The long-awaited find - where the military expedition of the Cossacks in 1581 under the leadership of Ataman Yermak crossed the watersheds of the Ural ridge - was found!
. He himself dragged overland, where the army dragged part of the plows over the mountain, was in the area of the pass, not far from the well-known ancient sign Europe-Asia.
This article will not describe the very essence and history of the historical campaign to Siberia - a lot of materials, studies have been written about this, and several similar expeditions have been carried out by followers and historians. All this can be found on the Internet and in the sources of the National State Library of St. Petersburg. We were also interested in the historical "Siberian portage" itself, where the very complex and difficult path to Siberia lay.
In the summer of the previous year, in our material, we wrote that . According to the guests from Yekaterinburg, who explored these places for three months, they were interested in portage, the most interesting moment of the military expedition beyond the Urals of the 16th century.
According to historians, an eyewitness was found who saw boats on the portage. A resident of the village of Serebryanka, who is over 90 years old, could not go himself, but explained how to find the place where he saw a decrepit boat as a child. He told them that in the 1950s he saw two old boats: one - in the area where the Kokuy River flows into the Silver and the second - in the area of the Zhuravlik River. Another eyewitness from the village of Baranchinsky, who in his childhood also saw an old boat in the Terrible Log area - in the place where the Zhuravlik River flows into the Barancha River, not far from the village of Verkhnyaya Barancha.
The search for "mythical" boats continued during September-October 2017, but the result was zero or almost zero, given that a piece of the found element was already examined in Yekaterinburg and later it turned out that a certain object, similar either to a frame, or to part of the rear stern of the boat, is of old origin. This ancient find - "artifact" infected with its curiosity and inspired the Sverdlovsk local historians to search and dig further.
The search for "Siberian portage" continued on the Internet, in libraries and in the Archives. As it turned out later, five important documents are reliable sources of the history of Siberia:
1. Pogodinskaya chronicle.Pogodinskaya chronicle - "Yermak's Archive", which has preserved the most curious details about the correspondence between Yermak and Grozny. The ambassador from the Cossacks, Cherkas Alexandrov, brought Yermak's message to Ivan IV to Moscow. Ermak informed Ivan IV that the Cossacks "would defeat Tsar Kuchum with his howls." The author of the Pogodinskaya chronicle cited the full text of the Cossack replies, where, among other things, the route along which the Cossacks went to Siberia was indicated.
2. Stroganov chronicle. Chronicle Stored in the Stroganov and Buturlin Fund (RNL, f. 116, No. 344) - was introduced into scientific circulation by N. M. Karamzin, who gave this name to the chronicle. A characteristic feature of the monument is that it emphasizes the initiative of the Stroganov merchants in the development of Siberia (in terms of information about the initiative of the campaign, supplying Yermak's troops with provisions, weapons and plows).
3. Esipov Chronicle. It was compiled in 1636 by Savva Esipov, deacon of the Tobolsk Bishops' House. The content of the Esipov Chronicle is a brief story about the history of Siberia before the arrival of the Russians (about Siberian kings and princes) and a detailed narrative about Yermak's campaign, adjoins the chronicle " Synodikon Ermakov Cossacks". Savva Esipov himself hardly lived to see the time when a certain inquisitive scribe diligently copied his chronicle, supplementing it with many amazing details. This is how the Pogodin Chronicle arose, which is now stored in the Public Library named after M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (Russian National Library) in St. Petersburg.
4. Kipriyanov Chronicle(the first priest of Siberia) and compiled by him"Synodik Ermakov Cossacks"killed during the battles. According to the code of Cyprian, it is revealed as a common source of the Esipov, Kungur and Stroganov chronicles. The Cyprian Chronicle itself glorified the merits and heroism of Yermak. According to his writings, in 1622 in Tobolsk, Cyprian gathered all the surviving Cossacks who participated in the historical expedition and wrote down information from each of them, where, how and when the battles with Kuchum's army took place, where the path lay and dragged through the Ural mountains. The task of the priest was to unite the people after the fighting. Kipriyan also played an important merit by the fact that all surviving 31 Cossacks lived out their lives on the State pension.
5. Remezov chronicle. Perhaps this is the most reliable and important document. Semyon Remezov was the first cartographer of Siberia in the 17th century, who was the first to draw a map of Siberia showing rivers, mountains and terrain. The most important document written by the cartographer Remezov is the history of Siberia and a detailed chronographic record of the military expedition of the Cossacks, their conquest of Siberia and its subsequent development by the peoples of Russia.
As the story goes, Remezov wrote his last work - a map of Siberia and a chronicle of Siberia by decree of Peter I at the end of the 17th century. In this regard, Remezov had all access to the royal decrees of the time of Ivan the Terrible, to all the records and annals mentioned above, where there was a lot of information about that crucial time for Russia. Semyon Remezov simply took all this information, State Decrees, Orders and combined it into the latest version of the Siberian Chronicle, compiled a service drawing map-Atlas of Russia with a note about the places and exploits of Yermak.
According to the annals of Remezov, our local historians worked during November-December 2017 and January-February 2018. For four months, we managed to find a lot of information regarding the historical campaign, and the most important moment in the study of the chronicles was to find the exact location of the "Siberian portage". When searching, local historians used not only information from chronicles that can be found on the Internet, but also the facsimile sheets of the Remezov Chronicle and its drawing map of Siberia from the St. The only gratifying thing is that the original chronicle itself is stored at Harvard University in the USA, but on their website you can download scans of Remezov's first drawing book.
"", - Nikolai Krasnov, a researcher of these places, shares with us.
