Development of Siberia. Brief history of the development of Siberia

Colonization of Siberia by the Russian people

... From century to century

A strong Russian man was walking

To the far north and east

Unstoppable like a stream

………………………….

He went to unknown lands

Through the tundra, rivers and ridges,

Through the rapids and heights,

While in the unknown distance

He did not come to the ends of the earth

Where there was nowhere to go

Where across his path,

Dressed in storms and fog,

The vast ocean arose

(From an old poem)

Siberia is a part of Asia with an area of ​​approximately 10 million km, stretching from the Urals to the mountain ranges of the Okhotsk coast, from the Arctic Ocean to the Kazakh and Mongolian steppes. However, in the 17th century. Even more extensive territories were considered “Siberian”; they included the Far Eastern and Ural lands.

This entire gigantic country, 1.5 times the size of Europe, was distinguished by its severity and at the same time an amazing variety of natural conditions. Its northern part was occupied by desert tundra. To the south, across the main territory of Siberia, endless impenetrable forests stretch for thousands of kilometers, making up the famous “taiga”, which over time became a majestic and formidable symbol of this region. In the south of Western and partly Eastern Siberia, forests gradually turn into arid steppes, closed by a chain of mountains and hilly uplands.

Western Siberia is mainly a heavily swampy lowland. Eastern Siberia, on the contrary, is a predominantly mountainous country with many high ridges, with frequent rock outcrops; in the 17th century. it made the strongest impression on the Russian man, accustomed to the life of the plains. This entire space, stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean, varied in landscapes and living conditions, frightened with its wild beauty, overwhelmed with grandeur and... beckoned with wealth. Before the Russian man who found himself in Siberia, he saw forests filled with fur-bearing animals, rivers incredibly rich in fish, meadows intended for grazing many livestock, beautiful but unused arable land.

What does the name “Siberia” mean? There are two most common points of view: Some scientists derive the word “Siberia” from the Mongolian “shibir” (forest thicket), others associate this word with the name of the “Sabirs,” a people who possibly inhabited the forest-steppe Irtysh region. But nevertheless, the spread of the name “Siberia” to the entire territory of Northern Asia was associated with the Russian advance beyond the Urals from the end of the 16th century.

Having crossed the Urals, the Russian people found themselves in a sparsely populated, but long-inhabited country. In Siberia at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. 200-220 thousand people lived. The population was denser in the south and extremely sparse in the north. Nevertheless, the small Siberian peoples, scattered across the forest-steppe, taiga and tundra, had their own ancient and complex history, differing greatly in language, economic activities and level of social development.

Hunting and fishing were the main occupations of most Siberian tribes, and as an auxiliary trade they were found everywhere. At the same time, fur mining became especially important in the economy of the Siberian peoples. They traded it, paid tribute, and only in the most remote corners furs were used only for clothing.

The Siberian peoples differed from each other in their level of social development, but in general they lagged far behind both in economics and culture from the population of both European and most of the Asian countries located to the south. The ancestors of some peoples of Siberia in the distant past had higher forms of social organization and culture than in the 16th-17th centuries. Their decline occurred as a result of devastating foreign invasions, disastrous internal strife, and the lack of stable ties with the centers of world civilization.

There were constant movements between the tribes in Siberia; gradually, more and more tribes and clans, weakened in the struggle, adopted the language and customs of their stronger neighbors, merging with them, losing their originality. Assimilation was common in pre-Russian and Russian Siberia. The stronger Siberian tribes and peoples not only assimilated and pushed aside the weaker ones, but also conquered them in order to receive tribute. Almost all Siberian peoples, even those living under a tribal system, had a certain number of slaves captured during armed clashes with their neighbors. Such clashes occurred very often.

Bloody internal (intertribal) strife, destructive inter-tribal wars, robbery, displacement to worse lands and assimilation of some peoples by others - all this has been common in Siberian life since ancient times. Having arrived in Siberia, the Russians could not immediately stop the events, phenomena and processes taking place there, or dramatically change them. But the Russian state quickly became a new, active force in Siberia. Already in the 17th century. it had a decisive influence on the entire course of historical development of the Siberian peoples.

Driving forces of colonization

Russian people could first become acquainted with Siberia at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries. In 1563, a detachment of Volga Cossacks led by Ermak went to Siberia, they marked the beginning of the epic exploration of Siberia. Working people saw “Behind the Stone” as an opportunity to get rid of oppression and need.

What are the reasons for the stubborn advance of the Russians to the east? And why did it become widespread precisely from the end of the 16th century?

The beginning of the development of Siberia by Russian people occurred at the end of the 16th century. not by chance. Until the 16th century The Russian state was mainly supplied with especially valuable furs by the Pechora and Perm lands, but by the middle of the century they were noticeably “industrialized.” At the same time, the demand for expensive furs increased, especially abroad. Russian sable has long been highly valued in many European and Asian countries. From the middle of the 16th century. the possibilities for profitable sales of furs increased sharply, as direct trade links were established with Western Europe through the White Sea, and the inclusion of the entire Volga route into Russia (after the fall of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates) made it possible to export Russian goods directly to the countries of the East.

It is clear that under such conditions, Siberia, with its seemingly unimaginable fur riches, began to attract special attention. “Sable Places” began to attract industrialists and traders. But the strengthening state was also vitally interested in Siberian furs. With increasing power, expenses increased, and certain difficulties were associated with replenishing the treasury. And Siberia, with its natural and geographical conditions, opened up significant prospects for the Russian state.

Another important prerequisite for the development of Siberia was the proximity to the eastern borders of Russia of India and China, trade with which promised huge income to the treasury.

“Behind the Stone” hoped to find deposits of precious metals (gold, silver) that had not yet been found in Russia, but more and more of them were needed. Therefore, the program for the development of Siberia included a strong foothold in its vastness. For this purpose, arable peasants and state-owned artisans were transferred to Siberian cities.

In parallel with the task of developing Siberia, the state tried to solve another one - to get rid of all kinds of restless, politically unreliable people, or at least to remove them from the center of the state. Criminals and participants in popular uprisings began to be willingly exiled to Siberian cities. Exiles made up a noticeable part of the migrants who found themselves beyond the Urals, especially in the least favorable areas for life.

The non-Russian peoples of European Russia were drawn “For the Stone” by the desire for better economic conditions. During the period of the 16th-17th centuries. The situation for the masses was quite difficult: taxes increased, feudal oppression intensified, and serfdom became more and more firmly established. People hoped to get rid of oppression of all kinds in new lands.

The main stream of free migrants consisted of those seeking a better life. Over time, it grew more and more and gradually exceeded the number of those who went to Siberia against their own will. It was he who ultimately led to its firm entry into the Russian state.

Annexation of Siberia to the Russian state

Annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state.

In the second half of the 16th century. The Russian state was overcoming the consequences of feudal fragmentation and was finally formed as a centralized state, covering the lands of the European part of the country with Russian and non-Russian populations. Long-standing ties and communication between the Russian people and the inhabitants of the Trans-Urals, the routes laid to the East by industrial and trading people, prepared the process of annexing the Siberian region to Russia. The beginning of the annexation of the huge Siberian region to the Russian state dates back to the end of the 16th century. , when the resettlement of Russians to the Trans-Urals and its development began, primarily by peasants and artisans. At the beginning of the annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state, its indigenous inhabitants were still at the stage of a primitive communal system, more or less affected by the process of decomposition. Only the so-called Tobolsk Tatars eliminated tribal relations and formed their own primitive statehood - the Siberian Khanate. In the early 60s of the 16th century. (1563) the territory of the Siberian Khanate was captured by Genghisid Kuchum, the capture of the Siberian Khanate in Moscow became known in the summer of the same year, the government led by Ivan IV tried to resolve relations with Kuchum peacefully, at the same time it attracted the richest to the defense of the eastern borders entrepreneurs the Stroganovs, who had estates in the Perm region. In the summer of 1573, open hostile actions by Kuchum began, the Tatars invaded the estates of the Stroganovs. In this situation, the Stroganovs, using the right given to them by the government to recruit military men, formed a hired Cossack detachment. The detachment was commanded by Ataman Ermak Timofeevich. Ermak, having climbed the river. Chusovoy and having crossed the Ural ridge, moved down the rivers of the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains. In the area of ​​the Epanchinsky yurts, the Cossacks, after a three-day battle, defeated the Tatars. From that moment on, moving further and further, Ermak’s Cossacks conquered the Siberian lands. The campaign of this squad played a big role in preparing the process of annexing the territory of the Trans-Urals to the Russian state. He opened up the possibility of widespread economic development of Siberia by the Russians. As a result of the actions of the Cossack squad, an irreparable blow was dealt to Kuchum's dominance in the Siberian Khanate. Kuchum, who fled to the steppe, continued to fight against the Russian state for several more years, but the Siberian Khanate had actually ceased to exist. Some Tatar uluses migrated with Kuchum, but most of the West Siberian Tatars came under the protection of Russia. Russia included the Bashkirs, Mansi, Khanty, who had previously been subject to Kuchum, who lived in the basins of the Tura, Tavda, Tobol and Irtysh rivers, and the Khanty and Mansi population of the left bank of the lower Ob region was finally assigned to Russia.

