And this is what Witsen was sent and what he writes next about Ermak:
Regarding the conquest of Siberia, which took place more than 100 years ago, they also write to me the following short message:
“Ermak Timofeevich, who occupied Tobol, fled from the Volga, where he was robbing, up the Kama, and came to the Chusovaya river. There was famous for the rich lands of the Stroganov. Even today, this family owns a large amount of land (70 German miles). Ermak came to the grandfather of this Stroganov to ask for help in order to obtain forgiveness from his Tsarist Majesty. That [Stroganov] extended a helping hand to him, gave him ships, weapons, workers, and so on. So he went along the Serebryanka River, which flows into the Chusovaya. There he dragged his ships by land to the Tagil River. Descending along it, he came to Tura and occupied the city of Tyumen. Here he interrupted all the people and went up to Tobol. He captured him. There was ruled by one Tartar prince named Altanay Kuchumovich, otherwise Kuchum, whose son's son is still alive and is known in Moscow under the name of the Siberian Tsarevich. He is very generously kept, he enjoys benefits and honor. They also say that now and then there are still some small Siberian princes, whom Ermak captured and sent to the court. By this feat he achieved his goal: he achieved mercy and forgiveness for his robberies. However, he did not survive his victories for long, for during the sortie from Tobol he was pursued by the tartars so that he did not have time to approach the ships, fell into the water and drowned. This is where the short message sent to me ends. "
And one more, the longest and most detailed:
“Other written reports convey the aforementioned incident as follows:
“In 1572, after the birth of Christ, during the reign of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, several free Don Cossacks, led by their ataman Yermak Timofeevich, left the Don and secretly went to the Volga River, where they caused great losses to the state, robbed all kinds of people, and killed some ...
They carried all the loot on their ships in such a way that they kind of locked up the Volga, not letting in anyone from Astrakan with goods. And although the tsar sent against them various Russian people with lower ranks, nevertheless this chieftain always defeated and scattered them.
In 1573 His Imperial Majesty gathered a large army, land and river, and sent it with all sorts of military supplies, against these Cossacks. But when the latter learned about this, they, without waiting for the troops, set off up the big river Kama, 60 versts above the city of Kazan. They conquered the former subjects of the Kazan king Simion - the Cheremis, Mordovians, Votyaks, Bashkirs and other tartars living along this river, and along the Vyatka river. Since this is a very backward people who do not know firearms, he [Ermak] easily conquered them. He ordered all these people to obey His Imperial Majesty Ivan Vasilyevich. He took hostages from them and a tribute with furs for His Majesty. He captured the cities of Rybny, Devil's Gorodok, Alabukha, Sarapul, Osu and the surrounding lands, and subordinated them to the Imperial Majesty Ivan Vasilyevich. From here, heading along the river, he reached the place where a certain Stroganov lived. This man was from Novgorod ( Others say that he came from Golden Horde) , but a few years before Tsar Ivan Vasilievich went there with a large army to punish Novgorodians for uprisings and resistance, this Stroganov, with a good part of his treasures and with the whole family, fled for Perm, Ustyug, past Kaygorodok and settled here, since this country abounds in everything - meat, fruit and furs. Although the chieftain ( This means, as it were, head, boss) with their Cossacks were not very pleasant to this Stroganov, yet he treated them all beautifully and abundantly, for he was very rich. Then he told them about the Siberian kingdom, with all the details: that the country abounds in various valuable furs, that people there are not brave and careless. Main city located in about 4000 versts from them [from the Stroganov places]. He further said that it was only 500 versts to the border, and now is the best time to render a service to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich and to receive from him forgiveness for the crimes committed. He wishes to supply them with cannons, rifles or muskets, gunpowder, lead, ships and military supplies. Ataman Yermak Timofeevich and his comrades liked this very much. He promised to try if he, Stroganov, did not leave him. Everything necessary for the campaign was prepared with all seriousness, and Stroganov treated the chieftain and his comrades perfectly. When everything needed was ready, the chieftain set off with his people up the Utka River. This river flows through wild steppes, or wastelands, and originates from the huge Verkhoturye rocks, or mountains, and flows into the large Kama river.
Lyrical digression about cards
Ermak's hike. S. Pavlovskaya Here is a diagram of what Yermak's campaign looked like. If in a straight line, then from Solikamsk to Tobolsk 677 km. But then it was possible to move only along the rivers, and the rivers meandering. Is it possible that the distances between settlements were measured earlier along the channels of the rivers connecting them? This is how, for example, the Tura river winds, along which, judging by the descriptions, Ermak traveled from Turinsk to Tyumen:
And how can you figure out without a map, how do you get from point A to point B?
If the path lay only along one river, but you also have to make transitions from one river to another in order to get exactly where you need to. And Ermak seemed to be walking quite purposefully - to the main city, the capital. Perhaps he had such a card with him?
This is a map from Semyon Remezov's "Drawing Book of Siberia" (north below) "The Drawing Book of Siberia", compiled in 1701 by the Tobolsk boyar son Semyon Yemelyanov Remezov and published in 1882. it is clear that Ermak in 1572 could not have it.
Basically, all currently known maps of Siberia were compiled by Western European cartographers. And it turns out that there were no Russian maps before the 18th century?
Here's another Russian map:
Drawing of Siberia by Peter Godunov 1667. Also almost 100 years younger than Ermak's campaign.
It is believed that the map of Tartary by Nikolaas Witsen is the first detailed printed map in Western Europe, which depicted the entire territory of Siberia up to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Nikolaas Witsen map of Tartary 1690 A brief history of the creation of this map:
25 years after his trip to Moscow, in 1690, Witsen published the first map of Siberia and the book of comments "Northern and Eastern Tartary", in which he describes Siberia and neighboring countries (1692/1705). This was the first Dutch in-depth study of Russia at the time. He used the cards he received from Andrei Vinius. Andrej Winius, the son of a distant relative of Witsen who emigrated to Russia, who was an Amsterdam merchant and grew up to be the postmaster (head of the post office) of the Russian Empire. He, like no one else, had the opportunity to see new secret handwritten maps and to conduct inconspicuous correspondence with Witsen. (Apparently, where did Witsen get so many messages from Russia? - approx. my) Thanks to Vinius, Witsen became a famous cartographer of Siberia in Europe.
Here is what the Soviet and Russian history Boris Petrovich Polevoy writes about this map:
“Outstanding historian of Siberia, Acad. GF Miller (1761) wrote: "This map begins a new period in the land description and history of land maps in Russia", since Witsen "was the first to depict on it all the countries lying from the Yenisei to the east, although not in perfect authenticity, but much more accurately than all his ancestors. "
"Let's try to clarify what Russian sources NK Witsen used when compiling his sensational map of Tartary" 1687 "
First of all, N.K. Witsen used various Siberian geographic drawings... “Particularly useful,” he wrote, “was a small, wood-carved map of Siberia, made by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich through the care of the Siberian governor Pyotr Ivanovich Godunov.” The map covers the northern regions from Novaya Zemlya to China ”(Witsen, 1692, foreword). Obviously, here we were talking about a drawing of Siberia in 1667. But recently we learned that a whole atlas was made for this general primitive drawing, which consisted of a series of travel drawings (Polevoy, 1966). So, under numbers 4 and 5 in this collection of drawings - "appendices" were detailed drawings of the river. Iset. It is not difficult to make sure that N.K. Witsen also had these drawings.... In his book "Northern and Eastern Tataria" N. K. Witsen (Witsen, 1705, p. 766) expressed regret that during the production of his map he could not, due to lack of space, show many details from the drawing on it "
Continuation of the interrupted message about Ermak:
“In 1574, Ataman Ermak and his comrades stayed at these Verkhoturye mountains, near the source of the Utka River, until the first winter journey. Here he unloaded his ships, prepared skis ( These are the devices on which they move in winter) and the sledges, crossed these mountains, heading approximately to the sources of the Nitsa River. These rivers - Nitsa, To, Verkhoturka, Tobol, Obdora, Pelym, Iset and others - all emerge from the named mountains and flow into the large Ob river. The Ob flows into the ocean or into the Siberian Mangazeya frozen sea, from where the city of Mangazeya got its name. This city stands on the Mangazeya River, which flows into the sea there. From the mouth of the Mangazeya River, you can get to the Archangel in 2 or 3 weeks past the Pust-Lake or Pechora. From Verkhoturye, heading by water to Siberia, they go down the Nitsa River, and then along the Tobol River, past the city of Tyumen, further to the city of Tobolsk. The Tobol River flows into the large Irtysh River, near the city of Tobolsk. From Tobolsk, down the Irtysh River, they pass by Damyansky and the town of Samorovsky Yam. On both banks of all these rivers, near the forests, several ethnic groups of a special faith live, in yurts. Somewhat below the Samorovsky Yam, the Irtysh River flows into the Ob. From the mouth of the Ob River, you can get by Siberian ships past Pust-Ozero to Arkhangel, and this distance is 6,000 versts. Between Verkhoturye and Tobol, people were tributaries of the Siberian king Kuchum. The chieftain with his Cossacks pacified them all and brought the Russian tsar into citizenship, taking their permanent hostages. He imposed a tribute on them in the form of furs, warning them to remain steadfast in obedience to His Royal Majesty.