According to all of the above historical chronicles, the road beyond the Ural ridge lay along the Chusovaya River, then along the Serebryannaya River, then dragged to the Zhuravlik River and further to the Barancha River and the Tagil River. On the Tagil River at the foot of Mount Medved Kamen, the Cossacks built a raft ground where new plows were made. Here is what the Kipriyanov Chronicle says, in which the entry was made from the words of Ataman Isaul:
And they will be in Usolye near Stroganov, they took stocks of grain, a lot of lead, gunpowder, and went up the Chusovaya River. That winter passes, spring comes; where to find a way for Yermak? He should look for a way along the Silver River. Yermak began to get out with his comrades; they went along Silver, reached Zharovl, they left here boats-columns; on that Baranchenskaya lane they dragged one, but sat down, they left her there. And at that time they saw the Barancha River, they were delighted, they made pine boats and boats; they sailed along that Barancha River, and soon they sailed to the Tagil River; at that Bear-stone near Magnitsky - the mountains became, and on the other side they had a rafting ground, they made large huts so that they could completely get out. They lived here, the Cossacks, from spring to Trinity days, and they had fisheries, so they fed themselves; and as it was their way, they got out completely into the kolomenki and sailed along the Tagil River; and they sailed out to the Tura River and sailed along that Tura River to the Yepancha River, and here they lived until Petrov’s days, they were still ruled here, they made straw people and sewed colored clothes on them; Yermak had a squad of three hundred people, and there were already more than a thousand with those.
Semyon Remezov, studying, among other important Tobolsk documents, the Kipriyanov Chronicle, writes his document and adds the exact route of the portage, draws a map of Siberia and makes notes on the map. On his map, Remezov indicated with a red dotted line the exact location of the portage with the inscription "Drag Yermakov." It is very difficult for a person who does not know Remezov to decipher the chronicle, but thanks to the historian Ruslan Skrinnikov, who translated the document in the early 2000s, it became convenient and more understandable to read the chronicle. Skrynnikov was then supported by specialists in the history of Siberia D.I. Kopylov and A.T. Shashkov.
Here is what Semyon Remezov, the first cartographer and chronicler of Siberia, writes at the end of the 16th century regarding the portage:
Leaving the Stroganovs, the Yermakovs climbed on plows up the Chusovaya and its tributary Serebryanka, then along one of the tributaries of the Serebryanka, called by them "Chui", they reached the portage to the Crane, which flows into the Baranchuk - a tributary of Tagil. This path was not easy.
Chusovaya - the river is fast and powerful, in addition to large boulders and pitfalls. The Cossacks rowed where possible, and where the current accelerated, they muttered. Having made only one stop with a daily rest, they reached Serebryanka, which received its name because of the silvery water. It turned out to be no easier here: the river, squeezed by rocky banks, flowed at high speed. Nevertheless, the Cossacks overcame the current and, using high water, brought the plows to the pass itself. Tagil passes are low and often form swampy saddles. But it was necessary to transport several dozen heavily loaded ships through the mountains. Ermakovtsy and here were on top. Throwing large plows and clearing the road in the taiga, the Cossacks 25 "fields" (versts) "dragged the ships on themselves." In two days, they dragged all the cargo to the sources of the Zhuravl River, which flows from the eastern slope.
On the shallow Crane, the boats were launched, and. Plows and rafts were carried knee-deep in water to Baranchuk. Here things went smoothly - the river is deeper, the current is fast, in a day they swam to the mouth of the Baranchuk at the confluence with Tagil. They arranged a "plot" there - they made good pine rafts and new plows. Tagil was already a solid river - 60-80 meters wide, the current was strong, there were few stones. The west wind was blowing, the Cossacks put up masts with sails in plows and floated with the flow easily and quickly. Siberian nature was different from the Urals: instead of the gloomy dark green parma, powerful spruce forests of Perm the Great, pine forests began to appear, alternating with light birch forests and yellowing aspen forests. Places for the Russian eye are funny, but goblin - there is not a soul around. (12, p. 518).
Let's summarize. Ermak's portage route lay: the Serebryanka River (from the mouth of the confluence of the Kokuy River) - the Chui River (flows into the Serebryannaya River near the village of Kedrovka) - dry portage through the mountain and crossing the Europe-Asia border - the Zhuravlik River and then into the river Barancha. Another confirmation of this portage: in one of the chronicles, Mount Grace is indicated, which was the landmark of the "Siberian road" to Siberia. The height of the mountain then was 700 meters above sea level - this is higher than the mountain "Blue" (550 meters) and the Cossacks could see it, sailing in the area of the current village of Baranchinsky. By the way, the evening lights of the city of Kushva, which was formed later in 1735, can also be seen from the mountain, where the memorial sign "Europe-Asia" is located, therefore, members of the military expedition could also see the landmark of the mountain "Grace" from the indicated mountain.
What can be said? Free Cossacks were pioneers in the development of new lands. Ahead of the government colonization, they mastered the "Wild Siberia". Ermak's campaign in Siberia was a direct continuation of this movement. The fact that the first Russian settlers here were free people had an impact on the historical fate of Siberia.
. In the struggle against the harsh nature, they conquered land from the taiga, founded settlements and laid the foundations of agricultural culture.
F/N According to the Sovereign's charter, the "Siberian portage" to Siberia was a state road until 1597 (16 years), until the moment when the Babinovskaya road was laid in Verkhoturye. But, according to various historical sources and the same chronicles, this road was used for another 30 years. Free people, criminals and merchants, who did not want to pay taxes on the Babinovsky road, walked along the "Siberian portage".