Thus, the beginning of the annexation and development of Siberia was laid not by government troops, but by people from the people who liberated the Khanty, Mansi, Bashkirs, West Siberian Tatars and others from the yoke of the descendants of the Genghisids. The tsarist government used the victory to extend its power to Siberia.

Since one of the main incentives for Russian colonization of Siberia at the initial stage was fur, the advance went mainly to the taiga and tundra regions of Siberia, the richest in fur-bearing animals. Advancement in this direction was also due to the extremely weak population of the taiga and tundra and the threat of devastating raids on the forest-steppe and steppe regions of Southern Siberia from the nomads of the Kazakh and Mongolian steppes. In the 16th century The most famous road to the Siberian land was the path along the tributary of the Kama river. Vishera. Further through mountain passes the path followed the rivers of the eastern slopes of the Urals - Lozva and Tavda. To develop and strengthen this route, the Lozvinsky town was built. In the tsar’s decrees, the governors newly appointed to Siberia were required to go through Lozva, food supplies and ammunition were transferred through Lozva, the conquerors of Siberia waited there for the start of navigation, and in the spring, when the “ice of the Skroets” descended down the Lozva on boats, plows, planks and ships to Tobolsk, then to Berezov and Surgut, from Surgut upstream the Ob to Narym and the Ketsky fort, from Tobolsk up the Irtysh to Tara, up the Tobol to Tyumen.

At the beginning of 1593, an offensive was launched against the Pelym princeling Ablagirim, who was hostile to Russia. For this purpose, the formation of a detachment began in Cherdyn, the governors of which were appointed N.V. Trakhaniotov and P.I. Gorchakov, Ablagirim’s resistance was broken, the territory under his control became part of Russia. In the summer of 1593, members of the detachment began construction of the Pelymsky town on the banks of the river. Tavdy. Thus, the route between the Lozvinsky town and Tobolsk was secured. The royal order obliged Gorchakov to organize grain production in Siberia in order to reduce the amount of food delivered from the European part of the state to supply service people. Subsequently, until the end of the 17th century. the government steadily demanded from the governors of Siberian cities the creation and expansion of government plowing, increasing the plowing of service people.

In February 1594, a small group of servicemen with governors F.P. was sent from Moscow. Baryatinsky and V. Anichkov to consolidate the lands of the Ob region above the mouth of the Irtysh into Russia. The united detachment headed upstream the Ob to the borders of the Principality of Bardaka. The Khanty prince Bardak voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship and assisted the Russians in building a fortress in the center of the territory under his control on the right bank of the Ob River at the confluence of the Surgutka River. The new city on the Ob became known as Surgut. All Khanty villages in the Ob region above the mouth of the Irtysh became part of the new Surgut district. Surgut became a stronghold of tsarist power in the Ob region in the fight against the alliance of tribes, known in sources as the Piebald Horde.

In 1596, in order to prevent Kuchum's raid in the center of the Piebald Horde, the Narymsky fort was built.

Following the Narymsky fort on the bank of the right tributary of the Ob river. In Keti, the Ket fort was established; with its foundation, representatives of the governors from Surgut and Narym began to collect yasak - (tribute from the local population) from the population of the river basin. Keti, moving east to the Yenisei.

In 1594, to prevent raids by the remnants of Kuchum’s horde on the Irtysh, a Russian fortress was built near the Argarka River, which was called the Tara town. 320 people were left as part of the permanent Tara garrison. The Tara uluses along the Irtysh from Tobolsk to Tara were included in the new Tara district.

At the beginning of the 17th century. The Eushta prince Troyan came to Moscow and asked the government of B. Godunov to take the villages of the Tomsk Tatars in the lower Tomsk region under the protection of the Russian state and build a Russian fortress in their land. For his part, Troyan promised to help the royal administration of the new city in levying yasak on the Turkic-speaking groups neighboring the Tomsk Tatars. In March 1604, a decision was finally made in Moscow to build a city on the banks of the river. Tom, a high mountain cape on the right bank of the Tom was chosen as the site for the construction of a fortified point; by the end of September 1604, construction work was completed and peasants and artisans appeared in Tomsk along with military men. At the beginning of the 17th century. Tomsk was the easternmost city of the Russian state. The adjacent region of the lower reaches of the Tom, the middle Ob and the Chulym region became part of the Tomsk district.

In 1598 in the upper reaches of the river. The tour was set up for the Verkhoturye town, in the construction of which residents of the Lozvinsky town who were transferred to Verkhoturye for permanent residence took part. Due to the cessation of traffic along the old road, the Lozvinsky town was destroyed. With the construction of a new road (from Solikamsk through mountain passes to the upper reaches of the Tura River), Verkhoturye became an area throughout the 17th century. “the main gate to Siberia” through which all official relations between Moscow and the Trans-Urals took place. To ensure the transportation of goods from Verkhoturye to Tyumen in 1600 on the river. Ture founded the Turin fort.

By the beginning of the 17th century. Almost the entire territory of western Siberia from the Gulf of Ob in the north to Tara and Kuznetsk in the south became an integral part of Russia. Russian administrative centers - cities and forts - grew. Many of them became centers of formed counties.

The annexation of Western Siberia to the Russian state was not only a political act. A more significant role in the process of incorporating Siberia into Russia was played by the economic development of the territory by the Russian people, the development of productive forces, and the disclosure of the production capabilities of the region, which is rich in natural resources. By the end of the 17th century. in Western Siberia, the predominant group of Russian residents were no longer service people, but peasants and artisans engaged in production activities. The Gazette of Siberian Cities of 1701 noted in Western Siberia 6442 families of service people, 1944 families of the townspeople and 9342 families of arable, obroch and monastic peasants.

Annexation of Eastern Siberia to the Russian state.

The annexation of the peoples inhabiting Eastern Siberia to Russia occurred mainly during the first half of the 17th century; the outlying territories in the south, east and northeast of Siberia became part of Russia in the second half of the 17th century.

The annexation of Eastern Siberia began from the Yenisei basin, primarily from its northern and northwestern parts. In the second half of the 16th century. Russian industrialists from Pomerania began to penetrate into the Gulf of Ob and further along the river. Taza to the east to the lower reaches of the Yenisei. Commercial entrepreneurship was carried out in various ways, which by the beginning of the 17th century. were already traditional. Industrialists reached the specified area either by sea (through the Yugorsky Shar, the Kara Sea and the Yamal Peninsula), or by the “through-the-stone” route (through the Urals) in its various variants. In 1616-1619. The Russian government, fearing the penetration of ships of English and Dutch companies into the mouth of the Ob, banned the use of the sea route, which, however, did not disrupt fishing ties with the lower reaches of the Ob and Yenisei.

Entire generations of Pomeranian industrialists were successively associated with fur trade in the Yenisei region. In the first decades of the 17th century. Russian industrialists began to vigorously develop areas along the largest eastern tributaries of the Yenisei - the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska, and also move along the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the mouth of the river. Pyasina, to the north-eastern shores of Taimyr. In the first half of the 17th century. Mangazeya industrialists founded on the Yenisei Dubicheskaya Sloboda (1637), Khantayskaya Sloboda, which grew out of a winter hut (1626), settlements in the upper reaches of the Lower Tunguska and other settlements with a permanent population.

Government activities to establish political dominance began only at the turn of the 17th century. In the summer of 1600, from Tobolsk along the Ob and Ob Bay they moved to the mouth of the river. Taza's first governors M.M. Shakhovsky and D. Khripunov, they were defeated in a battle with the local population, but still they managed to gain a foothold in a small fishing town. In 1601, the city of Mangazeya was founded on the banks of the Taz, which became the local administrative center and the most important trade and transshipment point.

