Conquest of Siberia. Conquest and colonization of Siberia
That's why:
in January 1555, ambassadors of the Siberian Khan Ediger came to Moscow to congratulate Ivan IV on the acquisition of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and ask to take the entire Siberian land under his hand.
Ivan the Terrible agreed and laid down a tribute: give 1 (one) sable and 1 squirrel from each person. “And our people,” said the Siberian ambassadors, “are 30,700 people.” [It must be assumed that this figure included only the adult population and was, for obvious reasons, an underestimate.]
The 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. 30 thousand pieces were “undercollected”, or 98.7% of the tribute!
The tsar put Ambassador Boyanda in 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 a written commitment from Ediger to pay tribute annually with the explanation that due to his continuous war with the Sheybanids (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 assist him against the Sheibanids.
Ivan IV was interested in only one thing - to receive as much tribute as possible, and he demanded it, threatening punishment.
In 1563, Ediger was killed by the 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 absolutely clear, he killed the Moscow ambassador who came with a reminder about 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 region.
In 1572, he finally broke off vassalage relations with Moscow. [As we see, the hostility of Kuchum’s policy towards Moscow especially intensified after the raid on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey in 1571-1572]
In 1573, the khan began to bother the Stroganovs who seized the Perm land as their property. (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 Ermak Timofeevich and his henchmen - 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 attacked. Tatars and Ostyaks (from the Kuchum Khanate) to the Stroganov towns. The attackers were defeated by Ermak's Cossacks. In connection with this, 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 arquebuses and cannons, with the necessary supplies of winter shoes, clothing, food, equipped with local guides along the rivers of Siberia and translators (interpreters) from local languages (Tatar, Mansi, Khanty, Permyak), set off to conquer Siberia khanates.
Campaign of Ermak Timofeevich to the Siberian Khanate
(1 September 1581 – 15 August 1584)
September 1, 1581, the beginning of the campaign [according to R.G. Skrynnikov, Ermak’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 Serebryannaya River.
2. Then for two days we sailed along the Serebryannaya river up to the Siberian road, which passed through a portage separating the basins of the Kama and Ob rivers.
3. From Kokuy the boats were dragged along a portage to the Zharovlya (Zheravlya) river.
spring 1582
4. Zharovley, Baranchey and Tagil sailed to the Tura River, where the Tatar Tyumen (Siberian) Khanate began with its capital in Chimge-Tur, which was then moved to the 16th century. in the city of Isker, on the Irtysh.
5. Sailing down the Tura, the Cossacks captured 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 limits himself to a single, but comprehensively explaining the situation, phrase - “The gun defeated the bow and arrows.”
summer 1582
6. Having moved from Tura to the Tavda River, Ermak’s troops continued to instill fear in the Tatars and sought to find out the location of the main military forces of Khan Kuchum. At the mouth of the Tavda, detachments of 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. To meet 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-Murza.
10. Due to the onset of frost, Tsarevich Mametkul and the Ostyak princes allied with him hoped that the Russians would be stopped, especially since a special abattoir was set up in front of Isker to prevent the movement of the enemy.
11. However, Ermak launched a night attack on the enemy’s positions, used artillery and won a fierce battle, forcing the Tatars to flee, abandoning the capital’s fortifications.
winter 1582-1583
12. On October 26, 1582, Ermak’s troops entered the deserted capital of the Khanate, where they spent the winter. In December 1582, they were unexpectedly attacked by the Tatars, however, having suffered casualties, they held their positions.
spring 1583
13. Ermak again began military operations against the Tatars and finally defeated Mametkul’s troops in his camp on the Vagai River, and took Mametkul himself prisoner.
summer 1583
14. Ermak undertook the conquest of Tatar settlements along the Irtysh and Ob. He also took the capital of the Khanty, Nazim.
September 1583
15. Returning to Isker (Siberia), Ermak made his successes known, firstly, to the Stroganovs, and secondly, to Moscow, sending Ivan IV, as a 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 sent two royal governors - Prince Semyon Bolkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with 300 people. warriors to reinforce Ermak with the aim of taking over the “Khanate of Siberia” from Ermak.
At the beginning of December 1583, the governors left Moscow and headed to the Stroganovs, from whom they were supposed to learn the way to Ermak.
winter 1584
17. The royal governors arrived to the Stroganovs in the Chusovsky towns only in February 1584, i.e. in the midst of winter, and immediately, with great difficulty, began to advance to the Irtysh, where Ermak was located, 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 needed to be detained, let them spend the winter with the Stroganovs, because moving along the Siberian roads in winter was dangerous.
On January 7, 1584, the Tsar sent the Stroganovs an order to build 15 plows by spring, with a crew of 20 people. on each, with a supply of food, building materials, clothing, tools, in order to transport all this to Ermak along with the ambassadors in the spring.
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, without food, without sledges, and thus not only could not help Ermak, but also turned out to be a burden.
When the Tatars saw that Ermak had decided to seriously settle in Siberia, that reinforcements were coming to him, this worried them extremely and intensified their actions against Ermak.