In the next article, we will write about the role of the Voguls in the regions and Asian slopes of the Ural Range, about the pagan worship of the gods and about the request of the Voguls to their gods for help from saving Khan Kuchum, from his
"brutal" administration, about the expedition planned for the spring-summer of 2018 to search for artifacts along the path of portage and much more.and his death
The possessions of the Stroganovs and the Kuchum kingdom
A significant role in the promotion of the Russians far beyond the "Stone" and in the annexation of Western Siberia was played by
merchants Stroganovs. One of them, Anika, in the 16th century. became the richest man Salt Vychegodskaya, in Komi Zyryan country who have long maintained a relationship with the "stoned" peoples - with the Mansi (Vogulichi), Khanty (Ostyaks) and Nenets (Samoyeds). Anika also bought furs (fast, or soft junk) and became very interested in pleasing places beyond the Stone Belt, rich in fur-bearing animals. He bribed some foreigners and sent scouts with them behind the "Stone", and then clerks with salable goods, and they reached the lower Ob, where they profitably exchanged goods for furs. Making big money in the salt mines and "stone" trade, Anika began to expand his possessions to the east. Through it, but, undoubtedly, in other ways, already in the middle of the 16th century. Moscow knew about Siberian affairs.
In the royal title of 1554 - 1556.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich, by the way, is already magnified not only as the sovereign of "Obdorskaya, Kondinsky and many other lands", but also as "sovereign of all northern shores", and in the title of 1557 "Obdorskaya, Kondinsky and all Siberian lands, the ruler of the North Side". There is direct evidence that some regions of Siberia paid tribute to Moscow and recognized the power of the tsar long before the campaign. Yermak. (The conqueror of the Siberian kingdom was probably called Yermolai, although sources give five more Orthodox names, including Vasily. He went down in history under the nickname Ermak (artel road tagan, i.e. boiler ). The origin of Yermak is also unknown. According to the latest data, his homeland is the village of Ignatievskoye on the Northern Dvina).So, in 1555, he voluntarily submitted to Moscow and promised to pay a tribute of 1000 sables annually. "Prince of the whole Siberian land" - Khan Yediger (Edigar), who was looking for Russian help against the Bukharans advancing on him.
Not later than 1556 Dmitry Kurov was sent from Moscow to Siberia for tribute. He returned in 1557 together with the Siberian ambassador, who delivered an incomplete tribute (700 sables) to the tsar and justified himself by the fact that he had invaded Ediger’s possessions. Shiban prince Kuchum and took away many local people. In 1568, new ambassadors from Ediger brought a full tribute (1000 sables), road tolls and
"wool letter" - an oath of allegiance. But Ediger was no longer the master of his possessions. It was during these years that he was defeated and then killed by Kuchum, who proclaimed himself the Siberian Khan. Russians from that time began to call him "Siberian Saltan". But Kuchum did not send tribute to Moscow, prevented the Siberian "peoples" from doing this and organized raids into the upper Kama basin.The core of the Kuchum kingdom was part of the West Siberian Plain between the Tobol and the Irtysh, soon Kuchum's power extended to neighboring regions. He forced himself to pay tribute to the Mansi and Khanty, who lived on both sides of the Irtysh, north of the mouth of the Tobol, and even along the lower Ob. In the west, Kuchum subjugated the tribes along the river. Tavda and Ture, almost to the "Stone". In the east, his authority was recognized by the tribes living between the Irtysh and the Ob, in the Baraba steppe. The southern borders of the Kuchumov kingdom probably reached the Kazakh uplands.
The main headquarters of Kuchum is the city of Kashlyk (Isker), called by the Russians "City of Siberia", which arose on the right (northern) bank of the Irtysh, less than halfway between the mouths of its southern tributaries Tobol and Nagai.
To the west of the "Stone" the basin of the upper Kama that belonged to Russia -
Ermak's crossing through the Middle Urals
After the conquest Kazan and Astrakhan the royal possessions stretched to the Caspian Sea and the entire Volga became a Russian river. Trade with the Lower Volga, Trans-Volga and Iran intensified, the way to Central Asia was explored. Only on the western borders there was a war with the Commonwealth, and large military forces of Russia concentrated there. In the campaign against Mogilev in the summer of 1581, among many regiments, she also took part
Cossack squad of ataman Yermak. After the conclusion of the truce (beginning of 1582), by order of Ivan IV, his detachment was relocated to the east, in the sovereign fortress Cherdyn, located near the mouth of the river. Kolva, a tributary of the Vishera, and Sol-Kama, on the river. Kame. Broke through there Cossacks of Ataman Ivan Yurievich Koltso. In August 1581, near the river. Samara, they almost completely destroyed the military escort of the Nogai mission, heading to Moscow, accompanied by the tsarist ambassador, and then smashed Saraichik, the capital of the Nogai Horde. For this, Ivan Koltso and his associates were declared "thieves", that is, state criminals, and sentenced to death.Meanwhile, the trading activities of the Stroganovs and Western Siberia grew into the oppression of the Mansi tribes and outright robbery. This caused a natural reaction, the Mansi uprising began, supported by the Trans-Ural tribesmen and Khan Kuchum. The villages and settlements of the Stroganovs along the Chusovaya and its tributaries were on fire. Ownership affected the most Maxim Yakovlevich Stroganov along the river Sylva, which forced him to turn to the Cossacks. Offering them a campaign in Siberia against Kuchum and the rebellious Mansi, M. Stroganov most likely did not aim at the entire Siberian Khanate, but only intended to intimidate the Khan, to put pressure on him. The proposal to go "for the Stone" apparently coincided with the intention of the Cossacks to get a livelihood: in peacetime, they were not supposed to receive royal salaries.
