That's why:
in January 1555, the ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Yediger came to Moscow to congratulate Ivan IV on the acquisition of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and to ask him to take the entire Siberian land under his hand.
Ivan the Terrible agreed and laid a tribute: to give 1 (one) sable and 1 squirrel from each person. "And we have people," said the Siberian ambassadors, "30,700 people." [It must be assumed that this figure included only the adult population and was, for obvious reasons, an underestimate.]
Ambassador and tribute collector Dmitry Kurov was sent to Siberia from Moscow, who returned to Moscow at the end of 1556, two years later, together with the Siberian ambassador Boyanda. They brought only 700 tribute sables, i.e. "undercollected" 30 thousand pieces, or 98.7% of the tribute!
The tsar put the ambassador Boyanda in custody, confiscated all his personal property, and sent the Moscow Tatars to Siberia with a letter - to collect all the tribute by all means.
In September 1557, the messengers returned, bringing 1,000 sables and 104 sables instead of 1,000 squirrels, as well as Yediger’s written obligation to pay tribute annually, with the explanation that, due to his continuous war with the Sheibanids (Uzbeks, Kazakhs), it was impossible to collect the entire tribute.
But Moscow was not interested in the internal strife of the Tatars, the tsar even refused to understand Ediger's hint about the need to help him against the Sheibanids.
Ivan IV was only interested in one thing - to receive the largest possible tribute, and he demanded it, threatening punishment.
In 1563, Yediger was killed by a new khan, the Sheibanid Kuchum. The latter decided that, due to the distance to Moscow and the impossibility of control, he could afford to stop collecting tribute for Ivan IV. To make it perfectly clear, he killed the Moscow ambassador, who arrived with a reminder of the timely collection of tribute. Moreover, Kuchum began to persecute the Mansi and Khanty (Voguls and Ostyaks), who paid tribute to Moscow in the Perm Territory.
In 1572, he finally broke off relations of vassalage with Moscow. [As you can see, the hostility of Kuchum's policy towards Moscow especially intensified after the raid on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray in 1571-1572]
In 1573, the Khan began to disturb the Stroganovs, who had seized the Perm land. (The army of Tsarevich Mametkul (son of Kuchum, according to other sources, his nephew) came to the Chusovaya River.) The Stroganovs began to hire Cossacks to protect their possessions.
In July 1579, 540 people came to them. Volga Cossacks led by ataman Yermak Timofeevich and his henchmen - Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan, Matvey Meshcheryak. They served two years with the Stroganovs, until September 1581.
In July 1581, about 700 people attacked. Tatars and Ostyaks (from the Khanate of Kuchum) to the Stroganov towns. The attackers were defeated by Yermak's Cossacks. In this regard, the idea arose to pursue them beyond the Urals, to send a military expedition to the Trans-Urals, "to fight the Siberian Saltan."
September 1, 1581 Ermak and his comrades, having 840 people. (300 warriors were given by the Stroganovs), armed with squeakers and cannons, with the necessary stocks of winter shoes, clothes, food, supplied with local guides along the rivers of Siberia and translators (interpreters) from local languages ​​​​(Tatar, Mansi, Khanty, Permyak), set off to conquer the Siberian khanates.

Ermak Timofeevich's campaign in the Siberian Khanate

(September 1, 1581 – August 15, 1584)

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

1. For four days, the detachment walked [from the Nizhne-Chusovsky town] on plows up the Chusovaya River to the mouth of the Silver River.
2. Then for two days they sailed up the Silver River up to Siberian road, passing through the portage, dividing the basins of the Kama and Ob rivers.
3. From Kokuy, boats were dragged along the portage to the Zharovlya (Zheravlya) river.

spring 1582

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

summer 1582

6. Having crossed from Tura to the Tavda River, Yermak's detachments continued to instill fear in the Tatars and sought to find out the whereabouts of the main military forces of Khan Kuchum. At the mouth of the Tavda, detachments of the Tatars were defeated.
7. Meanwhile, Khan Kuchum, waiting for the approach of the Russian Cossacks, fortified himself in the city of Isker (Siberia) on the steep right bank of the Irtysh, at the mouth of the Sibirka River, on a slope rising 11.5 m above the river level.
8. Towards Yermak, who had already approached the Tobol, Kuchum sent the army of Prince Mametkul, which Yermak also easily defeated in the Babasan tract, on the banks of the Tobol.
9. The next battle took place already on the Irtysh, where the army under the leadership of Kuchum was again defeated. Here the Cossacks took the town of Atik-Murza.