By 1607, the Turukhansk and Enbat winter huts were founded on the lower Yenisei, and the yasak regime was extended to most of the Enets and Ostyak clans. After the formation of a permanent garrison (100 servicemen) in Mangazeya in 1625, local authorities created a network of winter tribute huts that covered the entire Mangazeya district and the tribute process in this area was completed. Thus, the territory in question practically became part of the Russian state at the time when the fur trade of Russian industrialists and their economic ties with the local population were already in their prime. As the main fur-trading areas moved eastwards, Mangazeya began to lose its importance as a trade and transshipment point from the 30s and its role passed to the Turukhansk winter quarters in the lower reaches of the Yenisei. The fishing population that settled there concentrated in places convenient for fishing, primarily along the banks of the Yenisei below Turukhansk, populated the lower reaches of Pyasina, Kheta and Khatanga, gradually developing the coastal areas of the Arctic Ocean for permanent residence.

The penetration of Russians into the basin of the middle reaches of the Yenisei began in the 17th century. After the founding of Surgut, Narym, Tomsk and Ketsk, detachments of people went to the Yenisei, the Krasnoyarsk fort was founded there, then the Makovsky and Yenisei forts (1618 and 1619). Thus, the annexation of the aborigines - the Pitsky, Vargagan and Angara Tunguses and Asans, who lived along tributary of the river Angara - r. Taseeva, happened during the 20s of the 17th century. By this time, the Yenisei fort became an important transshipment center for Russian industrialists, and agriculture began to develop around it. In the second half of the 17th century. After the construction of the Kem and Belgian forts in 1669, the basin of the Kemi and Belaya began to be most intensively populated, attracting settlers with “great and grain-bearing” fields, an abundance of mowing and construction “red” forest.

The annexation of the population along the Kan River to the Russian state began immediately after the construction of the Krasnoyarsk fort, but in the fight against the Tuba and Buryat princes, Russian servicemen managed to gain a foothold there only in 1636-1637, when the Kansky fort was built. The construction of the Abakan and Sayan forts (1707 and 1709) finally ensured the safety of the Russian and yasak population of the Yenisei region from Kyrgyz and Dzungar aggression.

The development by Russians of the lower and middle parts of the Yenisei basin was an important stage in the process of annexing the peoples of Siberia who inhabited the river basin to Russia. Lena and Baikal region. The annexation of Yakutia and Buryatia to Russia began almost simultaneously. Russian industrialists first entered Yakutia in the early 20s of the 17th century. from Mangazeya, along the lower Tunguska. Detachments led by A. Dobrynin and M. Vasilyev were sent to develop the Yakut lands; later, detachments of servicemen V. Bugr and I. Galkin passed from Yeniseisk through the Angara to the Lena; in 1631, Galkin reached the Yakut land. For a long time, the Yakut princes resisted the Russian explorers; to replace Galkin, the Streltsy centurion Beketov was sent from Yeniseisk, who built the first fort in Yakutia, the newly arrived Galkin moved the fort from the low-lying bank to a more convenient place, and in 1643, by order of the governor P. Golovin The fort was again moved to Eyukov Meadow. The new fort was named Yakutsk. In 1633, the Yakut and Buryat princes tried to unite against the Russian colonialists and, due to their small numbers, it was difficult for the Russians to establish control over the local population. However, due to the tribal strife of the Yakut peoples and the desire of individual princes to use Russian troops in internecine feuds, some of them switched to side of the Russians. The struggle of service people to annex the Yakut lands to Russia was not as successful as the advancement of Russian industrialists into their economy. Before the official establishment of voivodeship power in Yakutia, the “houses” of the first-class Russian merchants widely expanded their activities on the Lena; the benefits for the local population from contacts with them were the main incentive that accelerated the process of annexing Yakutia to Russia. And in 1641, the first governor, stolnik P.P., arrived in Yakutia. Golovin. The formation of the Yakut Voivodeship completed the initial stage of the process of joining Yakutia to Russia.

In 1633, Russian servicemen and industrialists, led by I. Rebrasov and M. Perfilyev, first went along the Lena to the Arctic Ocean. Following further east by sea, they reached the mouth of the Yana, and then the Indigirka and discovered the Yukagir land. At the same time, a land road was opened through the Verkhoyansk Range to the upper reaches of the Yana and Indigirka (S. Kharitonov, P. Ivanov). Following this, the Verkhoyanskoe (1638) and Nizhneyanskoe (1642) winter quarters arose on the Yana, Podshiverskoe (1639), Uyandinskoe (1642) and Olubenskoe (1641) on Indigirka, Alazeiskoe (1642) on Alazeya. In the 40s, Russian explorers M. Starodukhin and others penetrated into Kolyma and founded the Middle (1643), Nizhne (1644) and Upper Kolyma (1647) winter quarters.

Russian explorers. Ivan Moskvitin.

The advance from the Lena to the east into territories inhabited mainly by Tungus and partly Yakut tribes, and to the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, began during the annexation of Yakutia in the 1630s. For the first time, serviceman Ivan Moskvitin came to the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk with a group of Cossacks who were part of D. Kopylov’s Tomsk detachment.

Cossack service. A native of the Moscow region, Moskvitin began serving no later than 1626 as an ordinary Cossack in the Tomsk prison. He probably took part in the campaigns of Ataman Dmitry Kopylov to the south of Siberia. In the winter of 1636, Kopylov, at the head of a detachment of Cossacks, including Moskvitin, went for booty to the Lena region. They reached Yakutsk in 1637, and in the spring of 1638 they descended the Lena to Aldan and climbed it for five weeks on poles and towlines. On July 28, the Cossacks set up the Butalsky fort, 265 km above the mouth of the Mai River.

To the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. From the Evenks, Kopylov learned about the silver mountain on the lower Amur. The lack of silver in the state forced him in May 1639 to send Moskvitin (now a foreman) with 30 Cossacks to search for the deposit. Six weeks later, having subjugated the entire local population along the way, the explorers reached the Yudoma River (a tributary of the Mai), where, abandoning the plank, they built two kayaks and went up to its source. They overcame an easy pass through the Dzhugdzhur ridge they discovered in a day and ended up on the Ulya River, flowing to the “ocean sea.” Eight days later, their path was blocked by waterfalls and the kayaks had to leave. Having built a boat that could accommodate up to 30 people, they were the first Russians to reach the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The explorers spent the entire journey through unknown terrain a little more than two months, eating “trees, grass and roots.”

On the Ulye River, Moskvitin built the first Russian settlement on the Pacific coast to build a winter hut. From local residents he learned about a densely populated river in the north and, without delaying until spring, went there on October 1 on a river “boat” at the head of a group of 20 Cossacks. Three days later they reached this river, called the Hunt. Moskvitin returned to Ulya two weeks later, taking the amanats. The voyage to the Hunt on a fragile boat proved the need to build a more reliable sea vessel. In the winter of 1639-40, the Cossacks built two 17-meter kochas, and the history of the Russian Pacific Fleet began with them.

To the shores of Sakhalin. In November 1639 and April 1640, explorers repelled the attack of two large groups of Evens (600 and 900 people). From a prisoner, Moskvitin learned about the southern river "Mamur" (Amur), at the mouth of which and on the islands live "sedentary Gilyaks" (sedentary Nivkhs). In the summer, the Cossacks sailed south, taking a prisoner as a “vozha” (guide). They followed along the entire western coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the Uda Bay and entered the mouth of the Uda. Here, from local residents, Moskvitin received new information about the Amur, as well as the first information about the Nivkhs, Nanais and “bearded people” (Ainu). The Moskvitians headed east, went around the Shantar Islands from the south and, passing into the Sakhalin Gulf, visited the northwestern coast of Sakhalin Island.

Moskvitin apparently managed to visit the Amur Estuary and the mouth of the Amur. But the food was already running out, and the Cossacks turned back. Stormy autumn weather did not allow them to reach Ulya, and they spent the winter at the mouth of the Aldoma River, 300 km south of Ulya. And in the spring of 1641, having again crossed Dzhugdzhur, Moskvitin went to Maya and in the summer arrived in Yakutsk with “sable” booty. The results of the campaign were significant: the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk for 1300 km, Udskaya Bay, Sakhalin Bay, Amur Estuary, the mouth of the Amur and Sakhalin Island were discovered.

To develop the Far Eastern region he discovered, Moskvitin recommended sending at least a thousand well-armed archers with ten cannons. The materials collected by Moskvitin were used by Kurbat Ivanov to compile the first map of the Far East in March 1642. In 1642 Moskvitin appeared again in Tomsk. Having visited the capital, he returned to Tomsk in the summer of 1647 with the rank of Cossack ataman. His further fate is unknown.

Semyon Dezhnev.

Dezhnev Semyon Ivanovich (c. 1605-73), Russian explorer. In 1648, together with F.A. Popov (Fedot Alekseev), he sailed from the mouth of the Kolyma to the Pacific Ocean, rounded the Chukotka Peninsula, opening the strait between Asia and America.