Probably, in the summer of 1582, M. Stroganov concluded a final agreement with the ataman on a campaign against the "Siberian saltan". To 540 Cossacks, he attached his people with "leaders" (guides) who knew "that Siberian path", and interpreters of the "Busurman language", supplied the detachment with weapons and supplies. The Cossacks built large ships (“good plows”), raising 20 people with supplies, and many small ones. Consequently, the flotilla consisted of more than 30 ships. Yermak began the river trip at the head of a detachment of about 600 people on September 1, 1582. The guides quickly led the boats up the Chusovaya, and then along its tributary Serebryanka (at 57 ° 50 "N), the navigable upper reaches of which began not far from the rafting R. Baranchi (Tobol system) flowing southeast. The Cossacks were in a hurry: only a swift movement and an unexpected attack guaranteed them the success of the whole enterprise, which looked quite adventurous, since there were 10-15 Kuchum soldiers for every Russian. Having dragged all supplies and small vessels through an even and short (10 versts) drag, Yermak and his comrades-in-arms descended along the Barancha, Tagil and Tura to about 58 ° N. sh. Here, near the present Turinsk, they first encountered Kuchum's advance detachment and dispersed it. The main task of taking the "language" to determine the number and combat effectiveness of the Khan's troops failed to be fulfilled. And Kuchum soon knew about the forces of the Russians, but did not show concern about the intentions of the Cossacks moving towards his capital. He managed to put up detachments of some vassal princelings to defend Kashlyk; the main forces of the khan, led by his eldest son Aley, with attached cannons, were on a campaign in the Perm region.
A decisive battle took place on the banks of the Irtysh, at Cape Chuvashev, a little higher than the mouth of the Tobol. available Makhmet-Kula (Mametkul), Kuchum's nephew, commanding the army, there were two detachments - on foot and on horseback. The Cossacks alternately defeated both detachments, but lost more than 100 people. After the battle, the allies of the Tatars, the Irtysh Khanty, who were in the army of Kuchum, scattered around their villages. Kuchum with the surviving Tatars fled through Kashlyk to the left bank of the Irtysh and went far south, to the Ishim steppe.
On October 26, 1582, the Cossacks entered the deserted "city of Siberia". Four days later, the Khanty from the river. Demyanki, the right tributary of the lower Irtysh, brought furs and food supplies, mainly fish, as a gift to the conquerors. Yermak greeted them with "kindness and greetings" and released them "with honor." The local Tatars, who had fled from the Russians earlier, followed the Khanty with gifts. Yermak received them just as kindly, allowed them to return to their villages and promised to protect them from enemies, primarily from Kuchum. Then the Khanty from the left-bank regions began to appear with furs and food - from rivers Konda and Tavda. Ermak imposed a mandatory annual tax on everyone - yasak. (Yasak usually gathered with furs, mainly sables. With a shortage of sables, they were allowed to be replaced with other furs, according to a certain calculation).
From the "best people" (the tribal elite), Yermak took "Shert", i.e. an oath,that their "people" will pay yasak in a timely manner. After that, they were considered as subjects of the Russian Tsar.
Embassy of Ivan Cherkas
By December 1582, a vast area along the Tobol and the lower Irtysh had submitted to Yermak. But there were few Cossacks. To hold on to power, people, food and military supplies were needed. Yermak, bypassing the Stroganovs, decided to communicate with Moscow. True, he nevertheless informed M. Stroganov, but, apparently, he did not ask for help, knowing what small forces he had at his disposal. Undoubtedly, Yermak and his Cossack advisers correctly calculated that the winners were not judged and that the tsar would send both help and forgiveness to all participants in the campaign for the previous "theft". At the head of the embassy to Grozny, which consisted of 25 Cossacks, Yermak put
chieftain Ivan Alexandrovich Cherkas, his colleague and, probably, the historiographer of the campaign. (According to other sources, his name was Cherkas Aleksandrov Korsak, author of the Cossack"Writings" , i.e., a description of a campaign created around 1600. The former version, according to which the embassy was headed by a state criminal Ataman Ivan Koltso sentenced to death is now rejected). They took all the collected yasak (its dimensions are unknown). Yermak, his chieftains and Cossacks beat the Great Sovereign Ivan Vasilievich with their foreheads conquered by them Siberian kingdomand asked for forgiveness for previous crimes. On December 22, 1582, I. Cherkas with a detachment moved on a sled with a reindeer team and on skis. With the help of the locals, they went"wolf road"(by unbeaten paths, forest paths), probably up the Tavda, Lozva and one of its tributaries to the "Stone", they crossed the mountains and went to the upper Vishera. This "wolf road" was chosen, perhaps due to the fact that in the north a small detachment was not afraid of meeting with "non-peaceful peoples." Along the Vishera valley, the Cossacks descended to Cherdyn, and from there down the Kama to Perm and arrived in Moscow, probably before the spring of 1583.Previously, the government considered the march to Siberia a private enterprise of the Stroganovs, apparently even harmful to the royal Permian possessions. Moscow's attitude to the Siberian campaign changed dramatically after the arrival of I. Cherkas. They received the Cossacks very graciously and kept them at public expense. All participants of the campaign received forgiveness, were awarded with money and pieces of cloth. Ivan IV sent Yermak through the ambassador along with a gracious letter of gold and ordered him to appear in Moscow. Rumors about a free life in Siberia spread throughout Russia. It is possible that already on the way back from Moscow to Siberia, crowds of “walking people”, that is, those not assigned to any class, joined the embassy - runaway peasants, debtors hiding from debt bondage, etc. Makhmet- Kul at that time wandered with a small detachment in the lower reaches of the Nagai, which falls into the Irtysh above the Tobol. The Cossacks sent by Yermak attacked the Tatars at night, killed many, and captured the prince. He was sent to Moscow, affectionately received there, and later became a Russian regimental commander.