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

winter 1582-1583

12. On October 26, 1582, Yermak's detachments entered the deserted capital of the Khanate, where they wintered. In December 1582, they were subjected to an unexpected attack by the Tatars, however, having suffered losses in people, they held their positions.

spring 1583

13. Yermak again began hostilities against the Tatars and finally defeated Mametkul's troops in his camp on the Vagai River, and captured Mametkul himself.
summer 1583

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

September 1583

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

November-December 1583

16. The tsar, having received news from Yermak in Moscow, immediately sent two tsarist governors - Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with 300 people. warriors to reinforce Yermak in order to take the "Siberian Khanate" from Yermak.
In early December 1583, the governors left Moscow and went to the Stroganovs, from whom they were to learn the way to Yermak.

winter 1584

17. The tsar's governors arrived at the Stroganovs in Chusovsky towns only in February 1584, i.e. in the midst of winter, and immediately with great difficulty began to move towards the Irtysh, where Yermak was, taking with him another 50 people. warriors at the Stroganovs.
18. At that time, in Moscow, they realized that, in fact, they sent completely unprepared people into the unknown and that they should be detained, let them spend the winter with the Stroganovs, because it is dangerous to move along the Siberian impassability in winter.
On January 7, 1584, the tsar sends an order to the Stroganovs to build 15 plows by the spring, with a team of 20 people. on each, with a supply of food, building materials, clothing, tools, in order to transport all this to Yermak in the spring along with the ambassadors.

spring-summer 1584

19. However, Bolkhovsky and Glukhov had already reached the Irtysh, where they arrived only at the end of summer, without food, weapons, food, without sleds, and thus not only could not help Yermak, but also turned out to be a burden.
When the Tatars saw that Yermak had decided to seriously settle in Siberia, that reinforcements were coming to him, this made them extremely worried and intensified their actions against Yermak.
20. Meanwhile, the forces of Yermak, forced to fight continuously for two years, were depleted. Bearing losses in people, constantly experiencing a lack of food, a lack of shoes and clothing, Yermak's detachments gradually began to lose their combat effectiveness. Kuchum, who migrated to the upper reaches of the rivers - the Irtysh, Tobol and Ishim, inaccessible to Yermak's plows, all the time closely followed all the actions and movements of Yermak and his squads and tried to damage them with unexpected attacks on parts of Yermak's detachments.
21. Following the destruction of the detachment of Nikita Pan in Nazim (summer 1583), Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov, who returned from Moscow, were killed (March 1584), and also suffered heavy losses, although he defeated the Kuchumovsky detachment, ataman Meshcheryak (summer 1584 G.).

August 1584

22. On the night of August 5-6, 1584, Yermak himself died, leaving with a small detachment of 50 people. along the Irtysh and fell into a Tatar ambush. All his people were also killed. [According to R.G. Skrynnikov, which he justifies in the book below, and most other researchers, the chronology of Yermak's campaign is shifted by one year and, accordingly, Yermak died in August 1585 and the circumstances of his death were somewhat different. Actually, V. Pokhlebkin indirectly confirms this date with the facts given below. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the gap of a whole year between the death of Yermak and the expedition of I. Mansurov.]
23. There were so few Cossacks left that the voivode Glukhov and the only surviving atamans Matvey Meshcheryak decided on August 15, 1584 to leave the city of Siberia and flee along the Irtysh and Ob, and then across the Ural Range to Russia.

Thus, two years after the "victorious conquest" Siberia was lost. The Khanate of Kuchum was restored there. By this time, Ivan IV had also died, and the new tsar, Fedor I Ioannovich, did not yet know about the death of Yermak and the flight of his governors from Siberia.
Not receiving any news from Siberia, Boris Godunov, who actually managed state affairs under Fedor I, decided to send a new governor and a new military detachment to the Kuchum Khanate.