From here he went along the rivers to Verkhoturye, Nitsa, Iset, Pelynka, Tavda to the city of Tyumen. This city stands between the rivers Tobol and Tyumen. He bravely stormed the city, occupied it and also subordinated it to the Imperial Majesty. When Tsar Kuchum learned that the chieftain with his army occupied his cities: Tyumen, Verkhoturye, Tomsk, Pelym and others - and subordinated them to His Imperial Majesty, he was greatly amazed, for Tyumen is only 180 versts from the main city of Tobolsk. And Kuchum sent his beloved adviser Murza Kanchei with an army to Tyumen in order to prevent the chieftain from getting closer, and if possible, to take away the captured cities. But the chieftain put this murza to flight with all his army. On the other side, five miles from Tyumen, he killed many with his rifles and took the wounded Kanchei prisoner. There were very few of those left from this skirmish who could bring him [Kuchum] news.
When King Kuchum heard about this defeat, he was even more frightened, but, after consulting with his entourage, he decided to send messengers throughout the kingdom so that all his subjects, young and old, would come to him without any delay. He sent them gilded arrows instead of letters, so that they would not expect other news; all disobedient ones will be executed. He ordered to say that a powerful enemy is going against them (no one knows who he is and where he is from), causing very great damage to the country and intending to conquer the whole kingdom. When his subjects and hordes learned this from their prince, they gathered with great zeal in the city of Tobolsk, or Tobol, with their wives and children, which made up large hordes.
Tsar Kuchum took some courage and plucked up courage. He sent messengers every day to find out where the chieftain was, and they reported to him that he was going straight for him. Hearing this, he sent his wife Simbulu with children on horses and camels deep into the country, in the steppe, to his entertainment place on Naboalak, where now there is a large village. From Tyumen, the ataman with his army went down the Tobol River on ships to the main city of Tobolsk. This city stands on the Irtysh River, for the Tobol River flows into the Irtysh River near the city, and on the Kurdyumka River, on a very high mountain surrounded by a wooden wall ( Now she is made of stone). He [ataman] was located at a distance of about 7 versts from the city, in the place where the village of Shishkin is now. Here he wanted to spend the night. The next day, before sunrise, when these people, according to their old custom, were still asleep (for in the evening they sit for a long time, and in the morning they get up late), the chieftain left the named place, came with his ships to Tobolsk and settled in a meadow. In the morning, when the sun rose, King Kuchum saw his enemy in front of the city.
He immediately sent his men against him, armed with arrows and bows. The chieftain, seeing such a crowd of people walking towards him, and even more people at the top of the mountain and in the city, ordered his Cossacks to load cannons, rifles and muskets with empty wads to cheer up the enemies. Those who walked from the city rushed with the greatest shout at the Cossacks. But, keeping in close formation, they retreated in perfect order, firing with only wads, as a result of which none of the enemies was killed.
When the Kuchumites saw this, they became braver and boldly attacked the enemies who returned to their ships. Then the chieftain ordered to sail away, and they sailed up the Irtysh, further 2 versts, to the place where the Tobol flows into it. Here he remained for two days, ordering the Cossacks to clean and keep their weapons ready and to load them with quadrangular pieces of iron and bullets, such charges as the weapon could withstand. He addressed them with a speech so that they would remember all the evil that they had done to His Imperial Majesty Ivan Vasilyevich and Christianity by shedding a lot of innocent blood, and so that now they would fight bravely, then they would not only defeat these unfaithful pagans, but also achieve mercy and the forgiveness of the king. Hearing this from their chieftain, they answered him with tears in their eyes that they were ready to courageously fight for His Imperial Majesty and the Christian faith, they were ready to risk their heads, “and we (they said) obey you humbly and will do everything that you order us to do. ".
Then the chieftain with his ships and 600 people returned to the city of Tobol and dropped anchor in the same place. Kuchum, seeing his enemy in front of the city for the second time, turned to his people with the following words: “My brave heroes, amiable and honest warriors, attack these unclean dogs - Cossacks without fear and cowardice. Their weapons cannot harm us, for our gods protect us. Just stand bravely, and I will reward you for your service. " These people of different tribes and beliefs ( Some of these Siberians were Mohammedans and others were pagans) Having heard this from the lips of their prince, they rushed out of the city with great joy, calling each other to courage. Only Tsar Kuchum with some advisers remained in the city to watch the battle from above. Then his people pounced on the Cossacks with great noise, shouting: "Mohammed is with us!" And everyone walked for their faith. The chieftain ordered his men to fire only one half of their muskets, and while they reload them, the others fire from their guns. He inspired them to be brave with these words: "Brothers, do not be afraid of this large crowd of unbelievers, for God is with us." The battle began at 2 pm and lasted until evening. It was May 21, 1574.
Finally, the ataman Yermak Timofeevich won, inflicting a great defeat on his enemies of different tribes and beliefs, taking many alive prisoners. , simultaneously with the retreating enemy, entered the city. Tsar Kuchum, seeing the great defeat of his army, fled with a few people to the place where his wife and children were, which were about 20 versts from the city. In the city of Tobolsk lay two large cast iron cannons, 6 cubits long, firing 40 pounds of cannonballs. Kuchum ordered during the battle to charge them and shoot from above at the enemies. But they did not manage to shoot at them, therefore, with a terrible curse, he ordered to throw them [guns] from a height into the Irtysh River. So ataman Ermak Timofeevich occupied the city of Tobol, staying here for 6 weeks. He took the most distinguished inhabitants hostage. On them and the surrounding people, he imposed a tribute, from each hunter, 10 sables with tails for his Tsarist Majesty, and ordered them to live under the auspices of the [Russian] Tsar. The ataman ordered to pull one of these iron cannons with a gun carriage out of the river and bring it back to the city, where it stands to this day.
From Tobol, Ataman Ermak Timofeevich sent one of his best Cossacks (together with five others) named Groza Ivanovich, to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich in Moscow, and with them the collected tribute of 60 sables with navels and tails, 50 beavers, 20 black foxes and 3 noble prisoners from the army of Kuchum, with a petition so that his Tsarist Majesty would mercifully forgive the ataman Yermak Timofeevich and his comrades for the crimes they committed, in view of their faithful and difficult service. And so that the king would send someone, at his discretion, as a voivode to Tobolsk, who could accept the capital, along with other cities and lands, and protect them on behalf of his Imperial Majesty. When this ambassador Groza Ivanovich with his comrades and prisoners came to Moscow, he fell at the feet of His Majesty, begging for mercy and forgiveness for the atrocities committed earlier, for the sake of the hard work they had laid for His Imperial Majesty.
He asked that the king deign to accept the tribute that they collected for His Majesty, and the captives they brought, and deigned to send someone there who could take from them the main city with all the other occupied cities. The tsar was greatly delighted with this news. He, with all the clergy, thanked God in the Great Apostolic Council for this victory, distributed a lot of alms to the poor, forgave Ataman Yermak Timofeevich and all his Cossacks for the crimes they committed for this service. He ordered to accept from them the tribute brought and prisoners and to treat these Cossacks abundantly. Allowed them to kiss the hand and ordered to provide them with daily rich maintenance. Then, releasing them, His Majesty bestowed ataman Yermak Timofeevich and all the Cossacks, each separately, several gifts. He sent Yermak a silk caftan, embroidered with golden flowers, with velvet ornaments, and a double ducat. And for each Cossack a piece of cloth for a caftan and a piece of damask, a piece of velvet for a hat, and each one for a gold kopeck *. A silver penny costs 5 cents.
Another letter with a large gold seal, in which the tsar praised their heroic deed, forgave past atrocities and expressed a desire that they continue their faithful service in the future, for which he will richly reward them, that in winter he will send the voivode there, but for now let him , ataman Ermak, manages all the occupied places and collects tribute. In the same year, in the fall, this Groza Ivanovich arrived from Moscow to Tobol, bringing with him gifts of honor and a letter and forgiveness of His Imperial Majesty, to which the ataman and the Cossacks were very happy. They prayed to God for the health and long life of His Majesty.