Campaign of Bogdan Bryazga to the lower Irtysh and Ob
Most of the Tatar uluses on the lower Irtysh were in no hurry to become Russian tributaries. And then, to collect yasak, Yermak decided to send 50 Cossacks under the command Yesaul Bohdan Bryazga. In March 1583, the detachment set out from Kashlyk to the north, down the Irtysh. Bryazga first met considerable resistance from the Prirtish Tatars and took one of their towns by storm. As a warning, he executed the “best people” and “leaders”, while taking the “shert” (oath) from the rest, and forced them to kiss a saber spattered with blood. The collected yasak, the taken stocks of bread and fish Bryazga sent to Kashlyk. After that, the low-ranking Tatars accepted citizenship: those closest without resistance, more distant after a slight rebuff. Even further down the Irtysh, the country was inhabited only by the Khanty. The Cossacks, apparently, freely descended to the river. Demyanki. A group of Khanty settled in a fortified town, 30 km below the mouth of the Demyanka, but after three days they stopped resisting.
The Cossacks were delayed in the Demyansk town due to ice drift (spring 1583) and built light ships, and when the ice passed, they began rafting down the Irtysh. In the riverside villages, Bryazga brought the Khanty to the "sherry" and took away all valuable things from them under the guise of yasak. Near the mouth of the Irtysh, on May 20, the Cossacks occupied a large Khanty town early in the morning; having killed the sleeping guard "guarding" him, they broke into Samar's house , the chief prince of all the Irtysh and Ob Ostyaks, and killed him. Most of the inhabitants of the town fled, and the rest promised to give yasak. The Cossacks spent a week in the Samara town. Bryazga appointed the rich prince Alacha as head of the local Khanty. (His descendants received, according to the royal charter, power over a number of villages along the lower Ob and great privileges.)
Along the lower Ob, Bryazga reached only Belogorye, a hilly area where the mighty river, skirting the Siberian Ridges, turns sharply to the north. It is possible that the Cossacks were looking for the legendary "golden woman"In Belogorye, the Khanty had, according to the chronicler, "a large prayer site to the ancient goddess, naked, sitting on a chair with her son." But the Cossacks found only abandoned dwellings: in the spring, during the flood, the Khanty went to the lakes to fish. And below the banks of the Ob seemed uninhabited, so on May 29 Bryazga turned back. He explored riverine areas along the lower Irtysh for 700 km from the mouth of the Tobol, including a small section of the lower Ob to Belogorye.
The death of Yermak and the retreat of the Russians from Siberia
The dating of further events before the death of Yermak was controversial for a long time: according to one, traditional version, he died in 1584, according to another - in 1585; in this case, Yermak's campaign in the summer and autumn of 1584 fits into the chronological framework Mansi who lived on the Tavda and its upper reaches - Pelym; conceived for reconnaissance of convenient routes to Russia, the Pelym campaign ended in failure. It is this version, which is now accepted by the majority of Soviet historians, that is given below.
In the spring of 1584, Moscow intended to send three hundred military men to help Yermak under the command Semyon Dmitrievich Bolkhovsky. But the death of Ivan the Terrible (March 18, 1584) disrupted all plans. The army of S. Volkhovsky, having missed the spring flood, was able to overcome the Ural portage only in the autumn flood. That is why the archers on 15 plows arrived in Kashlyk only in November 1584, when a mass uprising of the Tatars broke out in Siberia, raised by the Siberian"Karachi" , the highest adviser to the khan, who earlier - imaginary or really - had seceded from Kuchum and strengthened on the Irtysh near the river. Tara.
Karachi deceitfully lured 40 Cossacks, led by Ivan Koltso, to him and killed them all.
He also killed small Cossack detachments scattered among the Tatars and Khanty in the vast territory conquered by Yermak, and blocked the Russians in Kashlyk, cutting off the path to settlements and fishing grounds. In the winter of 1584 - 1585 the supply of food to the city stopped and famine began among the Russians. Many, including S. Bolkhovskaya, died of diseases.
On March 12, 1585, the combined forces of Tatars and Khanty under the command of Karachi besieged Kashlyk. More than a month has passed. In the beginning of May Cossacks of Ataman Matvey Meshcheryakmade a successful night sortie and broke into the camp of the Karachi . Almost all Tatars were killed, Karachi with several people fled for Ishim. The Cossacks captured his convoy and safely returned to Qashlyk. The allies of the Karachi scattered over their villages, and the siege of Kashlyk ceased. This victory for a short time improved the situation of the Russians, whose number, after a hard winter, was probably reduced to 300 people; the rest died of starvation and disease. Local residents began to deliver food to the Cossacks.
A few weeks after the defeat of Karachi, a Tatar, sent by Kuchum, brought false news to Yermak, as if to Kashlyk across the river. Vagai is heading for a Bukhara trade caravan, but the khan does not let him through. Yermak believed and in July with 150 Cossacks set out to meet the caravan. Having reached the mouth of the Vagai, he defeated the Tatar detachment there, but did not learn anything about the Bukharians and moved up the Irtysh. Then the Cossacks won a second victory over the Tatars near the mouth of the Ishim and took possession without a fight higher along the Irtysh the town of Tashatkan. Yermak stopped near the mouth of the river. Shish, almost 400 km from Qashlyk, and turned back because the locals struck him with their poverty. On the way back, in Tashatkan, Yermak was again given false news that the Bukhara merchants were going down the Vagai, and he hurried to its mouth.