Secondary conquest of the Siberian Khanate

(summer 1585 - autumn 1598)

1. In the summer of 1585, governor Ivan Mansurov was sent to Siberia with a detachment of archers and Cossacks, who met Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak returning from Siberia on the Tura River. According to other sources, Mansurov did not meet Meshcheryak, and when he arrived in Siberia and did not find any of the Russians there, he wintered at the confluence of the Irtysh with the Ob, founding the Big Ob town on the right bank of the Ob (until the 18th century it was called Rush-Vash in Khanty - Russian city, [according to other sources, the Obsky town existed only until 1594]).
2. Following Mansurov, archery heads were sent from Moscow to Siberia - Vasily Sukin, Ivan Myasnoy, Daniil Chulkov with three hundred warriors and a supply of firearms and artillery. These detachments did not go to the capital of Kuchum on the Irtysh, but went up the Tura to the former Tatar capital of Chimgi-Tura and founded the Tyumen fortress (1586) at the mouth of the Tyumenka River, and the Tobolsk fortress (1587) at the mouth of the Tobol River. ).
These fortresses became the bases for all further advancement of the Russians in Siberia. Occupying strategically dominant heights and key points on the rivers, they became a solid military-defense basis for further colonization of the region and for control over the local population.
3. The tactics of hasty military campaigns were changed to the tactics of consistently securing on the rivers by building fortresses on them and leaving permanent garrisons in these fortresses.
4. The steady, consistent movement of the Russians and the consolidation of garrison points are carried out primarily along the rivers Tura, Pyshma, Tobol, Tavda, and then Lozva, Pelym, Sosva, Tara, Keti and, of course, the Ob.
5. In the 90s, the following network of Russian fortresses was created:
1590 Lozva town on the Lozva river;
1592-1593 Pelym on the river Tavda;
1593 Surgut on the Ob River;
Berezov on the river Sosva;
1594 Tara on the Tara river;
Obdorsk on the Lower Ob;
1596 Ket town on the Ob River;
1596-1597 Narym town on the Ket river;
1598 The city of Verkhoturye was founded, in which the customs house was located;
The official Babinovskaya road to Siberia was opened

6. All this forced Kuchum, who was actually ousted from the most attractive region of Siberia, to migrate with his hordes to the south, and, continuing to disturb the lands colonized by Russians from time to time, at the same time reduce their activity, being deprived of the main transport and water network and operational space.
7. At the same time designed by Boris Godunov new plan the conquest of Siberia practically ruled out bloody battles and other direct military actions (and losses!), Forcing the enemy to take up passive defensive positions.
8. Kuchum's attempts in the 90s of the 16th century. repeatedly to build up strength and take revenge by attacking concentrations of Russian forces, or to take a large Russian fortress invariably ended in defeat.
In 1591, Kuchum was defeated by the governor Vladimir Masalsky-Koltsov.
In 1595, Kuchum's troops were put to flight by the governor Domozhirov.
In 1597, Kuchum's detachments unsuccessfully tried to capture the Tara fortress, and
in August 1598, Kuchum's army was utterly defeated by the troops of the governor Andrei Matveyevich Voeikov, almost all of it was killed, the family was captured. The khan himself barely escaped and was later killed in the Nogai steppes [The further fate of Kuchum is not known for certain: according to other sources, the Bukhara people, having lured him "to Kolmaki, killed him with Oman", according to others, he drowned in the Ob].
This last battle of the Russian troops with the detachments of Khan Kuchum, which ended the conquest of the Siberian Khanate, which had been going on for two decades, later colorfully painted in various fiction novels, historical works, reflected in folk songs and even in Surikov's paintings, in reality did not have any epic, grandiose character at all and did not even have any significant military scale.
If the conquest of Kazan took part Russian army in 150 thousand people. and in battles, and even more so in repressions after the Russian victory, a total of about a quarter of a million Tatars, Chuvashs, Maris and Russians died, then only 404 people participated in the last decisive battle with Kuchum for the Siberian Khanate from the Russian side:
397 soldiers, among whom were Lithuanians (prisoners exiled to Siberia), Cossacks and appeased Tatars, and in command staff included: 3 sons of the boyars (Russians), 3 chieftains (Cossacks), 1 Tatar head, i.e. 7 officers in the rank of company commanders, platoons (or cell).
From the side of Kuchum, the army was also no more than 500 people. and had no firearms.
Thus, in " great battle Less than one thousand people participated on both sides for the conquest of Siberia!
9. Kuchum as the Khan of Siberia was nominally succeeded by his son Ali (1598-1604), who was forced to roam in uninhabited, desert territories Western Siberia, having no shelter, and with his death the history of the Siberian Tatar state both formally and actually ceased (captured in 1604, ended his life in a Russian jail 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, the most significant of the Mansi principalities, was finally annexed to Russia (it has been known since the middle of the 15th century, it included the basins of the Pelym and Konda rivers). The Pelym princes repeatedly invaded Russia. For example, in 1581, the Pelym prince Kihek captured and burned Solikamsk, devastated settlements and villages, and took away their inhabitants. The further annexation of Siberia to Russia proceeded relatively peacefully, and in 1640 the Russians already came to the Pacific coast.