Cossack service. Dezhnev, a native of Pomor peasants, began his Siberian service as an ordinary Cossack in Tobolsk. In the early 1640s. with a detachment of Cossacks he moved to Yeniseisk, then to Yakutsk. He served in the detachment of Dmitry Zyryan (Yarily) in the Yana basin. In 1641, having received an appointment to Mikhail Stadukhin’s detachment, Dezhnev and the Cossacks reached the fort on the Oymyakon River. Here they were attacked by almost 500 Evens, from whom they fought back together with yasaks, Tungus and Yakuts. In search of “new lands,” Dezhnev and Stadukhin’s detachment in the summer of 1643 descended on a koch to the mouth of the Indigirka River, crossed by sea to the lower reaches of Alazeya, where they met Zyryan’s koch. Dezhnev managed to unite both groups of explorers, and they sailed east on two ships.

In search of "new lands". In the Kolyma delta, the Cossacks were attacked by the Yukaghirs, but they broke through up the river and set up a fort in the area of ​​modern Srednekolymsk. Dezhnev served in Kolyma until the summer of 1647, and then was included as a yasak collector in the fishing expedition of Fedot Popov. In the summer of 1648, Popov and Dezhnev went to sea on seven boats.

According to the widespread version, only three ships reached the Bering Strait; the rest were caught in a storm. In the fall, another storm in the Bering Sea separated the two remaining Kochas. Dezhnev and 25 companions were thrown back to the Olyutorsky Peninsula, and only 10 weeks later, having lost half of the explorers, they reached the lower reaches of Anadyr. According to Dezhnev himself, six out of seven ships passed through the Bering Strait, and five kochs, including Popov’s ship, died in the Bering Sea or in the Gulf of Anadyr during “bad weather at sea.”

Dezhnev and his squad, having overcome the Koryak Highlands, “cold and hungry, naked and barefoot,” reached the shore of Anadyr. Of those who went in search of the camps, only three returned; The Cossacks barely survived the harsh winter of 1648-49, having built river vessels before the ice broke up. In the summer, having climbed 600 km, Dezhnev founded a tribute winter hut, where in the spring the detachments of Semyon Motors and Stadukhin came. Led by Dezhnev, they tried to reach the Penzhina River, but, without a guide, they wandered in the mountains for three weeks.

Difficult everyday life of explorers. In late autumn, Dezhnev sent people to the mouth of the Anadyr for food. But Stadukhin robbed and beat the harvesters, and he himself went to Penzhina. The Dezhnevites held out until spring, and in the summer and autumn they took up the food problem and exploration of “sable places”. In the summer of 1652, they discovered a huge walrus rookery on the shallows of the Gulf of Anadyr, dotted with walrus tusks ("frozen tooth").

Last years of life. In 1660, Dezhnev with a cargo of “bone treasury” moved by land to the Kolyma, and from there by sea to the lower Lena. After wintering in Zhigansk, he reached Moscow through Yakutsk in the fall of 1664. Here a full settlement was made with him: for his service and fishing of 289 poods (just over 4.6 tons) of walrus tusks worth 17,340 rubles, Dezhnev received 126 rubles and the rank of Cossack chieftain. Appointed as a clerk, he continued to collect yasak on the Olenek, Yana and Vilyui rivers. During his second visit to Moscow in 1671, he delivered the sable treasury, but fell ill and died in the beginning. 1673.

During his 40 years in Siberia, Dezhnev took part in numerous battles and skirmishes and received at least 13 wounds. He was distinguished by reliability and honesty, self-control and peacefulness. Dezhnev was married twice, and both times to Yakut women, from whom he had three sons (one adopted). His name is given to: the cape, which is the extreme northeastern tip of Asia (called Big Stone Nose by Dezhnev), as well as an island, a bay, a peninsula, and a village. A monument to him was erected in the center of Veliky Ustyug in 1972.

Poyarkov Vasily Danilovich

The exact years of his life are unknown. Explorer and navigator, explorer of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, discoverer of the Lower Amur, Amur Estuary and the southwestern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, “written head”.

In June 1643, at the head of a military detachment of 133 people, he set out from Yakutsk on a campaign to the Amur to collect tribute and annex the lands lying to the east up to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The detachment went down the Lena to Aldan, then climbed up it to the rapids (discovering the Uchur and Golan rivers along the way). He left ships with some of the people here for the winter, crossed the watershed lightly on skis with a detachment of 90 people, discovered the Zeya River and wintered in its upper reaches at the mouth of the Umlekan River.

In the spring of 1644, ships were dragged there, on which the detachment went down the Zeya and Amur to its mouth, where they again spent the winter. From the Amur Nivkhs they received valuable information about Sakhalin and the ice regime in the strait separating the island from the mainland.

In the spring of 1645, having attached additional sides to the river planks, the detachment entered the Amur Lebanon and, moving along the shore of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the north, reached the Ulya River. He spent his third winter there. In the early spring of 1646, he rode up the river on a sled, crossed the watershed and returned to Yakutsk along the rivers of the Lena basin.

Subsequently he served in Yakutsk, Tobolsk and Kurgan Sloboda in the Urals. A mountain on the island of Sakhalin and a village in the Amur region are named after Poyarkov.

Erofey Pavlovich Khabarov

Everyone who comes to Khabarovsk is greeted on the station square by a monument to a hero in armor and a Cossack hat. Raised on a high granite pedestal, it seems to personify the courage and greatness of our ancestors. This is Erofey Pavlovich Khabarov.

The work started by Poyarkov was continued by Erofey Pavlovich Khabarov-Svyatitsky, a peasant from Veliky Ustyug. It is known that in his youth Khabarov went to the Taimyr Peninsula to hunt fur animals; then he was engaged in salt production in Soli-Vychegodskaya (now the city of Solvychegodsk, Arkhangelsk region). In 1632, leaving his family, he arrived on the Lena River, where he was engaged in the fur trade for about seven years. In 1639, Khabarov settled at the mouth of Kuta, sowed a plot of land, began trading in bread, salt and other goods, and in the spring of 1641 he moved to the mouth of Kirenga, plowed sixty acres of land and built a mill. But his main wealth was his salt pan.

But Khabarov did not flourish for long. Voivode Peter Golovin considered the tenth of the harvest that Khabarov had given him by agreement to be too small - he demanded twice as much, and then took all the land, all the bread and the salt pan, and put the owner himself in prison in the Yakutsk fort, from which Khabarov was released at the end of 1645 year "goal like a falcon".

But, fortunately for him, Golovin was replaced by another governor in 1648 - Dmitry Andreevich Frantsbekov. Having learned about Poyarkov's successful campaign, Khabarov began to ask the new governor to equip a strong detachment in the Daurian lands.

Frantsbekov agreed to send a detachment of Cossacks and gave Khabarova credit for government-issued military equipment and weapons, agricultural implements, and from his personal funds he gave money at interest to all participants in the campaign. Sending Khabarov, the governor gave him an order - to summon the Daurian princes Lavkay and Batoga “under the high sovereign’s hand.”

In the fall of 1649, Khabarov and his detachment left Yakutsk.

He moved along the Olekma and Lena to the south - as close as possible to the upper reaches of the tributaries of the Amur, intending to reach the Amur, either by water or by drag.

It was very difficult to go against the current of the fast Olekma with its seething rapids. When the first pre-winter cold caught them, Khabarov stopped the detachment somewhere near the Tungir, the right tributary of the Olekma.

Here they cut down a fort, sat for a while, and in January 1650 they moved further south, up the Tungir. On sledges they crossed the spurs of Olekminsky Stanovik and in the spring of 1650 they reached the Urka River, the first tributary of the Amur on their way. The Daurs, who already knew that nothing good could be expected from the newcomers, left the city, surrounded by a moat and a palisade with fortress towers, where the Daurian prince Lavkai ruled. There were hundreds of houses there - each for 50 or more people, bright, with wide windows covered with oiled paper. The Russians found large grain reserves in the pits. From here Khabarov went down the Amur.

Lavkay himself suddenly appeared with his retinue. Khabarov immediately offered to pay him yasak, for which he promised royal protection and patronage. The prince, asking for time to think, left.

In one of the abandoned towns, the Russians met an old woman, Daurka. She reported that Lavkay fled from the banks of the Amur on 2,500 horses. She also told about the “Khin Land,” as China was then called: on the other side of the Amur, large ships with goods sailed along the rivers; the local ruler has an army equipped with cannons and firearms. Then Khabarov left about 50 people in the “Lavkaev town” and on May 26, 1650 returned to Yakutsk. He hoped that with reinforcements he would be able to move on.