On the banks of the Irtysh, near the mouth of the Vagai, on August 5, 1585, the detachment stopped for the night. It was a dark night, it was pouring rain. According to local legend, a Tatar scout took three squeakers and three bags from the sleeping Cossacks and delivered them to the khan. Then Kuchum attacked at midnight mill Yermak. In order not to raise a fuss, the Tatars simply strangled the sleeping Russians. But Yermak woke up and made his way through the crowd of enemies to the shore. He jumped into a plow standing near the shore, one of the Kuchum warriors, armed with a spear, rushed after him; in a fight, the ataman began to overcome the Tatar, but was hit in the throat and died. Yermak's squad fled in plows, and only "others" perished in the night battle.
Subsequent events showed that Yermak was the soul of the enterprise.The eldest among the Moscow service people was the head Ivan Vasilievich Glukhov, the eldest among the Cossacks - Matvey Meshcheryak. On August 15, by decision of the military circle, they withdrew the remnants of the united detachment, only 150 people, from Kashlyk and set off on the way back on plows. Fearing the Tobolsk Tatars, I. Glukhov did not go the same way - along Tavda or Tura. The detachment sailed down the Ob to its lower reaches, crossed the Yugorsky Stone (Northern Urals), reached the Pechora and from there returned to Russia. However, the Tatars failed to use their victory.
Discord broke out among them again. Kuchum sent his son Aley to Kashlyk with a small detachment, but he was soon expelled from there. Prince Seid-Akhmat (Seydyak), nephew of Khan Ediger, who was deposed and killed by Kuchum.
From Moscow, where they still did not know about the death of Yermak and the retreat of the Russians, in 1585 the governor Ivan Mansurov went to Siberia with 700 servicemen and with several guns, but he did not find the Russians on the Irtysh. It was late autumn, the river had become. Mansurov wintered on the temperate bank of the Ob, against the mouth of the Irtysh, built the Obsky town there - the first Russian prison behind the Stone Belt . In the spring of 1586, Mansurov's detachment left the town and sailed down the Ob. Having reached the Yugra land, he crossed the "Stone" and returned to Moscow. The matter of annexing Siberia had to be started from the beginning. But the river routes of Western Siberia and the riverine regions were already well explored by the Russians.
The advance of the Russians began Siberian Khanate, another fragment of the Golden Horde. Here, in Western Siberia, along the Irtysh, Tobol, Ob and their tributaries lived Siberian Tatars, Khanty (the Russians called them Ostyaks), Mansi (Voguls), Nenets (Samoyeds, Yuraks), Selkups and other small peoples. In total, in what was then Siberia, up to the Pacific Ocean, no more than 200-220 thousand inhabitants lived. These were pastoralists (southern regions), hunters and fishermen (taiga and tundra belts). Small and backward, they often became the object of attacks and robberies by neighbors, exploitation of Siberian khans and princelings. Civil strife and mutual attacks were frequent.
Siberian peoples and their rulers from the middle of the 16th century
., after, increasingly come into contact with Moscow, raise the question of citizenship. Such a request was made in 1555 by the Siberian Khan Edigar, who suffered a lot from the raids of the Bukhara rulers. Ivan IV agreed, and the Siberian “yurt” began to pay tribute (yasak) to his treasury in furs. But after 1572 (the attack of the Crimeans on Russia), the new Khan Kuchum broke off relations with Russia.As before, Russian industrial and trading people went "through stone" by (along the Pechora and its tributaries, through the Stone (Ural) to the tributaries of the Ob and beyond) or “Okiyan sea” to the east for fur-bearing animals and other riches. The Stroganovs, Solvychegodsky industrialists, equipped detachments of "eager people", Cossacks. One of them was headed by Yermak. According to one version, he is a free Cossack, "walking man" from the Volga, according to another - a native of the Urals, named Vasily Timofeevich Alenin.
Conquest of the Siberian Khanate
Yermak's detachment in 1582 came from the Chusovaya River, having crossed the Ural Range, to the Tura, “tu be and siberian country”. Then he moved, "with a fight and without a fight," along the Tobol and the Irtysh. At the end of October, brave pioneer warriors approached Kashlyk, the capital of Khan Kuchum, not far from modern Tobolsk. The city has begun "slashing evil". The army of Kuchum (from the Tatars, Khanty and Mansi) was defeated and fled. Khan migrated to the south, to the steppe. Local residents began to pay tribute to Moscow.
The following year, the tsar sent 500 people to help Yermak, led by Prince S. Volkhovsky. But they came only at the end of 1584. Skirmishes between local residents and newcomers took place throughout the khanate. Ermak's greatly depleted detachment was ambushed, he himself drowned in the waters of the Irtysh (August 1585). The remnants of the detachments of Yermak and Volkhovsky went home. But soon new detachments appeared - the governor I. Mansurov, V. Sukina and others. They set up fortified prisons, strengthen the garrisons. They founded Tyumen (1586), Tobolsk (1587), which became the capital of Russian Siberia for a long time, and other cities. By the end of the century, Kuchum, who attacked Russian detachments and prisons from the depths of the steppes, suffers a final defeat. Siberian Khanate ceases to exist.
The eastern borders of the state were greatly expanded. Furs, fish and other goods flowed from Western Siberia to European Russia.
). The merchants Stroganovs took an active part in equipping the detachment with everything necessary. Yermak's Cossacks arrived in the Perm Territory at the invitation of the Stroganovs in 1579 to defend their possessions from the attacks of the Voguls and Ostyaks. The campaign was carried out without the knowledge of the central authorities, and Karamzin called its participants "a small gang of vagabonds." The backbone of the conquerors of Siberia was made up of five hundred Don Cossacks, led by such chieftains as Ivan Koltso, Matvey Meshcheryak, Nikita Pan, Yakov Mikhailov. In addition to them, Tatars, Germans and Lithuanians took part in the campaign. The army was loaded into 80 plows
Crossing the "Stone"
The defeat of the Siberian Khanate
The first skirmish between the Cossacks and the Siberian Tatars took place in the area of the modern city of Turinsk (Sverdlovsk region), where the soldiers of Prince Yepanchi fired at Yermak's plows with bows. Here Yermak, with the help of squeakers and cannons, dispersed the cavalry of Murza Yepanchi. Then the Cossacks occupied the town of Chingi-tura (Tyumen region) without a fight. Many treasures were taken from the site of modern Tyumen: silver, gold and precious Siberian furs.