20. Meanwhile, the forces of Ermak, forced to fight continuously for two years, were exhausted. Suffering losses in people, constantly experiencing a shortage of food, a lack of shoes and clothing, Ermak’s troops gradually began to lose their combat effectiveness. Kuchum, who migrated to the upper reaches of the rivers inaccessible to Ermak’s plows - the Irtysh, Tobol and Ishim, all the time closely monitored all the actions and movements of Ermak and his squads and tried to inflict damage on them with 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, who returned from Moscow, were killed (March 1584), and also suffered heavy losses, although he defeated the Kuchumov detachment, Ataman Meshcheryak (summer 1584 G.).
August 1584
22. On the night of August 5-6, 1584, Ermak himself died, leaving with a small detachment of 50 people. along the Irtysh and fell into a Tatar ambush. All his men were also killed. [According to R.G. Skrynnikov, which he substantiates in the book below, and most other researchers, the chronology of Ermak’s campaign is 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 given below. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the gap of a whole year between the death of Ermak and the expedition of I. Mansurov.]
23. There were so few Cossacks left that the governor Glukhov and the only surviving atamans, Matvey Meshcheryak, decided on August 15, 1584 to leave 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, Fyodor I Ioannovich, did not yet know about the death of Ermak and the flight of his commanders from Siberia.
Not receiving any news from Siberia, Boris Godunov, who actually managed state affairs under Feodor 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, but having arrived in Siberia and not finding any of the Russians there, he spent the winter at the confluence of the Irtysh and 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 Ob 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 Chimgi-Tura and at the mouth of the Tyumenka river they 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 Russian advances in Siberia. Occupying strategically dominant heights and key points on rivers, they became a solid military and 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 sequential consolidation on 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;
Berezov on the Sosva River;
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 office was located;
The official Babinovskaya road to Siberia has been opened
6. All this forced Kuchum, who was actually forced out of the most attractive region of Siberia, to migrate with his hordes to the south, and, continuing to disturb the lands colonized by the Russians from time to time, at the same time reduce his activity, being deprived of the main transport and water network and operational space.
7. At the same time, the new plan for the conquest of Siberia developed by Boris Godunov practically excluded bloody battles and other direct military actions (and losses!), forcing the enemy to take passive defensive positions.
8. Kuchum’s attempts in the 90s of the 16th century. repeatedly amassing strength and taking revenge by attacking accumulations of Russian forces, or taking a large Russian fortress invariably ended in defeat.
In 1591, Kuchum was defeated by governor Vladimir Masalsky-Koltsov.
In 1595, Kuchum's troops were put to flight by governor Domozhirov.
In 1597, Kuchum’s troops unsuccessfully tried to capture the Tara fortress, and
in August 1598, Kuchum’s army was completely 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 [Kuchum’s further fate is not reliably known: according to other sources, the Bukharans, having lured him “to Kolmaki, killed him in Oman,” according to others, he drowned in the Ob].
This last battle of the Russian troops with the troops of Khan Kuchum, which ended the conquest of the Siberian Khanate over two decades, later colorfully depicted in various fiction novels, historical works, reflected in folk songs and even in the paintings of Surikov, in reality was not at all epic, grandiose in 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 the battles, and even more so in the repressions after the Russian victory, a total of about a quarter of a million Tatars, Chuvash, Mari and Russians died, then in the last decisive battle with Kuchum for the Siberian Khanate, only 404 people took part on the Russian side:
397 soldiers, among whom were Lithuanians (prisoners exiled to Siberia), Cossacks and pacified Tatars, and the command staff included: 3 sons of boyars (Russians), 3 atamans (Cossacks), 1 Tatar head, i.e. 7 officers with the rank of company, platoon (or platoon) commanders.
On Kuchum’s side, the army also numbered no more than 500 people. and did not have any firearms.
Thus, less than one thousand people took part in the “great battle” for the conquest of Siberia on both sides!
9. Kuchum as the Siberian Khan was nominally succeeded by his son Ali (1598-1604), who was forced to wander through the uninhabited, desert territories of Western Siberia, without shelter, and with his death the history of the Siberian Tatar state both formally and actually ceased (captured in 1604, ended his life in a Russian prison in 1618, his younger brother Altanai was captured in 1608 at the age of about 12 years 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 since the mid-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, destroyed 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 shores of the Pacific Ocean.
"From Ancient Rus' to the Russian Empire." Shishkin Sergey Petrovich, Ufa.
A.N. Radishchev "A shortened narrative about the acquisition of Siberia."
Skrynnikov R.G. "Ermak's Siberian Expedition". Novosibirsk, "Science" Siberian branch, 1982.
Along river and sea routes, Russian people made their way further and further north and east, to the Urals. Dense spruce and pine forests - taiga - stood in their way.
Beyond the Urals lies Siberia. In the 16th century, Russian people set foot on its land. The endless taiga opened up before them. Mighty rivers flowed from south to north to the Arctic Ocean.
In the 16th century, the lands of Siberia were owned by the Siberian Tatars. Tribes of hunters and fishermen lived among dense forests and hunted fur-bearing animals. The Russians exchanged furs—“soft gold”—for goods they brought from Russia. You cannot pass through the Urals with goods on foot, without roads. They sailed to Siberia along seas and rivers. Fur trade took place on the banks of the Ob and its tributaries.