Khabarov returned from his first campaign without any spoils, but he brought a drawing of the Daurian land - the first map of the region. This drawing became one of the main sources when creating maps of Siberia in 1667 and 1672. His notes, compiled during the campaign, spoke about the riches of Dauria - about its generous lands, about fur-bearing animals and about the abundance of fish in the Amur. Frantsbekov was able to evaluate the information obtained and immediately sent the Khabarovsk drawing, along with a lengthy report, to Moscow.

In Yakutsk, Khabarov began recruiting volunteers, spreading exaggerated information about the wealth of Dauria. There were 110 “willing” people. Franzbekov provided 27 “servants” with three cannons, with a supply of lead and gunpowder. Together with those who had gone to the Amur before, there were about 160 people. With this detachment, Khabarov again set out from Yakutsk in the middle of the summer of 1650.

In the autumn, following a familiar road, he reached the Amur.

Khabarov found the Cossacks he had left behind below the Amur near the fortified town of Albazin. Relying on Albazin, Khabarov attacked nearby villages that had not yet been abandoned by the Daurs.

Having sent part of the detachment with tribute to Yakutsk, in the winter Khabarov built planks, and in the spring he moved down the Amur. A few days later the Russians sailed to the town of Prince Gaigudar. The fortification consisted of three earthen towns connected by a wall and was surrounded by two ditches. Under the towers there were crawl spaces through which a horseman could ride. All the villages around this fortification were burned, and the inhabitants took refuge in the fortress.

Khabarov, through an interpreter, persuaded Gaigudar to pay yasak to the Russian sovereign, but the prince refused. After the shelling, the Cossacks took the town by storm, killing up to 600 people. A detachment of explorers stood there for several weeks, and then sailed further down the Amur.

From the mouth of the Bureya began the lands inhabited by the Goguls, a people related to the Manchus. They lived scatteredly, in small villages, and could not resist the Cossacks. The plowed duchers, who had earlier destroyed part of Poyarkov’s detachment, offered little resistance - the Khabarovsk people were more numerous and better armed.

At the end of September, the expedition reached the land of the Nanai, and Khabarov stopped in their large village. He sent half of the Cossacks up the river for fish. Then the Nanais, uniting with the Duchers, attacked the Russians on October 8, but were defeated and retreated, losing more than 100 people killed. The losses of the Cossacks were negligible. Khabarov fortified the village and stayed there for the winter. From here, from the Achansky prison, the Russians raided the Nanais and collected yasak.

In March 1652, they defeated a large Manchu detachment (about 1000 people), who were trying to take the fort by storm.

However, Khabarov understood that with his small army it was impossible to take control of the country; in the spring, as soon as the Amur opened, he left the Achansky fort and sailed on ships against the current.

In the Gilyatsky land, Khabarov met a new winter, and in the spring of 1653 he returned to Zeya, settled down and began sending detachments up and down the Amur to collect yasak. The entire left bank of the Amur was deserted: by order of the Manchu authorities, the inhabitants moved to the right bank.

At that time, he could not even imagine how the fame of his conquests and the untold riches of the Daurian land spread. Dispatches went from Yakutsk to Moscow, from which it followed that without military force it would be impossible to keep such a vast land in obedience. It was decided to establish a new one - the Daurian Voivodeship, but in the meantime, the Moscow nobleman Dmitry Zinoviev was sent from the Siberian Prikaz to prepare all matters. In August 1653, with a detachment of 150 Cossacks, he came to Zeya and presented the royal decree to Khabarov, ordering him, Zinoviev, “to inspect the entire Daurian land and to take charge of him, Khabarov.” And then, without delaying such an important matter, he tore Khabarov’s beard and, based on the slander of the offended and dissatisfied, organized an inquiry.

Erofey Khabarov was distinguished by a tough disposition, so the petitions that Zinoviev received spoke of various oppressions and that Khabarov “did not care about the matter, but did it with his money.” Zinoviev arrested him, took his property and sent him to Moscow.

In Moscow, in the Siberian order, they ordered Khabarov’s things to be returned. He wrote a petition to the tsar, where he remembered everything - the bread taken away by Golovin, and the chervonets awarded, which never reached him, that he “brought four lands under the sovereign’s hand,” that it was not so simple all this, but “his blood he shed and suffered wounds" - and for those hardships the tsar granted him a status as a boyar child and appointed him the manager of the Lena villages from Ust-Kuti to the Chechuysky portage. However, Khabarov was not allowed into the Daurian lands, even though he asked - “for city and prison supplies and for settlements and grain plowing.” Apparently, he still had a lot of strength left in him, since he expected to take on such work. And then he disappeared. Since then nothing has been known about him.

It is unknown when and where Erofey Pavlovich Khabarov, one of the first explorers of the Amur, died, but his descendants preserved his name: the largest city on the Amur - the center of the Khabarovsk Territory - is called Khabarovsk. Where the Great Siberian Railway crosses the Urka River, along which the great explorer sailed to the Amur, there is a station called Erofey Pavlovich

The significance of the entry of the peoples of Siberia into the Russian state.

Undoubtedly, the role of Russia in terms of the socio-economic development of the peoples of Siberia was great, but the development of Siberian lands and colonization were of great importance for the Russian state.

The collection of yasak from a huge number of the Siberian population in the form of furs made it possible to significantly enrich the Russian treasury; in addition to furs, minerals and timber, so necessary for the Russian economy, were supplied to the center of Russia.

With the increasing growth of Siberian settlements, demands for industrial goods, in particular clothing and fabrics, grew, which gave a new impetus to the development of trade relations; Russian goods were imported into Siberia, and Siberian goods (mainly furs) were exported from Siberia.

But no matter how large the operations for supplying goods to Siberia were, they could not, for many reasons, satisfy the needs of the population. Therefore, in Siberia, the process of intensifying various types of production, agriculture, construction begins, and taking into account the specific natural, geographical and national characteristics, new methods of management were developed, the use of which had a positive effect on the economic development of Russia as a whole.

Since the main routes of communication in Siberia throughout the 17th century. Since there were waterways and the transfer of heavy cargo was carried out exclusively along them, the need to provide waterways with river and, in some areas, naval fleets caused the rapid development of shipbuilding. Each river system had its own fleet and personnel specializing in shipbuilding. Which undoubtedly gave many advantages to the Russian state.

The development of Siberia and the need for rational use of its resources contributed to the rapid growth of specialization in various areas of production - leatherworking, woodworking and metalworking production, which indicates the production of goods not only for their own needs, but also to order or for the market.

Along with the development of crafts and industries, a mining industry is also beginning to be created in Siberia. The extraction of self-planted salt begins in Western Siberia, and enterprises and manufactories producing salt are formed.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. In Siberia, the mining of metal ores and smelting of metals begins, and on the basis of these discoveries, the local iron ore industry develops. The extraction of salt and metals developed in the places of their birth, and these deposits, as a rule. They did not coincide with urban settlements. These industries were serviced by the surrounding peasantry. Some peasants act as entrepreneurs. This suggests that previously poor people in central Russia now have the opportunity to get not only a job, but also to realize their abilities.

At the same time, there is a layer of specialists, that is, those who gave up farming, for example, at the Ust-Kut salt plant there were salt workers with an annual salary of 30 rubles, blacksmiths who repaired and forged tsrens, and hired woodcutters. Industrial personnel were formed.

With the increase in the production of goods for the market, enlarged production is created using hired force. The material basis for the transformation of small crafts into larger production was the combination of crafts and trade.

Trade operations in Siberia developed in various directions: one direction was associated with the formation of local Siberian connections, the other with the establishment of trade relations with European Russia.

Economic ties between Siberia and the European part of Russia gradually included Siberia in the emerging all-Russian market, making Siberia an integral part of Russia.

The noted phenomena, along with the creation of Siberian arable farming, mean a decisive step in the development of the productive forces of Siberia. At the same time, they were the basis for the economic rapprochement of previously largely isolated regions and made Siberia a participant in the economic life of Russia as a whole.

It should also be noted that the annexation of Siberia not only significantly expanded the borders of Russia, but also changed its political status - from the 16th-17th centuries. Russia has become a multinational state.

Conclusion:

The feat of the Russian people in the development of the unruly Siberian expanses is very difficult to overestimate, just as it is impossible to deny the positive impact of the annexation of the peoples of Siberia to Russia both for European Russia and for the Siberian peoples. The interpenetration and complementation of the economy, culture, religions of the peoples of central Russia and the Siberian population allowed the formation of a unique flavor in Russia, and the heroism, fortitude and physical endurance of the Russian people gave rise to myths about the mysterious Russian character.

But, studying this topic, you think not only about the significance of the colonization of Siberia in the all-Russian framework today, but also about how this happened then, in the 16th-17th centuries. in each specific locality, with each specific nationality.