After receiving this letter with pardon and gifts from His Majesty, the ataman and his Cossacks decided to continue the war with Tsar Kuchum, leaving several loyal Cossacks as a garrison in occupied cities and towns. In Tobol, he left Groza Ivanovich with sixty Cossacks, and in other places - the chieftain with 30 Cossacks, well supplied with guns and military supplies. When His Majesty sent the Cossack Groza Ivanovich from Moscow back to Yermak, he gave Groza an open letter with a large hanging seal, which said that everyone who wished to go with their wives and children to Siberia, Tobol or other conquered cities could freely and go there without hindrance. They were ordered to give such people a free pass. And in the same year, 1,500 people with their wives and children voluntarily moved to Siberia with Storm, His Majesty ordered the bishop to transport 10 priests with wives and children from Vologda along with Storm on free carts ( Carts or sleighs), and on top of that [give] each 20 rubles of money.
When Ermak Timofeevich arranged proper order in all cities, he with 6 hundred Cossacks went up the Irtysh to the Sibirka River, which flows into the Irtysh 15 versts from the city. King Kuchum was still there, in great fear and anxiety. Before reaching this place one and a half versts, ataman Yermak ordered his boats to be tied at the steep bank and settled down with the army in the steppe to spend the night. He ordered, however, that guards be posted around, according to his old custom. At midnight, two Cossacks, who were on guard, were seized by Kuchum's men who had carefully crept up. There was a commotion in the camp. The enemy, armed with bows, arrows and spears, attacked them with great noise and plundered their military supplies. The chieftain, who was sleeping in a tent in the middle of the camp, having heard the noise, ran out and shouted to his Cossacks: "Brothers, do not be afraid of these infidels, but return to your boats!" When they returned to the boats, the chieftain Yermak jumped from the high bank into his boat, but since he made too long a jump over 3 boats, he fell into the water.
Since the river here is very deep, and it had two shells and, moreover, iron sleeves, he sank [into the water] like a stone and died prematurely. However, in this battle, from Kuchum's side, the brother of his wife, Murza Bulat, and 65 ordinary people were killed. So the Cossacks lost their brave leader ataman Ermak Timofeevich. They captured 5 people, who were taken into their plows, or boats, and returned to Tobol, without delivering only the two aforementioned prisoners. As soon as the Cossacks left, Kuchum ordered his fishermen and others to find the body of the drowned Yermak Timofeevich, promising the one who finds him as much silver as the body weighs. "For," he said, "as soon as I get it, I will order it to be cut into small pieces, and I will eat it myself with my wife and children, as an enemy of my and my kingdom." Then the Cossacks, returning back, so as not to be left without a head, chose the chieftain, in place of Ermak Timofeevich, mentioned by Groza Ivanovich.
In 1575, the ataman Groza, having performed, according to his custom, a service in the church, in the same boats as before, set off with 1000 Cossacks up the Irtysh and reached the place of Abalak, where Kuchum was still holding. He sent his brother-in-law, Iki Irka, against him, but ataman Groza defeated this Iki Irka and 540 people. He took 20 prisoners alive. Of his people, only 6 people were injured. Tsar Kuchum, seeing that his people seemed to be melting, fled with his wife and children to the Kalmak khan Abdar Taisha, who was his uncle. This Kuchum had 7 real wives, although one of them was the main one, and 25 concubines. From the first he had 5 sons, and from the latter - 12.
After that, Kuchum with his sons in large hordes often attacked the conquered [Cossacks] places, hoping to regain their kingdom. But they didn’t achieve anything, and with God's help, they were always smashed. ”
This is where the above message ends.
After the death of Ataman Ermak Timofeevich, Ataman Groza Ivanovich with his Cossacks set off from Tobol along the Irtysh River to the Ob and went down the Ob to Berezov. ( As for the spelling of the proper names of rivers, peoples and cities, I stuck to the text sent, but in our time they have changed somewhat.) This is a fairly large settlement. On all the people who lived on both banks of the great river, right up to the ocean, the chieftain imposed a tribute, on each person - according to his wealth. He built the city of Berezov and placed hostages in it, taken from the neighboring peoples, with the condition that they be replaced every six months if such influential people were appointed to their place. He took their noblest ones with him to Tobol. He made this trip in one year. He brought into citizenship all these peoples and not only them, but also those who live along the banks of the Obdor rivers), Sosva, Vogulka, Komda, Mrass and other rivers. "
From these messages it becomes clear that Siberia at that time was densely populated, and these were not just scattered nomadic tribes, but a well-organized state. With a large number of cities, and developed communication between these cities. By the names of rivers and cities, one can fully judge what language the inhabitants of this country spoke. It is not clear only who was Yermak Timofeevich? After all, Ermak is a nickname, not a name? And who is ataman Groza Ivanovich? (By
The Khanate or the Kingdom of Siberia, the conquest of which Yermak Timofeevich became famous in Russian history, was a fragment of the vast empire of Genghis Khan. It stood out from the Central Asian Tatar possessions, apparently not earlier than the 15th century - in the same era when the special kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan, Khiva and Bukhara were formed. The Siberian horde, apparently, was closely related to the Nogai. It was formerly called Tyumen and Shiban. The latter name indicates that the branch of the Genghisids dominated here, which descended from Sheibani, one of the sons of Jochi and brother of Batu, and which ruled in Central Asia. One branch of the Sheibanids founded a special kingdom in the Ishim and Irtysh steppes and extended its limits to the Ural ridge and Ob. A century before Yermak, under Ivan III, Sheiban Khan Ivak, like the Crimean Mengli-Girey, was at enmity with the Golden Horde Khan Akhmat and was even his murderer. But Ivak himself was killed by a rival in his own land. The fact is that part of the Tatars under the leadership of the noble bey Taybuga separated from the Shiban horde even before that. True, the successors of Taibugi were called not khans, but only beks; the right to the highest title belonged only to the descendants of Chingisov, that is, the Sheibanids. The successors of Taybuga withdrew with their horde further north, to the Irtysh, where the town of Siberia became its center, below the confluence of the Tobol with the Irtysh, and where it subjugated the neighboring Ostyaks, Voguls and Bashkirs. Iwak was killed by one of Taibuga's successors. There was a fierce enmity between these two clans, and each of them was looking for allies in the Bukhara kingdom, the Kirghiz and Nogai hordes and in the Moscow state.
Oath of the Siberian Khanate to Moscow in the 1550-1560s
These internal feuds explain the readiness with which the prince of the Siberian Tatars, Ediger, a descendant of Taibuga, recognized himself as a tributary of Ivan the Terrible. A quarter of a century before the campaign of Yermak Timofeevich, in 1555, Ediger's ambassadors came to Moscow and beat their foreheads so that he would take the Siberian land under his protection and take tribute from it. Ediger sought support from Moscow in the fight against the Sheibanids. Ivan Vasilievich took the Siberian prince under his arm, imposed a tribute on him a thousand sables a year and sent Dimitri Nepeitsin to him to swear in the inhabitants of the Siberian land and to rewrite the black people; their number extended to 30,700. But in subsequent years the tribute was not delivered in full; Ediger justified himself by the fact that he was fought by the Shiban prince, who took many people into captivity. This Shiban prince was the future enemy of Ermak's Cossacks. Kuchum, grandson of Khan Ivak. Having received help from the Kirghiz-Kaisaks or Nogai, Kuchum defeated Ediger, killed him and took possession of the Siberian kingdom (about 1563). At first, he also recognized himself as a tributary of the Moscow sovereign. The Moscow government recognized him as a khan as a direct descendant of the Sheibanids. But when Kuchum firmly established himself in the Siberian land and spread the Mohammedan religion among his Tatars, he not only stopped paying tribute, but also began to attack our northeastern Ukraine, forcing the neighboring Ostyaks, instead of Moscow, to pay tribute to him. In all likelihood, these changes for the worse in the east did not take place without the influence of failures in the Livonian War. The Siberian Khanate came out from under the supreme Moscow power - this later made it necessary for Yermak Timofeevich's campaign to Siberia.
Stroganovs
The origin of the ataman Ermak Timofeevich is unknown. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama, according to another - a native of the Kachalinskaya stanitsa on the Don. His name, according to some, is a change in the name of Ermolai, other historians and chroniclers derive it from Herman and Eremey. One chronicle, considering the name of Ermak a nickname, gives him the Christian name of Vasily. Ermak was at first the chieftain of one of the many Cossack gangs who plundered on the Volga and robbed not only Russian merchants and Persian ambassadors, but also royal ships. After joining the service, the Yermak mob turned to the conquest of Siberia to the famous family of the Stroganovs.
