The English scientist J. Baker wrote about the Russian explorers: "The share of this obscure army went to such feats that will forever remain a monument to his courage and enterprise and equal to which no other European people has performed." He also noted another aspect: “By the end of a century of geographical research, the Russians had identified the most important geographical features of North Asia … The achievements of the Russians were significant and if they were not strictly scientific in nature, then in terms of the scope and accuracy of observations they stand in their favor compared with the work of the French in North America in the same era.”However, it is worth noting that geographical research in any state was not“strictly scientific”at that time. Material interests were at the forefront everywhere - the search for objects for submission or robbery, gold,spices and other values.
Well, and for the Russians, one of the main goals of the expeditions was usually the collection of yasak and “the search for unassailable land”. But at the same time, documents of a scientific and geographical plan were also compiled in a multitude: maps, "unsubscriptions" and "slopes" with descriptions of roads, discovered regions and peoples. And the cards, by the way, were no worse than the European ones of that time. In the XVII century. in the West they also resembled in many ways artistic creations with drawings of busty sirens, monsters and other exotic things, with wide strips of rivers, on which there was enough room for images of ships, with more than conventional proportions of sizes and distances. In fact, these were just rough schemes. And, for example, the map of Barents, compiled by him on the basis of personal observations, turned out to be completely wrong. But the Russian documentation was much more accurate, and Academician V. N. Skalon, compiling in 1929 a map of the river. Taz, suddenly discovered"That the drawings of the 17th century were closer to reality than those that were issued two centuries later."
The big difference between Western and Russian discoveries was that European expeditions were usually organized privately, by merchants and adventurers, and therefore limited the range of their searches to specific sources of quick profit. And only later, as new lands were colonized, their natural features and hidden wealth began to come to light. The Russians mastered Siberia in a centralized manner, under the control of the government. And already in the earliest orders to explorers, Moscow demanded to collect information about deposits of ore, other minerals, about flora and fauna. The order of the Ore Investigation sent requests to the Siberian governors about the geological resources of the region. At the same time, detailed instructions were given on how to take samples, which were then sent to Moscow, where experts gave their assessment and a conclusion on the feasibility of development. And the Apothecary Order demanded "by the sovereign's decree" information about local medicinal plants with sending these plants to the capital as well. Having received such instructions, the governors instructed “the priest to click for many days” in the squares and bazaars, collecting information for the next requests from Moscow. And those who provide valuable information or bring samples were promised a reward set by the government. Thus, the study of Siberia was conducted much more scientifically than the study in the same era in America, Africa, Southeast Asia.promised a reward set by the government. Thus, the study of Siberia was conducted much more scientifically than the study in the same era in America, Africa, Southeast Asia.promised a reward set by the government. Thus, the study of Siberia was conducted much more scientifically than the study in the same era in America, Africa, Southeast Asia.
Thus, iron ore has already been discovered in the Turinsky, Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Yenisei districts, and by 1640 the industrial development of these deposits began. In the Yenisei district alone, 17 blast furnaces operated. Although they were built small, and the metal has so far been smelted only in quantities necessary for local use. After all, the export of products would be too expensive, the distances were enormous, they were measured in Siberia not even by versts, but by “bottoms”, days of travel. And, for example, after the establishment of the Yakutsk district, the stewards appointed there, Peter Golovin and Bogdan Glebov, got to the place for 2 years. They carried with them extraordinary value, even a shrine - bells. The first bells to ring in Yakutia. What was supposed to increase the rating of Yakutsk, it turned into a “real” district center. In tsarist orders, Golovin and Glebov needed the samethat from other voivods - to collect yasak "with caresses, and not cruelty", and try to subjugate the unexplained by peace - "and command them first to persuade by any measure of affection, so that they finish off their wines to the sovereign with their brows and be under a high hand and pay yasak from themselves" … Only in case of extreme stubbornness and resistance were military actions of a limited scale allowed.