To do this, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of colonization and development.

The development of territories means its conquest with the right of the population living there to their autonomous development, while colonization implies the conquest of a territory in order to use its resources and population to replenish the national wealth of the conquering people.

What happened in Siberia? Of course, colonization.

And if colonization, could the imposition of someone else’s will, the will of Russia, be unconditionally accepted by the conquered peoples? Probably not.

Was the annexation of the Siberian peoples to Russia voluntary or forced? This question is still being asked by historians.

It’s no secret that Russian expeditions often simply barbarously plundered the local population and burned rebellious villages and towns. The possibility of large and fairly easy profit turned the heads of many; groups of people often fought off the Cossack detachments sent by royal decree with the sole purpose of enriching themselves at any cost.

The governors appointed by the sovereign to rule in the districts and forts exceeded their authority, abused their power, took concubines from the local population and cruelly punished them for disobedience.

For example, documents testify to the massacre committed by Khabarov in a captured native camp. Residents from other cities assured the ataman that they were ready and would pay yasak to the Russian Tsar, but he “ordered the men to be drowned and their wives and children to be purged,” that is, to be divided among the serving people. Among those captured was the wife of the local prince Shilginei, whom Khabarov wanted to make his concubine. She resisted, and the chieftain ordered to strangle her. He killed almost all the hostages with a whip. The report to Moscow included news that many residents had taken their own lives. (from an article by N.P. Chulkov about Khabarov in the magazine “Russian Archive” 1898, book 1, p. 177-190)

In my opinion, this is where the origins of central Russia’s somewhat dismissive and consumerist attitude towards Siberia lie. Siberia and the Far East can even now be called a colony of Russia; resources continue to be pumped out of them without proper restoration and economic exchange beneficial to Siberia, hence the very low standard of living.

“Siberians are in poverty. In many Siberian regions people are starving. And for some it’s all a blessing. How could it happen that the average per capita income of a Siberian is ten times lower than, for example, in Moscow and the Moscow region. Although here, as I understand it, people are far from fattening. But why, even in the Oryol, Ryazan and other regions, do people live, although they are also poor, but still better?” from the speech of Vitaly VishnYakov, a member of the Federation Council from the Chita Regional Duma in “RF Today” (No. 20 for 2000),

In addition to the function of raw materials, Siberia carries within itself a powerful intellectual potential; it is here that such major scientific, cultural and production centers operate as Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk, Yakutsk, the developments of which are used throughout Russia.

Due to its sparse population, Siberia, so to speak, is the future genetic fund of Russia, because nature itself instills in the Siberian resilience, health, and unpretentiousness. However, harsh climatic conditions reduce average life expectancy, and healthcare in Siberia has practically collapsed due to meager budget funding.

Currently, the Baikal Forum is developing a strategy for the development of Siberia within the framework of the economic development of Russia; its purpose is to demonstrate the intellectual, resource and production capabilities of Siberia and the Far East and to develop practical methods for rational environmental management, development of energy, transport, information infrastructure and human potential of Russia in interaction with states Asia-Pacific region.

It is important to realize that Russia without Siberia is not Russia. And only a careful and comprehensive approach to all the socio-economic problems of Siberia and the Far East will make it possible to make the region in which we were lucky to be born a life-giving source for many generations.

Bibliography

1. Explorers. Historical stories about outstanding explorers and navigators of the Far East of the 17th-18th centuries. Khabarovsk book publishing house. 1976

2. Daniil Romanenko. Erofey Khabarov. Novel. Khabarovsk book publishing house.

3. History of Siberia from ancient times to the present day in five volumes. Volume two. Siberia as part of feudal Russia. Publishing house "Science". Leningrad branch. Leningrad. 1968

4. Amur is a river of exploits. Fictional and documentary stories about the Amur land, its pioneers, defenders and transformers. Khabarovsk book publishing house. 1970

5. Round table. "RF Today". Magazine. №20 2000

At one time, the great Russian writer F. M. Dostoevsky said that the French have a love of grace, the Spaniards have jealousy, the Germans have accuracy, the English have meticulousness, and Russians are strong in their ability to understand and accept other peoples. And indeed, Russians understand Europeans much better than they understand Russians. As for the 16th-17th centuries, the development of Siberia by Russian people took place in full accordance with the understanding of the unique way of life of the local peoples. Therefore, the ethnic diversity of Russia has become even richer.

The process of advancement of the Russian population to the east began in the 16th century, when the borders of the Muscovite kingdom reached the Urals. It was divided by the Kama River into two parts - the northern forest zone and the southern steppe zone. The Nogai and Bashkirs roamed the steppes, and in the north, trading posts began to form - commercial and industrial settlements. Here the Stroganov family took the initiative.

Development of Siberia by Cossacks and Great Russians in the 16th-17th centuries

The Blue Horde posed a serious threat to Russian settlements. It occupied a vast territory from Tyumen to Mangyshlak. In the 70s of the 16th century, individual clashes between the Stroganovs and the Tatar Khan Kuchum escalated into open war.

To protect their possessions, industrialists recruited Cossack detachments, as well as detachments from other military men. In 1581, the Stroganovs hired a detachment led by Ataman Ermak. He was sent to Siberia for the war with Kuchum.

The detachment was staffed by a variety of people. It included Great Russians, Cossacks, as well as Lithuanians, Tatars, and Germans. The number of the detachment was 800 people. Of these, there were 500 Cossacks, and the rest of the military people were 300.

As for the Great Russians, they were mainly residents of Veliky Ustyug. In principle, each detachment sent to Siberia consisted of Cossacks (the main core) and Ustyuzhans. This formation was called a gang, and the people themselves were called explorers.

Cossacks and Ustyugans moved shoulder to shoulder through uninhabited and wild places, dragged boats over rapids, shared all the hardships and hardships of the journey, but at the same time remembered which of them was a Great Russian and which a Cossack. This difference between these people remained until the first decades of the 20th century.

Ermak with his squad

Ermak's campaign in 1581 was very successful, despite the small number of the detachment. Military men captured the capital of Khan Kuchum, the city of Isker. After this, the Stroganovs sent a letter to Moscow announcing the annexation of Siberian lands to the Moscow kingdom. The Tsar immediately sent two governors to Siberia: Glukhov and Bolkhovsky. They met Ermak in 1583.

However, the war with Kuchum continued. Moreover, it went with varying degrees of success. In 1583, the Tatar Khan dealt a sensitive blow to the Cossacks. At the same time, Ermak died, and the warlike Kuchum again occupied his capital. But the Russian advance to the east has already become an irreversible process. The Tatars were forced to retreat to the Barabinsk steppe and from there continued to disturb Russian possessions with their raids.

In 1591, an army under the command of Prince Koltsov-Mosalsky dealt a crushing blow to the last Siberian Khan Kuchum. He turned to the Moscow Tsar with a request to return the taken lands to him, promising in return complete loyalty and submission. Thus ended the story of the Blue Horde.

The question arises, why Kuchum was not supported by such steppe peoples as the Oirats and Kazakhs in the fight against the Russians? This is apparently explained by the fact that the Buddhist Oirats and Muslim Kazakhs were busy with their own internecine wars. In addition, Russian explorers moved east through the Siberian forests and did not pose a serious threat to the steppe inhabitants.

As for the peoples of northern Siberia, which included the Khanty, Mansi, Evenks, and Nenets, there was no struggle here either. This can only be explained by the fact that the Russian people did not give rise to conflicts, since they behaved not like aggressors and invaders, but like friends.

Thanks to a peaceful policy, Russian cities began to appear in Siberia already at the end of the 16th century. In 1585, at the mouth of the Irtysh, the governor Mansurov founded the first fort. And behind it appeared Narym, Tyumen, Tara, Tobolsk, Surgut, Pelym, Berezov.

Development of Siberia in the 17th century

After the Time of Troubles, which shook the Russian land at the beginning of the 17th century, the development of Siberia resumed. In 1621, the Tobolsk Orthodox Diocese was created. This consolidated the position of the Orthodox Church in the reclaimed lands.

From Western Siberia further east, Russian discoverers moved in two ways. The Ustyuzhans walked through Mangazeya in a northeast direction. The Cossacks, in turn, headed to Transbaikalia. In 1625 they met the Buryats.

Moving east, Russian people built forts

In the 30s, explorers developed the Lena River basin. And in the first half of the 17th century, cities such as Yeniseisk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, and Yakutsk were founded. This was the best indicator of the development of new lands. And already in the next decade, Russian people reached the eastern borders of Eurasia. In 1645, the expedition of V.D. Poyarkov descended the Amur and reached the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In 1648-1649, Erofey Khabarov and his people passed the middle course of the Amur.

