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A detachment of 840 people was formed in the possessions of the Stroganovs, in Orel-Gorodok. The merchants Stroganovs took an active part in equipping the detachment with everything necessary. Yermak's Cossacks arrived on the Kama at the invitation of the Stroganovs in 1579 to defend their possessions from the attacks of the Voguls and Ostyaks. The campaign was carried out without the knowledge of the tsarist authorities, and Karamzin called its participants "a small gang of vagabonds." The backbone of the conquerors of Siberia was made up of five hundred Volga Cossacks, led by such atamans as Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Matvei Meshcheryak, Nikita Pan, Yakov Mikhailov. In addition to them, Tatars, Germans and Lithuanians took part in the campaign. The army was loaded into 80 plows.

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Crossing the "Stone"

The defeat of the Siberian Khanate

The first skirmish between the Cossacks and the Siberian Tatars took place in the area of ​​the modern city of Turinsk (Sverdlovsk region), where the soldiers of Prince Yepanchi fired at Yermak's plows with bows. Here Yermak, with the help of squeakers and cannons, dispersed the cavalry of Murza Yepanchi. Then the Cossacks occupied the town of Chingi-tura (Tyumen region) without a fight. Many treasures were taken from the site of modern Tyumen: silver, gold and precious Siberian furs.

Conquest of the Voguls

Hungry winter

In the winter of 1584/1585, the temperature in the vicinity of Kashlyk dropped to -47 °, icy northern winds began to blow. Deep snow made it impossible to hunt in the taiga forests. In the hungry winter time, wolves gathered in large packs and appeared near human dwellings. Streltsy did not survive the Siberian winter. They died without exception, without taking part in the war with Kuchum. Semyon Bolkhovskoy himself, who was appointed the first governor of Siberia, also died. After a hungry winter, the number of Yermak's detachment was catastrophically reduced. To save the surviving people, Yermak tried to avoid clashes with the Tatars.

The uprising of Murza Karach

In March 1585, Murza Karacha, who had previously expressed obedience to Ermak, rebelled on the Tura River, suddenly exterminating the detachment of the Cossack Ivan Koltso. The detachment of Yakov Mikhailov was also defeated. The rebellious Tatars approached Kashlyk and blocked Yermak's army in it, but on June 12 (22), ataman Matvey Meshcheryak undertook a sortie, during which he was able to drive the Tatars away from the city. At the same time, his detachment suffered heavy losses. Less than half of those who left the Perm Territory under his banner in 1581 remained in Yermak's army. Three of the five Cossack centurions were dead.

After the victory over the Kazan Khanate of Russia, a shorter and more convenient path to the Siberian Khanate was opened, which was formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde by Genghisides from the family of Batu's brother Shiban in the early 20s. 15th c. on a vast territory from the Urals to the Irtysh and the Ob.

In 1555, the Siberian Khan Yedygeri, obviously counting on Moscow's help in the political struggle with his enemy Kuchum, who came from the Shibanid clan and claimed power in the Siberian Khanate, turned to Ivan the Terrible through his ambassadors with a request to accept all of his Siberian land into Russian citizenship and pledged to pay tribute in sables. Ivan the Terrible agreed to this. But in 1563, Edygei, friendly to Moscow, was overthrown by Kuchum. Since the Livonian war did not allow Ivan IV to provide Edygei with timely military assistance.

In the first years of his reign, Khan Kuchum demonstrated his loyalty to the Moscow sovereign, called him his elder brother, and even sent him a thousand sables in 1569 as a tribute. But already in 1571, Kuchum broke off diplomatic relations, killing the Moscow ambassador who came for tribute with Russia. After that, relations between Moscow and the Siberian Khanate become openly hostile. Kuchum switches to the usual Horde policy - predatory raids.

In 1573, Kuchum's son Mametkul raided the Chusovaya River. The Stroganov Chronicle reports that the purpose of the raid was to reconnoiter the roads that could be used with the army to Great Perm and to the fortresses of Yakov and Grigory Stroganov, who received in 1558 from the Moscow sovereign a letter of ownership along the Kama, Chusovaya and Tobol rivers, to ensure trade routes to Bukhara . At the same time, the sovereign gave the Stroganovs the right to extract minerals on the granted lands, collect yasak, build fortresses and hire armed detachments for protection. Taking advantage of the rights given to them by the tsar, the Stroganovs built a number of fortress cities to protect their possessions and populated them with Cossacks hired to guard them. For this, in the summer of 1579, he invited 549 Volga Cossacks, led by their ataman Ermak Timofeevich Alenin, to serve him.

In 1580 and 1581, the Yugra princes, subject to Kuchum, made two predatory raids on the Perm land. The Stroganovs were forced to turn to Ivan IV with a request that he allow the Siberian land to fight for the sake of defense from the Tatar Khan and the Russian people for profit. Having received news of Kuchum's frequent attacks on Perm land, which bring a lot of ruin, misfortune and grief, the sovereign was very saddened and sent the Stroganovs a letter of commendation with his permission, and even freed their future lands from all dues, taxes and duties for a period of twenty years. After that, the Strogonovs equipped an excursion at their own expense, under the guidance of Yermak, giving them everything they needed for a successful campaign in abundance: armor, three cannons, squeaks, gunpowder, food supplies, salaries, guides and translators.

Thus, in addition to the expansion of the territory, the economic development of Siberia, the extraction of furs, which historians rightly point to, one of the main reasons for the development of Siberia was the elimination of the military threat from the Siberian Khanate.

