the south ensured the annexation of significant steppe regions by Russia upstream of the Tobol, Ishim, north of the Irtysh and in the foothills of Altai. Attempts by the Dzungars to stop the Russian advance were unsuccessful. Mutual Russian-Dzungarian territorial disputes persisted. A part of the Baraba Tatars, Yenisei Beltirs, Madas, Koibals, Altai Az-Kyshtyms, Kergeshes, Yussians, Kumandins, Toguls, Tagapians, Shors, Tau-Teleuts, Teles remained in the position of the Dyedans. Since the beginning of the XVIII century. the northern Mongol khans began to make territorial claims to the upper reaches of the Yenisei (Uryankhai-Tuva).

In 1691, the Manchus finally subjugated Northern Mongolia, which made the issue of delimiting the possessions of Russia and China urgent. As a result of negotiations on the border and the status of border buffer territories between the empires, the Burin treaty was signed in 1727, according to which the Russian-Chinese borders were demarcated from Argun in the east to the Shabin-Dabag pass in the Sayan Mountains in the west. Transbaikalia was recognized as the territory of Russia, and Tuva (Uryankhai Territory) - China. After the defeat in 1755-58 by the Qing troops of Dzungaria, China seized the whole of Tuva and began to lay claim to Gorny Altai. Fleeing from the Qing aggression, many zaisans of Gorny Altai, who had previously been Dzungarian subjects, turned to the Russian authorities with a request to accept them with their subordinate population into Russian citizenship, which was carried out in 1756. However, the weakness of the military forces stationed in Siberia did not allow the Russian government to prevent the spread of the Ch'ing influence in the southern regions of Gorny Altai, which was carried out mainly by force. St. Petersburg's proposals to delimit this territory were rejected by Beijing. As a result, the southern Altai lands (the Ulagan plateau, the Kurai steppe, the basins of the Chuya, Argut, Chulyshman, Bashkaus, Tolysh rivers) turned into a buffer zone, and their population - teleses and telengits - into Russian-Chinese dyedans, while preserving, however, their significant independence in internal affairs. From the second half of the 18th century. In Gorny Altai, Russian settlements of fugitive schismatics, soldiers, peasants, working people from the Kolyvano-Voskresensk (Altai) factories began to appear - the so-called Altai masons, Russian-Altai trade developed. At the turn of the 1820s and 30s. Biysk merchants founded the Kosh-Agach trading post in the Chui valley. China, for its part, did not make any attempts to develop the Gorny Altai economically.

In the first half of the XIX century. Russia has significantly strengthened its position in Asia. The process of the annexation of the Kazakh zhuzes, which began in the previous century, intensified. By the 1850s. the Semirechensky Territory up to the Ili River was included in Russia, and the development of the Zailiysky Territory began in 1853. After the expeditions of A.F. Middendorf (1844-45) and N.H. Agte (1848-50) established the absence of Chinese settlements on the Amur and the independence of the local population from China, and the expedition of G.I. Nevelskoy (1849-50) proved the navigability of the Amur estuary and founded the Nikolaevsky post there (now Nikolaevsk-on-Amur), in the 1850s. on the initiative of the East Siberian Governor-General N.N. Muravyov Priamurye was occupied by Russian troops. Taking advantage of the military-political weakening of China, Russia obtained from Beijing the official recognition of its rights in the Altai Mountains and the Far East. According to the Aigun Treaty (1858), the Tianjin Treaty (1858) and the Beijing Treaty (1860), the Russian-Chinese border passed along the Amur, Ussuri, Lake Hanko and up to the mouth of the Tumyngjiang River. Blagoveshchensk (1858), Khabarovsk (1858) and Vladivostok (1860) were founded in Priamurye and Primorye. In 1864, the Chuguchak Protocol was signed, which defined the border in Gorny Altai from Shabin-Dabag to Lake Zaisan. Altai dyedantsy passed into the department of Russia, in 1865 they took the oath of allegiance to the Russian monarch.