In the meantime, while the governors were driving, power in Yakutsk was exercised by Parfen Khodyrev and a very sensible written head (governor of the provincial office) Vasily Poyarkov. Who had to use both diplomacy "affection" and military measures. On the Tatt and Amga rivers, the Yakut leaders Kaptagayk and Nemnyachek Ogeevs with detachments undertook to engage in robbery, attacked the yasak, robbed cattle. The victims complained to the Russians. The future navigator and discoverer of the Bering Strait, Semyon Dezhnev, was sent to pacify the Ogeevs. He was still an ordinary Cossack, although he was already singled out - they were given two servicemen under the command and instructions to act "without damage without a fight." And he seemed to do it.
And in the fall of 1640, Toyon Sahei raised an uprising. The rebels laid siege to Yakutsk. They could not take him, they fought a little, and managed to come to a peace agreement with them. But when the Cossacks Fedot Shivrin and Efim Zipun were sent to Sakhei for the tribute, the toyon killed them and migrated to Vilyui. A detachment under the command of Ivan Metlenko was sent against him. The Yakuts lured him into an ambush and killed many, and Metlenko also died. Then Dezhnev was again sent to conduct diplomacy, and he succeeded again. He finally made Sakhei reconcile and returned without loss, collecting 140 sables from the rebellious family. Yes, not cheap, oh, how expensive they were, these furs! By the way, from here you can see again that yasak was more a matter of political principle than profit. Otherwise, did it make sense to put so many lives for 140 skins?
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Long trips continued as well. Denis Yerilo was sent to Indigirka to replace Posnik Ivanov. And Ivanov returned to Yakutsk, together with him returned after 13-year wanderings and the Cossack Ivan Rebrov - brought a rich "treasury", information about the regions he explored, and was promoted to Pentecostal. And Poyarkov, having heard the reports of the explorers, equipped two detachments. One, under the leadership of Dmiriy Zyryan, went to Yana, the other, again under the command of Ivanov, to Indigirka. The Verkhoyansk Yakuts received the Russians friendly, they were constantly attacked by the Yukaghirs and Lamuts (Evens) and needed protection. From here Zyryan went further east, and sent 4 Cossacks headed by Dezhnev to Yakutsk with reports and collected yasak. The Evens learned about the small group, and from an ambush it was attacked by "forty lamuk men, and maybe more." The Cossacks were not at a loss,greeted them with a volley of squeaks, a fight ensued. In battle, Dezhnev, twice wounded, managed to overthrow the Evens with a shot, the attackers fled, and the group continued on their way and returned to Yakutsk.
Posnik Ivanov's detachment reached Indigirka, where Yerilo and his comrades, who built the Olyubenskoe winter hut, were waiting for him. This river has generally become "habitable". Kharitonov's detachment from Yana also moved here. The expedition of the Krasnoyarsk Cossack Ivan Erastov also arrived. He made a long voyage in the Arctic Ocean, passed the entire Indigirka on a ship, having withstood a series of fights with the Yukaghirs. And Yerilo, when Ivanov replaced him on Indigirka, with 15 Cossacks went to sea on a nomad and moved even further east, reaching the river. Alazeyi. From Ivanov's detachment, a party headed by the Cossack Belyana went there. I had to fight with the Yukaghirs and Chukchi, who put up detachments against them. Two Russians were killed, but in the battles the Russians captured Prince Manzitin as amanat, and the local residents submitted.
Another expedition from Yakutsk was sent under the leadership of Pentecostal Vasily Vityazev to the Upper Lena. Kurbat Ivanov separated from her with 3 Cossacks, exploring distant tributaries. Upon his return, he presented an excellent drawing and was left at the chancellery, Poyarkov attracted him to such an important matter as drawing up maps of Lena, Vitim, Kirenga, Aldan, Vilyui, and the routes to the Sea of Okhotsk.