On September 1, 1581 (according to some sources, on September 1, 1582), having served a cathedral prayer service, the expedition of Yermak Timofeevich plunged into 80 plows in a solemn atmosphere with developing regimental banners, to the incessant ringing of the bell of the Stroganov Cathedral and music set out on a campaign. All the inhabitants of the Chusovsky town came to see off the Cossacks on a long journey. Thus began the famous campaign of Yermak. The number of Ermak's detachment is not exactly known. Chronicles give different data from 540 to 6000 thousand people. Most historians are inclined to believe that Yermak's squad consisted of approximately 840-1060 people.

Along the rivers: Chusovaya, Ture, Tobol, Tagil, the Cossacks fought their way from the Nizhne-Chusovsky town deep into the Siberian Khanate, to the capital of Khan Kuchum - Kashlyk. The wars of Murza Epachi and Tauzak, subject to Kuchum, who had never heard of firearms, immediately fled after the first volleys. Justifying himself, Tauzak told Kuchum: “Russian warriors are strong: when they shoot from their bows, the fire blazes, smoke comes out and thunder is heard, you can’t see arrows, but they stung with wounds and beat you to death; it’s impossible to protect yourself from them with any military harness: everyone breaks through ". But the chronicles also note several major battles of the Yermak detachment. In particular, among them is mentioned the battle on the banks of the Tobol near the yurts of Babasan, where Prince Mametkul, sent by Kuchum, unsuccessfully tried to detain the Cossacks who had set out on a campaign. In this battle, Mametkul had a huge numerical superiority, but the Cossacks, not afraid of the superiority of the Horde, gave them a fight and managed to put Mametkul's ten thousandth cavalry to flight. “The gun triumphed over the bow,” wrote S.M. Solovyov. Moving further into Siberia, the Cossacks took possession of the ulus of the chief adviser of Khan Kuchum Karachi and the fortress of Murza Atik. Relatively easy victories for the Cossacks were ensured by the advantage of firearms, and Yermak's careful attitude towards his squad, protecting it from all sorts of accidents, personally setting up reinforced guards and personally checking them, vigilantly making sure that the weapons of his soldiers were always well polished and ready for battle. As a result, Yermak managed to maintain the fighting capacity of the squad until the decisive battle with the main forces of Khan Kuchum, which took place on October 23, 1582, near the Chuvash cape on the right bank of the Irtysh. The number of Ermak's detachment was approximately 800 people, while there were more than three thousand Siberian Tatars.

So that his troops would not fall under the bullets of the Cossacks, Khan Kuchum ordered to cut down the notch and positioned his main forces, led by his son Mametkul, behind the fallen tree trunks. In the battle that began, the Cossacks swam to the shore and began to land on it, simultaneously firing at the Tatars. The Tatars, in turn, fired at the Cossacks with bows, and tried to force them to retreat to the plows. Yermak saw that the continuous fire that his people were doing did not cause much harm to the enemy who sat down behind the notch, and therefore decided to bring the Tatars to the open area. Pretending to retreat, Yermak blew the signal to retreat. Seeing the retreat of the Cossacks, perked up, Mametkul withdrew his troops from behind the notch and attacked the Cossacks. But as soon as the Tatar wars began to approach them, the Cossacks lined up in a square, placing shooters with squeakers in its center, who opened fire on the advancing Tatars, causing them great damage. Attempts by the Tatars to overturn the square in hand-to-hand combat failed. In this, Prince Mametkul was wounded and almost captured, but the Tatars managed to save him and took him out of the battle in a boat. The wounding of the prince caused panic in the army and Kuchum's wars began to scatter. Khan Kuchum himself fled. On October 26, 1582, Yermak's detachment entered the deserted capital of the Khanate, Kashlyk.

Already on the fourth day after the capture of the capital, the Ostets prince Boyar came to Yermak with an expression of humility and yasak. His example was soon followed by other khans, and the leaders of the Mansi tribes. However, the establishment of control over the capital of the Siberian Khanate and the territory adjacent to it did not yet mean the complete elimination of the Siberian horde. Kuchum still had significant military forces. The southern and eastern regions of the khanate, as well as part of the Yugra tribes, still remained under his control. Therefore, Kuchum did not give up further struggle and stop resistance, but migrated to the upper reaches of the Irtysh, Tobol and Ishim rivers, inaccessible to Yermak's plows, while carefully observing all his actions. At every opportunity, Kuchum tried to attack small Cossack detachments and inflict maximum damage on them. Sometimes he succeeded. So his son Mametkul, in December 1582, managed to destroy a detachment of twenty Cossacks on Lake Abalak, led by Yesaul Bogdan Bryazga, who had set up a camp near the lake and were engaged in winter fishing. Ermak quickly learned about what had happened. He caught up with the Tatar troops and attacked them. The battle lasted for many hours and was much more tenacious than the battle of Chusovskaya and ended only after dark. The Horde were defeated and retreated, having lost ten thousand people in this battle, according to the documents of the embassy order.

The next year, 1583, was successful for Yermak. First, Prince Mametkul was taken prisoner on the Vagay River. Then the Tatar tribes along the Irtysh and the Ob were subjugated, and the capital of the Khanty, Nazim, was captured. After that, Ermak Timofeevich sent a detachment of 25 Cossacks to the tsar in Moscow, led by his closest associate Ivan Koltso, with a message about the capture of Kashlyk, bringing local tribes under the rule of the Russian tsar, and capturing Mametkul. Yermak sent furs to the Tsar as a gift.

After reading the letter sent by Yermak, the tsar was so delighted that he forgave the Cossacks for all their past faults, granted the messengers money and cloth, sent the Cossacks to Siberia a large salary, and Yermak a rich fur coat from his royal shoulder and two expensive armor and a silver helmet. He also ordered Yermak to be called the prince of Siberia and equipped the governor Semyon Balkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with five hundred archers to help the Cossacks.