The ancestors of the employers of the Ermak Stroganovs probably belonged to the Novgorod families who colonized the Dvina land, and in the era of the struggle between Novgorod and Moscow, they went over to the side of the latter. They had large estates in the Solvycheg and Ustyug regions and amassed great riches by being engaged in the salt industry, as well as trading with foreigners from Perm and Ugra, from whom they exchanged for expensive furs. The main nest of this family was in Solvychegodsk. The wealth of the Stroganovs is evidenced by the news that they helped the Grand Duke Vasily the Dark to redeem himself from Tatar captivity; for which they received various awards and privileged certificates. Luka Stroganov is known under Ivan III; and under Vasily III, the grandchildren of this Luke. Continuing to engage in salt production and trade, the Stroganovs are the largest figures in the field of settling the northeastern lands. During the reign of Ivan IV, they spread their colonization activities far to the southeast, to the Kama region. At that time, the head of the family is Anikius, the grandson of Luke; but he was probably already old, and his three sons act as leaders: Yakov, Gregory and Semyon. They are no longer ordinary peaceful colonizers of the Zakamsk countries, but they have their own military detachments, build fortresses, arm them with their own cannons, and repel the raids of hostile aliens. Ermak Timofeevich's gang was hired a little later as one of such detachments. The Stroganovs represented a family of feudal owners in our eastern outskirts. The Moscow government willingly provided enterprising people with all the benefits and rights to defend the northeastern borders.
Preparation of Ermak's campaign
The colonization activity of the Stroganovs, whose highest expression soon became the campaign of Ermak, was constantly expanding. In 1558, Grigory Stroganov beats Ivan Vasilyevich with his forehead about the following: in Velikaya Perm, on both sides of the Kama River from Lysva to Chusovaya, there are empty places, black forests, uninhabited and unsubscribed to anyone. The petitioner asks the Stroganovs to welcome this space, promising to build a city there, to supply it with cannons and squeaks in order to protect the sovereign's homeland from the Nogai people and other hordes; asks for permission to cut down the forest in these wild places, plow arable land, set up yards, call people unwritten and non-taxable. By a diploma dated April 4 of the same year, the tsar granted the Stroganovs lands on both sides of the Kama for 146 versts from the mouth of the Lysva to Chusovaya, with the requested benefits and rights, allowed them to establish settlements; freed them for 20 years from paying taxes and from zemstvo duties, as well as from the court of Perm governors; so that the right to try the Slobozhany belonged to the same Grigory Stroganov. This letter was signed by the okolnichy Fyodor Umny and Alexey Adashev. Thus, the energetic efforts of the Stroganovs were not without connection with the activities of the Chosen Rada and Adashev, the best advisor to the first half of the reign of Grozny.
Ermak Timofeevich's campaign was well prepared by this energetic Russian exploration of the Urals. Grigory Stroganov built the town of Kankor on the right side of the Kama. Six years later, he asked permission to build another town, 20 versts lower than the first one on the Kama, called Kergedan (later it was called Eagle). These towns were surrounded by strong walls, armed with firearms and had a garrison made up of various free people: there were Russians, Lithuanians, Germans and Tatars. When the oprichnina was established, the Stroganovs asked the tsar to include their cities in the oprichnina, and this request was fulfilled.
In 1568, Grigory's elder brother Yakov Stroganov beats the tsar with his forehead about surrendering to him, on the same basis, the entire course of the Chusovaya River and a twenty-verst distance along the Kama below the mouth of the Chusovaya. The king agreed to his request; only the grace period was now set for ten years (hence, it ended at the same time as the previous award). Yakov Stroganov set up prison along Chusovaya and started settlements that revived this deserted land. He had to defend the region from the raids of neighboring foreigners - the reason why the Stroganovs then summoned the Cossacks of Ermak. In 1572, a riot broke out in the land of Cheremis; a crowd of Cheremis, Ostyaks and Bashkirs invaded the Kama region, plundered ships and beat several dozen merchants. But the soldiers of the Stroganovs pacified the rioters. Cheremis raised the Siberian Khan Kuchum against Moscow; he also forbade the Ostyaks, Voguls and Ugras to pay tribute to her. The next year, 1573, Kuchum's nephew Magmetkul came with an army to Chusovaya and beat many Ostyaks, Moscow tributaries. However, he did not dare to attack the Stroganov towns and went back to the Stone Belt (Ural). Notifying the tsar of this, the Stroganovs asked for permission to expand their settlements beyond the Belt, build towns along the Tobol River and its tributaries and establish settlements there with the same benefits, promising in return not only to defend the Moscow tributaries of the Ostyaks and Voguls from Kuchum, but to fight and subjugate the Siberian Tatars. With a diploma dated May 30, 1574, Ivan Vasilyevich fulfilled this request of the Stroganovs, this time with a twenty-year grace period.
Arrival of Ermak's Cossacks to the Stroganovs (1579)
But for about ten years, the Stroganovs' intention to spread Russian colonization beyond the Urals did not materialize until Yermak's Cossack squads appeared on the scene.
According to one Siberian chronicle, in April 1579 the Stroganovs sent a letter to the Cossack atamans who were robbing on the Volga and Kama, and invited them to their Chusovye towns to help against the Siberian Tatars. The place of the brothers Yakov and Grigory Anikiev was then taken over by their sons: Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich. They turned to the Volga Cossacks with the commemorated letter. Five atamans responded to their call: Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan and Matvey Meshcheryak, who arrived with their hundreds in the summer of the same year. The main leader of this Cossack squad was Ermak, whose name then became next to the names of his older contemporaries, the conquerors of America, Cortes and Pizarro.
We do not have exact information about the origin and previous life of this remarkable person. There is only a dark legend that Yermak's grandfather was a townsman from Suzdal, who was engaged in a carriage; that Ermak himself, in baptism Vasily (or Herma), was born somewhere in the Kama region, was distinguished by bodily strength, courage and the gift of speech; in his youth he worked in the plows that walked along the Kama and Volga, and then became the chieftain of robbers. There are no direct indications that Yermak actually belonged to the Don Cossacks; rather, he was a native of northeastern Russia, who, with enterprise, experience and courage, resurrected the type of the ancient Novgorod volunteer.
Cossack atamans spent two years in Chusovy towns, helping the Stroganovs to defend themselves against foreigners. When Murza Bekbeliy with a crowd of Voguli attacked the Stroganov villages, Ermak's Cossacks defeated him and took him prisoner. The Cossacks themselves attacked the Vogul, Votyaks and Pelymians, and so prepared themselves for a big march on Kuchum.
It is difficult to say who exactly belonged to the main initiative in this enterprise. Some chronicles say that the Stroganovs sent the Cossacks to conquer the Siberian kingdom. Others - that the Cossacks, headed by Yermak, independently embarked on this campaign; and the threats forced the Stroganovs to supply them with the necessary supplies. Perhaps the initiative was mutual, but on the part of the Cossacks of Ermak it was more voluntary, and on the part of the Stroganovs it was more compelled by circumstances. The Cossack squad could hardly carry on a boring guard service in Chusovy towns for a long time and be content with meager prey in the neighboring foreign lands. In all likelihood, it soon became a burden for the Stroganov region itself. Exaggerated news about the river expanse beyond the Stone Belt, about the riches of Kuchum and his Tatars and, finally, the thirst for exploits that could wash away past sins from oneself - all this aroused the desire to go to a little-known country. Ermak Timofeevich was probably the main engine of the entire enterprise. The Stroganovs got rid of the restless crowd of Cossacks and fulfilled the long-standing idea of their own and of the Moscow government: about postponing the struggle with the Siberian Tatars for the Ural ridge and punishing the khan who had fallen away from Moscow.
The beginning of the campaign of Ermak (1581)
The Stroganovs supplied the Cossacks with provisions, as well as guns and gunpowder, gave them another 300 people from their own military men, among whom, in addition to the Russians, were hired Lithuanians, Germans and Tatars. There were 540 Cossacks. Consequently, the whole detachment was more than 800 people. Ermak and the Cossacks realized that the success of the campaign would have been impossible without strict discipline; therefore, for violating it, the atamans established punishments: disobedient and fugitives were supposed to be drowned in the river. The impending dangers made the Cossacks their pious; it is said that Ermak was accompanied by three priests and one monk, who performed the divine service every day. Preparations took a lot of time, so Yermak's campaign began quite late, already in September 1581. The soldiers sailed up the Chusovaya, after several days of sailing they entered its tributary, the Serebryanka, and reached the portage that separates the Kama river system from the Ob system. I had to use a lot of work to get over this portage and go down into the river Zheravlya; quite a few boats got stuck on the portage. It was already a cold time, the rivers began to be covered with ice, and near the drag, Ermak's Cossacks had to winter. They set up a prison, from where one part of them undertook searches in the neighboring Vogul regions for supplies and booty, and the other manufactured everything needed for the spring campaign. When the flood came, Ermak's squad descended by the river Zheravlyu into the Barancha rivers, and then to Tagil and Tura, a tributary of the Tobol, entering the Siberian Khanate. The Ostyak-Tatar yurt of Chingidi (Tyumen), owned by a relative or tributary of Kuchum, Yepancha, stood on Tura. Here the first battle took place, which ended in a complete defeat and flight of the Epanchin Tatars. The Tura Cossacks of Ermak entered Tobol and at the mouth of the Tavda had a successful deal with the Tatars. The Tatar fugitives brought Kuchum the news of the coming of Russian soldiers; moreover, they justified their defeat by the action of rifles they were unfamiliar with, which they considered special bows: “when the Russians shoot from their bows, then fire is plowed from them; arrows are not visible, but they inflict mortal wounds, and no military harness can be used to protect oneself from them. " These news saddened Kuchum, especially since various signs already predicted the arrival of the Russians and the fall of his kingdom.