Hungry winter
In the winter of 1584/1585, the temperature in the vicinity of Kashlyk dropped to -47 °, icy northern winds began to blow. Deep snow made it impossible to hunt in the taiga forests. In the hungry winter time, wolves gathered in large packs and appeared near human dwellings. Streltsy did not survive the Siberian winter. They died without exception, without taking part in the war with Kuchum. Semyon Bolkhovskoy himself, who was appointed the first governor of Siberia, also died. After a hungry winter, the number of Yermak's detachment was catastrophically reduced. To save the surviving people, Yermak tried to avoid clashes with the Tatars.
The uprising of Murza Karach
After the hike
At the end of September 1585, 100 servicemen arrived in Kashlyk under the command of Ivan Mansurov, sent to help Yermak. They did not find anyone in Qashlyk. When trying to return from Siberia along the path of their predecessors - down the Ob and further "through the Stone" - the service people were forced, because of the "freezing of ice", to put "hail over the Ob against the mouth of the river" of the Irtysh and "sedosh hibernate" in it. Having withstood the siege "from many Ostyaks", the people of Ivan Mansurov returned from Siberia in the summer of 1586.
The third detachment, which arrived in the spring of 1586 and consisted of 300 people under the leadership of the voivode Vasily Sukin and Ivan Myasnoy, brought with him a “written head Danila Chulkov” “for doing business” on the spot. The expedition, judging by its results, was carefully prepared and equipped. To establish the power of the Russian government in Siberia, she had to found the first Siberian government prison and a Russian city
Ermak Timofeevich (Timofeev) (born c. 1532 - death August 6 (16), 1585) - Cossack chieftain in the service of the Perm merchants Stroganovs, who conquered the Siberian kingdom (khanate) for Russia, a fragment of the Golden Horde.
Origin
There are several versions of the origin of Yermak. According to one version, he came from the Don Cossack village of Kachalinskaya. According to another version, he was from the banks of the Chusovaya River. There is also a version about the Pomeranian origin of Yermak. It is believed that his surname is Timofeev, although as a rule the Cossack ataman is called Yermak Timofeevich, or simply Yermak.
1552 - Yermak commanded a separate Cossack detachment from the Don in the army of Tsar Ivan the Terrible during the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. He distinguished himself in the Livonian War of 1558-1583, being personally known.
Stanitsa ataman
When Ermak Timofeevich returned from Livonia to the village of Kachalinskaya, the Cossacks elected him stanitsa ataman. Shortly after his election, he, with several hundred Cossacks, went to “freedom” on the Volga, that is, to rob on its banks. The capital of the Nogai Horde, the steppe town of Nagaychik, was defeated. It was around 1570.
The tsar instructed to clear the Volga from river robbers to the Kazan governor - head Ivan Murashkin with several archery regiments planted on river boats. 1577 - the tsarist governor Murashkin cleared the Middle and Lower Volga from the robber Cossack freemen. Many large and small Cossack detachments were defeated and scattered. Several chieftains taken prisoner were executed.
A royal decree was sent from Moscow to the Don, so that the Don army would stop the “robbery” of their Cossacks, and those responsible for this “theft” would be seized and sent under strong guard to the capital for trial. Messengers sent from the Don, who had with them the decision of the Military Circle, found Yermak's detachment and other surviving detachments of robber Cossacks in Yaik (Urals). Most of the Don people obeyed the order of the circle and dispersed to their "yurts", that is, to the villages.
In the service of the Stroganovs
Those Don and Volga Cossacks who “fell into royal disgrace” remained in the detachment of Ataman Yermak. They gathered their "circle" to decide how they should continue to live. The decision was made as follows: to go from the Volga to the Kama and enter the "Cossack service" to the richest salt merchants, the Stroganovs. Those needed the protection of their vast possessions from the raids of Siberian foreigners.
Having wintered on the Sylva and built a sufficient number of light plows, the Cossacks (540 people) in the spring of 1759 arrived at the Stroganovs in the town of Orel. The merchants-salt industrialists "did their best", that is, they did everything for a successful campaign against the hostile Siberian kingdom and its ruler Kuchum. Ataman Ermak Timofeevich led not 540 Cossacks, but an army of 840 soldiers. The Stroganovs gave three hundred of their warriors. About a third of the Cossacks owned firearms.
Ermak - the conquest of Siberia
Having taken everything they needed, on June 13, 1579, the Cossacks advanced as a ship's army up the Chusovaya to the Tagil portage. Then the path lay to the Serebryanka River. The drag from the mouth of the Serebryanka River to the headwaters of the Tagil (Tagil) River - to the Narovlya River stretched for almost 25 miles of complete impassability. Cossacks dragged light ships "to the other side of the Stone", that is, the Ural Mountains.
By 1580, the squad of ataman Ermak Timofeevich went to Tagil. A winter camp was built in the forest tract. The Cossacks spent the whole winter fighting the possessions of the Pelym Khan. 1580, May - on old plows and newly built ships, the Cossacks left Tagil on the Tura River and began to "fight the surrounding uluses." Ulus Khan Epancha was defeated in the first battle. Ermak occupied the town of Tyumen (Chingi-Tura). There was another winter.