However, when the Yakut governors appointed from Moscow arrived, it turned out that they, especially Golovin, were much less fit for their posts than those who temporarily performed their duties. They arrived at a turbulent time - in 1641 there was an uprising of the Verkholensk Tungus. But Golovin did not attach importance to the tense situation in the region, he considered himself a born administrator and hatched a project to conduct a census of the Yakuts and their livestock. People who had lived in Siberia for a long time, like the toyons friendly to the Russians, persistently discouraged him, but he did not want to listen to anyone - they say, I am the boss here, and as I said, it will be so. And as soon as the census began, it aroused indignation among the Yakuts - rumors spread that the Russians intended to take away their livestock and turn the people into slavery. A number of tribes rebelled, they killed several detachments of yasak collectors, laid siege to Yakutsk. Golovin did not want to admit his mistake. He considered that the assistants were digging under him, frustrating his undertakings. He accused the second voivode Glebov and clerk Filatov that it was they who had knocked the Yakuts into mutiny, anyhow, to harm their boss. He declared them traitors and arrested - to which he had not the slightest right.
However, the uprisings on the Lena were "a trifle" compared to what was happening in the South Siberian regions. Here attacks of Kalmyks, Kuchumovichs and Kirghiz followed incessantly, one after another. They raided Russian settlements, laid siege to prison, drove away full. Moreover, they tried to strike at the height of field work, when the peasants could be taken by surprise, in the field. It was reported to Moscow that the steppe inhabitants “for all the years at work and summertime, grain harvest and haymaking come near Krasnoyarsk in war, and other times … they send a few of their ulus thieves to drive away any cattle … villages and villages are burned and all cattle are driven away, and people beaten. " Krasnoyarsk, Kuznetsk, Tara were periodically sieged. Over the years, the Kansky, Achinsky forts, Murzinsky, Utitskaya, Kamyshevskaya settlements were taken and burned, hundreds of people were driven into slavery.
All life here was built according to the principles of military life. Preserved many petitions with requests for "protection", strengthening the garrisons. But there were not enough troops. And the peasants armed themselves, even went to work with weapons. Temporary forts were erected in the fields - to hide in the event of a raid. In villages and settlements, watchtowers, nadolbs, palisades were built. Comprehensive protection measures were developed. The Cossacks' stanitsa and guard service was being debugged, and the walled settlements and ostrozhki united into a common vast system, warning each other of danger with smoke and other signals, calling neighbors for help. Although the most effective means were counterattacks, retaliatory campaigns into the steppe by the forces of one or more cities. They did not always turn out to be successful, sometimes the Russians and their yasak allies were defeated. But it was important to accustom the steppe dwellers to the idea that none of their forays would go unpunished.
And in 1642 significant successes were achieved in the fight against the Yenisei Kirghiz. At the beginning of this year, Ataman E. Tyumentsev organized a ski trip from Krasnoyarsk, defeating the Kyzyl, Achinsk and Arin “disobedient” groups. And in the summer, the Krasnoyarsk people gathered a detachment under the command of S. Kozlovsky and M. Koltsov, servicemen from Tomsk came to the rescue, and the combined forces advanced up the Yenisei - the cavalry by the coast, and the infantry on the plows. For r. White Iyus discovered an army of the Kirghiz, who had fortified themselves in a camp on the mountain. And although the enemy was armed with pishchal, fiercely fired back, the camp was taken by storm and the Kirghiz were completely defeated, forcing to make peace.