The khan, however, wasted no time, gathered from everywhere Tatars, subject Ostyaks and Voguls and sent them under the command of his close relative, the brave Tsarevich Magmetkul, to meet the Cossacks. And he himself arranged fortifications and notches near the mouth of the Tobol, under the Chuvasheva mountain, in order to block Ermak's access to his capital, a Siberian town located on the Irtysh, slightly below the confluence of the Tobol. A series of bloody battles followed. Magmetkul first met the Cossacks of Yermak Timofeevich near the Babasany tract, but neither the Tatar cavalry nor the arrows resisted the Cossacks and their pishchal. Magmetkul ran to the notch under the Chuvasheva mountain. The Cossacks sailed further along Tobol and seized the Karachi ulus (chief adviser) of Kuchum on the road, where they found warehouses of all kinds of goods. Having reached the mouth of the Tobol, Ermak first avoided the aforementioned notch, turned up the Irtysh, took the small town of Murza Atik on its bank and settled down here to rest, considering a further plan.
Map of the Siberian Khanate and Ermak's campaign
The capture of the city of Siberia by Ermak
A large crowd of enemies, entrenched under Chuvashev, made Ermak think about it. The Cossack circle gathered to decide whether to go forward or to return. Some advised to retreat. But the more courageous reminded Ermak Timofeevich of the vow given before the campaign to stand rather to fall to a single person than to run back with shame. Deep autumn was already approaching (1582), soon the rivers were to be covered with ice, and the return voyage was becoming extremely dangerous. On October 23, in the morning, Ermak's Cossacks left the town. When clicks: "Lord, help your slaves!" they struck on the spot, and a stubborn battle began.
The enemies met the attackers with a cloud of arrows and moved many. Despite desperate attacks, Ermak's detachment could not overcome the fortifications and began to faint. The Tatars, considering themselves already victors, broke the notch in three places and made a sortie. But here, in desperate hand-to-hand combat, the Tatars were defeated and rushed back; the Russians broke into the spot. The Ostyak princes were the first to leave the battlefield and went home with their crowds. The wounded Magmetkul escaped in a boat. Kuchum watched the battle from the top of the mountain and ordered the Muslim mullahs to read prayers. Seeing the flight of the entire army, he himself hastened to his capital, Siberia; but did not stay in it, for there was no one to defend it; and fled south to the Ishim steppes. Having learned about the flight of Kuchum, on October 26, 1582, Yermak entered the empty city of Siberia with the Cossacks; here they found valuable booty, a lot of gold, silver, and especially furs. A few days later the inhabitants began to return: the first came the Ostyak prince with his people and brought gifts and food to Ermak Timofeevich and his squad; then, little by little, the Tatars returned.
The conquest of Siberia by Yermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895
So, after incredible work, the detachment of Ermak Timofeevich hoisted Russian banners in the capital of the Siberian kingdom. Although firearms gave him a strong advantage, one must not forget that on the side of the enemies there was a huge numerical superiority: according to the chronicles, Ermak had 20 and even 30 times more enemies against him. Only the extraordinary strength of spirit and body helped the Cossacks to defeat so many enemies. Long trips along unfamiliar rivers show to what extent the Cossacks of Yermak Timofeevich were hardened in hardships, accustomed to the struggle with northern nature.
Ermak and Kuchum
However, the war was far from over with the conquest of Kuchum's capital. Kuchum himself did not consider his kingdom lost, which half consisted of nomadic and wandering foreigners; the vast neighboring steppes gave him a safe refuge; from here he made sudden attacks on the Cossacks, and the struggle with him dragged on for a long time. The enterprising prince Magmetkul was especially dangerous. Already in November or December of the same 1582, he trapped a small detachment of Cossacks who were engaged in fishing, and killed almost everyone. This was the first sensitive loss. In the spring of 1583, Ermak learned from a Tatar that Magmetkul camped on the Vagai River (a tributary of the Irtysh between Tobol and Ishim), a hundred miles from the city of Siberia. A detachment of Cossacks sent against him suddenly attacked his camp at night, killed many Tatars, and captured the prince himself. The loss of the brave prince temporarily secured the Cossacks of Ermak from Kuchum. But their number has already greatly diminished; stocks were depleted, while there were still many labors and battles ahead. There was an urgent need for Russian help.
The conquest of Siberia by Yermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895. Fragment
Immediately after the capture of the city of Siberia, Ermak Timofeevich and the Cossacks sent news of their successes to the Stroganovs; and then they sent ataman Ivan to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself a Ring with expensive Siberian sables and a request to send them the royal warriors to help them.
Cossacks Ermak in Moscow with Ivan the Terrible
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the fact that after the departure of Yermak's gang there were few military men left in the Perm Territory, some Pelym (Vogul) prince came with crowds of Ostyaks, Voguls and Votyaks, reached Cherdyn, the main city of this region, then turned to Kamskoye Usolye, Kankor, Kergedan and Chusovsky towns, burning out the surrounding villages and taking the peasants prisoner. Without Ermak, the Stroganovs barely defended their towns from the enemies. Cherdyn voivode Vasily Pelepelitsyn, perhaps dissatisfied with the privileges of the Stroganovs and their lack of jurisdiction, in a report to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich blamed the devastation of the Perm Territory on the Stroganovs: they, without a royal decree, summoned the thieves' Cossacks Ermak Timofeyevich and other Kuchum was sent and pulled up. When the Pelym prince came, they did not help the sovereign cities with their military men; and Ermak, instead of defending the Perm land, went to fight to the east. The Stroganovs sent from Moscow a disgraceful tsarist charter, marked on November 16, 1582. The Stroganovs ordered from now on not to keep the Cossacks at home, but to send the Volga chieftains, Ermak Timofeevich and his comrades, to Perm (ie, Cherdyn) and Kamskoye Usolye, where they should not stand together, but separate; they were allowed to keep no more than a hundred people. If this is not done exactly, and again some trouble from the Voguls and the Siberian Saltan will befall the Permian places, then a "big disgrace" will be imposed on the Stroganovs. In Moscow, apparently, they did not know anything about the Siberian campaign and demanded that Ermak be sent to Cherdyn with the Cossacks who were already located on the banks of the Irtysh. The Stroganovs were "in great sorrow." They hoped for the permission given to them before to set up towns beyond the Stone Belt and fight the Siberian Saltan, and therefore they let the Cossacks go there, not getting in touch with either Moscow or the Perm governor. But soon the news arrived from Ermak and his comrades about their extraordinary luck. With her, the Stroganovs personally hurried to Moscow. And then the Cossack embassy arrived there, headed by the ataman Koltso (once condemned to death for robberies). Of course, opals were out of the question. The sovereign received the ataman and the Cossacks affectionately, rewarded them with money and cloth and again released them to Siberia. They say that he sent Yermak Timofeevich a fur coat from his shoulder, a silver goblet and two shells. To reinforce them, he then sent Prince Semyon Volkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with several hundred military men. The captured Tsarevich Magmetkul, who was brought to Moscow, was granted estates and took a place among the serving Tatar princes. The Stroganovs received new trade benefits and two more land grants, Bolshaya and Malaya Salt.