However, Yermak's forces, forced to fight continuously for several years, were depleted. Experiencing an acute shortage of ammunition, clothing and footwear, Yermak's squad inevitably lost its combat capability. In the winter of 1584, the Cossacks ran out of food supplies. In severe winter conditions and a hostile environment, their replenishment was temporarily impossible. As a result of the famine, many Cossacks died. But their difficulties did not end there.

In the same year, a former adviser to Kuchum Karach, asked Yermak for help in the fight against the Kazakh horde. His ambassadors arrived in Kashlyk for negotiations, but when they saw what a plight the Cossacks were in, they reported this to Karach, and he, having learned that the Cossacks were weakened by hunger and could barely stand on their feet, decided that the right moment had come to put an end to Yermak. He fraudulently destroyed a detachment of forty people sent to help him by Yermak, led by Ivan Koltso, who returned from Moscow, treacherously attacking them during a feast given in their own honor.

In the spring, Karacha laid siege to Kashlyk, surrounding it with a dense ring, while carefully making sure that none of the Khan and Mansi leaders who recognized the power of Yermak penetrated into Kashlyk and brought food there. Karacha did not storm the city, hoping to starve him out, and patiently waited for the besieged to run out of food supplies and starvation would finally weaken them.

The siege lasted from spring to July. During this time, Yermak's scouts managed to find out where the Karachi headquarters was located. And one summer night, under the cover of darkness, the detachment sent by Yermak, having managed to bypass the Tatar guard outposts, unexpectedly attacked the Karachi headquarters, killing almost all of his guards and two sons. Karacha himself miraculously escaped death. But with the onset of morning, the Cossacks could not make their way back to the city. Having settled down on a hillock, they bravely and successfully repulsed all attacks of enemies many times superior in number to them, who climbed onto the hillock from all sides. But Yermak, having heard the noise of the battle, began to shoot at the Horde, who remained in their positions under the walls of Kashlyk. As a result, by noon, the Karachi army lost its battle order and fled from the battlefield. The siege was lifted.

In the summer of 1584, Khan Kuchum, not having the strength or courage to enter into an open battle with Yermak, went to the trick, sending his people to the Cossacks, who pretended to be representatives of Bukhara merchants, and asked Yermak to meet a merchant caravan on the Vagay River. Yermak, with the surviving Cossacks, whose number, according to various sources, ranges from 50 to 300 people, poisoned himself on a campaign along Vagai, but did not meet any merchants there and returned back. On the way back, during a night's rest on the banks of the Irtysh. The Cossacks were attacked by the soldiers of Kuchum. Despite the suddenness of the attack and the numerical superiority of the Horde. The Cossacks managed to fight back, having lost only ten people killed, sit on the plows and sail to Kashlyk. However, in this battle, while covering the retreat of his soldiers, Ataman Yermak heroically died. There is an assumption that he was wounded and tried to swim across the tributary of the Irtysh Vagay, but drowned because of the heavy chain mail. After the death of their ataman, the surviving Cossacks returned to Rus'.

Yermak left a good memory of himself, becoming a national hero for the people, about whom numerous legends and songs were composed. In them, the people sang Yermak's devotion to his comrades, his military prowess, military talent, willpower and courage. He forever remained in the annals of Russian history as a brave explorer and winner of Khan Kuchum. And the words of the legendary chieftain who said to his comrades-in-arms, "Our memory will not be impoverished in these countries," came true.

Yermak's campaign has not yet led to the annexation of Siberia to the Russian state, but it became the beginning of this process. The Siberian Khanate was defeated. Another fragment of the Golden Horde ceased to exist. This circumstance secured the borders of Russia from the attacks of the Siberian Tatars from the northeast, created favorable conditions for the wide economic Siberian region and the further expansion of the living space of the Russian people. In the wake of Yermak's retinue, trade and military service people, industrialists, trappers, artisans, and peasants were drawn to Siberia. Intensive settlement of Siberia began. In the next decade and a half, the Muscovite state completed the final defeat of the Siberian horde. The last battle of the Russian troops with the Horde took place on the Irmen River. In this battle, Kuchum was completely defeated by the governor Andrey Voeikov. From that moment on, the Siberian Khanate ceased its historical existence. Further development of Siberia took place relatively peacefully. Russian settlers developed lands, built cities, planted arable land, entered into peaceful economic and cultural relations with the local population, and only in very rare cases did clashes with nomadic and hunting tribes take place, but these clashes did not change the general peaceful nature of the development of the Siberian Territory. As a whole, Russian settlers developed good neighborly relations with the indigenous population, this is explained by the fact that they came to Siberia not for robbery and robbery, but for peaceful labor.

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 Tyumenskaya and Shibanskaya. The latter name indicates that that branch of the Genghisids, which descended from Sheibani, one of the sons of Jochi and brother of Batu, dominated here, and which ruled in Central Asia. One branch of the Sheibanids founded a special kingdom in the Ishim and Irtysh steppes and extended its borders to the Ural Range and the Ob. A century before Yermak, under Ivan III, the Sheiban Khan Ivak, like the Crimean Mengli Giray, was at enmity with the Golden Horde Khan Akhmat and even was his killer. But Ivak himself was killed by a rival in his own land. The fact is that a part of the Tatars under the leadership of the noble bek Taybuga had already separated from the Shiban horde. True, the successors of Taybuga were not called khans, but only beks; the right to the highest title belonged only to the offspring of Chinggis, i.e., the Sheibanids. Taibuga's successors withdrew with their horde further north, to the Irtysh, where the town of Siberia became its center, below the confluence of the Tobol into 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 kingdom of Bukhara, the Kirghiz and Nogai hordes and in the Muscovite state.