"From Ancient Russia to the Russian Empire". Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
A.N. Radishchev "Abridged narrative about the acquisition of Siberia".
Skrynnikov R.G. "Siberian expedition of Yermak". Novosibirsk, "Science" Siberian branch, 1982.

Answer left Guest

The conquest of Siberia is one of the most important processes in the formation of Russian statehood. The development of the eastern lands took more than 400 years. Throughout this period, there were many battles, foreign expansions, conspiracies, intrigues.

The annexation of Siberia is still the focus of attention of historians and causes a lot of controversy, including among members of the public.

Conquest of Siberia by Yermak
The history of the conquest of Siberia begins with the famous campaign of Yermak. This is one of the chieftains of the Cossacks. There is no exact data on his birth and ancestors. However, the memory of his exploits has come down to us through the centuries. In 1580, the wealthy merchants Stroganovs invited the Cossacks to help protect their possessions from constant raids from the Ugric peoples. The Cossacks settled down in a small town and lived relatively peacefully. The bulk of the Volga Cossacks. There were just over eight hundred of them. In 1581, a campaign was organized with the money of merchants. In spite of historical significance(in fact, the campaign marked the beginning of the era of the conquest of Siberia), this campaign did not attract the attention of Moscow. In the Kremlin, the detachment was called simple "bandits." In the autumn of 1581, Yermak's group boarded small ships and began to sail up the Chusovaya River, to the very mountains. Upon landing, the Cossacks had to clear their way by cutting down trees. The beach was completely uninhabited. The constant rise and mountainous terrain created extremely difficult conditions for the transition. Ships (plows) were literally carried by hand, because due to continuous vegetation it was not possible to install rollers. With the approach of cold weather, the Cossacks set up camp on the pass, where they spent the whole winter. After that, rafting along the Tagil River began. The conquest of Western Siberia
After a series of quick and successful victories, Yermak began to move further east. In the spring, several Tatar princes united to repulse the Cossacks, but were quickly defeated and recognized Russian power. In the middle of summer, the first major battle took place in the modern Yarkovsky region. Mametkul's cavalry launched an attack on the positions of the Cossacks. They sought to quickly get close and crush the enemy, taking advantage of the horseman in close combat. Yermak personally stood in the trench, where the guns were located, and began to fire on the Tatars. Already after several volleys, Mametkul fled with the whole army, which opened the way for the Cossacks to Karachi. Further conquest of Siberia: briefly
The exact burial place of the ataman is unknown. After the death of Yermak, the conquest of Siberia continued with renewed vigor. Year after year, more and more new territories were subordinated. If the initial campaign was not coordinated with the Kremlin and was chaotic, then subsequent actions became more centralized. The king personally took control of this issue. Well-equipped expeditions were regularly sent out. The city of Tyumen was built, which became the first Russian settlement in these parts. Since then, the systematic conquest continued with the use of the Cossacks. Year after year they conquered more and more new territories. In the cities taken, the Russian administration was set up. sent from the capital educated people to do business.