On the Lena, the Tungus revolt was also somehow coped with, and in order to consolidate the tsarist power in their lands, the Verkholensk prison was built. The Yakuts were also pacified. The number of the Russian population on the Lena grew rapidly. Private hunting cooperatives moved here, annually up to a thousand "industrial people" passed through the customs of Yakutsk. In addition to sable, fox, ermine, and beaver skins were hunted for export. The rest - arctic fox, squirrel, bear skins, did not cover the cost of harvesting and transportation to Russia. If they were taken, then for local use. Trade was also very profitable here. Goods that cost a penny in European Russia and Western Siberia, in the eastern regions, which were just being mastered, were valued ten times more expensive. And in Yakutia there appeared clerks of large merchants Sveteshnikov, Guselnikov, Revyakin, Usov. They, in turn,hired industrial artels, organized expeditions. Bread was one of the most scarce commodities - and high prices for it contributed to the emergence of agricultural farms on the Upper Lena. Right here, at the mouth of the Kirenga, the former peasant Erofei Khabarov nestled. At the beginning of the 1640s, he already had 26 acres of plowed land, smithies and salt breweries, where dozens of hired workers worked.
Polar navigation was further developed. Having driven off from Mangazeya, the streltsy foreman Vasily Sychev from the river. Pyasina through portages penetrated into the southern part of Taimyr, into Khatanga and Khatanga Bay, reached the river. Anabar, where he built a winter hut. He made several voyages in the Laptev Sea, discovering an island with a walrus rookery (Begicheva Island). In the twentieth century. on this island were found the ruins of a hut, 5 rifle axes and other objects of the 17th century. And chess. Exactly the same ones that were found during the excavations of Mangazeya. As you can see, intellectual entertainment was by no means alien to the explorers. Thus, two routes were established from Mangesea - the sea, bypassing the Taimyr, and the railroad, through Pyasina and Khatanga. And these paths continued further east - to Lena. The fact that such voyages were carried out regularly is evidenced by the documents of the Yakutsk command hutand archaeological finds - already in Soviet times, the remains of an unknown expedition were found, marching from Mangazeya in this direction.
Voivode Golovin, despite his personal and administrative qualities, also engaged in geographical research. He supported the initiative of the Cossack foreman Mikhail Stadukhin, who at his own expense organized a detachment of 16 people. for a hike to Indigirka. Through Verkhoyansk they reached this river, united with the party of Denis Yerila and went to the Oymyakon, a tributary of the Indigirka. Here the explorers established good relations with the Tungus clan of the prince Chon, collected yasak. And Andrey Gorelov with several Cossacks was sent “to the Lamut heights” - to a mountainous country south of Oymyakon. The group crossed the Chersky ridge and got into the valley of the river. Hunting. And a little missed the Moskvitin detachment, which at that time was just returning from the Pacific coast.
But Gorelov did not reach the sea a little, was stopped by hostile actions of the local Evens. In the clashes, the Cossacks took their prince Chyun as amanat, who provided valuable information about the river. The hunt, which “fell into the sea,” but the captivity of the leader only added fuel to the fire. The Evens gathered an army and piled on with all their might. Gorelov had to retreat, repelling the attacks. The opponents did not lag behind, they were on their heels. And when the group returned to Oymyakon to Stadukhin's detachment, the Even army was right there. It fell on the Russians and laid siege to them in the prison. As the Cossacks later reported to the tsar, "and we, your servants, fought with them, fired from weapons." The Stadukhin people had a hard time. Clouds of enemy arrows killed almost all the horses, and all the people were wounded, some several times. They were holding on with their last strength. They were rescued by their yasak allies. At a critical moment, the Yakuts of Toyon Uday came up - in armor,with bows and palms (swords on shafts), and Prince Chon brought his armed Tungus. A battle broke out in which Udai died, many yasaks were killed, but the Evens were recaptured. They went back to the Hunt, and on the way they took revenge, ravaging camps and driving deer. Lightly wounded Denis Erilu and Ivan Kislyi Stadukhin sent to Yakutsk with a report and "treasury", and he himself remained on Oymyakon.