The oath of the Siberian Khanate to Moscow in the 1550-1560s

These internal strife explain the willingness with which the prince of the Siberian Tatars Yediger, a descendant of Taybuga, recognized himself as a tributary of Ivan the Terrible. Even a quarter of a century before the campaign of Yermak Timofeevich, in 1555, the ambassadors of Yediger came to Moscow and beat with 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 Vasilyevich took the Siberian prince under his hand, imposed on him a tribute of a thousand sables a year and sent Dimitri Nepeitsin to him to swear in the inhabitants of the Siberian land and enumerate the black people; their number extended to 30,700. But in subsequent years, the tribute was not delivered in full; Yediger 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 opponent of the Cossacks Yermak Kuchum, grandson of Khan Ivak. Having received help from the Kirghiz-Kaisaks or Nogays, Kuchum defeated Ediger, killed him and took possession of the Siberian kingdom (about 1563). Initially, he also recognized himself as a tributary of the Moscow sovereign. The Moscow government recognized the title of Khan for him, as for 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 Ostyaks neighboring it, instead of Moscow, to pay tribute to him. In all likelihood, these changes for the worse in the east did not occur 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 Ataman Ermak Timofeevich is unknown. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama, according to another - a native of the Kachalinsky village on the Don. His name, according to some, is a change of the name Yermolai, other historians and chroniclers derive it from German and Yeremey. One chronicle, considering the name Yermak as a nickname, gives him the Christian name Vasily. Ermak was at first the chieftain of one of the numerous Cossack gangs who robbed on the Volga and robbed not only Russian merchants and Persian ambassadors, but also the royal courts. Yermak's gang turned to the conquest of Siberia after entering the service of the famous Stroganov family.

The ancestors of Yermak's employers, the Stroganovs, probably belonged to Novgorod families who colonized the Dvina land, and during 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 wealth by being engaged in salt mining, as well as trading with foreigners, Permians and Ugra, from whom expensive furs were exchanged. The main nest of this family was in Solvychegodsk. The wealth of the Stroganovs is evidenced by the news that they helped Grand Duke Vasily the Dark to redeem himself from Tatar captivity; for which they received various awards and preferential letters. Under Ivan III, Luka Stroganov is known; and under Basil III, the grandchildren of this Luke. Continuing to engage in salt mining and trade, the Stroganovs are the largest figures in the field of settling the northeastern lands. In 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 Anikiy, the grandson of Luke; but he was probably already old, and his three sons act as figures: Yakov, Grigory and Semyon. They no longer act as simple peaceful colonizers of the Zakamian countries, but have their own military detachments, build fortresses, arm them with their own cannons, repel the raids of hostile foreigners. As one of these detachments, a gang of Yermak Timofeevich was hired a little later. The Stroganovs represented the 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 limits.

Preparation of Yermak's campaign

The colonization activity of the Stroganovs, whose highest expression soon became Yermak's campaign, was constantly expanding. In 1558, Grigory Stroganov beats Ivan Vasilyevich with his brow about the following: in Great Perm, on both sides of the Kama River from Lysva to Chusovaya, there are empty places, black forests, not inhabited and unsubscribed to anyone. The petitioner asks the Stroganovs to allow this space, promising to set up a city there, supply it with guns, squeakers, in order to protect the sovereign's homeland from the Nogai people and from other hordes; asks for permission to cut down forests in these wild places, plow arable land, set up yards, and call on unwritten and non-taxable people. By a letter dated April 4 of the same year, the tsar granted the Stroganovs lands on both sides of the Kama for 146 miles from the mouth of the Lysva to the 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 the right to judge the Slobozhans belonged to the same Grigory Stroganov. This charter was signed by devious Fyodor Umnoy and Aleksey Adashev. Thus, the energetic efforts of the Stroganovs were not without connection with the activities of the Chosen Rada and Adashev, the best adviser of the first half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

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 miles below the first on the Kama, named Kergedan (later it was called Orel). 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 have their cities included in the oprichnina, and this request was fulfilled.

In 1568, Grigory's elder brother Yakov Stroganov beats the tsar with his brow about giving him the entire course of the Chusovaya River and a twenty-verst distance along the Kama below the mouth of the Chusovaya on the same grounds. The king agreed to his request; only the grace period was now set to ten years (hence, it ended at the same time as the previous award). Yakov Stroganov set up fences along the Chusovaya and started settlements that revived this deserted region. He also had to defend the region from the raids of neighboring foreigners - the reason why the Stroganovs then called Yermak's Cossacks to their place. 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 military men of the Stroganovs pacified the rebels. Cheremis raised the Siberian Khan Kuchum against Moscow; he also forbade the Ostyaks, Voguls and Yugras to pay tribute to her. The following year, 1573, Kuchum's nephew Magmetkul came with an army to Chusovaya and beat many Ostyaks, Moscow tribute-payers. However, he did not dare to attack the Stroganov towns and went back behind the Stone Belt (Urals). Informing the tsar, the Stroganovs asked for permission to spread their settlements beyond the Belt, build towns along the Tobol River and its tributaries, and set up settlements there with the same benefits, promising in return not only to defend the Moscow tribute-payers of the Ostyaks and Voguls from Kuchum, but to fight and subjugate the Siberian Tatars. By a letter dated May 30, 1574, Ivan Vasilievich fulfilled this request of the Stroganovs, this time with a twenty-year grace period.

Arrival of Yermak's Cossacks to the Stroganovs (1579)

But for about ten years, the intention of the Stroganovs to spread Russian colonization beyond the Urals was not carried out until Yermak's Cossack squads entered the scene of action.