Cossacks lived in the steppes of southeastern Europe. These were Russian people who fled from the power of the tsar and boyars into the “wild field” - that’s what the steppes were called, where one could meet a Tatar detachment, a caravan of merchants moving to the Caspian Sea, and robbers. Led by ataman Ermak Timofeevich, the Cossacks crossed the Urals and Irtysh River, the left tributary of the Ob, defeated the army of the Siberian Khan Kuchum.
Thus began the annexation of Siberia to Russia. Very soon, Russian fortresses-fortresses appeared on the Irtysh, Tobol and other rivers of the Ob basin, which then grew into large cities: Tobolsk, Surgut, Tomsk and others.
At the end of the 16th century, the “Big Drawing” was created, a map of the entire Russian state with lands from the White to the Black Sea and from the Baltic Sea to the Ob River. It showed about 800 rivers and lakes, more than 300 cities, and indicated salt mining sites. The drawing itself has not survived. An appendix to it has reached us: “The Book of the Big Drawing.” It describes in detail the roads and distances between cities and rivers.
The main stages of the conquest and settlement of Siberia by Russian people occurred in the 17th-18th centuries. Brave explorers walked around the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean, reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and sailed along many Siberian rivers. During their travels, they compiled descriptions and drawings. By order of the tsar, in the 17th century, a map-drawing of all of Siberia was prepared. It was still very inaccurate, reminiscent of a drawing. But already at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, Semyon Remizov created the “Drawing of All Siberia” on the same scale using a compass, and released the first atlas of Siberia consisting of 23 maps.
Development of the Urals
The development of the Urals began with the Novgorodians, who called the Ural Mountains the Ugra Stone (after the name of the Ugra tribes that lived there).
In the 16th century The Stroganov merchants, who owned salt mines in the city of Sol-Vychegodskaya, did a lot to develop the middle and southern Urals. Ivan IV granted land to the Stroganov merchants along the Kama and Chusovaya rivers (a tributary of the Kama). Their possessions approached the borders of the Siberian Khanate.
The Siberian Khan Kuchum, a descendant of Genghis Khan, recognized himself as a vassal of the Moscow Tsar and paid him tribute. At the same time, the khan carried out raids on the lands of the Urals. To protect against raids, the Stroganovs built fortresses, which were guarded by detachments of Cossacks.
Ermak
One of the leaders of the Cossacks was Ermak. It was not by chance that the Stroganovs entrusted the security of their possessions to Ermak Timofeevich. Documentary sources claim that Ermak was a professional and talented military leader. For two decades he served on the southern borders of Russia, repelling the raids of the Crimean Tatars. During the Livonian War he was one of the most famous Cossack chieftains.
Participants of the hike
To retaliate against Khan Kuchum, the Stroganovs sent out detachments of Cossacks in 1581. At the head were atamans Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Groza, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, captain Bogdan Bryazga. In September 1582, 840 Cossacks crossed the Ural ridge and reached the Irtysh in boats along the rivers.
Defeat of the Siberian Khanate
A major battle took place near the capital of the Khanate - Kashlyk. The Khan's army was defeated and fled. Ermak entered the capital and announced that from now on the residents must pay tribute to the Russian Tsar with furs. This was the beginning of the development of Siberia.
Smashing the few detachments of Tatars who did not want to give up power over the Khanate, the Cossacks made rapid marches along the rivers of Siberia. They managed to quickly win over the strong and numerous peoples of the Khanty and Mansi to the side of the Russian kingdom.
Help from Moscow
However, the Cossacks had little strength. They sent messengers to the Stroganovs and Moscow asking for reinforcements. The capital sent ammunition, salaries to the Cossacks and 500 archers led by the governor.
Kuchum's attack
Kuchum gathered his strength and waited for the right moment. In the summer of 1584 he besieged the capital. But Ermak’s warriors repulsed this attack.
Death of Ermak
Then a detachment of Cossacks set off along the Irtysh River. Kuchum followed the movement without revealing himself. The detachment settled down to rest without posting guards. The enemy took advantage of this. The Cossacks were defeated. Ermak, saving himself by swimming, drowned in the Irtysh.
The beginning of the development of Siberia
But Moscow troops and Cossacks, detachment after detachment, went to Siberia. The construction of fortresses began there. This is how the Ob, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Narym, and Tomsk forts appeared, which later turned into cities.
Trade people flocked to Siberia. Peasants fled from the central regions of the country “to free lands.” Economic development of the region began. In the 90s XVI century Kuchum was completely defeated.
The campaign of the Cossacks and Streltsy (1581-1585) marked the beginning of the Russian era of great geographical discoveries. Russian pioneers rushed into the vast expanses of Siberia, the Far East and North America.
While exploring Siberia, the first explorers - detachments of Cossacks - got acquainted with the local population and “brought them under the high hand of the sovereign.” The peoples of Siberia had to pay taxes to the treasury - yasak- fur.