Moving east, the explorers practically did not encounter any serious organized resistance from the local population. The only exception is the clashes between the Cossacks and the Manchus. They happened in the 80s on the border with China.

The Cossacks reached the Amur and in 1686 built the Albazin fortress. However, the Manchus did not like this. They besieged a fort, the garrison of which numbered several hundred people. The besieged, seeing a well-armed army of thousands in front of them, surrendered and left the fortress. The Manchus immediately destroyed it. But the stubborn Cossacks already in 1688 built a new, well-fortified fort in the same place. The Manchus failed to take it again. The Russians themselves left it in 1689 according to the Treaty of Nerchinsk.

How did the Russians manage to develop Siberia so quickly?

So, in just 100 years, starting from Ermak’s campaign in 1581-1583 and before the war with the Manchus in 1687-1689, the Russian people mastered vast areas from the Urals to the Pacific coast. Russia, with virtually no problems, gained a foothold in these vast lands. Why did everything happen so easily and painlessly?

Firstly, the royal commanders followed the explorers. They unwittingly encouraged the Cossacks and Great Russians to go further and further to the east. The governors also smoothed out individual outbursts of harshness that the Cossacks showed towards the local population.

Secondly, while exploring Siberia, our ancestors found in these parts a feeding landscape familiar to them. These are river valleys. The Russians lived along the banks of the Volga, Dnieper, and Oka for a thousand years. Therefore, they began to live in the same way along the banks of Siberian rivers. These are the Angara, Irtysh, Yenisei, Ob, Lena.

Third, Russian settlers, due to their mentality, very easily and quickly established fruitful contacts with local peoples. Conflicts almost never arose. And if there were any disagreements, they were quickly settled. As for national hatred, such a phenomenon did not exist at all.

The only thing the Russians introduced for the local population was yasak. This meant a tax on furs. But it was negligible and amounted to no more than 2 sables per hunter per year. The tax was seen as a gift to the “white king”. Taking into account the huge fur resources, such a tribute to the local residents was not at all a burden. In return, they received guarantees from the Moscow government to protect life and property.

No voivode had the right to execute a foreigner, regardless of the severity of his crimes. The case was sent to Moscow. There he was examined, but not a single death sentence was ever imposed against the local Aborigines. Here we can give an example with the Buryat lama. He called for an uprising to expel the Russians from Transbaikalia and transfer the land to the Manchus. The troublemaker was arrested and sent to Moscow, where all his sins were forgiven and pardoned.

In just 100 years, Russian explorers developed a vast territory from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean

After the power of the Moscow Tsar extended to Siberia, the life of the local population did not change in any way. No one tried to turn the local aborigines into Russians. It was just the opposite. The same Yakuts turned out to be very close to the explorers in their way of life. Therefore, the Great Russians learned the Yakut language, mastered local customs and became closer to the Yakuts than the Yakuts were to them.

As for religion, the local residents observed their pagan rituals without any problems. Christianity, naturally, was preached to them, but no one forcibly implanted it. In this regard, the ministers of the Orthodox Church took a position of non-interference, respecting the will of the people.

In a word, the development of Siberia was absolutely painless for its indigenous inhabitants. The newly arrived Cossacks and Great Russians found a common language with the local population and settled down well in the eastern lands. The ancestors of both live there to this day and feel quite comfortable and happy.

Conclusion

Over the course of several decades, the Russian people have mastered vast areas in the eastern part of Eurasia. In the new territories, the Muscovite kingdom pursued a peaceful and friendly policy towards the local population. This was radically different from the policies of the Spanish and British towards the American Indians. Had nothing to do with the slave trade practiced by the French and Portuguese. There was nothing like the exploitation of the Javanese by the Dutch merchants. But at the time when these unsightly acts were carried out, Europeans had already experienced the Enlightened Age and were extremely proud of their civilized world.

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.

During the 17th century, the vast Siberian region, sparsely populated by indigenous people, was crossed by Russian explorers “meeting the sun” to the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and firmly established as part of Russia. The Moscow authorities paid close attention to the topic of settling Siberia.

The northern and eastern borders of the Russian state within Siberia almost coincided with the natural geographical borders of the northern part of the Asian continent.

The situation was different in the southern regions of Siberia. Russian advance to the south in the 17th century. faced a counter-offensive by the Manchu, Mongol and Dzungar feudal lords and was suspended.

From the beginning of the 18th century, after the removal of part of the Yenisei Kyrgyz and Teleuts by the Dzungar rulers to the south to the Ili River valley, Russian settlement of the Yenisei basin south of Krasnoyarsk, Northern Altai and the Upper Ob region began. In the 18th century Russian settlement primarily covered the southern Siberian lands. What was this settlement of Siberia like? The term settlement does not mean at all that there were no inhabitants there, and does not at all exclude that part of the local population was of Slavic origin. There was a resettlement of people from the western part of the country to the eastern - this is what this settlement consisted of in the first place. So, to put it more precisely, it is a history of development, not settlement.

Russian geopolitics in the region was that the tsarist government tried to avoid all kinds of conflicts and military clashes here. It tried to establish regular trade relations with the Kazakhs, Dzungaria, China, Central Asian states and even India. At the same time, the southern borders were strengthened by building systems of fortresses.

Creation of defensive lines

The creation of a line of Irtysh fortresses further contributed to the settlement of forest-steppe regions by Russians. From the taiga districts, unfavorable in terms of climatic conditions for arable farming, developed by Russian farmers back in the 17th century, the resettlement of peasants to the forest-steppe began. Villages appear near the Omsk fortress, where peasants from the Tyumen district moved. Omskaya and Chernolutskaya settlements, the villages of Bolshaya Kulachinskaya, Malaya Kulachinskaya, Krasnoyarskaya, and Miletina arise here.

In the 30s of the 18th century. West of the Irtysh, the Ishim fortified line was formed. It included up to 60 fortified villages. It began at the Chernolutsk fortress (slightly lower than the Omsk fortress), went to the Bolsheretskaya fortress, the Zudilovsky fortress, the Korkinskaya settlement (Ishim), the fortresses of Ust-Lamenskaya and Omutnaya, then passed south of Kurgan to the Lebyazhy fortress.

The territory of the forest-steppe lying south of the Ishim line to the river. Kamyshlova and bitter-salty lakes, remained in the 30s of the 18th century. not inhabited by anyone. Only occasionally did Tatar trappers, Russian hunters, peasants and Cossacks appear here, coming for hunting and fishing. By the middle of the 18th century. north of the river Russian villages appeared in Kamyshlova and the bitter-salty lakes.

After the death of the Dzungarian ruler Galdan-Tseren in 1745, a struggle broke out in Dzungaria between separate groups of feudal lords. The aggravation of the internal political situation in the Khanate led to the movement of the nomadic noyons and their attack on the Kazakh cattle breeders, who were pushed north into the Ishim and Irtysh steppes. Events in Dzungaria and information about the preparation of a military campaign in Dzungaria by the Manchu feudal lords encouraged the tsarist government to strengthen the defense of the Siberian borders.

In 1745, the Russian government transferred regular military units (two infantry and three cavalry regiments) under the command of Major General Kinderman to the Siberian line. By decree of the Senate, in 1752, construction began on a new line of fortifications, called Presnogorkovskaya, or Gorka, which was completed in 1755. The line began from the Omsk fortress on the Irtysh, went west through the Pokrovskaya, Nikolaevskaya, Lebyazhya, Poludennaya, Petropavlovskaya fortresses , Skopinskaya, Stanovaya, Presnovskaya, Kabanya, Presnogorkovskaya to Zverinogolovskaya. With the construction of the Presnogorkovskaya line, the Ishimskaya line located to the north lost its importance.

The huge forest-steppe region between the old Ishim and Presnogorkovskaya lines along Ishim, Vagai and Tobol, favorable for arable farming, began to be actively populated and developed by Russian farmers. Already by the middle of the 18th century. There was an intensive resettlement of peasants to the Presnogorkovskaya line from the regions of Tobolsk, Tyumen and other territories. Only in 1752, over 1000 peasants of the Tobolsk, Ishim and Krasnoslobodsky districts declared their desire to move to the area of ​​the line.

Development of Siberia

In the development of Siberia by the Russians, free popular spontaneous settlement and resettlement by “sovereign decrees” were closely intertwined. The local population was either directly conquered or voluntarily became part of the Russian state, hoping to find protection from warlike neighbors.

