plains of the Western Siberia, lived various tribes with different levels of material culture, among others Finno-Ugric Ostyaks (Khanty) and Voguls (Mansi). The Tartar aristocracy confessed the Islam; local tribes adhered to the pagan beliefs. The Tartars in general employed themselves with husbandry; agriculture and crafts were rather alien to them. Hunting tribes of Siberia paid tributes to them, chiefly with furs - the most valuable riches of Siberia.
The capital city of the Khanate of Siberia was located on the Irtysh River; historical sources name its different names, among others Sibir, Isker and Kashlyk. The first one, most probably, gave the name to the whole khanate, and rather late - at the end of the 15th century. The decades to follow were the most difficult: it was a period of struggle for power and wars with invading nomadic tribes from the south and south-east; they, after all, posed a constant threat to the khanate. In those circumstances one of the Siberian khans recognized sovereignty of Moscow (1555) and pledged a tribute. But friendly relations did not last long. In 1563 in the Khanate of Siberia occurred a new coup d'etat and the new khan, Kuchum, refused to pay the tribute. This way started the process, which twenty years later brought incorporation of Siberia into the Russian state.
On the Russian side that process was conditioned by the predicaments of a very rich and venturesome family of the Stroganovs (or Strogonovs). The beginnings of their activities are dated yet with the 15th century - first it was trade, but soon the Stroganovs switched to exploitation of salt mines. The main seat of the Stroganovs became Solvychegodsk on the Vychegda River, in the lands of the Komyaks (Komi). Further on, the Stroganovs extended their diversified activities in the upper Kama and its tributaries, in the territories almost desolated, rich in fish, furs and salt. There, on the upper Kama, by the czar's decree of 1558, the Stroganovs obtained huge land allotments, and the right to keep small troops of men armed with firearms. They were needed for defence of the Stroganovs' possessions from raids of nomadic tribes; for the same reason, on the main trade routes, the Stroganovs founded small but heavily fortified forts - so-called ostrogi. The Stroganovs' possessions at that time already bordered the Khanate of Siberia.
People, hired for the Stroganovs, were recruited among colourful outlaws, chiefly among the Cossacks of the Don. The beginnings of the Cossacks may be dated with the 15th century; they emerged as a form of society on the outskirts (in Russian okraina or ukraina) of Moldavia, Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and the Golden Horde. In the Grand Duchy of Moscow the process of formation of the Cossacks falls in later period, but there it still had the same social background: fugitive peasants, urban paupers, out-of-town settlers, soldiers and criminals. They gathered in military bands - only this way they could defend their liberties in wild territories, and in face of constant threat from various nomads of the steppes. Cossacks' settlements spread from the Don southward, to the Terek and Caucasus; with time they started penetrating Siberia as well. The Cossacks' lived mainly from hunting and fishing - in peacetime, of course, which never lasted too long. Cossacks themselves took care of it, by the way, as with time they grew bolder and ceased to be afraid of their neighbours. Quite the contrary - they too started making troubles to their neighbours. Most often the Cossacks used to raid the Crimea and other Tartar possessions along the Black Sea. In Moscow they turned the blind eye on their actions, as it was considered quite advantageous; consecutive Muscovite rulers maintained a peculiar tactics of informal recognition of the Cossacks and did not fight them. With time developed trade with the Cossacks, who used to buy chiefly cold steel, firearms, gun-powder, armour and other goods.
In 1577 the Stroganovs hired a certain Cossack, called Yermak, together with his band, which reportedly numbered as many as 1000 men. With that band Yermak crossed the Urals and made for the central areas of the Khanate of Siberia. He arrived there in 1581, and that date has been accepted as the beginning of the process of incorporation of Siberia into the Russian state. To fight the Cossacks, Kuchum called to the arms as many men as possible, but neither his efforts nor the stubborn resistance
in the battles brought desired results.
The Tartars' incredible superiority in numbers was not able to outbalance the Russians' technical superiority, bows and arrows could not rival harquebuses and gun-powder. All the battles ended in the Tartars' bloody defeats, and at the end of 1582 Yermak entered the capital of the khanate. Kuchum fled, but he still had enough forces to think about the revenge. |
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Meanwhile, yet before the end of the year, Yermak sent to Moscow one of his associates, ataman Ivan Koltso (Koltsov?), with gifts, and petition to send soldiers and canons to support the Cossacks. The czar received the Cossack envoy quite favourably, also showered him with gifts, promised a lot, but eventually sent to Yermak's aid only few hundreds of men. In harsh climatic conditions, surrounded by the enemy and far from his supplies, Yermak could not think about further successes, and meanwhile Kuchum acted. In 1585 the Tartars crushed a Cossack detachment commanded by Yermak himself. He tried to flee to safety swimming across the Vagai (tributary river of Irtysh), but drowned under the weight of his armour. The Tartars also re-gained their capital. |
It happened already after the death of Ivan the Terrible, but in Moscow nobody was prepared to give up Siberia. Quite the contrary - now there were found means for a serious enterprise. Strong and fresh troops were formed for the expedition to Siberia, and for their supplies on the way to Siberia were founded two cities: in 1586 Tyumen on the Tura (tributary of the Tobol), and in 1587 Tobolsk at the confluence of Tobol and Irtysh. Kuchum was forced to withdraw southward, although he would not give up for long time, trying to turn the History backwards. The year 1598 put the end to all his dreams; after a heavy defeat Kuchum fled to the Nogai Steppes, where soon he was killed. The whole Western Siberia, and the basins of Ob, Irtysh, Tobol and Tura were incorporated to the Russian state. At the end of the 16th century the Russians built more cities and ostrogi, in particular Pelym on Tavda (tributary of Tobol, 1592), Berezovo on the North Sosva (tributary of the Ob in the Far North), Tara on the Irtysh (1594), Surgut on the Ob, Obdorsk (nowadays Salekhard) in the estuary of the Ob, on the very Polar Circle (1595), and Verkhoturye on the upper Tura (1598). |
