At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were many "blank spots" on the world's geographical maps. One of the most "white" was the Arctic, in whose possession travelers were eager not as zealously as in the tropics hung with bananas. It is understandable: wild cold, eternal ice and depressing stories of contemporaries. The only people who voluntarily lived in the neighborhood with polar bears and seals were the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, and the Pomors, whose "frostbite" was beyond doubt …
At the beginning of the IV millennium BC, one of the first states in the history of mankind, Ancient Egypt, was formed in the Nile River valley. This is known to any teenager from the school curriculum, in which, unfortunately, there is no mention of the fact that already two or three thousand years before that people lived not only in Africa, but also, for example, in the north of the European part of Russia. At a time when there were no pyramids in the project, our ancestors, or, if I may say so, "geographical compatriots" inhabited the Kola Peninsula. With primitive equipment, with a way of life extremely far from the norms of civilization, in conditions that we today consider to be extreme … Three thousand years later, permanent settlements appeared on the coast of the White Sea. The people who lived in them went out to sea on primitive leather and wooden boats and hunted for sea animals and fishing. These campaigns gave rise to Arctic navigation. Slavic tribes appeared in the Russian North in the V-VI centuries A. D. e. They traded with the inhabitants of the northern region, in particular, buying furs. In the X-XI centuries, Novgorodians appeared here, who by the XII century made the region a colony of Veliky Novgorod. The shores of the White Sea, Northern Dvina, Onega and Pinega were gradually settled by serfs who fled from the middle zone, with whom the indigenous population - Karelians, Komi, Lapps - partially assimilated. Then in the XIII century, the region received the name "Russian Pomorie", and the descendants of the first settlers were called "Pomors".which by the XII century made the region a colony of Veliky Novgorod. The shores of the White Sea, Northern Dvina, Onega and Pinega were gradually settled by serfs who fled from the middle zone, with whom the indigenous population - Karelians, Komi, Lapps - partially assimilated. Then in the XIII century, the region received the name "Russian Pomorie", and the descendants of the first settlers were called "Pomors".which by the XII century made the region a colony of Veliky Novgorod. The shores of the White Sea, Northern Dvina, Onega and Pinega were gradually settled by serfs who fled from the middle zone, with whom the indigenous population - Karelians, Komi, Lapps - partially assimilated. Then in the XIII century, the region received the name "Russian Pomorie", and the descendants of the first settlers were called "Pomors".
In the 15th century, the Pomors made long sea voyages to Grumant (Spitsbergen), Bear Island, and to Novaya Zemlya. Northern expeditions are also actively organized by the Dutch, who are looking for a short sea route to India and China. True, for the latter, sailing in northern latitudes does not bring the desired results and only the Russians continue to successfully develop new territories …
Colony of the planes
The Novaya Zemlya archipelago deserves special interest in the Arctic. Rocky islands of little use for human life keep many mysteries, one of which is almost forgotten in our time.
At the end of the 15th century, the famous merchants Stroganovs founded a fishing colony on Novaya Zemlya to catch sea animals and furs. It is a profitable business, and if you believe the few surviving historical documents, it brings multiple profits. Colonists - as a rule, "Strogano peasants" beat walruses, whales, polar bears, and in their free time they marry and bear children. Fur and fat of marine animals are transported to the mainland to Arkhangelsk; the colony is flourishing. However, prosperity does not last long and after a dozen years all the settlers die, and the developing fishing center turns into a cemetery …
The main cause of death of people is considered "an unknown infection caused by fogs" - this was written in 1762 by an official of the Arkhangelsk governor Klingstedt. Also, the mention of "mysterious deadly mists" is in the northern legends according to which, this is nothing more than people whose souls were not accepted by the Pole Star for all sorts of sins. The fog then shrinks, spreads over vast spaces, extinguishes all sounds, does not allow to see anything, drives people crazy, kills on the spot or forever "obscures".
The death of the "Strogano" colonists by the indigenous people of those places was taken for granted. According to the legends of the Nenets, the newcomers from the mainland were punished for breaking one important taboo. The fact is that in addition to fishing for sea animals, the colonists had another task - they were looking for pearls in the rivers of Novaya Zemlya. And not just pearls, but the legendary "Green Imperishable", which the Stroganov merchants dreamed of getting …
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GREEN LADIES
The Stroganovs have been mining pearls since the 15th century. They mined the precious mineral on the Kola Peninsula in the rivers near Lake Onega and the White Sea. The pearl harvest was considerable, since in addition to the domestic market, it was also exported abroad. The extracted pearls were used in the manufacture of icons, jewelry, in various embroidery and ceremonial attire. Pearls can be very different - from white and pale blue, to yellow, reddish and even black. The only major drawback is that it is short-lived; the life of pearls is on average 250-500 years. Over time, it loses its luster, fades away and finally turns into powder …
The mythical "green incorruptible" are pearls of a different kind - eternal, unfading, unfading. Pearls acquire such properties only in the rivers of the Far North, receiving their strength from the Pole Star. Northern shamans say that green pearls choose their own master, and can both make a person happy and bring trouble to him.
According to rumors, one such pearl fell into the hands of the Stroganov merchants. A dangerous relic with a green sparkle settled in their hearts, clouded the mind of everyone who ever saw it. And it was this legendary green pearl for the Stroganovs that the settlers were looking for on Novaya Zemlya …
The general pestilence that devastated the colony was most likely caused by an epidemic of a virus to which the people who came from the mainland did not have immunity. Modern scientists are well aware that particles of such "wonderful" things as anthrax and smallpox are perfectly preserved in the permafrost, and that the colonists exploring the New Earth could "catch" only God knows. Those who came to the site of the extinct settlement years later found only the final result: pre-river ruins of dwellings, a few graves and … a lot of scattered human bones.
Cursed by the Polar Star
However, there is another version of the rapid death of the Stroganov colony. Arkhangelsk ethnographer V. Krestinin writes in his notes published in January 1789 that the colonists were killed by "unknown soldiers with iron noses and teeth." He heard this story from the Mezen sailors, and Andrei Vvedensky, the author of several books about the Stroganovs, writes about this. Vvedensky believed that the inhabitants of the colony were exterminated by the sharashuts - the descendants of the ancient people of the Arctic and the mysterious inhabitants of the caves of Novaya Zemlya.
Legends about sharashuts circulated among the inhabitants of the Arctic until the beginning of the 20th century. The Nenets believed that on Novaya Zemlya, in deep caves, where there are warm lakes, mysterious warriors live, who come to the surface in the form of fog and shadows. They, like many centuries ago, worship the Pole Star, collect "green incorruptible women", and kill outsiders, or take them with them underground.
Historian K. Vokuev living in Naryan-Mar has collected little-known materials on sharashuts. According to him, it was the Sharashuts who were the very people who were cursed by the Pole Star. The main reason for the curse, the Nenets historian considers cannibalism, which, although it was a huge rarity among the peoples of the Far North, but still took place …
Now it is difficult to judge how real the attack of the shashuts on the colonists was, one can only speculate and get lost in conjectures. On Novaya Zemlya, they have not been looking for "green incorrupts" for a long time, although "unknown warriors" still live in the bowels of the archipelago who, like their predecessors, probably have "iron teeth". True, they are not sitting in caves, but behind computers, and everything that happens is hidden from us under the heading "SECRET".