The Cossacks built fortified settlements. Despite the harsh conditions of Siberia - impassable taiga, lack of roads, many rivers, rivulets and swamps - many fortified cities (ostrogs) were built in a short period of time: Tyumen, Tobolsk, Kurgan, Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Novaya Mangazeya, Krasnoyarsk, Yakutsk, Irkutsk. Material from the site
In the first half of the 17th century. Siberian fortresses are turning into complex engineering structures. Towers and wooden walls disappear, bastions appear. The layout of the fortresses becomes regular and symmetrical. On the southern borders of the country, standard fortress projects are emerging for large sections of the border. The border line is being strengthened from Tobol to Irtysh. In 1640, the Ishim border line was created, in 1652 - the Kolyvan line (in Altai), protecting the southern borders of Western Siberia.
One of the most important stages in the formation of Russian statehood is the conquest of Siberia. The development of these lands took almost 400 years and during this time many events occurred. The first Russian conqueror of Siberia was Ermak.
Ermak Timofeevich
The exact surname of this person has not been established; it is likely that it did not exist at all - Ermak was of an ordinary family. Ermak Timofeevich was born in 1532; in those days, a patronymic or nickname was often used to name a common person. The exact origin of Ermak is not clear, but there is an assumption that he was a runaway peasant, distinguished by enormous physical strength. At first, Ermak was a chur among the Volga Cossacks - a laborer and squire.
In battle, the smart and brave young man quickly obtained weapons for himself, participated in battles, and thanks to his strength and organizational skills, a few years later he became an ataman. In 1581 he commanded a flotilla of Cossacks from the Volga; there are suggestions that he fought near Pskov and Novgorod. He is rightfully considered the founder of the first marine corps, which was then called the “plow army.” There are other historical versions about the origin of Ermak, but this one is the most popular among historians.
Some are of the opinion that Ermak was of a noble family of Turkic blood, but there are many contradictory points in this version. One thing is clear - Ermak Timofeevich was popular among the military until his death, because the position of ataman was selective. Today Ermak is a historical hero of Russia, whose main merit is the annexation of Siberian lands to the Russian state.
Idea and goals of the trip
Back in 1579, the Stroganov merchants invited the Cossacks of Ermak to their Perm region to protect the lands from the raids of the Siberian Khan Kuchum. In the second half of 1581, Ermak formed a detachment of 540 soldiers. For a long time, the prevailing opinion was that the Stroganovs were the ideologists of the campaign, but now they are more inclined to believe that this was the idea of Ermak himself, and the merchants only financed this campaign. The goal was to find out what lands lie in the East, make friends with the local population and, if possible, defeat the khan and annex the lands under the hand of Tsar Ivan IV.
The great historian Karamzin called this detachment “a small gang of vagabonds.” Historians doubt that the campaign was organized with the approval of the central authorities. Most likely, this decision became a consensus between the authorities who wanted to acquire new lands, merchants who were concerned about safety from Tatar raids, and the Cossacks who dreamed of getting rich and showing off their prowess on the campaign only after the khan’s capital fell. At first, the tsar was against this campaign, about which he wrote an angry letter to the Stroganovs demanding the return of Ermak to guard the Perm lands.
Riddles of the hike: It is widely known that the Russians first penetrated into Siberia in quite ancient times. Most definitely, the Novgorodians walked along the White Sea to the Yugorsky Shar Strait and further beyond it, into the Kara Sea, back in the 9th century. The first chronicle evidence of such voyages dates back to 1032, which in Russian historiography is considered the beginning of the history of Siberia.
The core of the detachment was made up of Cossacks from the Don, led by glorious atamans: Koltso Ivan, Mikhailov Yakov, Pan Nikita, Meshcheryak Matvey. In addition to the Russians, the detachment included a number of Lithuanians, Germans and even Tatar soldiers. Cossacks are internationalists in modern terminology; nationality did not play a role for them. They accepted into their ranks everyone who was baptized into the Orthodox faith.
But discipline in the army was strict - the ataman demanded observance of all Orthodox holidays and fasts, and did not tolerate laxity and revelry. The army was accompanied by three priests and one defrocked monk. The future conquerors of Siberia boarded eighty plow boats and set sail to meet dangers and adventures.
Crossing the "Stone"
According to some sources, the detachment set out on September 1, 1581, but other historians insist that it was later. The Cossacks moved along the Chusovaya River to the Ural Mountains. At the Tagil Pass, the fighters themselves cut the road with an ax. It is the Cossack custom to drag ships along the ground at passes, but here this was impossible due to the large number of boulders that could not be removed from the path. Therefore, people had to carry plows up the slope. At the top of the pass, the Cossacks built Kokuy-gorod and spent the winter there. In the spring they rafted down the Tagil River.
Defeat of the Siberian Khanate
The “acquaintance” of Cossacks and local Tatars took place on the territory of what is now the Sverdlovsk region. The Cossacks were fired upon by their opponents, but repelled the impending attack of the Tatar cavalry with cannons and occupied the city of Chingi-tura in the present Tyumen region. In these places, the conquerors obtained jewelry and furs, and along the way took part in many battles.