According to one Siberian chronicle, in April 1579 the Stroganovs sent a letter to the Cossack chieftains who were robbing the Volga and Kama, and invited them to their towns in Chusovye to help against the Siberian Tatars. The place of the brothers Yakov and Grigory Anikiyev was already taken by their sons: Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich. They turned with the aforementioned letter to the Volga Cossacks. Five chieftains responded to their call: Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan and Matvey Meshcheryak, who arrived with their hundreds in the summer of that year. The main leader of this Cossack squad was Yermak, 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 carting; that Yermak himself, in baptism Vasily (or Germa), was born somewhere in the Kama region, was distinguished by bodily strength, courage and the gift of words; in his youth he worked in plows that walked along the Kama and the Volga, and then became the ataman of the robbers. There are no direct indications that Yermak belonged to the Don Cossacks proper; rather, it was a native of northeastern Rus', with enterprise, experience and prowess resurrecting the type of the ancient Novgorod freeman.

The Cossack chieftains spent two years in the Chusovy gorodki, helping the Stroganovs defend themselves against foreigners. When Murza Bekbelii attacked the Stroganov villages with a crowd of Vogulis, Yermak's Cossacks defeated him and took him prisoner. The Cossacks themselves attacked the Vogulichi, Votyaks and Pelymians and thus prepared themselves for a big campaign against Kuchum.

It is difficult to say who exactly belonged to the main initiative in this enterprise. Some chronicles say that the Stroganovs sent Cossacks to conquer the Siberian kingdom. Others - that the Cossacks, with Yermak at the head, independently undertook this campaign; moreover, the Stroganovs were forced by threats to supply them with the necessary supplies. Perhaps the initiative was mutual, but on the part of Yermak's Cossacks it was more voluntary, and on the part of the Stroganovs it was more forced by circumstances. The Cossack squad could hardly carry out a boring guard service in the Chusovye towns for a long time and be content with meager booty in the neighboring foreign regions. In all likelihood, it soon became a burden for the Stroganov region itself. Exaggerated news about the expanse of the river beyond the Stone Belt, about the wealth 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, on the other hand, got rid of the restless crowd of Cossacks and fulfilled the long-standing idea of ​​their own and the Moscow government: to postpone the fight against the Siberian Tatars for the Ural Range and punish the khan who had fallen away from Moscow.

The beginning of Yermak's campaign (1581)

The Stroganovs supplied the Cossacks with provisions, as well as guns and gunpowder, gave them another 300 people from their own military people, among whom, in addition to Russians, were hired Lithuanians, Germans and Tatars. There were 540 Cossacks. Consequently, the entire detachment was more than 800 people. Yermak and the Cossacks realized that the success of the campaign would have been impossible without strict discipline; therefore, for the violation of it, the atamans established punishments: disobedient and fugitives were supposed to be drowned in the river. The impending dangers made the Cossacks devout; they say that Yermak was accompanied by three priests and one monk, who performed the divine service daily. Preparations took a lot of time, so Yermak's campaign began quite late, already in September 1581. The warriors sailed up the Chusovaya, after several days of sailing, 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 labor to get over this portage and go down to the river Zheravlya; quite a few boats got stuck on the portage. It was already cold time, the rivers began to become covered with ice, and the Cossacks of Yermak had to winter near the portage. They set up a prison, from where one part of them undertook searches in the neighboring Vogul lands for supplies and prey, and the other made everything necessary for the spring campaign. When the flood came, Yermak's squad descended along the Zheravley River into the Barancha River, and then to Tagil and Tura, a tributary of the Tobol, entering the Siberian Khanate. On the Tura stood the Ostyak-Tatar yurt of Chingidi (Tyumen), which was owned by a relative or tributary of Kuchum, Epancha. Here the first battle took place, which ended in a complete defeat and the flight of the Yepanchin Tatars. The Tura Cossacks of Yermak entered the Tobol and at the mouth of the Tavda had a successful deal with the Tatars. Tatar fugitives brought Kuchum news of the coming of Russian soldiers; moreover, they justified their defeat by the action of guns unfamiliar to them, which they considered special bows: “when the Russians shoot from their bows, then fire plows from them; arrows are not visible, and the wounds are fatal, and it is impossible to protect yourself from them with any military harness. These news saddened Kuchum, especially since various signs had already predicted the arrival of the Russians and the fall of his kingdom.

Khan, however, did not waste time, gathered Tatars from everywhere, subject to the Ostyaks and Voguls, and sent them under the command of his close relative, the brave prince Magmetkul, to meet the Cossacks. And he himself arranged fortifications and notches near the mouth of the Tobol, under the Chuvashev mountain, in order to block Yermak's access to his capital, a town in Siberia, located on the Irtysh, somewhat below the confluence of the Tobol into it. 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 could resist the Cossacks and their squeakers. Magmetkul fled to the notch under the Chuvashev mountain. The Cossacks sailed further along the Tobol and by the road took possession of the ulus of the Karachi (chief adviser) Kuchum, where they found warehouses of all sorts of goods. Having reached the mouth of the Tobol, Yermak at first evaded the aforementioned notch, turned up the Irtysh, took the town of Murza Atik on its bank and settled down here to rest, considering his further plan.

Map of the Siberian Khanate and Yermak's campaign

The capture of the city of Siberia by Yermak

A large crowd of enemies who fortified near Chuvashev made Yermak think about it. The Cossack circle gathered to decide whether to go forward or turn back. Some advised to retreat. But the more courageous reminded Yermak Timofeevich of the vow given before the campaign to stand to fall down to a single person rather than run back in shame. Deep autumn was already approaching (1582), soon the rivers were to be covered with ice, and the return voyage became extremely dangerous. On October 23, in the morning, Yermak's Cossacks left the town. At cliques: "Lord, help your servants!" they hit the notch, and a stubborn battle began.