In 1853 Russian settlements (Muravyevsky and Ilyinsky military posts) appeared on Sakhalin, the first information about which was received in the middle of the 17th century. This led to a conflict with Japan, which was developing the southern part of the island, as well as the Kuril Islands. In 1855, according to the Treaty of Shimod, the Russian-Japanese border was determined in the Kuril Islands, it passed between the islands of Urup and Iturup; Sakhalin remained undivided. In 1867, the Russian government sold to the United States the holdings of the Russian-American company in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. In 1875, according to the Petersburg treaty, Russia ceded the northern Kuril Islands to Japan, securing in return all rights to Sakhalin. In 1905, as a result of the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the southern part of Sakhalin (up to the 50th parallel) was torn away by Japan.

The annexation of Gorny Altai facilitated the expansion of Russian economic influence in Tuva (Uryankhai Territory). Here the development of gold mines begins, and fishery is mastered. By the end of the XIX century. trading posts were opened and the first peasant settlers appeared. Since 1911, as a result of the national liberation movement of Tuvans, the Chinese power in Tuva has been virtually liquidated. On April 18, 1914, at the request of a number of Tuvan noyns and lamas, Russia officially established a protectorate over Tuva, which, under the name of the Uryankhai Territory, was administratively subordinate to the Irkutsk Governor-General.

Literature

1. Bakhrushin S.V. Cossacks on the Amur. L., 1925;
2. Okladnikov A.P. Essays on the history of Western Buryat Mongols. L., 1937;
3. Yakutia in the 17th century Yakutsk, 1953;
4. Bakhrushin S.V. Sci. tr. M., 1955-59. T. 1-4;
5. The history of the discovery and development of the Northern Sea Route. M., 1956. T. 1;
6. Zalkind E.M. Accession of Buryatia to Russia. Ulan-Ude, 1958;
7. Dolgikh B.O. The clan and tribal composition of the peoples of Siberia in the 17th century. M., 1960;
8. Aleksandrov V.A. The Russian population of Siberia in the 17th - early 18th centuries. (Yenisei Territory). M., 1964;
9. Gurvich I.S. Ethnic history of the North-East of Siberia. M., 1966;
10. History of Siberia. L., 1968. T. 2;
11. Aleksandrov V.A. Russia on the Far Eastern borders (second half of the 17th century). Khabarovsk, 1984;
12. Skrynnikov R.G. Ermak's Siberian expedition. Novosibirsk, 1986;
13. History of the Far East of the USSR in the era of feudalism and capitalism (17th century - 1917). M., 1991;
14. Ivanov V.N. The entry of the North-East of Asia into the Russian state. Novosibirsk, 1999;
15. The peoples of Siberia as part of the Russian State. SPb., 1999;
16. Miller G.F. History of Siberia. M., 1999-2005. T. 1-3;
17. Zuev A.S. Russians and aborigines in the extreme North-East of Siberia in the second half of the 17th - first quarter of the 18th centuries. Novosibirsk, 2002;
18. Boronin O.V. Double tribute in Siberia XVII - 60s. XIX century. Barnaul, 2004;
19. E.V. Perevalova Northern Khanty: Ethnic History. Yekaterinburg, 2004;
20. Datsyshen V.G. Sayan frontier. The southern part of the Yenisei region and Russian-Tuvan relations in 1616-1911. Tomsk, 2005;
21. Sherstova L.I. Turks and Russians in Southern Siberia: ethnopolitical processes and ethnocultural dynamics of the 17th - early 20th centuries. Novosibirsk, 2005.