- On 05.1582, at the mouth of the Tura, the Cossacks fought with the troops of six Tatar princes.
- 07.1585 – Battle of Tobol.
- July 21 - the battle of the Babasan yurts, where Ermak stopped a cavalry army of several thousand horsemen galloping towards him with volleys of his cannon.
- At Long Yar, the Tatars again fired at the Cossacks.
- August 14 - the battle of Karachin town, where the Cossacks captured the rich treasury of the Murza of Karachi.
- On November 4, Kuchum with an army of fifteen thousand organized an ambush near the Chuvash Cape, with him were mercenary squads of Voguls and Ostyaks. At the most crucial moment, it turned out that Kuchum’s best troops went on a raid on the city of Perm. The mercenaries fled during the battle, and Kuchum was forced to retreat to the steppe.
- 11.1582 Ermak occupied the capital of the Khanate - the city of Kashlyk.
Historians suggest that Kuchum was of Uzbek origin. It is known for sure that he established power in Siberia using extremely cruel methods. It is not surprising that after his defeat, local peoples (Khanty) brought gifts and fish to Ermak. As the documents say, Ermak Timofeevich greeted them with “kindness and greetings” and saw them off “with honor.” Having heard about the kindness of the Russian ataman, Tatars and other nationalities began to come to him with gifts.
Riddles of the hike: Ermak's campaign was not the first military campaign in Siberia. The very first information about the Russian military campaign in Siberia dates back to 1384, when the Novgorod detachment marched to Pechora, and further, on a northern campaign through the Urals, to the Ob.
Ermak promised to protect everyone from Kuchum and other enemies, imposing yasak on them - a mandatory tribute. The ataman took an oath from the leaders about taxes from their peoples - this was then called “wool”. After the oath, these nationalities were automatically considered subjects of the king and were not subject to any persecution. At the end of 1582, some of Ermak’s soldiers were ambushed on the lake and were completely exterminated. On February 23, 1583, the Cossacks responded to the khan, capturing his chief military leader.
Embassy in Moscow
Ermak in 1582 sent ambassadors to the king, headed by a confidant (I. Koltso). The ambassador's goal was to tell the sovereign about the complete defeat of the khan. Ivan the Terrible mercifully gave gifts to the messengers; among the gifts were two expensive chain mail for the chieftain. Following the Cossacks, Prince Bolkhovsky was sent with a squad of three hundred soldiers. The Stroganovs were ordered to select forty of the best people and join them to the squad - this procedure dragged on. The detachment reached Kashlyk in November 1584; the Cossacks did not know in advance about such a replenishment, so the necessary provisions were not prepared for the winter.
Conquest of the Voguls
In 1583, Ermak conquered Tatar villages in the Ob and Irtysh basins. The Tatars offered fierce resistance. Along the Tavda River, the Cossacks went to the land of the Vogulichs, extending the king’s power to the Sosva River. In the conquered town of Nazim, already in 1584, there was a rebellion in which all the Cossacks of Ataman N. Pan were slaughtered. In addition to the unconditional talent of a commander and strategist, Ermak acts as a subtle psychologist with an excellent understanding of people. Despite all the difficulties and difficulties of the campaign, not one of the atamans wavered, did not change their oath, and until their last breath they were Ermak’s faithful comrade-in-arms and friend.
The chronicles do not preserve the details of this battle. But, given the conditions and method of war used by the Siberian peoples, apparently, the Voguls built a fortification, which the Cossacks were forced to storm. From the Remezov Chronicle it is known that after this battle Ermak had 1060 people left. It turns out that the losses of the Cossacks amounted to about 600 people.
Takmak and Ermak in winter
Hungry Winter
The winter period of 1584-1585 turned out to be extremely cold, the frost was about minus 47°C, and winds constantly blew from the north. It was impossible to hunt in the forest because of the deep snow; wolves circled in huge packs near human dwellings. All the archers of Bolkhovsky, the first governor of Siberia from the famous princely family, died of hunger along with him. They did not have time to take part in the battles with the khan. The number of Cossacks of Ataman Ermak also decreased greatly. During this period, Ermak tried not to meet with the Tatars - he took care of the weakened fighters.
Riddles of the hike: Who needs land? Until now, none of the Russian historians have given a clear answer to a simple question: why Ermak began this campaign to the east, to the Siberian Khanate.
Revolt of the Murza of Karach
In the spring of 1585, one of the leaders who submitted to Ermak on the Ture River suddenly attacked the Cossacks I. Koltso and Y. Mikhailov. Almost all the Cossacks died, and the rebels in their former capital blocked the Russian army. 06/12/1585 Meshcheryak and his comrades made a bold foray and drove back the Tatar army, but the Russian losses were enormous. At this point, Ermak only had 50% of those who went on the hike with him survive. Of the five atamans, only two were alive - Ermak and Meshcheryak.
The death of Ermak and the end of the campaign
On the night of August 3, 1585, Ataman Ermak died with fifty soldiers on the Vagai River. The Tatars attacked the sleeping camp; only a few warriors survived this skirmish, who brought terrible news to Kashlyk. Witnesses to Ermak’s death claim that he was wounded in the neck, but continued to fight.