The enemies met the attackers with a cloud of arrows and wounded many. Despite desperate attacks, Yermak's detachment could not overcome the fortifications and began to languish. The Tatars, considering themselves already winners, broke the notch themselves in three places and made a sortie. But then, in a desperate hand-to-hand combat, the Tatars were defeated and rushed back; Russians broke into the notch. The Ostyak princelings 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 hurried to his capital Siberia; but did not remain in it, for there was no longer anyone 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 Ostyak prince came first with his people and brought gifts and food to Yermak Timofeevich and his squad; then, little by little, the Tatars also returned.

The conquest of Siberia by Yermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895

So, after incredible labors, the detachment of Yermak Timofeevich hoisted Russian banners in the capital of the Siberian kingdom. Although firearms gave him a strong advantage, we must not forget that there was a huge numerical superiority on the side of the enemies: according to the chronicles, Yermak had 20 and even 30 times more enemies against him. Only the extraordinary strength of mind and body helped the Cossacks to overcome so many enemies. Long trips along unfamiliar rivers show to what extent the Cossacks of Yermak Timofeevich were hardened in hardships, accustomed to fighting with northern nature.

Yermak and Kuchum

However, the war was far from over with the conquest of the Kuchum capital. Kuchum himself did not consider his kingdom lost, which half consisted of nomadic and wandering foreigners; vast neighboring steppes gave him a safe haven; from here he made sudden attacks on the Cossacks, and the fight against him dragged on for a long time. The enterprising prince Magmetkul was especially dangerous. Already in November or December of the same 1582, he lay in wait for a small detachment of Cossacks engaged in fishing, and killed almost everyone. It was the first significant loss. In the spring of 1583, Yermak learned from a Tatar that Magmetkul camped on the Vagai River (a tributary of the Irtysh between Tobol and Ishim), about 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 for a time secured the Cossacks of Ermak from Kuchum. But their number has already greatly diminished; supplies were depleted, while there was still much work and battle to be done. 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 Koltso to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself with expensive Siberian sables and a request to send them royal warriors to help.

Yermak's Cossacks in Moscow near Ivan the Terrible

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the fact that in the Perm Territory, after the departure of the Yermak gang, there were few military people left, some Pelym (Vogul) prince came with crowds of Ostyaks, Voguls and Votyaks, reached Cherdyn, the main city of this region, then turned to Kamskoe Usolye, Kankor, Kergedan and Chusovskie towns, burning the surrounding villages and capturing the peasants. Without Yermak, 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: without a royal decree, they called the thieves' Cossacks Yermak Timofeevich and other atamans, on Vogulichs and Kuchum was sent and they were bullied. When the Pelymsky prince came, they did not help the sovereign cities with their military people; and Yermak, instead of defending the Permian land, went to fight to the east. The Stroganovs were sent from Moscow a merciless royal letter, marked on November 16, 1582. It was ordered that the Stroganovs no longer keep the Cossacks at home, but the Volga atamans, Yermak Timofeevich and his comrades, should be sent to Perm (i.e. Cherdyn) and Kamskoye Usolye, where they should not stand together, but separated; they were allowed to leave no more than a hundred people. If this is not exactly carried out, and again some kind of misfortune is caused over the Permian places from the Voguls and the Siberian Saltan, then a “great disgrace” will be imposed on the Stroganovs. In Moscow, obviously, they did not know anything about the Siberian campaign and demanded that Yermak be sent to Cherdyn with the Cossacks, who were already located on the banks of the Irtysh. The Stroganovs were "in great sorrow." They relied on the permission given to them before to set up towns beyond the Stone Belt and fight the Siberian Saltan, and therefore they released the Cossacks there, without communicating with either Moscow or the Perm governor. But soon the news arrived from Yermak and his comrades about their extraordinary luck. With her, the Stroganovs personally hastened to Moscow. And then the Cossack embassy arrived there, headed by Ataman Koltso (once sentenced 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 a fur coat from his shoulder, a silver goblet and two shells to Ermak Timofeevich. To reinforce them, he then sent Prince Semyon Volkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with several hundred military men. The captive prince Magmetkul, brought to Moscow, was granted estates and took his place among the serving Tatar princes. The Stroganovs received new trade benefits and two more land awards, Big and Small Salt.

Arrival to Ermak detachments of Volkhovsky and Glukhov (1584)

Kuchum, having lost Magmetkul, was distracted by the renewed struggle with the Taibuga family. Ermak's Cossacks, meanwhile, completed the taxation of tribute to the Ostyak and Vogul volosts that were part of the Siberian Khanate. From the city of Siberia, they went along the Irtysh and the 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 Yermak's detachment was greatly reduced; hardly half of it remains. Yermak was looking forward to help from Russia. Only in the autumn of 1584, Volkhovskaya and Glukhov sailed on plows: but they brought no more than 300 people - the help was too insufficient to secure such a vast space for Russia. It was impossible to rely on the loyalty of the newly conquered local princes, and the implacable Kuchum was still acting at the head of his horde. Yermak gladly met the Moscow military people, but had to share with them meager food supplies; in winter, from a lack of food, mortality opened up in the city of Siberia. Prince Volkhovskoy also died. Only in the spring, thanks to a plentiful catch of fish, game, as well as bread and livestock delivered from the surrounding foreigners, Yermak's people recovered from hunger. Prince Volkhovskoy, apparently, was appointed Siberian governor, to whom the Cossack atamans had to surrender the city and submit, and his death saved the Russians from the inevitable rivalry and disagreement of the chiefs; for it is unlikely that the atamans would willingly give up their leading role in the newly conquered land. With the death of Volkhovsky, Yermak again became the head of the united Cossack-Moscow detachment.

The death of Yermak

Until now, luck has accompanied almost all the enterprises of Ermak Timofeevich. But happiness finally began to change. Continued good luck weakens constant precaution and breeds carelessness, the cause of disastrous surprises.