That's why:
In January 1555, the ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Ediger 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 paid tribute: give 1 (one) sable and 1 squirrel from each person. "And we have people, - said the Siberian ambassadors, - 30,700 people." [Presumably, 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. "not collected" 30 thousand pieces, or 98.7% of the tribute!
The tsar put Ambassador Boyanda into custody, confiscated all his personal property, and sent Moscow Tatars to Siberia with a letter to collect all the tribute without fail.
In September 1557, the messengers returned, bringing 1000 sables and 104 sables in exchange for 1000 squirrels, as well as Ediger's written obligation to pay tribute annually, explaining that, due to his continuous war with the Sheibanids (Uzbeks, Kazakhs), it was impossible to collect all the 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 as large a tribute as possible, and he demanded it, threatening punishments.
In 1563 Ediger was killed by a new khan - 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 this completely clear, he killed the Moscow ambassador, who had 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 the Perm Territory.
In 1572, he finally broke off vassal relations with Moscow. [As you can see, the hostility of Kuchum's policy towards Moscow intensified especially after the raid on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey in 1571-1572]
In 1573, the khan began to disturb the Stroganovs, who had seized the Perm land into the ownership of the Stroganovs. (The army of Tsarevich Mametkul (son of Kuchum, according to other sources of 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 Ermak Timofeevich and his assistants - Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan, Matvey Meshcheryak. They served for two years with the Stroganovs, until September 1581.
In July 1581, about 700 people were attacked. Tatars and Ostyaks (from the Kuchum Khanate) to the Stroganov towns. The attackers were defeated by Ermak'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 pishchal and cannons, with the necessary supplies of winter footwear, clothing, food, supplied with local guides along the rivers of Siberia and translators (interpreters) from local languages ​​(Tatar, Mansi, Khanty, Perm), set off to conquer Siberian khanates.

Ermak Timofeevich's campaign to the Siberian Khanate

(September 1, 1581 - August 15, 1584)

September 1, 1581 the beginning of the campaign [according to R.G. Skrynnikov, Ermak's campaign began exactly one year later - September 1, 1582]

1. For four days the detachment marched [from Nizhne-Chusovsky town] on plows up the Chusovaya river to the mouth of the Serebryanaya river.
2. Then for two days we sailed along the Serebryanaya River up to the Siberian road that passed through the portage separating the basins of the Kama and Ob rivers.
3. From Kokuy the boats were dragged along the drag to the Zharovlya river (Zheravlya).

spring 1582

4. Zharovley, Baranchey and Tagil sailed to the Turu river, where the Tatar Tyumen (Siberian) Khanate began with its capital in Chimge-Tura, which was then transferred to the 16th century. in Isker, on the Irtysh.
5. Sailing down the Tura, the Cossacks captured Tatar towns and twice defeated the Tatars' troops, who fled in panic from the numerically smaller Russian army, equipped with firearms completely unknown to the Siberian Tatars.
It is no coincidence that, characterizing the reasons for the rapid conquest of Siberia by Yermak, the Russian historian S.M. Solovyov confines himself to a single phrase that fully explains the situation - "The gun won the bow and arrow."

summer 1582

6. Having crossed from Tura to the Tavda river, Ermak's detachments continued to instill fear in the Tatars and tried 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 Isker (Siberia) on the steep right bank of the Irtysh, at the mouth of the Sibirka River, on a slope that rises 11.5 m above the river level.
8. Towards Ermak, who had already approached Tobol, Kuchum sent the army of Tsarevich Mametkul, which Ermak also easily defeated in the Babasan tract, on the banks of the Tobol.
9. The next battle took place on the Irtysh, where the army under the leadership of Kuchum was again defeated. Here the Cossacks took the town of Atik-Murzy.

10. In connection with the onset of frost, Tsarevich Mametkul and the Ostyak princes allied with him hoped that the Russians would be stopped, especially since a special spot was set up in front of Isker, preventing the enemy's movement.
11. However, Ermak launched a night attack on the enemy's positions, used artillery and won a victory in a fierce battle, forcing the Tatars to flee, abandoning the capital fortifications.

winter 1582-1583

12. On October 26, 1582, Ermak's troops entered the empty capital of the Khanate, where they hibernated. In December 1582, they were unexpectedly attacked by the Tatars, however, having suffered losses in people, they retained their positions.

spring 1583

13. Ermak again began military operations against the Tatars and defeated Mametkul's detachments finally in his camp on the Vagay river, and took Mametkul himself prisoner.
summer 1583

14. Ermak undertook the conquest of the Tatar settlements along the Irtysh and Ob. He also took the capital of the Khanty, Nazym.