Arrival to Ermak of the detachments of Volkhovsky and Glukhov (1584)
Kuchum, having lost Magmetkul, was distracted by the renewed struggle with the Taibugi clan. Ermak's Cossacks, meanwhile, finished taxing the Ostyak and Vogul volosts, which were part of the Siberian Khanate. From the city of Siberia, they walked along the Irtysh and Ob, on the banks of the latter they took the Ostyak city of Kazym; but then on the attack they lost one of their chieftains, Nikita Pan. The number of Ermak's detachment was greatly reduced; barely half of it remained. Ermak was looking forward to help from Russia. Only in the fall of 1584 did the Volkhovskaya and Glukhovs sailed on plows: but they brought no more than 300 people - help is too insufficient to consolidate such a vast space behind Russia. It was impossible to rely on the loyalty of the newly conquered local princelings, and the irreconcilable Kuchum still acted at the head of his horde. Ermak gladly met the Moscow military men, but had to share with them the meager food supplies; in winter, from a lack of food, mortality in the city of Siberia was discovered. The prince of Volkhovskaya also died. Only in the spring, thanks to the abundant catch of fish, game, as well as bread and livestock delivered from the neighboring foreigners, did Ermak's people recover from hunger. Prince Volkhovskaya, apparently, was appointed a Siberian governor, to whom the Cossack chieftains were to surrender the city and submit, and his death saved the Russians from the inevitable rivalry and disagreement of the chiefs; for the chieftains would hardly willingly renounce their leading role in the newly conquered land. With the death of Volkhovsky, Ermak again became the head of the united Cossack-Moscow detachment.
The death of Ermak
Until now, luck accompanied almost all enterprises of Ermak Timofeevich. But happiness finally began to change. Continuous good fortune weakens constant precaution and breeds carelessness, the cause of disastrous surprises.
One of the local prince-tributaries, the Karacha, that is, the former khan's adviser, conceived treason and sent ambassadors to Ermak with a request to defend him from the Nogai. The ambassadors swore that they do not think any evil against the Russians. The atamans believed their oath. Ivan Koltso and forty Cossacks with him went to the town of Karachi, were affectionately received, and then treacherously all were killed. To avenge them, Ermak sent a detachment with Ataman Yakov Mikhailov; but this detachment was exterminated. After that, the neighboring foreigners bowed to the admonitions of the Karachi and raised an uprising against the Russians. With a large crowd, the Karacha laid siege to the city of Siberia itself. It is quite possible that he was in secret relations with Kuchum. Ermak's squad, weakened by losses, was forced to withstand the siege. The latter dragged on, and the Russians were already experiencing a strong shortage of food: the Karacha hoped to starve them out.
But despair lends determination. On one June night, the Cossacks split into two parts: one remained with Yermak in the city, and the other, with the ataman Matvey Meshcheryak, imperceptibly went out into the field and crept to the Karachi camp, which stood several miles from the city, separate from the other Tatar ones. Many enemies were beaten, the Karacha himself barely escaped. At dawn, when in the main camp of the besieging they learned about the sortie of Yermak's Cossacks, crowds of enemies rushed to the aid of the karache and surrounded the small squad of Cossacks. But Ermak fenced himself off with a Karachin wagon train and met the enemies with rifle fire. The savages broke down and scattered. The city was freed from the siege, the neighboring tribes again recognized themselves as our tributaries. After that, Ermak undertook a successful trip up the Irtysh, perhaps to search for Kuchum. But the indefatigable Kuchum was elusive in his Ishim steppes and built new intrigues.
The conquest of Siberia by Yermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895. Fragment
As soon as Ermak Timofeevich returned to the city of Siberia, the news came that a caravan of Bukhara merchants was going to the city with goods, but stopped somewhere, because Kuchum did not give him a way! The resumption of trade with Central Asia was highly desirable for Ermak's Cossacks, who could exchange woolen and silk fabrics, carpets, weapons, spices for furs collected from foreigners. Ermak in early August 1585 personally with a small detachment sailed to meet the merchants up the Irtysh. Cossack plows reached the mouth of the Vagai, however, without meeting anyone, they swam back. One dark, stormy evening, Yermak landed on the shore and then found his death. Its details are semi-legendary, but not devoid of some plausibility.
Yermak's Cossacks landed on an island on the Irtysh, and therefore, considering themselves safe, plunged into sleep without placing guards. Meanwhile, Kuchum was there. (The news of the unprecedented Bukhara caravan was almost launched by him in order to lure Ermak into an ambush.) His scouts reported to the khan about the Cossacks' lodging for the night. Kuchum had one Tatar condemned to death. The khan sent him to look for a horse-ford on the island, promising pardon in case of success. The Tatar crossed the river and returned with the news of the complete carelessness of Yermak's people. At first Kuchum did not believe it and ordered to bring proof. The Tartar set off a second time and brought three Cossack squeaks and three little bags with gunpowder. Then Kuchum sent a crowd of Tatars to the island. With the noise of the rain and the howling of the wind, the Tatars crept to the camp and began to beat the sleepy Cossacks. The awakened Ermak rushed into the river to the plow, but fell into a deep place; having iron armor on, he could not swim out and drowned. With this sudden attack, the entire Cossack detachment was exterminated along with its leader. This is how this Russian Cortes and Pizarro, the brave, "velleum" ataman Yermak Timofeevich, as the Siberian chronicles call him, perished, who turned from robbers into a hero whose glory will never be erased from the people's memory.
Two important circumstances helped Yermak's Russian squad during the conquest of the Siberian Khanate: on the one hand, firearms and military training; on the other hand, the internal state of the khanate itself, weakened by civil strife and the discontent of local pagans against the Islam that was forcibly introduced by Kuchum. Siberian shamans with their idols reluctantly gave way to Mohammedan mullahs. But the third important reason for success is the personality of Yermak Timofeevich himself, his irresistible courage, knowledge of military affairs and iron strength of character. The latter is clearly evidenced by the discipline that Yermak managed to establish in his squad of Cossacks, with their violent morals.
Retreat of the remnants of Ermak's squads from Siberia
The death of Yermak confirmed that he was the main engine of the entire enterprise. When news of her reached the city of Siberia, the remaining Cossacks immediately decided that without Ermak, with their small numbers, they would not be able to hold out among the unreliable natives against the Siberian Tatars. Cossacks and Moscow warriors, including no more than one and a half hundred people, immediately left the city of Siberia with the streltsy head Ivan Glukhov and Matvey Meshcheryak, the only remaining of the five atamans; by a distant northern route along the Irtysh and Ob, they went back for the Kamen (Ural ridge). As soon as the Russians cleared Siberia, Kuchum sent his son Alei to occupy his capital city. But he did not stay here for long. Above, we saw that the prince of Taybugin of the Ediger clan, who owned Siberia, and his brother Bekbulat died in the fight against Kuchum. Bekbulat's little son, Seydyak, found refuge in Bukhara, grew up there and became an avenger for his father and uncle. With the help of the Bukharians and Kirghiz, Seydyak defeated Kuchum, expelled Alei from Siberia and took possession of this capital city himself.
Arrival of Mansurov's detachment and consolidation of the Russian conquest of Siberia
The Tatar kingdom in Siberia was restored, and the conquest of Ermak Timofeevich seemed lost. But the Russians have already experienced the weakness, the diversity of this kingdom and its natural wealth; they were quick to return.
The government of Fyodor Ivanovich sent one detachment after another to Siberia. Still not knowing about the death of Ermak, the Moscow government in the summer of 1585 sent to his aid the governor Ivan Mansurov with a hundred riflemen and - most importantly - with a cannon. On this campaign, the remnants of Ermak's detachments and ataman Meshcheryak, who had gone back beyond the Urals, joined with him. Having found the city of Siberia already occupied by the Tatars, Mansurov sailed past, went down the Irtysh to the confluence of the Ob and built a town here for wintering.
This time the matter of conquest went easier with the help of experience and along the paths laid by Ermak. The nearby Ostyaks tried to take the Russian town, but were repulsed. Then they brought their main idol and began to make sacrifices to him, asking for help against Christians. The Russians pointed their cannon at him, and the tree, along with the idol, was smashed into chips. The Ostyaks scattered in fear. The Ostyak prince Lugui, who owned six towns along the Ob, was the first of the local rulers to go to Moscow to beat him with his forehead, so that the sovereign would accept him as one of his tributaries. He was treated kindly and paid a tribute of seven forty sables.
