Together with the history of Yermak's campaign, the history of the Siberian Khanate was also heavily mythologized. In practice, we can say that we do not know anything about the history of this khanate, and we do not want to know. It is described in the famous work "History of Siberia from Ancient Times to the Present Day" as "primitive statehood". Since it was primitive, there is nothing to study. V. N. Shunkov, the executive editor of the second volume of "History of Siberia since ancient times", defended with all his might the thesis: "There is hardly any doubt that until the end of the 16th century the primitive communal system was still dominant among the majority of the peoples of Siberia."
But, as we can see, this is not the case. The state that managed to exist for 371 years cannot be called primitive. He had a device that provided him with stability and resilience, despite turbulent events. It was a fairly well-developed state. L. R. Kyzlasov wrote: “The discoveries of recent years have shown that in Siberia, almost everywhere, with the possible exception of a narrow strip of the tundra zone, in antiquity or from the early Middle Ages there were independent urban centers” [25, p. 3]. These discoveries, I will add to the statement of Leonid Romanovich, also require a deep study of the history of the Siberian Khanate before the arrival of the Russians.
However, it is very difficult to do the work on the study of the history of the Siberian Khanate now, because information about it is scattered in hard-to-reach literature, according to numerous, rare and often untranslated sources into Russian. Archaeologists did practically nothing to study the cities of this khanate, despite the fact that their location is well known, and some cities have remained on the map to this day. For example, 35 kilometers southeast of Tobolsk, and now on the banks of the Irtysh, there is the Aba-lak settlement, known back in the days of the Siberian Khanate.
The complexity and inaccessibility of sources makes work very difficult. G. F. Miller. He did a great job, copying documents in the clerks of Siberian cities, interviewing the local population, visiting places of historical events and examining ancient finds. He managed to bring the history of the Siberian Khanate only to the time of Genghis Khan. He managed to make a rough sketch of its ancient history, and he relied on extremely contradictory and unreliable information, requiring additions and clarifications.
But compared to the truly legendary Soviet version of the pre-Russian history of the Siberian Khanate, Miller's work looks like an outstanding achievement of historical thought.
Here is the version presented in the book of the Irkutsk ethnographer Dmitry Kopylov "Ermak". Pointing out that Siberia was a sparsely populated and undeveloped territory, he reports that at the end of the 15th century on the site of the Siberian Khanate there were two principalities: Ishim, located in the lower reaches of the Ishim with the capital in Kyzyl-Tura, and Tyumen, in the interfluve of Tura and Tavda, with the capital in Chimgi-Tour [21, p. 66]. Tura is a city. This means that both capitals of the principalities were cities. Kopylov does not indicate the location of these cities. Kyzyl is an adjective red. This means that the capital of the Ishim principality was the "Red City". And what is "Chim-gi" is not clear, and in the book of the Irkutsk ethnographer it is not explained.
Ishim principality was ruled by Sargachik. If the state is called a principality, then Sargachik was a prince. Ibak Khan ruled the Tyumen principality. If so, then his state should be called a khanate. But in Kopylov's book, Ibak Khan rules the principality. Okay, let's go.
About Ibak Khan it is reported that he annexed the lands along Tura, Tavda, Tobol, Irtysh and Ishim [21, p. 66]. This is a huge territory, which requires a lot of effort to conquer. We must assume that he conquered the Ishim principality, located in the lower reaches of the Ishim. Ibak Khan ended his life badly. In 1493 a certain Makhmet killed him. Who this Mahmet is is still not completely clear. Judging by the presentation of Kopylov, this is the son of Sargachik. As the name suggests, he may have been a Muslim. Makhmet killed Ibak Khan and founded a new state - the Siberian Khanate. He made the capital city Kashlyk, or Isker.
Promotional video:
In 1558, Kuchum, the middle son of Murtaza and a direct descendant of Ibak, elevated his father to the throne of the Siberian Khanate. History is silent about what he did to Mahmet. Maybe he killed, or maybe he himself died. I like the second version more. The old-old Makhmet, the khan of the Siberian Khanate, died. Kuchum learned that the throne of the khanate was empty, and, like an exemplary son, suggested to his father - dad, go and sit on it for a while.
And in 1564 Kuchum himself became the khan of the Siberian Khanate [21, p. 74]. Apparently, Murtazy was old, he did not sit on the throne of the khanate for a long time, but he did not repeat Makhmet's mistakes, he gave the khanate to his middle son.
From this moment the history of the Siberian Khanate, headed by Khan Kuchum on the throne, begins.
And here is how the history of the Siberian Khanate is described by G. F. Miller.
The first ruler of this territory, whose name has been preserved in history, was On-Son. His power extended to the Tatars who lived along the Irtysh and Ishim. The capital of that possession was in the city of Kizyl-Tura, which was inhabited during the time of Kuchum [33, p. 190].
Judging by the context and further description of the history of this place, the rule of On-Soma refers to ancient times, approximately to the second half of the XII century. After him, his heir ruled, most likely his son, Irtyshak. From his name, according to Miller, the name of the Irtysh River originated. Why he became so famous that a large river was named in his honor remains unknown.