During the battle, the chieftain had to jump from one boat to another, but he was bleeding, and the royal chain mail was heavy - Ermak did not make the jump. It was impossible even for such a strong man to swim out in heavy armor - the wounded man drowned. Legend has it that a local fisherman found the body and brought it to the khan. For a month the Tatars shot arrows into the body of the defeated enemy, during which time no traces of decomposition were noticed. The surprised Tatars buried Ermak in a place of honor (in modern times this is the village of Baishevo), but behind the fence of the cemetery - he was not a Muslim.
After receiving the news of the death of their leader, the Cossacks gathered for a meeting, where it was decided to return to their native land - spending the winter in these places again would be like death. Under the leadership of Ataman M. Meshcheryak, on August 15, 1585, the remnants of the detachment moved in an organized manner along the Ob River to the west, home. The Tatars celebrated their victory; they did not yet know that the Russians would return in a year.
Results of the campaign
The expedition of Ermak Timofeevich established Russian power for two years. As often happened with pioneers, they paid with their lives for conquering new lands. The forces were unequal - several hundred pioneers against tens of thousands of opponents. But everything did not end with the death of Ermak and his warriors - other conquerors followed, and soon all of Siberia was a vassal of Moscow.
The conquest of Siberia often took place with “little blood”, and the personality of Ataman Ermak was overgrown with numerous legends. People composed songs about the brave hero, historians and writers wrote books, artists painted pictures, and directors made films. Ermak's military strategies and tactics were adopted by other commanders. The formation of the army, invented by the brave chieftain, was used hundreds of years later by another great commander - Alexander Suvorov.
His persistence in advancing through the territory of the Siberian Khanate is very, very reminiscent of the persistence of the doomed. Ermak simply walked along the rivers of an unfamiliar land, counting on chance and military success. According to the logic of things, the Cossacks should have laid down their heads during the campaign. But Ermak was lucky, he captured the capital of the Khanate and went down in history as a winner.
Conquest of Siberia by Ermak, painting by Surikov
Three hundred years after the events described, the Russian artist Vasily Surikov painted a painting. This is a truly monumental picture of the battle genre. The talented artist managed to convey how great the feat of the Cossacks and their chieftain was. Surikov’s painting shows one of the battles of a small detachment of Cossacks with the huge army of the khan.
The artist managed to describe everything in such a way that the viewer understands the outcome of the battle, although the battle has just begun. Christian banners with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands flutter over the heads of the Russians. The battle is led by Ermak himself - he is at the head of his army and at first glance it is evident that he is a Russian commander of remarkable strength and great courage. The enemies are presented as an almost faceless mass, whose strength is undermined by fear of the alien Cossacks. Ermak Timofeevich is calm and confident, with the eternal gesture of a commander he directs his warriors forward.
The air is filled with gunpowder, it seems that shots are heard, flying arrows whistle. In the background there is hand-to-hand combat, and in the central part the troops raised an icon, turning to higher powers for help. In the distance you can see the Khan's stronghold - a little more and the Tatars' resistance will be broken. The atmosphere of the picture is imbued with a feeling of imminent victory - this became possible thanks to the great skill of the artist.
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Beyond the great Stone Belt, the Urals, lie the vast expanses of Siberia. This territory occupies almost three quarters of the entire area of our country. Siberia is larger than the second largest country (after Russia) in the world - Canada. More than twelve million square kilometers contain inexhaustible reserves of natural resources, which, if used wisely, are sufficient for the life and prosperity of many generations of people.
Trekking beyond the Stone Belt
The development of Siberia began in the last years of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The most convenient outpost for moving deeper into this wild and uninhabited region at that time was the middle Urals, the undivided owner of which was the Stroganov family of merchants. Using the patronage of the Moscow kings, they owned vast territories of land, on which there were thirty-nine villages and the city of Solvychegodsk with a monastery. They also owned a chain of forts that stretched along the border with the possessions of Khan Kuchum.
The history of Siberia, or more precisely, its conquest by the Russian Cossacks, began with the fact that the tribes inhabiting it refused to pay the Russian Tsar yasyk - the tribute that they had been subject to for many years. Moreover, the nephew of their ruler, Khan Kuchum, with a large detachment of cavalry, carried out a series of raids on villages belonging to the Stroganovs. To protect themselves from such unwanted guests, rich merchants hired Cossacks led by ataman Vasily Timofeevich Alenin, nicknamed Ermak. Under this name he entered Russian history.
First steps in an unknown land
In September 1582, a detachment of seven hundred and fifty people began their legendary campaign beyond the Urals. It was a kind of discovery of Siberia. Along the entire route, the Cossacks were lucky. The Tatars who inhabited those regions, although superior in numbers, were inferior militarily. They had virtually no knowledge of firearms, which were so widespread by that time in Russia, and fled in panic every time they heard a volley.
