Ever since the time of Yermak, Russian miners began to actively advance to the northeast, mastering Siberia. Many cities that arose in this harsh area in the 16th-17th centuries still stand to this day, but Mangazeya has disappeared, as if it did not exist at all. The richest Klondike city existed for a very short time and remained in the memory of the descendants of the mysterious legend of the Arctic. Why did it happen so?
How the legendary city appeared
The city appeared in the region of the West Siberian Lowland near the Taz River. At the end of the 16th century, in its place was a trading settlement of the Pomors, who stayed here during their campaigns to the Ob Guba, and in 1600, by order of the tsar, a Cossack detachment was sent here to build a new city on the site of the Pomor trading post. A year later, the first buildings were erected at the confluence of the Osetrovka (Mangazeyka) rivers in Taza, and a few years later the city of Mangazeya was officially registered. It was supposed to become a stronghold for the passage of the Russians deep into Siberia and contribute to the control of the so-called Mangazeya sea passage to the land abounding in valuable fur-bearing animals.
Mangazeya on an old map.
Such a strange name of the city could be due to the fact that the local people (a kind of Samoyed) were called "Molgonzei" here. According to another version, this is translated from the Zyryan dialect as “seaside land”.
Very soon the city became the richest settlement in the Arctic. He prospered, his fame spread throughout the country, and merchants composed legends about Mangazeya, comparing it to Kitezh.
Mangazeya (reconstruction based on the excavations of M. Belov).
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What is known about life in Mangazeya
Alas, the city existed for less than a hundred years and disappeared. Historians have at their disposal the designations on old maps and written references of contemporaries, but for a long time there was no detailed information about the structure of Mangazeya, its architecture and life. The first explorer to reach the ancient settlement was the traveler Yuri Kushelevsky in 1862, and at the beginning of the 19th century archaeologists began to undertake the first excavations.
Archaeologists are working in the ancient settlement.
By 1968, as a result of erosion by river waters, a third of the territory of this ancient monument was lost, but even despite this, scientists managed to find a lot of artifacts. At the disposal of archaeologists were at least 15 thousand square meters of the urban area and almost a hundred buildings. The work of the architects and shipbuilders of Mangazeya in permafrost conditions cannot but amaze the descendants.
The architects worked in permafrost conditions, but their work was perfect.
The city had a clear layout. The fortress was separated from the posad, which consisted of trade and craft zones. And outside the city, according to archaeologists, there were vast pastures.
Streets covered with wooden boards stretched between the houses of residents. In the center was the Gostiny Dvor with barns and customs. Orthodox churches towered throughout the city. In Mangazeya there were both baths and taverns, where local and visiting merchants rested.
Legends were made about the prosperous Mangazeya, rich in furs.
The five-tower Kremlin of Mangazeya (about 280 meters long) had its own provincial yard with horses and livestock. His excavations have provided archaeologists with a lot of information about the daily life of the Mangazeans. Among the most valuable finds are crockery of all kinds, birch bark tuesques, candlesticks, knives with intricate ornaments on the handles, various types of locks, as well as many building tools and even wooden furniture.
This is only a tiny fraction of the vast collection of artifacts found during excavations.
The main means of transportation for the townspeople were horses, and for long distances (for example, reaching Turukhansk) they rode on sleds pulled by reindeer.
The handicraft was so well developed here that even the governor's courtyards actively cut out crafts and blanks from the bone of a mammoth and a bull's horn. In addition, the Mangazeans were engaged in leatherwork, they made beads and other adornments from beads, sewed, cast utensils from metals, made jewelry (archeologists found raw precious stones).
Pendant crosses, jewelry and other items found in Mangazeya.
Fragments of musical instruments and leather book bindings were also found in the settlement. This suggests that Mangazeya was a highly cultured city, and it was customary to play music and have libraries in the houses of the governors. And the Mangazeans also played board games: the found chess pieces and plates resembling dominoes testify to this.
According to approximate estimates of historians, from 700 to 800 people permanently lived in the Mangazei posad. However, most of the population (mainly Pomors) came here precisely during the trading season (then the number of residents increased significantly), staying in Gostiny Dvor, which was the economic center of the city. In its place, archaeologists found seals: every merchant, after paying a duty in the customs building, was obliged to buy such a seal as a sign of confirmation of his travel letter. Seals were made of wax or sealing wax, and they were stored in wooden cylindrical boxes.
Many items have been well preserved due to the permafrost conditions. Exhibits from the Mangazeya exhibition. 400 years of legend.
Some objects found in the settlement indicate that Mangazeya had close ties with European trading houses: for example, letters, a seal with the inscription “Amsterdam ander Halest”, as well as a button and a foreign-made coin.
Mangazeya. Reconstruction in the Taimyr Museum of Local Lore.
Why did he disappear?
Mangazeya was called "Klandike" and "Gold-boiling city", which was associated with its wealth. By "gold" was meant furs, because there were unmeasured sables in these parts. The skins were bought from the aboriginal inhabitants, in return offering them beads, small coins and metal products.
Every year Russian traders exported up to 30 thousand sables from Mangazeya. Not surprisingly, the fur stocks in the vicinity of the city dried up very quickly. The fur hunters began to drive further and further from the city in search of a valuable animal. Gradually, there were fewer and fewer sables here, and the city began to grow poorer. The decline of Mangazeya was aggravated by the fact that the governors of Tobolsk, competing with it, began to write complaints to the capital with a request to close the Mangazeya sea passage, allegedly under the pretext that European foreigners could penetrate through it. Moscow did not ignore these requests.
The rich polar city fell into decay for a variety of reasons.
Meanwhile, in Mangazeya itself, internal clashes began between the governors and an economic recession. To this must be added a large fire in 1642 and several shipwrecks, due to which the population of Mangazeya could not deliver a batch of bread.
The townspeople began to gradually leave this once prosperous place. In 1672, a government decree was issued on the abolition of the city, the local streltsy garrison was transferred to neighboring Turukhansk, the churches were closed. For many decades Mangazeya turned into a ghost town.
Once upon a time, houses and churches towered here, and the number of inhabitants numbered in many hundreds.
Mangazeya today
Several years ago, by order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the archaeological site of Yamal "Mangazeya Settlement" was entered into the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects of the Peoples of Russia.
Research of the settlement, which in the Soviet years was considered completed, has been resumed since the beginning of this century. Each expedition brings archaeologists two to three thousand new artifacts, helping to form an ever more detailed picture of the life of this once magnificent city.
Visitors to the exhibition at the MVK im. I. S. Shemanovsky Mangazeya. 400 years of legend.