1581, spring - going further along the Tura River, in its very lower reaches, they were able to defeat in battle the militia of six local princes at once. When the Cossack flotilla along the Tura River entered the open spaces of the much more full-flowing Tobol, there they met the main forces of Khan Kuchum. The "Siberians" occupied the Babasan tract (or Karaulny Yar), where the river narrowed in high, steep banks. According to the chronicle, the river in this place was blocked by an iron chain.
The Khan's troops were commanded by the heir of Kuchum, Prince Mametkul. When the Cossack boats approached the narrowness of the river, arrows rained down on them from the shore. Ataman Yermak took the fight, landing part of his squad ashore. The other part remained on the plows, shelling the enemy with cannons. Mametkul, at the head of the Tatar cavalry, attacked the Cossacks who landed on the shore. But they met the Kuchumovites with a "fiery battle."
The ship's army of Yermak moved further down the Tobol. Soon there was a 5-day clash with the army of Prince Mametkul. And again the victory of the Cossacks was convincing. According to legend, they were inspired to fight by the vision of Saint Nicholas. The Khan's army in all its multitude occupied a high cliff on the right bank of the Tobol, which was called the Long Yar. The course of the river was blocked by fallen trees. When the Cossack flotilla approached the barrier, it was met with clouds of arrows from the shore.
Conquest of Siberia
Ermak Timofeevich took the planes back and for 3 days was preparing for the upcoming battle. He resorted to a military ruse: some of the warriors with effigies made of brushwood and dressed in a Cossack dress remained on plows, clearly visible from the river. Most of the detachment went ashore to attack the enemy, if possible, from the rear.
The ship caravan, on which only 200 people remained, moved again along the river, firing from the "fiery battle" of the enemy on the shore. And at this time, the main part of the Cossack squad went at night to the rear of the Khan's army, suddenly fell upon him and put him to flight. Soon, on August 1, the army of Khan Kharachi was defeated near Lake Tara.
Now Isker was in the way of the Cossacks. Khan Kuchum gathered all available military forces to defend his capital Isker. He skillfully chose the bend of the Irtysh, the so-called Chuvash cape, as a place for the battle. Approaches to it were covered with notches. The khan's army had two cannons brought from Bukhara.
The battle on October 23 began with the fact that the Tatar cavalry detachment approached the parking lot of the Cossack squad and fired at it with bows. The Cossacks defeated the enemy and, pursuing him, collided with the main forces of the Khan's army, commanded by Prince Mametkul. On the victorious battlefield, 107 Yermak's comrades-in-arms fell, noticeably belittling his already small Cossack army.
Khan Kuchum on the night of October 26, 1581 fled from Isker. On the day of October 26, the Cossacks occupied it, calling the town Siberia. He became the main headquarters of Ataman Yermak. Ostyak, Vogul and other princes voluntarily arrived in Siberia and there they were accepted into the citizenship of the Russian tsar.
From Siberia (Isker), Yermak informed the Stroganov merchants about his victories. At the same time, an embassy ("village") to Moscow, headed by ataman Ivan Koltso, began to prepare - "to beat the brow of the king with the kingdom of Siberia." 50 "best" Cossacks were sent with him. That is, it was about the accession to the Russian state of another (after Kazan and Astrakhan) "splinter" of the Golden Horde.
Yermak's campaign map
Siberian prince
He said to the conquerors of Siberia his word of thanks: “Ermak with his comrades and all the Cossacks” were forgiven all their former guilt. The chieftain was granted a fur coat from the royal shoulder, battle armor, including two shells, and a letter in which the autocrat granted Yermak the title of Siberian prince.
1852 - the Cossacks were able to establish the power of the Moscow sovereign "from Pelym to the Tobol River", that is, in all areas along the course of these two large rivers of Western Siberia (in the modern Tyumen region).
But soon the death of two Cossack detachments gave the fugitive Khan Kuchum new strength. Khan Karacha became the head of the rebellion. He and his detachments stepped under the wooden walls of Siberia. From March 12, 1854, the Cossacks were able to withstand a real enemy siege for a whole month. But the ataman found the right way out of a really dangerous situation.
On the night of May 9, on the eve of the patron saint of the Cossacks, Nicholas the Saint, Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak with a detachment of Cossacks was able to quietly get through the enemy guards and attacked the camp of Khan Karachi. The attack was both sudden and daring. The Khan's camp was destroyed.
Death of Yermak
Then Khan Kuchum went to the trick, which he was quite successful. He sent loyal people to Yermak, who informed the ataman that a merchant caravan from Bukhara was moving up the Vagai River, and Khan Kuchum was delaying them. Ermak Timofeevich, with a small detachment of only 50 Cossacks, sailed up the Vagai. On the night of August 6, 1585, the detachment stopped to rest at the confluence of the Vagai and the Irtysh. Tired of hard work on the oars, the Cossacks did not put up sentinels. Or, more likely, they simply fell asleep on a bad night.
In the dead of night, the khan's cavalry detachment crossed to the island. Kuchum's warriors crept up to them unnoticed. The attack on the sleepers was unexpected: few managed to grab their weapons and engage in an unequal fight. Of the entire Cossack detachment of 50 people, only two survived that massacre. The first was a Cossack, who managed to get to Siberia and tell the sad news about the death of his comrades and chieftain.
The second was Ermak Timofeevich himself.
Being wounded, dressed in a heavy chain mail (or shell?) donated by the tsar, he covered the withdrawal of a few Cossacks to the plows. Unable to climb onto the plow (apparently, he was already the only survivor), Ermak Timofeevich drowned in the Vagai River. According to another version, Yermak died at the very edge of the coast, when he fought off the attackers. But those did not get his body, carried away into the night by a strong river current.