The khan sent his nephew Mametkul with an army of ten thousand to meet the Russians. The battle took place near the Tobol River. Despite their numerical superiority, the Tatars suffered a crushing defeat. The Cossacks, building on their success, came close to the khan's capital, Kashlyk, and here they finally crushed their enemies. The former ruler of the region fled, and his warlike nephew was captured. From that day on, the Khanate practically ceased to exist. The history of Siberia is taking a new turn.
Fights with foreigners
In those days, the Tatars were subject to a large number of tribes that they conquered and were their tributaries. They did not know money and paid their yasyk with the skins of fur-bearing animals. From the moment of the defeat of Kuchum, these peoples came under the rule of the Russian Tsar, and carts with sables and martens reached distant Moscow. This valuable product has always and everywhere been in great demand, and especially in the European market.
However, not all tribes accepted the inevitable. Some of them continued their resistance, although it weakened every year. The Cossack detachments continued their campaign. In 1584, their legendary ataman Ermak Timofeevich died. This happened, as often happens in Russia, due to negligence and oversight - no sentries were posted at one of the rest stops. It so happened that a prisoner who had escaped a few days earlier brought an enemy detachment at night. Taking advantage of the Cossacks' oversight, they suddenly attacked and began to slaughter the sleeping people. Ermak, trying to escape, jumped into the river, but a massive shell - a personal gift from Ivan the Terrible - carried him to the bottom.
Life in a conquered land
From that time on, active development began. Following the Cossack detachments, hunters, peasants, clergy and, of course, officials flocked to the taiga wilderness. Everyone who found themselves beyond the Ural ridge became free people. There was no serfdom or landownership here. They paid only the tax established by the state. Local tribes, as mentioned above, were taxed with a fur yasyk. During this period, income from the treasury from Siberian furs was a significant contribution to the Russian budget.
The history of Siberia is inextricably linked with the creation of a system of forts - defensive fortifications (around which, by the way, many cities subsequently grew), which served as outposts for the further conquest of the region. Thus, in 1604 the city of Tomsk was founded, which later became the largest economic and cultural center. After a short time, Kuznetsk and Yenisei forts appeared. They housed military garrisons and the administration that controlled the collection of yasyk.
Documents from those years testify to many facts of corruption among government officials. Despite the fact that, by law, all furs had to go to the treasury, some officials, as well as Cossacks directly involved in collecting tribute, inflated the established norms, appropriating the difference in their favor. Even then, such lawlessness was strictly punished, and there are many cases where covetous people paid for their deeds with freedom and even their lives.
Further penetration into new lands
The process of colonization became especially intense after the end of the Time of Troubles. The goal of everyone who dared to seek happiness in new, unexplored lands was this time Eastern Siberia. This process proceeded at a very rapid pace, and by the end of the 17th century the Russians reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean. By this time, a new government structure had emerged - the Siberian Order. His responsibilities included establishing new procedures for managing controlled territories and promoting governors, who were locally authorized representatives of the tsarist government.
In addition to the fur collection, furs were also purchased, the payment for which was made not with money, but with all kinds of goods: axes, saws, various tools, as well as fabrics. History, unfortunately, has preserved many cases of abuse here too. Often, the arbitrariness of officials and Cossack elders ended in riots of local residents, which had to be pacified by force.
Main directions of colonization
Eastern Siberia was developed in two main directions: to the north along the sea coast, and to the south along the borders with neighboring states. At the beginning of the 17th century, the banks of the Irtysh and Ob were settled by Russians, and after them large areas adjacent to the Yenisei. Cities such as Tyumen, Tobolsk and Krasnoyarsk were founded and began to be built. All of them were destined to become major industrial and cultural centers over time.
Further advance of the Russian colonists was carried out mainly along the Lena River. Here in 1632 a fort was founded, which gave rise to the city of Yakutsk - the most important stronghold at that time in the further development of the northern and eastern territories. Largely thanks to this, just two years later the Cossacks, led by them, managed to reach the Pacific coast, and soon they saw the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin for the first time.
Conquerors of the Wild Land
The history of Siberia and the Far East preserves the memory of another outstanding traveler - the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev. In 1648, he and the detachment he led on several ships circumnavigated the coast of North Asia for the first time and proved the existence of a strait separating Siberia from America. At the same time, another traveler, Poyarov, passed along the southern border of Siberia and climbed up the Amur, reaching the Sea of Okhotsk.
After some time, Nerchinsk was founded. Its significance is largely determined by the fact that as a result of moving east, the Cossacks came closer to China, which also laid claim to these territories. By that time, the Russian Empire had reached its natural borders. Over the next century, there was a steady process of consolidating the results achieved during colonization.
Legislative acts related to new territories
The history of Siberia in the 19th century is characterized mainly by the abundance of administrative innovations introduced into the life of the region. One of the earliest was the division of this vast territory into two governor generals, approved in 1822 by a personal decree of Alexander I. Tobolsk became the center of the Western, and Irkutsk became the center of the Eastern. They, in turn, were divided into provinces, and those into volost and foreign councils. This transformation was a consequence of the well-known reform
In the same year, ten legislative acts were published, signed by the tsar and regulating all aspects of administrative, economic and legal life. Much attention in this document was paid to issues related to the arrangement of places of deprivation of liberty and the procedure for serving sentences. By the 19th century, hard labor and prisons had become an integral part of this region.