One of the local tributary princes, a karach, i.e., a former khan's adviser, conceived treason and sent envoys to Yermak with a request to defend him from the Nogais. The ambassadors swore that they did not think of any evil against the Russians. 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, Yermak sent a detachment with ataman Yakov Mikhailov; but this detachment was exterminated. After that, the surrounding 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 very city of Siberia. It is very possible that he was in secret relations with Kuchum. Yermak's squad, weakened by losses, was forced to withstand the siege. The last dragged on, and the Russians were already experiencing a severe shortage of food supplies: the Karacha hoped to starve them out.

But despair gives determination. One June night, the Cossacks were divided into two parts: one remained with Yermak in the city, and the other, with Ataman Matvey Meshcheryak, quietly went out into the field and crept to the Karachi camp, which stood a few miles from the city separately from the other Tatars. Many enemies were beaten, the Karacha himself barely escaped. At dawn, when in the main camp of the besiegers 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 Yermak fenced off the Karachi convoy and met the enemies with rifle fire. The savages could not stand it and dispersed. The city was freed from the siege, the surrounding tribes again recognized themselves as our tributaries. After that, Yermak 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 Yermak 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 the way! The resumption of trade with Central Asia was highly desirable for the Cossacks of Yermak, who could exchange woolen and silk fabrics, carpets, weapons, and spices for furs collected from foreigners. Yermak in early August 1585, personally with a small detachment, sailed towards the merchants up the Irtysh. The Cossack planes reached the mouth of the Vagai, however, having met no one, they swam back. One dark, stormy evening, Yermak landed on the shore and then found his death. Its details are semi-legendary, but not without some plausibility.

Yermak's Cossacks landed on the island on the Irtysh, and therefore, considering themselves safe, fell into a dream without posting guards. Meanwhile, Kuchum was nearby. (The news of the unprecedented Bukhara caravan was almost launched by him in order to lure Yermak into an ambush.) His scouts reported to the khan about the Cossacks' lodging for the night. Kuchum had one Tatar condemned to death. Khan sent him to look for a horse ford on the island, promising pardon if he was lucky. The Tatar crossed the river and returned with news of the complete carelessness of Yermak's people. Kuchum did not believe at first and ordered to bring proof. The Tatar went another time and brought three Cossack squeakers and three caskets of gunpowder. Then Kuchum sent a crowd of Tatars to the island. With the sound of rain and the howling of the wind, the Tatars crept up to the camp and began to beat the sleepy Cossacks. The awakened Yermak rushed into the river to the plow, but ended up in a deep place; having iron armor on him, he could not swim out and drowned. During this sudden attack, the entire Cossack detachment was exterminated along with their leader. So this Russian Cortes and Pizarro perished, the brave, “veleum” ataman Ermak Timofeevich, as the Siberian chronicles call him, who turned from robbers into a hero, whose glory will never be erased from the people's memory.

Two important circumstances helped the Russian squad of Yermak in the conquest of the Siberian Khanate: on the one hand, firearms and military hardening; on the other hand, the internal state of the khanate itself, weakened by internecine strife and discontent of local pagans against Islam forcibly introduced by Kuchum. Siberian shamans with their idols were reluctant to give 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 Yermak's squads from Siberia

The death of Yermak confirmed that he was the main engine of the entire enterprise. When the news of her reached the city of Siberia, the remaining Cossacks immediately decided that without Yermak, 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 head of the archery Ivan Glukhov and Matvey Meshcheryak, the only remaining of the five atamans; by the far northern route along the Irtysh and Ob, they set off back for the Stone (Ural Range). As soon as the Russians cleared Siberia, Kuchum sent his son Alei to occupy his capital city. But he didn't stay here long. We have seen above that the prince of Taibugin of the Ediger family, who owned Siberia, and his brother Bekbulat died in the fight against Kuchum. The little son of Bekbulat, Seydyak, took refuge in Bukhara, grew up there and was an avenger for his father and uncle. With the help of the Bukharans and Kirghiz, Seydyak defeated Kuchum, expelled Aley from Siberia and took possession of this capital city himself.

The arrival of the Mansurov detachment and the 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 heterogeneity of this kingdom and its natural riches; they were not slow to return.

The government of Fyodor Ivanovich sent one detachment after another to Siberia. Still not knowing about the death of Yermak, the Moscow government in the summer of 1585 sent the governor Ivan Mansurov to help him with a hundred archers and - most importantly - with a cannon. On this campaign, the remnants of Yermak's detachments and Ataman Meshcheryak, who had gone back beyond the Urals, joined him. Finding the city of Siberia already occupied by the Tatars, Mansurov sailed past, went down the Irtysh to the confluence with the Ob and built a town here for the winter.

This time, the matter of conquest went easier with the help of experience and along the paths paved by Yermak. The surrounding 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 the 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 with his forehead, so that the sovereign would accept him among his tributaries. They treated him kindly and imposed on him a tribute of seven forty sables.