And the expedition of Dmitry Zyryan, having moved from Yana to Indigirka, made a trip to Alazeya at that time. Also not without incident. It was attacked by the Yukaghirs-Alazeyi, surrounded and pressed. In the battle, they managed to kill the local prince Nevgoch, and the Yukaghirs retreated. But when the Russians set up their prison, the Alazey shaman Omoganei arrived and began to vilify the aliens (obviously, with the aim of incurring the curse of the local spirits on them). Cossacks in relation to the spirits were not cowardly people, the shaman was seized "for ignorance" and put in the Amanat hut. Yukagirov were outraged by this, and they surged again. They stormed, "burst into the prison", they were beaten off with rifle volleys. And only after the second defeat did the Alazeya agree to pay yasak.
The clerks of the merchants Usovs Fedot Alekseev and Luchko Vasiliev took a trip to the river. Olenek traded with local residents. And Posnik Ivanov, returning from Indigirka, was promoted to Pentecostal and in 1642-43. headed the first Russian expedition to Baikal. He crossed the Baikal ridge, visited the western shore of the lake, visited about. Olkhon. He established excellent relations with the Buryats - and they voluntarily agreed to citizenship. However, the fact that a lot depended on friendly relations with local residents soon received sad confirmation. In 1643 Skorokhodov's detachment was sent to survey the area east of Lake Baikal. But he quarreled with the Buryats and Tungus and in battles with them, every single person died.
In the early 1640s, another promising direction for the advancement of explorers emerged. Voivode Golovin prepared and sent E. Bakhteyarov's expedition to search for a road to the Amur. This expedition described in detail the r. Vitim, opened the r. Zeya. Independently of it, fishermen and traders Vizhevsky and Kvashnin “with comrades” overcame the right Lena tributary Olekma, reached the river. Tugir and reached the Amur. And in 1643, for a large campaign in the Amur region, the written head of Yakutsk, Vasily Poyarkov, began to collect "eager people". Either he was tired of clerical work and wanted a “live business,” or it seemed completely unbearable to stay in the district center under the leadership of Golovin. And 132 people under his command set off on ships along the Lena to discover new lands. We went up the Aldan. Stopping at the winter quarters, Poyarkov left the boats and some of the people here,took 90 people with him. and continued on the sled. Through the Stanovoy ridge we reached the river. Zeya. New ships were built and in 1644 they went to the Amur. And we moved on, to its lower reaches …
New spiritual and cultural centers arose in Siberia. In 1644 the monk Dalmat, who retired from the Nevyansk monastery, settled in the forests on the banks of the river. Iset, where he brought the miraculous icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God. This is how the later famous Dalmatov Monastery was founded. Civil administration was being debugged. And the connection between Siberian cities and counties, despite the distance, operated regularly. Therefore, Moscow learned about the “arts” of Golovin through servicemen and other governors, albeit with a natural delay. The government decided to remove the tyrant and appointed new governors to Yakutsk, Vasily Pushkin and Kirill Suponev. And while they get there, he ordered the Yenisei governor Anichkov to send an already tested and experienced person, ataman Ivan Galkin, who was promoted to boyar children, to temporarily govern the region with an urgent relay race. He in 1644arrived in Yakutsk with a tsarist letter on the removal of the voivode from office. Golovin got enraged, tried to protest the decree, calling the letter “thieves'”, that is, counterfeit. But the servicemen broke through everything that had accumulated against him, they supported Galkin, they themselves freed the people arrested by the voivode from prison, and Golovin had to get out of the way.
And the expeditions that went to distant lands did not even know about these events. They continued to do their job. Stadukhin collected rather detailed information about the nature and inhabitants of the places where his detachment traveled. I learned that to the east of Indigirka, beyond the mountains, there are swampy lowlands and large rivers Alazeya, Kolyma, Anyui, where the Yukaghir tribes of Chuvinians, Khodynians, Anaulov, Alazey, Omok live. And I decided to go there. Having built a koch, the Cossacks went down the Indigirka and near its mouth met Zyryan's expedition, which had returned from Alazeya. And Stadukhin and Zyryan joined forces for a new venture. Two ships went to sea - and in the east they opened the river. Kolyma. In its lower reaches, the Kochi were met by hostile "reindeer people" who did not allow the Russians to land and gain a foothold. The ships sailed upstream, followed by boats. Only 3 days later, the Cossacks broke away from the pursuit, stopped near the settlement of sedentary Yukagirs of Prince Alai and set up a prison - the future Srednekolymsk.