Foundation of Tobolsk
Ermak Timofeevich's victories were not in vain. Following Mansurov, the governors Sukin and Myasnaya arrived in the Siberian land, and on the Tura River, on the site of the old town of Chingiya, they built a fortress Tyumen and erected a Christian church in it. In the next 1587, after the arrival of new reinforcements, the head Danil Chulkov set off from Tyumen further, descended along the Tobol to its mouth and here on the banks of the Irtysh founded Tobolsk; this city became the center of Russian possessions in Siberia, thanks to its advantageous position in the junction of Siberian rivers. Continuing the work of Ermak Timofeevich, the Moscow government used its usual system here too: to spread and consolidate its dominion by gradually building fortresses. Siberia, contrary to fears, was not lost to the Russians. The heroism of Yermak's handful of Cossacks paved the way for Russia's great eastward expansion, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
Articles and books about Ermak
Solovyov S. M .. History of Russia since ancient times. T. 6. Chapter 7 - "The Stroganovs and Ermak"
Kostomarov N.I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. 21 - Ermak Timofeevich
Kuznetsov E.V. Initial poetry about Ermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1890
Kuznetsov E. V. Bibliography of Ermak: Experience of indicating little-known compositions in Russian and partly in foreign languages about the conqueror of Siberia. Tobolsk, 1891
Kuznetsov E. V. About the essay by A. V. Oksenov "Ermak in the epics of the Russian people." Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892
Kuznetsov E.V. To information about the banners of Ermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892
Oksenov A. V. Ermak in the epics of the Russian people. Historical Gazette, 1892
Article "Ermak" in the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (Author - N. Pavlov-Silvansky)
Ataman Ermak Timofeevich conqueror of the Siberian kingdom. M., 1905
Fialkov DN About the place of death and burial of Ermak. Novosibirsk, 1965
Sutormin A.G. Ermak Timofeevich (Alenin Vasily Timofeevich). Irkutsk, 1981
Dergacheva-Skop E. Brief stories about Yermak's campaign in Siberia - Siberia in the past, present and future. Issue III. Novosibirsk, 1981
Kolesnikov A.D. Ermak. Omsk, 1983
Skrynnikov R.G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. Novosibirsk, 1986
Buzukashvili M.I. Ermak. M., 1989
Kopylov D.I. Ermak. Irkutsk, 1989
Sofronov V. Yu. Ermak's campaign and the struggle for the khan's throne in Siberia. Tyumen, 1993
Kozlova NK About “Chudi”, Tatars, Ermak and Siberian burial mounds. Omsk, 1995
Solodkin Ya. G. To the study of chronicle sources about the Siberian expedition of Ermak. Tyumen, 1996
Kreknina L. I. Ermak's theme in the works of P. P. Ershov. Tyumen, 1997
Katargina M.N. The plot of the death of Ermak: chronicle materials. Tyumen, 1997
Sofronova MN About the imaginary and the real in the portraits of the Siberian chieftain Ermak. Tyumen, 1998
Shkerin V. A. Yermak's Sylven campaign: a mistake or a search for a way to Siberia? Yekaterinburg, 1999
Solodkin Ya. G. On the disputes about the origin of Ermak. Yekaterinburg, 1999
Solodkin Ya. G. Did Ermak Timofeevich have a double? Ugra, 2002
Zakshauskienė E. Badge from Ermak's chain mail. M., 2002
Katanov N.F. Legend of the Tobolsk Tatars about Kuchum and Ermak - Tobolsk Chronograph. Collection. Issue 4. Yekaterinburg, 2004
Panishev E.A.Ermak's death in Tatar and Russian legends. Tobolsk, 2003
Skrynnikov R.G. Ermak. M., 2008
and his death
The possessions of the Stroganovs and the Kuchumov kingdom
A significant role in the advancement 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 Vychegodskaya salt, v Komi-Zyryan country who have long maintained a relationship with "stony" peoples - with the Mansi (Vogulichi), Khanty (Ostyaks) and Nenets (samoyad)... Anika also bought furs (quickly, or soft junk) and became very interested in the favorable places beyond the Stone Belt, rich in fur-bearing animals. He bribed some foreigners and sent scouts with them for the "Stone", and then clerks with marketable goods, and they reached the lower Ob, where they profitably exchanged goods for furs. Profiting large capital from salt mines and "stony" trade, Anika began to expand its holdings to the east. Through him, but, undoubtedly, in other ways, already in the middle of the XVI century. Moscow knew about Siberian affairs.
In the royal title of 1554 - 1556.
Ivan IV Vasilievich, by the way, is already called not only as the sovereign of "Obdorskaya, Kondinskaya and many other lands", but also as "The sovereign of all northern shores", and in the title of 1557 "Obdorskaya, Kondinskaya and all Siberian lands, the lord of the Northern side"... There is direct evidence that some regions of Siberia paid tribute to Moscow and recognized the tsar's power long before the campaign. Ermak. (The conqueror of the Siberian kingdom was probably called Yermolai, although sources name five more Orthodox names, including Vasily. He went down in history under the nickname Ermak (artel road tagan, i.e. boiler ). Ermak's origin is also unknown. According to the latest data, his homeland is the village of Ignatievskoe on the Northern Dvina).So, in 1555 he voluntarily submitted to Moscow and promised to pay a tribute of 1000 sables annually. "The prince of the whole Siberian land" - Khan Ediger (Edigar), who was looking for Russian help against the Bukharians who were 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 to the tsar (700 sables) and justified himself by invading Ediger's possession Shiban prince Kuchum and took many local people away. In 1568, new ambassadors from Ediger brought a full tribute (1000 sables), road duties and
"Certificate of honor" - an oath of allegiance... But Ediger was no longer the master of his domain at that time. 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 it "Siberian saltan". But Kuchum did not send tribute to Moscow, prevented the Siberian "populists" from doing this and organized raids into the basin of the upper Kama.The core of the Kuchum kingdom was a part of the West Siberian Plain between Tobol and Irtysh, soon the power of Kuchum spread to the neighboring regions.He forced 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 to pay tribute. In the west, Kuchum subdued the tribes along the river. Tavda and Ture, almost to the "Stone". In the east, his power was recognized by the tribes that lived between the Irtysh and Ob, in the Barabinsk steppe. The southern borders of the Kuchumov kingdom probably reached the Kazakh hills.
The main headquarters of Kuchum is the city of Kashlyk (Isker), which was called the Russians "The city of Siberia", which arose on the right (northern) bank of the Irtysh, less than halfway between the mouths of its southern tributaries, the Tobol and Nagai.
West of the "Stone" the basin of the upper Kama belonging to Russia -
Ermak crossing through the Middle Urals
After the conquest Kazan and Astrakhan tsarist possessions stretched to the Caspian Sea and the entire Volga became a Russian river. Trade with the Lower Volga region, the Trans-Volga region and Iran intensified, and a route to Central Asia was explored. Only on the western borders was the war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and there were concentrated large military forces of Russia. In the campaign against Mogilev in the summer of 1581, among many regiments, she took part and Cossack squad of Ataman Ermak... After the conclusion of an armistice (early 1582), at the behest of Ivan IV, his detachment was redeployed 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... They also broke through there Cossacks Ataman Ivan Yurievich Ring... 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 destroyed 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, supported by the Trans-Ural tribesmen and Khan Kuchum, began. The villages and settlements of the Stroganovs along the Chusovaya and its tributaries were on fire. Possessions suffered the most Maxim Yakovlevich Stroganov on the river Silva, which forced him to turn to the Cossacks. Offering them a campaign to Siberia against Kuchum and the rebellious Mansi, M. Stroganov most likely did not aim at the entire Siberian Khanate, but assumed only to intimidate the khan, to put pressure on him. The proposal to go "beyond the Stone" apparently coincided with the intention of the Cossacks to get a livelihood: in peacetime they were not entitled to the royal salary.
Probably in the summer of 1582 M. Stroganov concluded a final agreement with the chieftain about a campaign against the "Siberian Saltan". By the 540 Cossacks, he added his people with "leaders" (guides) who knew "that Siberian way" and interpreters of the "Busurman language", supplied the detachment with weapons and supplies. The Cossacks built large ships ("good planes"), carrying 20 people with supplies, and many small ones. Consequently, the flotilla consisted of more than 30 ships. Yermak began the river voyage at the head of a detachment of about 600 people on September 1, 1582, the guides quickly led the plows 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 to the 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 for every Russian there were 10 - 15 Kuchum soldiers. Having dragged all the supplies and small vessels through an even and short (10 versts) dragging, Ermak and his associates descended along Barancha, Tagil and Tura to about 58 ° N. sh. Here, near present-day Turinsk, they first encountered Kuchum's vanguard and scattered it. The main task of taking the "language" to determine the number and combat capability of the Khan's troops was not fulfilled. And Kuchum soon already knew about the forces of the Russians, but did not show concern about the intentions of the Cossacks moving towards his capital. To defend Kashlyk, he managed to expose detachments of some vassal princelings; the main forces of the khan, led by his eldest son Alei, with attached cannons, were on a campaign in the Perm Territory.