In the middle of the 17th century there was a wave of active colonization. Many cities and settlements are founded. Peasants arrive from other parts of Russia. Settlement is gaining momentum. In 1733 the famous Northern Expedition was organized. In addition to conquest, the task of exploring and discovering new lands was also set. The data obtained after were used by geographers from around the world. The end of the annexation of Siberia can be considered the entry of the Uryakhansk region into the Russian Empire.

The development of Siberia is one of the most significant pages in the history of our country. Vast territories that now make up most of modern Russia, in early XVI centuries were, in fact, a "blank spot" on geographical map. And the feat of Ataman Yermak, who conquered Siberia for Russia, became one of the most significant events in the formation of the state.

Ermak Timofeevich Alenin is one of the least studied personalities of this magnitude in Russian history. It is still not known for certain where and when the famous ataman was born. According to one version, Yermak was from the banks of the Don, according to another - from the vicinity of the Chusovaya River, according to the third - the Arkhangelsk region was his place of birth. The date of birth also remains unknown - in the historical chronicles the period from 1530 to 1542 is indicated.

It is almost impossible to recreate the biography of Yermak Timofeevich before the start of his Siberian campaign. It is not even known for certain whether the name Yermak is his own or whether it is still the nickname of the Cossack chieftain. However, since 1581-82, that is, immediately from the beginning of the Siberian campaign, the chronology of events has been restored in sufficient detail.

Siberian campaign

The Siberian Khanate, as part of the disintegrated Golden Horde, for a long time coexisted in peace with the Russian state. The Tatars paid an annual tribute to the Moscow princes, however, with the coming to power of Khan Kuchum, payments ceased, and Tatar detachments began to attack Russian settlements in the Western Urals.

It is not known for certain who initiated the Siberian campaign. According to one version, Ivan the Terrible instructed the merchants Stroganovs to finance the performance of the Cossack detachment into unexplored Siberian territories in order to stop the Tatar raids. According to another version of events, the Stroganovs themselves decided to hire Cossacks to guard property. However, there is another scenario for the development of events: Yermak and his comrades plundered the Stroganov warehouses and invaded the territory of the Khanate in order to profit.

In 1581, having risen on plows up the Chusovaya River, the Cossacks dragged the boats into the Zheravlya River of the Ob basin and settled there for the winter. Here the first skirmishes with the detachments of the Tatars took place. As soon as the ice melted, that is, in the spring of 1582, a detachment of Cossacks reached the Tura River, where they again defeated the troops sent to meet them. Finally, Yermak reached the Irtysh River, where a detachment of Cossacks captured main city khanates - Siberia (now Kashlyk). Left in the city, Yermak begins to receive delegations from the indigenous peoples - Khanty, Tatars, with promises of peace. The ataman took the oath of all those who arrived, declaring them subjects of Ivan IV the Terrible, and obliged them to pay yasak - tribute - in favor of the Russian state.

The conquest of Siberia continued in the summer of 1583. Having passed along the course of the Irtysh and the Ob, Yermak captured the settlements - uluses - of the peoples of Siberia, forcing the inhabitants of the towns to take the oath to the Russian Tsar. Until 1585, Yermak fought with the Cossacks against the detachments of Khan Kuchum, unleashing numerous skirmishes along the banks of the Siberian rivers.

After the capture of Siberia, Ermak sent an ambassador to Ivan the Terrible with a report on the successful annexation of the lands. In gratitude for the good news, the tsar presented not only the ambassador, but also all the Cossacks who participated in the campaign, and Yermak himself donated two chain mail of excellent workmanship, one of which, according to the court chronicler, belonged to the previously famous governor Shuisky.

The death of Yermak

The date of August 6, 1585 is marked in the annals as the day of the death of Yermak Timofeevich. A small group of Cossacks - about 50 people - led by Yermak stopped for the night on the Irtysh, near the mouth of the Vagay River. Several detachments of the Siberian Khan Kuchum attacked the Cossacks, killing almost all of Yermak's associates, and the ataman himself, according to the chronicler, drowned in the Irtysh, trying to swim to the plows. According to the chronicler, Ermak drowned because of a royal gift - two chain mail, which, with their weight, pulled him to the bottom.