September 1583

15. Returning to Isker (Siberia), Ermak let know about his successes, firstly, to the Stroganovs, and secondly, to Moscow, sending Ivan IV, as the personal representative of Ataman Ivan, a ring with gifts (mainly with furs - sable, squirrel).
In his message, Ermak reported that he defeated Khan Kuchum, captured his son and commander-in-chief, Tsarevich Mametkul, captured the capital of the Khanate, Siberia, and subjugated all its inhabitants in settlements along the main rivers.

November-December 1583

16. The tsar, having received news from Ermak in Moscow, immediately dispatched two tsarist governors - Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with 300 people. warriors to reinforce Yermak with the aim of accepting the "Siberian Khanate" from Yermak.
At the beginning of December 1583, the governors left Moscow and went to the Stroganovs, from whom they should have learned the way to Ermak.

winter 1584

17. The tsarist governors arrived at the Stroganovs in the 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 Ermak was, taking with them another 50 people. warriors at the Stroganovs.
18. At this time, Moscow realized that, in fact, they had 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 Siberian roads in winter.
On January 7, 1584, the tsar sent the Stroganovs an order to build 15 plows by the spring, with a team of 20 people. on each one, with a supply of food, building materials, clothing, tools, so that in the spring it would be transported to Yermak 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 the summer, without food, weapons, without food, without sledges, and thus not only could not help Yermak, but also turned out to be a burden.
When the Tatars saw that Yermak decided to seriously settle in Siberia, that reinforcements were coming to him, this greatly disturbed them and intensified their actions against Yermak.
20. Meanwhile, the forces of Ermak, forced to fight continuously for two years, were depleted. Suffering losses in people, constantly experiencing a shortage of food, lack of footwear and clothing, Ermak's detachments gradually began to lose their combat effectiveness. Kuchum, who migrated to the upper reaches of the rivers - Irtysh, Tobol and Ishim, inaccessible to the plows of Yermak, all the time closely followed all the actions and movements of Yermak and his squads and tried to inflict damage on them by unexpected attacks on parts of Ermak's detachments.
21. Following the destruction of Nikita Pan's detachment in Nazim (summer 1583), Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov (March 1584) who returned from Moscow were killed, and also suffered heavy losses, although the Kuchum detachment was defeated, chieftain Meshcheryak (summer 1584 G.).

August 1584

22. On the night from 5 to 6 August 1584, Yermak himself died, leaving with a small detachment of 50 people. along the Irtysh and caught in a Tatar ambush. All of his people were also killed. [According to RG Skrynnikov, which he substantiates in the book below, and most other researchers, the chronology of Ermak's campaign was shifted by one year and, accordingly, Ermak died in August 1585 and the circumstances of his death were somewhat different. Actually, V. Pokhlebkin indirectly confirms this date with the facts presented 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 that the governor Glukhov and the only surviving chieftain Matvey Meshcheryak decided on August 15, 1584 to leave the city of Siberia and flee along the Irtysh and Ob, and then through the Ural ridge 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 Ermak and the flight of his governors from Siberia.
Receiving no 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, voivode Ivan Mansurov was sent to Siberia with a detachment of archers and Cossacks, who met ataman Matvey Meshcheryak on the Tura River, returning from Siberia. According to other sources, Mansurov did not meet Meshcheryak, and when he came to Siberia and did not find any of the Russians there, he spent the winter at the confluence of the Irtysh and the Ob, founding on the right bank of the Ob the Big Ob town (until the 18th century it was called Rush-Vash in Khanty). Russian city, [according to other sources, the Ob town existed only until 1594]).
2. Following Mansurov, shooters' heads were sent to Siberia from Moscow - Vasily Sukin, Ivan Myasnoy, Daniil Chulkov with three hundred warriors and with a supply of firearms, 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 at the mouth of the Tyumenka River founded the Tyumen fortress (1586), and at the mouth of the Tobol River - the Tobolsk fortress (1587). ).
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 and defense basis for the further colonization of the region and for controlling the local population.
3. The tactics of hasty military campaigns were changed to the tactics of consistent consolidation 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 Lozvinsky town on the Lozva river;
1592-1593 Pelym on the Tavda river;
1593 Surgut on the Ob river;
town of Berezov on the river Sosva;
1594 Tara on the Tara river;
Obdorsk on the Lower Ob;
1596 Ket town on the Obi river;
1596-1597 Narymsky town on the Ket river;
1598 The city of Verkhoturye was founded, where the customs office was located;
Official Babinovskaya road to Siberia opened