A decisive battle took place on the banks of the Irtysh, near the Chuvashev cape, slightly above the mouth of the Tobol. At the disposal Makhmet-Kula (Mametkul), Kuchum's nephew, commander of the army, there were two detachments - foot and horse. 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, dispersed to 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 r. Demianki, a right tributary of the lower Irtysh, brought furs and food supplies, mainly fish, as a gift to the conquerors. Ermak greeted them with "affection and greetings" and let them go "with honor." Local Tatars, who had previously fled from the Russians, reached for the Khanty with gifts. Ermak accepted 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 also began to appear with furs and food - from rivers Konda and Tavda... Ermak imposed a mandatory annual tax on everyone - yasak. (Yasak usually collected by furs, mainly sables. If there was a shortage of sables, it was allowed to replace them with other furs, according to a certain calculation).
From the "best people" (the tribal elite) Yermak took "Wool", that is, an oath,the fact that their "people" will pay yasak on time. 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 was subdued to Yermak. But the Cossacks were few. To retain power, people, food and military supplies were required. Ermak, bypassing the Stroganovs, decided to get in touch with Moscow. True, he nevertheless notified M. Stroganov, but apparently did not ask for help, knowing what small forces he had. Undoubtedly, Ermak and his Cossack advisers correctly calculated that the victors are not judged and that the tsar would send both help and forgiveness to all the participants in the campaign for the previous "theft". At the head of the embassy to Grozny, which consisted of 25 Cossacks, Ermak put ataman Ivan Alexandrovich Cherkas, his colleague and, probably, the historiographer of the campaign. (According to other sources, his name was Cherkas Alexandrov Korsak, the author of the Cossack"Writings" , i.e. a description of the campaign created around 1600. The previous version, according to which the embassy was headed by a state criminal ataman Ivan Ring , sentenced to death, is now rejected). They drove all collected yasak (its dimensions are unknown). Ermak, his chieftains and Cossacks beat the great Emperor Ivan Vasilyevich with their brows Siberian kingdomand asked for forgiveness for past crimes. December 22, 1582 I. Cherkas with a detachment set off on a sled with a reindeer team and on skis. With the help of local residents, they walked"Wolf road"(unbeaten paths, forest paths), probably up the Tavda, Lozva and one of its tributaries to the "Stone", 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 did not fear meeting with "non-peaceful peoples". Along the Vishera valley, the Cossacks descended to Cherdyn, and from there down the Kama River to Perm and arrived in Moscow, probably even before the spring of 1583.
Previously, the government considered the campaign to Siberia a private enterprise of the Stroganovs, apparently even harmful to the tsarist Perm 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 the expense of the state. All participants in the campaign were forgiven, awarded with money and cloth cuts. Ermak Ivan IV sent through the ambassador, together with a gracious letter of gold and ordered 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" joined the embassy, that is, not assigned to any class - runaway peasants, debtors hiding from debt bondage, etc. Makhmet- At that time, Kul 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, received affectionately there, and later became a Russian regimental commander.
Bogdan Bryazgi's hike 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, Ermak decided to send 50 Cossacks under the command Esaul Bogdan Bryazgi... In March 1583, the detachment set out from Kashlyk to the north, down the Irtysh. Bryazga first met significant resistance from the Irtysh Tatars and took one of their towns by storm. In order to ostracize, he executed the "best people" and "leaders", while he took the "wool" (oath) from the rest, and forced them to kiss a saber splattered with blood. The collected yasak, the taken stocks of bread and fish, Bryazga sent to Kashlyk. After that, the lower Tatars took citizenship: the nearest without resistance, more distant after a minor rebuff. Even further down the Irtysh, the country was inhabited by some Khanty. The Cossacks, apparently, freely descended to the river. Demianki. A group of Khanty settled in a fortified town, 30 km below the mouth of the Demyanka, but stopped resistance three days later.
The Cossacks stayed in the Demyansk town because of an ice drift (spring 1583) and built light ships, and when the ice passed, they began rafting down the Irtysh. In the villages near the river Bryazga brought the Khanty to the "wool" and took away all valuable things from them under the guise of yasak. Near the mouth of the Irtysh, on May 20, early in the morning, the Cossacks occupied a large Khanty town; having interrupted the sleeping guard "guarding" him, they burst into the house of Samara , the main prince of all 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 Samarov town. Bryazga appointed the rich prince Alacha as the head of the local Khanty. (According to the royal charter, his descendants received power over a number of villages along the lower Ob and great privileges.)
Along the lower Ob, Bryazga reached only Belogorie, a hilly area, where the mighty river, skirting the Siberian Uvaly, turns sharply to the north. It is possible that the Cossacks were looking there for the legendary "Golden woman".In Belogorie, the Khanty had, according to the chronicler, "a great prayer to the ancient goddess, naked, with her son sitting on a chair." But the Cossacks found only abandoned dwellings: in the spring, during floods, the Khanty went to the lakes to fish. And below the banks of the Ob River seemed uninhabited, so on May 29 Bryazga turned back. He explored the riverside areas along the lower Irtysh at 700 km from the mouth of the Tobol, including a small section of the lower Ob to Belogorye.
The death of Ermak 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 the other - in 1585; in this case, Yermak's campaign in the summer and autumn of 1584 on mansi who lived on Tavda and its upper reaches - Pelym; conceived for reconnaissance of convenient routes to Russia, the Pelym campaign ended in failure. Below is given precisely this version, which is now accepted by the majority of Soviet historians.
In the spring of 1584, Moscow intended to send three hundred military men under the command of Semyon Dmitrievich Bolkhovsky... But the death of Ivan the Terrible (March 18, 1584) disrupted all plans. The rank of S. Volkhovsky, having missed the spring flood, was able to overcome the Ural portages only in the autumn flood. That is why the archers on 15 plows arrived in Kashlyk only in November 1584, when a massive Tatars uprising broke out in Siberia, raised by the Siberian"Karachi" , the supreme advisor of the khan, who earlier - imaginary or really - detached himself from Kuchum and strengthened on the Irtysh near the river. Containers.
Karachi deceived 40 Cossacks led by Ivan Koltso and killed them all.
He also killed small Cossack detachments, scattered among the Tatars and Khanty in the vast territory conquered by Ermak, 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 the Tatars and Khanty under the command of Karachi besieged Kashlyk. More than a month has passed. In the beginning of May Cossacks ataman Matvey Meshcheryakmade a successful night sortie and broke into the camp of the Karachi ... Almost all the Tatars were killed, the Karachi with several people fled after Ishim. The Cossacks captured his wagon train and returned safely to Kashlyk. The Karachi allies scattered across their villages, and the siege of Kashlyk ended. This victory for a short time improved the position of the Russians, whose number, after a difficult wintering, was probably reduced to 300 people; the rest died of hunger and disease. Local residents began to deliver food supplies to the Cossacks.
A few weeks after the defeat of the Karachi, a Tatar sent by Kuchum brought false news to Yermak, as if to Kashlyk across the river. A Bukhara trade caravan is sent to Vagai, but the khan does not let him through. Ermak believed and in July with 150 Cossacks set out to meet the caravan. Reaching 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 captured without a fight higher along the Irtysh the town of Tashatkan... Ermak stopped near the mouth of the river. Shish, almost 400 km from Kashlyk, and turned back because the locals struck him with their poverty. On the way back, in Tashatkan, Ermak was again brought the false news that 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 and it was pouring rain. According to local legend, a Tatar scout took three squeaks and three bags from the sleeping Cossacks and delivered them to the khan. Then Kuchum attacked at midnight mill Ermak. In order not to make a fuss, the Tatars simply strangled the sleeping Russians. But Ermak 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 Kuchum's warriors, armed with a spear, rushed after him; In the battle, the ataman began to overpower the Tatar, but received a blow in the throat and died. Yermak's squad escaped in plows, and only "others" perished in the night battle.
Further 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 return journey on plows. Fearing the Tobolsk Tatars, I. Glukhov did not go the same way - along Tavda or Tura. The detachment sailed along the Ob to its lower reaches, crossed the Yugorsky Kamen (Northern Urals), reached the Pechora and from there returned to Russia. However, the Tatars did not manage to use their victory.
Discord broke out among them again. Kuchum sent his son Alei to Kashlyk with a small detachment, but he was soon expelled from there Prince Seid-Akhmat (Seydyak), the nephew of the ousted and killed by Kuchum Khan Ediger.
From Moscow, where they did not yet know about the death of Yermak and the retreat of the Russians, in 1585 Voivode Ivan Mansurov went to Siberia with 700 servicemen and several guns, but he did not find the Russians on the Irtysh. It was late autumn, the river became. Mansurov spent the winter on the bank of the Ob River, opposite the mouth of the Irtysh, built there the Ob town - the first Russian prison beyond the Kamenny Belt ... In the spring of 1586 Mansurov's detachment left the town and sailed down the Ob. Having reached the Yugorskaya land, he crossed the "Stone" and returned to Moscow. The business of annexing Siberia had to start from the beginning. But the river routes of Western Siberia and the riverside areas were already well explored by the Russians.