The official version of the death of the Cossack ataman has a continuation, however, these facts do not have any historical confirmation, and therefore are considered a legend. Folk tales say that a day later, a Tatar fisherman caught Yermak's body from the river and reported his find to Kuchum. All the Tatar nobility came to personally verify the death of the ataman. Yermak's death was the cause of a great celebration that lasted for several days. The Tatars had fun shooting the body of a Cossack for a week, then, taking the donated chain mail that caused his death, Yermak was buried. At the moment, historians and archaeologists consider several areas as the alleged burial places of the ataman, but there is still no official confirmation of the authenticity of the burial.

Ermak Timofeevich is not just a historical figure, he is one of key figures in Russian folk art. Many legends and tales have been created about the deeds of the ataman, and in each of them Yermak is described as a man of exceptional courage and courage. At the same time, very little is reliably known about the personality and activities of the conqueror of Siberia, and such an obvious contradiction makes researchers again and again turn their attention to the national hero of Russia.

The process of incorporating vast territories of Siberia and Far East into the Russian state took several centuries. The most significant events that determined further fate region, occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In our article, we will briefly describe how the development of Siberia took place in the 17th century, but we will state 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 development of Siberia by Russians

In Soviet and Russian historiography, it is customary to divide the process of developing the northern lands and incorporating them into the state into five stages:

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

The goals of the development of Siberia and the Far East

The peculiarity of the accession of the Siberian lands to the Russian state is that the development was carried out spontaneously. The pioneers were peasants (they fled from the landowners in order to work quietly on free land in the southern part of Siberia), merchants and industrialists (they were looking for material gain, for example, it was possible to exchange fur very valuable at that time from the local population for mere knick-knacks worth a penny). Some went to Siberia in search of fame and made geographical discoveries 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. Free lands beyond the Ural Mountains attracted with 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 the Siberian lands

The process of colonization of free lands beyond the Ural Range 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 who inhabited the northern and eastern lands, the word "Cossack" is most often used to refer to Russians.

At the beginning of the development of Siberia by the Russians (16-17 centuries), the pioneers moved mainly along the rivers. By land, they walked only in places of the watershed. Upon arrival in a new area, the pioneers began peaceful negotiations with the local population, offering to join the king and pay yasak - a tax in kind, usually in furs. Negotiations did not always end successfully. Then the matter was decided by military means. On the lands of the local population, prisons or simply winter quarters were arranged. A part of the Cossacks remained there to maintain the obedience of the tribes and collect yasak. The Cossacks were followed by peasants, clergy, merchants and industrialists. 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"

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

Free lands beyond the Ural ridge

Traditionally, the first stage (11-15 centuries) is not yet considered the conquest of Siberia. Officially, it was started by Yermak's campaign in 1580, but even then the Russians knew that there were vast territories beyond the Ural Mountains that remained practically unmanaged after the collapse of the Horde. Local peoples were few and poorly developed, the only exception was the Siberian Khanate, founded by the Siberian Tatars. But wars were constantly boiling in it and internecine strife did not stop. This led to its weakening and to the fact that it soon became part of the Russian Tsardom.

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

The first campaign was undertaken under Ivan III. Prior to this, domestic political problems did not allow Russian rulers to turn their eyes to the east. Only Ivan IV took seriously free lands, and even then in 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. Cossack hundreds, led by five atamans, captured the capital of the Tatars and founded several settlements. In 1586, the first Russian city, Tyumen, was founded in Siberia, in 1587, the Cossacks founded Tobolsk, in 1593, Surgut, and in 1594, Tara.

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

1. Semyon Kurbsky and Peter Ushaty (campaign 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, a Cossack began a campaign through 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. Pyotr Beketov (founded Yakutsk, which became the base for the further development of Siberia in the 17th century).
7. Ivan Moskvitin (in 1632 he became the first European who, together with his detachment, went to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk).
8. Ivan Stadukhin (discovered the Kolyma River, explored Chukotka and was the first to enter Kamchatka).
9. Semyon Dezhnev (participated in the discovery of Kolyma, in 1648 he completely passed the Bering Strait and discovered Alaska).
10. Vasily Poyarkov (made the first trip to the Amur).
11. Erofey Khabarov (secured the Amur region to the Russian state).
12. Vladimir Atlasov (in 1697 annexed Kamchatka).