Russian people became acquainted with the Trans-Urals at the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, but mass settlement from European Russia to the east began at the end of the 16th century, after the campaign against the Siberian Khan Kuchum of the Cossack squad led by Ataman Ermak Timofeevich. In October 1582, the detachment occupied the capital of the Khanate, Siberia (Kashlyk, Isker). Ermak’s campaign (he himself died in one of the skirmishes) dealt a mortal blow to Kuchumov’s “kingdom”: it could no longer successfully resist the tsarist troops, who, having included Ermak’s surviving comrades-in-arms, moved along the paved path. in 1586, Tyumen was founded by the sovereign's servants; in 1587, Tobolsk arose not far from the former capital of Kuchum, which soon also became the main city of Siberia. The more northern areas - in the upper reaches of the Tavda and in the lower reaches of the Ob - were assigned to the Russian state in 1593-1594, after the construction of Pelym, Berezov and Surgut, the more southern ones - along the middle Irtysh - were covered in 1594 by the new city of Tara. Relying on these and other, less significant, fortresses, service people (Cossacks, archers) and industrial people (fur-bearing animal hunters) began to quickly advance the borders of Russia “meeting the sun,” building new strongholds as they advanced, many of them soon turned from military administrative centers to centers of trade and craft.

The weak population of most of the regions of Siberia and the Far East was the main reason for the rapid advance of small detachments of servicemen and industrial people into the depths of Northern Asia and its comparative bloodlessness. The fact that the development of these lands was carried out, as a rule, by seasoned and experienced people also played a role. In the 17th century The main migration flow beyond the Urals came from North Russian (Pomeranian) cities and districts, whose residents had the necessary fishing skills and experience of moving both along the Arctic Ocean and along taiga rivers, were accustomed to severe frosts and midges (midges) - the real scourge of Siberia in summer time.

With the founding of Tomsk in 1604 and Kuznetsk in 1618, Russia’s advance to the south of Western Siberia in the 17th century was basically completed. In the north, Mangazeya, a city founded by servicemen near the Arctic Circle in 1601 on the site of one of the winter quarters of industrialists, became a stronghold in the further colonization of the region. From here, a few Russian bands began to move deeper into the East Siberian taiga in search of “unexplored” and sable-rich “zemlits”. The widespread use of southern routes for the same purpose began after the construction of the Yenisei fort in 1619, which became another important base for the development of Siberian and Far Eastern lands. Later, Yenisei servicemen set out from Yakutsk, founded in 1632. After the campaign of a detachment of Tomsk Cossack Ivan Moskvitin in 1639 along the river. Hive to the Pacific Ocean, it turned out that in the east the Russians had come close to the natural limits of Northern Asia, but the lands north and south of the Okhotsk coast were “explored” only after a number of military and fishing expeditions sent from Yakutsk. In 1643-1646. a campaign of Yakut servicemen led by Vasily Poyarkov took place, exploring the river. Amur. He made more successful trips there in 1649-1653. Erofey Khabarov, who actually annexed the Amur region to Russia. In 1648, the Yakut Cossack Semyon Dezhnev and the “trading man” Fedot Alekseev Popov set off on a voyage around the Chukotka Peninsula from the mouth of the Kolyma. About 100 people went with them on seven ships to the goal of the campaign - the mouth of the river. Anadyr - only the crew of the Dezhnevsky ship made it - 24 people. In 1697-1699, the Siberian Cossack Vladimir Atlasov walked almost the entire Kamchatka and actually completed Russia’s access to its natural borders in the east.

By the beginning of the 18th century. the number of migrants throughout the entire space from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean was about 200 thousand people, i.e. equal to the number of indigenous residents. At the same time, the density of the Russian population was highest in Western Siberia and decreased significantly as it moved east. Along with the construction of cities, laying roads, establishing trade, a reliable communication and management system, the most important achievement of Russian settlers at the end of the 17th century. became the spread of arable farming throughout almost the entire strip of Siberia and the Far East suitable for it and the self-sufficiency of the once “wild land” with bread. The first stage of agricultural development of North Asian lands took place under the strongest opposition of the nomadic feudal lords of southern Siberia, Mongolia and the Manchu dynasty of China, who sought to prevent the strengthening of Russian positions in the adjacent and most suitable for arable territories. In 1689, Russia and China signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk, according to which the Russians were forced to leave the Amur. The fight against other opponents was more successful. Relying on a rare chain of forts in Tarsk, Kuznetsk and Krasnoyarsk districts, the Russians managed not only to repel the raids of nomads, but also to advance further to the south. At the beginning of the 18th century. Fortress cities of Biysk, Barnaul, Abakan, and Omsk arose. As a result, Russia acquired lands that later became one of its main granaries, and gained access to the richest mineral resources of Altai. Since the 18th century there they began to smelt copper and mine silver, which Russia so needed (it previously did not have its own deposits). Nerchinsky district became another center of silver mining.

The 19th century was marked by the beginning of the development of gold deposits in Siberia. Their first mines were discovered in Altai, as well as in the Tomsk and Yenisei provinces; since the 40s XIX century gold mining began on the river. Lena. Siberian trade expanded. Back in the 17th century. the fair in Irbit, located in Western Siberia, on the border with the European part of the country, gained all-Russian fame; No less famous was Transbaikal Kyakhta, founded in 1727 and becoming the center of Russian-Chinese trade. After the expeditions of G.I. Nevelsky, who proved in 1848-1855. the island position of Sakhalin and the absence of the Chinese population in the lower reaches of the Amur, Russia received convenient access to the Pacific Ocean. In 1860, an agreement was concluded with China, according to which lands in the Amur and Primorye regions were assigned to Russia. At the same time, the city of Vladivostok was founded, which later turned into the main Pacific port of Russia; previously such ports were Okhotsk (founded in 1647), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (1740) and Nikolaevsk (1850). By the end of the 19th century. There have been qualitative changes in the transport system throughout North Asia. In the 17th century The main one here was river communication, from the 18th century. it was increasingly competed with by land roads laid along the expanding southern borders of Siberia. In the first half of the 19th century. they formed into the grandiose Moscow-Siberian tract, which connected the largest southern Siberian cities (Tyumen, Omsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Nerchinsk) and had branches both to the south and to the north - up to Yakutsk and Okhotsk. Since 1891, beyond the Urals, separate sections of the Great Siberian Railway began to come into operation. It was built parallel to the Moscow-Siberian highway and was completed at the beginning of the 20th century, when a new industrial stage began in the development of North Asia. Industrialization continued until very recently, confirming the prophetic words of M.V. Lomonosov that “Russian power will grow through Siberia and the Northern Ocean.” A clear confirmation of this is Tyumen oil, Yakut diamonds and gold, Kuzbass coal and Norilsk nickel, the transformation of the cities of Siberia and the Far East into industrial and scientific centers of world importance.

There are also dark pages in the history of the development of Siberia and the Far East: not everything that happened in this territory over the past centuries had and has a positive significance. Recently, the territories beyond the Urals have caused great concern due to accumulated environmental problems. The memory of Siberia as a place of hard labor and exile, the main base of the Gulag, is still fresh. The development of North Asia, especially at the initial stage of Russian colonization of the region, brought a lot of troubles to the indigenous inhabitants. Once within the Russian state, the peoples of Siberia and the Far East had to pay a tax in kind - yasak, the amount of which, although inferior to the taxes imposed on Russian settlers, was heavy due to the abuses of the administration. For some clans and tribes, previously unknown drunkenness and infectious diseases brought by settlers, as well as the impoverishment of fishing grounds, inevitable during their agricultural and industrial development, had disastrous consequences for some clans and tribes. But for most peoples of North Asia, the positive consequences of Russian colonization are obvious. The bloody strife stopped, the aborigines adopted more advanced tools and effective management methods from the Russians. The peoples who were once unliterate and lived in the Stone Age 300 years ago now have their own intelligentsia, including scientists and writers. The total number of the indigenous population of the region also grew steadily: in the middle of the 19th century. it has already reached 600 thousand people in the 20-30s. XX century - 800 thousand, and currently amounts to more than a million. The Russian population of North Asia increased even faster over the years and in the middle of the 19th century. numbered 2.7 million people. Now it exceeds 27 million, but this is the result not so much of natural growth as of intensive resettlement of natives of European Russia beyond the Urals. It assumed especially large proportions in the 20th century, for several reasons. This is the Stolypin agrarian reform, dispossession in the late 1920-1930s; widespread recruitment of labor for the construction of factories, mines, roads, and power plants in the east of the country during the first five-year plans; development of virgin lands in the 1950s, development of oil and gas fields, giant new buildings in Siberia and the Far East in the 1960s-1970s. And today, despite all the difficulties, the development of the harsh, but fabulously rich and far from exhausting its potential region, which became Russian soil 300 years ago, continues.