6. All this forced Kuchum, actually ousted from the most attractive region of Siberia, to migrate with his hordes to the south, and, continuing to disturb from time to time the lands colonized by the Russians, at the same time to reduce his activity, being deprived of the main transport and water network and operational spaciousness.
7. At the same time, the new plan for the conquest of Siberia developed by Boris Godunov practically excluded bloody battles and other direct military actions (and losses!), Forcing the enemy to take passive-defensive positions.
8. Attempts by Kuchum in the 90s of the XVI century. repeatedly accumulating forces and taking revenge by attacking the accumulation of Russian forces, or taking a large Russian fortress invariably ended in defeat.
In 1591 Kuchum was defeated by the voivode Vladimir Masalsky-Koltsov.
In 1595, the troops of Kuchum were put to flight by the voivode Domozhirov.
In 1597, Kuchum's detachments tried in vain to seize the Tara fortress, and
in August 1598, Kuchum's army was utterly defeated by the detachments of the voivode 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 reliably known: according to other sources, the Bukharians, having lured him “to Kolmaki, killed the Oman”, according to the third, they drowned in the Ob].
This last battle of the Russian troops with the detachments of Khan Kuchum, which ended the conquest of the Siberian Khanate that had been fought for two decades, later painted colorfully in various fiction novels, historical writings, reflected in folk songs and even in Surikov's paintings, in reality did not wear any epic at all. of a grandiose nature and did not even have any significant military scale.
If a Russian army of 150 thousand people took part in the conquest of Kazan. and in battles, and even more so in repressions after the Russian victory, a total of about a quarter of a million Tatars, Chuvashes, Mari and Russians died, then only 404 people from the Russian side participated in the last decisive battle with Kuchum for the Siberian Khanate:
397 soldiers, among whom were Lithuanians (prisoners exiled to Siberia), Cossacks and pacified Tatars, and the command staff included: 3 boyar sons (Russians), 3 atamans (Cossack), 1 Tatar head, i.e. 7 officers in the rank of company commanders, platoons (or sotsky).
From the side of Kuchum, the army was also no more than 500 people. and did not have any firearms.
Thus, less than one thousand people from both sides took part in the "great battle" for the conquest of Siberia!
9. Kuchum as the Siberian Khan was nominally succeeded by his son Ali (1598-1604), who was forced to roam the uninhabited, desert territories of Western Siberia, having no refuge, and with his death the history of the Siberian Tatar state both formally and practically ceased (captured in 1604, finished his life in a Russian prison in 1618, his younger brother Altanay was captured in 1608 at the age of about 12 and sent to Moscow).

In 1594, after a long struggle, the Pelym principality was finally annexed to Russia - the most significant of the Mansi principalities (known from 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, ravaged settlements and villages, and took away their inhabitants. The further annexation of Siberia to Russia proceeded relatively peacefully, and in 1640 the Russians came to the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

"From Ancient Rus to the Russian Empire". Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
ANRadishchev "An Abridged Narrative of the Acquisition of Siberia".
Skrynnikov R.G. Ermak's Siberian Expedition. Novosibirsk, "Science" Siberian Branch, 1982.