Thus, in short, the development of Siberia in the 17th century was marked by the laying 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 value.

Siberian campaign of Yermak (1581-1585)

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

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

The first skirmish between the Cossacks and the Siberian Tatars took place in the modern Sverdlovsk region. Yermak's detachment defeated the cavalry of Prince Epanchi, and then occupied the town of Chingi-tura without a fight. In the spring and summer of 1852, the Cossacks, led by Yermak, fought several times with the Tatar princelings, and by the autumn 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, furs. Yermak allowed them to return to their villages and promised to protect them from enemies. All who came to him, he overlaid with tribute.

At the end of 1582, Yermak sent his assistant Ivan Koltso to Moscow to inform the tsar about the defeat of Kuchum, the Siberian khan. Ivan IV generously endowed the envoy and sent him back. By decree of the tsar, Prince Semyon Bolkhovskoy 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 campaign and the foundation of Tyumen

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

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

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

Foundation of Chita, Yakutsk, Nerchinsk

The first significant event in the development of Siberia in the 17th century was the campaign of Pyotr Beketov along the Angara and the tributaries of the Lena. In 1627, he was sent as a governor to the Yenisei prison, and the next year - to pacify the Tungus who attacked Maxim Perfilyev's detachment. In 1631, Peter 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 had cut down a prison, which was later named Yakutsk. The city has become one of the centers of development Eastern Siberia in the 17th century and later.

Campaign of Ivan Moskvitin (1639-1640)

Ivan Moskvitin participated in Kopylov's campaign in 1635-1638 to the Aldan River. The leader of the detachment later sent a part of the soldiers (39 people) under the command of Moskvitin to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In 1638, Ivan Moskvitin went to the shores of the sea, made trips to the Uda and Taui rivers, and received the first data about the Uda region. As a result of his campaigns, the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk was explored for 1300 kilometers, and the Uda Bay, Amur Estuary, Sakhalin Island, Sakhalin Bay, and the mouth of the Amur were discovered. In addition, Ivan Moskvitin brought good booty to Yakutsk - a lot of fur 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 Yakut jail, presumably in 1638, proved himself by pacifying several Yakut princes, together with Mikhail Stadukhin made a trip to Oymyakon to collect yasak.

In 1643, Semyon Dezhnev, as part of the detachment of Mikhail Stadukhin, arrived in Kolyma. The Cossacks founded the Kolyma winter hut, which later became a large prison, which was called Srednekolymsk. The town became a stronghold for the development of Siberia in the second half of the 17th century. Dezhnev served in the Kolyma until 1647, but when he went on the return voyage, hard ice closed 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 crossed 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 Yerofei Khabarov

The development of Eastern Siberia in the 17th century was continued by the Russian industrialist Yerofey Khabarov. He made his first campaign in 1625. Khabarov was engaged in buying 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 assembled a new expedition and continued his work. Khabarov treated harshly not only the population of Manchuria and Dauria, but also his own Cossacks. For this, he was transferred to Moscow, where the trial began. The rebels, who refused to continue the campaign with Yerofey 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 son of a boyar and sent him to manage one of the volosts.

Explorer of Kamchatka - 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 pioneer, but he was the first to pass almost the entire peninsula from west to east. Vladimir Vasilyevich described his journey in detail and compiled a map. He managed to persuade most of the local tribes to go over to the side of the Russian Tsar. Later, Vladimir Atlasov was appointed clerk to Kamchatka.

Accession of Siberia to Russia

“And when a completely ready, populated and enlightened land, once dark, unknown, appears before the astonished humanity, demanding a name and rights for itself, then let the story of those who erected this building be interrogated, and they will also not try, just as they did not try, who set up pyramids in the desert... And creating Siberia is not as easy as creating something under the blessed sky...» Goncharov I.A.

History assigned the role of a pioneer to the Russian people. For many hundreds of years, the Russians discovered new lands, settled them and transformed them with their labor, defended them with weapons in their hands in the fight against numerous enemies. As a result, vast areas were settled and developed by Russian people, and the once empty and wild lands became not only an integral part of our country, but also its most important industrial and agricultural regions.

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