True, the local residents also began to quarrel with the explorers, they had to undertake a campaign against the “Yukaghir peasants-omoks”. In the ensuing battle, Stadukhin was wounded with an arrow, but Dezhnev again distinguished himself, killed “the best man, Alayev's brother,” three prisoners were taken as amanats, and the Yukaghirs admitted defeat, agreed to yasak. The Cossacks have been collecting it for 2 years - having typed “eight forty” sables. They also founded the Verkhnekolymsky and Nizhnekolymsky forts. They undertook an expedition west of the Kolyma mouth, on the river. Chukchi, where a separate Chukchi clan lived. From here, Stadukhin brought a Chukchi woman named Kaliba, whom the explorers found very smart and intelligent, from her they received a lot of valuable information about the local lands.
In 1645, Stadukhin and Zyryan decided to return by sea to Yakutsk with a half of the detachment, and 13 people remained in Kolyma, led by Vtor Gavrilov and Semyon Dezhnev. Alai learned that there were few Russians and decided to destroy them. Gathered 500 soldiers and attacked the prison. The fight was stubborn, all the defenders were wounded. But at a critical moment, when the Yukaghirs climbed to the assault, one of the Cossacks met in hand-to-hand combat with Alai himself and struck him with a spear. Confusion arose in the ranks of the attackers and they retreated. But Zyryan was not destined to return to Yakutsk. At sea, his ship met the Koch Lena merchants, and with them rode the kissing agent Pyotr Novoselov and carried the letter on the appointment of Zyryan as the kissing agent (that is, the state clerk) to the “distant rivers”. Therefore, Stadukhin continued on his way, and his comrade-in-arms boarded the encountered ship and returned to Kolyma, where he soon died.
He was succeeded by Vtor Gavrilov. Kolyma also began to "settle down". Kochi from Lena, Yana, Indigirka went to her. The consignments of industrialists Isai Mezents and Semyon Pustozerts arrived. After nine years of travels around Yana and Indigirka, Kharitonov's expedition arrived here. And the Cossack Belyana, having lived for 2 years on Alazey, also decided to move to the east. Having built a koch with his comrades, he reached the Kolyma, withstood several battles with the Yukaghirs and set up a prison. But the local clans united and laid siege to him with large forces. Belyana was wounded, two of his associates were killed. This group was saved by a detachment of commercial and industrial people who had just arrived in the Kolyma. Finding that there was a battle nearby, he struck the Yukaghirs and forced them to lift the siege. And Belyana with the surviving subordinates returned to Alazeya.
Well, Poyarkov's expedition was moving towards the mouth of the Amur. Collected information about the "Daurian land", found out that the inhabitants of the upper and middle Amur region are either tributaries of the Manchus, or are at war with them, and in the lower reaches of the river there are tribes that have not yet been "explained" by anyone. In the summer of 1645, Poyarkov's boats entered the Amur Bay, the explorers saw Fr. Sakhalin. And then they sailed north along the sea coasts, until they reached the river. Hives, already explored by the Moskvitin expedition. And on his way - from Ulya through the Dzhugdzhur ridge to the Lena tributaries, Poyarkov turned back to Yakutsk. From hardships, diseases, in hungry wintering and clashes, his detachment lost 2/3 of its personnel. But he brought a huge yasak, and most importantly - a report with a detailed description of his discoveries and drawings of the Amur and the sea coast. In fact, Russia came into contact with the borders of the Qing empire.
V. E. Shambarov