The map of Siberia in those years is replete with the names of mines in which work was carried out exclusively by convicts. These are Nerchinsky, and Zabaikalsky, and Blagodatny and many others. As a result of the large influx of exiles from among the Decembrists and participants in the Polish rebellion of 1831, the government even united all Siberian provinces under the supervision of a specially formed gendarmerie district.
The beginning of industrialization of the region
Of the main ones that received widespread development during this period, gold mining should be noted first of all. By the middle of the century, it accounted for the majority of the total volume of precious metal mined in the country. Also, large revenues to the state treasury came from mining enterprises, which by this time had significantly increased the volume of mineral extraction. Many other branches are also developing.
In the new century
At the beginning of the 20th century, the impetus for the further development of the region was the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The history of Siberia in the post-revolutionary period is full of drama. A fratricidal war, monstrous in scale, swept across its expanses, ending with the liquidation of the White movement and the establishment of Soviet power. During the Great Patriotic War, many industrial and military enterprises were evacuated to this region. As a result, the population of many cities is increasing sharply.
It is known that only for the period 1941-1942. More than a million people arrived here. In the post-war period, when numerous giant factories, power plants and railway lines were built, there was also a significant influx of visitors - all those for whom Siberia became their new home. On the map of this vast region appeared names that became symbols of the era - the Baikal-Amur Mainline, Novosibirsk Akademgorodok and much more.
The development of Siberia is one of the most significant pages in the history of our country. The vast territories that currently make up most of modern Russia were, in fact, a “blank spot” on the geographical map at the beginning of the 16th century. And the feat of Ataman Ermak, 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 most little-studied personalities of this magnitude in Russian history. It is still not known for certain where and when the famous chieftain was born. According to one version, Ermak was from the banks of the Don, according to another - from the outskirts of the Chusovaya River, according to the third - his place of birth was the Arkhangelsk region. The date of birth also remains unknown - historical chronicles indicate the period from 1530 to 1542.
It is almost impossible to reconstruct the biography of Ermak Timofeevich before the start of his Siberian campaign. It is not even known for certain whether the name Ermak is his own or is it still the nickname of the Cossack chieftain. However, from 1581-82, that is, directly 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 collapsed Golden Horde, coexisted in peace with the Russian state for a long time. The Tatars paid an annual tribute to the Moscow princes, but when Khan Kuchum came to power, the payments stopped, and Tatar detachments began to attack Russian settlements in the Western Urals.
It is not known for certain who was the initiator of the Siberian campaign. According to one version, Ivan the Terrible instructed the merchants Stroganov to finance the performance of a Cossack detachment into uncharted Siberian territories in order to stop Tatar raids. According to another version of events, the Stroganovs themselves decided to hire Cossacks to protect their property. However, there is another scenario: Ermak and his comrades plundered the Stroganov warehouses and invaded the territory of the Khanate for the purpose of profit.
In 1581, having sailed up the Chusovaya River on plows, the Cossacks dragged their boats to the Zheravlya River in the Ob basin and settled there for the winter. Here the first skirmishes with Tatar detachments 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, Ermak reached the Irtysh River, where a detachment of Cossacks captured the main city of the Khanate - Siberia (now Kashlyk). Remaining in the city, Ermak begins to receive delegations from indigenous peoples - Khanty, Tatars, with promises of peace. The ataman took an oath from 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 Ob, Ermak captured settlements - uluses - of the peoples of Siberia, forcing the inhabitants of the towns to take an oath to the Russian Tsar. Until 1585, Ermak and the Cossacks fought with the troops of Khan Kuchum, starting numerous skirmishes along the banks of 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 gave gifts not only to the ambassador, but also to all the Cossacks who participated in the campaign, and to Ermak himself he donated two chain mail of excellent workmanship, one of which, according to the court chronicler, had previously belonged to the famous governor Shuisky.
Death of Ermak
The date August 6, 1585 is noted in the chronicles as the day of the death of Ermak Timofeevich. A small group of Cossacks - about 50 people - led by Ermak stopped for the night on the Irtysh, near the mouth of the Vagai River. Several detachments of the Siberian Khan Kuchum attacked the Cossacks, killing almost all of Ermak’s associates, and the ataman himself, according to the chronicler, drowned in the Irtysh while trying to swim to the plows. According to the chronicler, Ermak drowned because of the royal gift - two chain mails, which with their weight pulled him to the bottom.
The official version of the death of the Cossack chieftain has a continuation, but 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 Ermak’s body from the river and reported his discovery to Kuchum. All the Tatar nobility came to personally verify the death of the ataman. Ermak's death caused a great celebration that lasted for several days. The Tatars had fun shooting at the Cossack's body for a week, then, taking the donated chain mail that caused his death, Ermak was buried. At the moment, historians and archaeologists are considering several areas as the supposed 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 the key figures in Russian folk art. Many legends and tales have been created about the ataman’s deeds, and in each of them Ermak 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 forces researchers again and again to turn their attention to the national hero of Russia.