The Irtyshak ruled, apparently, at the beginning of the XIII century. Most likely, he was defeated and conquered by Genghis Khan's noyons. When Chinggis Khan himself took Bukhara by storm, a prince of the Kazakh Horde named Taibuga, the son of Mamyk Khan, came to him and asked the almighty Khan for ownership over the Irtysh, Tobol, Ishim and Tura. Mercy was shown to the prince, and Taibuga became the ruler in these lands.
So he just became the founder of the Siberian Khanate. So, 1217 can be considered the year of foundation of the Siberian Khanate. Taibuga Khan built a city in the lands granted to him, which he named in honor of his benefactor - "Chingidin", that is, "the city of Chingiz". Subsequently, he became known under the Tatar name "Chimgi-Tura". After the conquest of the Siberian Khanate, the Russians built their city on the site of Chingidin - Tyumen.
A whole family of rulers descended from Taibuga, who ruled intermittently until 1588. Little is known about the events that took place in the Siberian Khanate during this dynasty. It is only known that at the end of the 15th century, the power of this dynasty was almost in the wrong hands.
G. F. Miller talks about it this way. The great-grandson or great-great-grandson of Taibuga, Mar-khan was married to the sister of the Kazan khan Upak. Apparently, the relationship between relatives was far from cloudless, because Upak started a war against Mar and defeated his army. Mar-khan was killed, and his family: his wife, sons Obder and Ebalak, were taken prisoner, taken to Kazan and soon died in captivity. The Siberian Khanate temporarily fell under the rule of the Kazan Khan.
The sons of Mar remained sons, Mahmet, who was the son of Obder, and Angish, who was the son of Ebalak. When their father was defeated, the noble Tatars hid the khan's grandchildren and then secretly raised them. The conqueror of the khanate did not know that the legitimate heirs to the throne remained alive. When Makhmet grew up, in 1493 he raised an uprising against the Kazan Khan. It was supported by the inhabitants of the former khanate. Khan Upak led an army to suppress the uprising. But at Chingidin, he was defeated by the militia of Mahmet. Khan was captured and killed.
Makhmet, as the legitimate heir to the throne in the senior line, declared himself a khan and restored the Siberian Khanate. For himself, he built a new capital on the Irtysh, 16 versts from the place where Tobolsk would later be founded. It was the city of Isker, or Siberia [33, p. 194-195].
In the Remezov Chronicle, which Miller acquired in Tobolsk and then laid the foundation for his research, the capital built by Makhmet was called Kash-lyk. But Miller had never heard such a name and therefore specially interviewed the Tobolsk, Tyumen and Tara Tatars. They all said that the capital of the Siberian Khanate was called Isker, and most often - Siberia: “In the Remezov Chronicle, this city is called Kashlyk, but this name, as I heard, is not used by any people,” he writes in the History of Siberia [33, p. 196].
Further, when describing events, Miller uses only the name "Siberia". This circumstance, however, did not prevent our historians from taking the word of the Remezov Chronicle and calling the capital of the Siberian Khanate Kashlyk. Under this name the city entered all patriotic myths.
After the death of Mahmet, Angish ruled, who left the throne to Mahmet's son, Kasim. Kasim left the throne to his eldest son, Ediger. Besides him, there were also sons Senbakht and Sauskani.
Ediger died unexpectedly in 1563. There was no one to transfer power, since his brothers had also died by that time, leaving no heirs. No information has been preserved about their fate and the cause of such an early death. Ediger left behind a pregnant wife. In principle, Siberian taishis could wait until the khansha was relieved of the burden, and then finally decide on the issue of succession to the throne. But, apparently, they feared a long anarchy in the khanate and immediately sent an embassy to Bukhara, to Murtaza, with a request to release one of their sons to the khan throne.
Murtazy was not just a Bukhara khan. He was still a descendant of Genghis Khan, who once put the ancestor of the dynasty of Siberian khans on the throne. Apparently, the Siberian taishas decided that a descendant of Genghis Khan should also give them a new khan. Murtazy Khan came from the clan of Sheibani Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, and his son Jochi, who became the ruler of Bukhara. By the name of this ancestor, the entire clan of Bukhara rulers was called Sheibanids.
By the way, Soviet historians sometimes talked about the "struggle between the Taybugids and Sheibanids," but did not explain what kind of birth they were and from whom they came. These are not the clans of the "rulers of the Ishim and Tyumen khanates." The Sheibanids are a genus of Chingizids who enjoyed great prestige throughout the East. The Taybugid clan simply could not compete with him for anything, mainly because he was artistic before the Sheibanids (although the Taybugids received power from the hands of Genghis Khan himself).
So, to Murtaza Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan in the twelfth generation, envoys from the Siberian Khanate arrived and asked to give them a ruler of their own kind. Murtazy sent his middle son Kuchum to rule in Isker. At this time, according to Abulgazi Khan, who wrote in Arabic, Kuchum was thirty years old. He was Khan until 1003 AH, that is, until 1595. This year he was 62 years old.
Here's a version. Of course, it is difficult to vouch for it and say that it is absolutely reliable. But it still evokes much more confidence than the legends of Soviet historians. It is credible because it clearly names the participants in the events, clearly lists the sequence of events, and because it is tied to the history of neighboring peoples and states.
Verkhoturov Dmitry Nikolaevich