Founding of Tobolsk

The victories of Ermak Timofeevich were not in vain. Following Mansurov, governors Sukin and Myasnaya arrived in the Siberian land and on the Tura River, on the site of the old town of Chingia, they built the Tyumen fortress and erected a Christian church in it. In the following 1587, after the arrival of new reinforcements, the head of Danila Chulkov went further from Tyumen, went down the Tobol to its mouth and founded Tobolsk here on the banks of the Irtysh; this city became the center of Russian possessions in Siberia, due to its advantageous position in the junction of the Siberian rivers. Continuing the work of Yermak Timofeyevich, the Moscow government also used its usual system here: to spread and strengthen its dominion by gradually building fortresses. Siberia, contrary to fears, was not lost to the Russians. The heroism of a handful of Yermak's Cossacks paved the way for Russia's great eastward expansion all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Articles and books about Yermak

Solovyov S. M. History of Russia since ancient times. T. 6. Chapter 7 - "The Stroganovs and Yermak"

Kostomarov N. I. Russian history in the biographies of its main figures. 21 - Ermak Timofeevich

Kuznetsov E. V. Initial piitika about Yermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1890

Kuznetsov E.V. Yermak's bibliography: The experience of indicating little-known works in Russian and partly in foreign languages ​​about the conqueror of Siberia. Tobolsk, 1891

Kuznetsov E. V. About the essay by A. V. Oksyonov “Ermak in the epics of the Russian people”. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892

Kuznetsov E. V. To information about the banners of Yermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892

Oksenov A.V. Ermak in the epics of the Russian people. Historical Bulletin, 1892

Article "Ermak" in the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (Author - N. Pavlov-Silvansky)

Ataman Ermak Timofeevich conqueror of the Siberian kingdom. M., 1905

Fialkov D.N. On the place of death and burial of Yermak. 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. Ermak's Siberian expedition. Novosibirsk, 1986

Buzukashvili M.I. Ermak. M., 1989

Kopylov D.I. Ermak. Irkutsk, 1989

Sofronov V. Yu. Yermak's Campaign and the Struggle for the Khan's Throne in Siberia. Tyumen, 1993

Kozlova N. K. About the “chud”, Tatars, Ermak and Siberian barrows. Omsk, 1995

Solodkin Ya. G. To the study of chronicle sources about the Siberian expedition of Yermak. Tyumen, 1996

Kreknina L. I. The theme of Yermak in the work of P. P. Ershov. Tyumen, 1997

Katargina M.N. The plot of the death of Yermak: chronicle materials. Tyumen, 1997

Sofronova M. N. On the Imaginary and the Real in the Portraits of the Siberian Ataman Yermak. Tyumen, 1998

Shkerin V.A. Yermak's Sylven campaign: a mistake or a search for a way to Siberia? Yekaterinburg, 1999

Solodkin Ya. G. To the disputes about the origin of Yermak. Yekaterinburg, 1999

Solodkin Ya. G. Did Ermak Timofeevich have a double? Yugra, 2002

Zakshauskene E. Badge from Yermak's chain mail. M., 2002

Katanov N. F. The legend of the Tobolsk Tatars about Kuchum and Yermak - Tobolsk Chronograph. Collection. Issue. 4. Yekaterinburg, 2004

Panishev E. A. The death of Yermak in Tatar and Russian legends. Tobolsk, 2003

Skrynnikov R. G. Ermak. M., 2008

Yermak's campaign in Siberia

Perhaps the most confusing from the point of view of sources was the question of the beginning of the Siberian expedition. Thus, the early texts of Siberian origin - Synodik to Ermakov Cossacks, the first edition of which was created on the initiative of the Tobolsk Archbishop Cyprian around 1622, and the Main Edition of the Esipovskaya Chronicle, which appeared from the pen of the Tobolsk Archbishop's clerk Savva Esipov in 1636, date back to the beginning campaign by the autumn of 7089 (1580), and the capture of the capital of Kuchumov's "kingdom" of Siberia - by October 26 of the same year. This dating became decisive not only for the chronicle monuments of the Esipov tradition, but also for some works of Moscow origin, including for the chronological story "On the Victory of the Siberian Tsar Kuchum on Besermensky ..." (written in the late 1620s) , the New Chronicler (compiled around 1630) and the Code of 1652

The author of the Stroganov Chronicle adheres to a different chronology in this matter, the main edition of which appeared, apparently, in the 1630s. in Solvychegodsk: Yermak and his comrades appeared in the Urals at the invitation of the Stroganovs in the summer of 7087 (1579), lived "in their towns for two summers and two months", September 1, 7090 (1581) went on a campaign, and on October 26 of the same took possession of the "city of Siberia".

In the "History of the Siberian" by the Tobolsk son of the boyar Semyon Ulyanovich Remezov, written at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, it is stated that after the "theft" in 7086-7087 (1578-1579). "at the mouth of the Volga River" Yermak's Cossack gang went to the Kama, where they took "many supplies from the Stroganovs" and moved beyond the Urals. Having reached the "Tagil River ... in the summer of 7088", the Cossacks stopped "in the tract of the Abugai River" for the winter. Thus, if we follow the Remezov chronology, it turns out that the campaign was supposed to begin at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn 7087-7088 (1579). August "taking the city of Tyumen ... and that winter." This, apparently, happened in 7088 (1580). In May 7089 (1581) they moved on with battles and only on October 26, 7090 "went into the city of Siberia." It is easy to see that, as in the Stroganov Chronicle, the initial stage of Ermak's Siberian expedition covers the period from the summer of 1579 to the autumn of 1581, but it is filled with completely different events.

The Short Siberian Kungur Chronicle included in Remezov's "History", which, according to many researchers, is based on the true memories of the participants in the events recorded in the Urals, also stretches the initial stage of the expedition for several years. After the robberies "on the Oka and Volga and at sea" in 7085-7086 (1577-1578), it is said here, Yermak "with the Don and Yeitsk" Cossacks at the end of August 7086 (1578) fled, fleeing from the royal pursuers, up the Volga and the Kama. Having passed further into the mouth of Chusovaya, on September 26 he turned to Sylva and wintered here. At the end of the spring of 7087 (1579), the Cossacks returned to Chusovaya, took the “reserve” and weapons from Maxim Stroganov, and on June 12 continued their journey up the Chusovaya. Having reached the Tagil portage, they "wintered on the Buya settlement", and on June 13 they went further. From this place in the Kungur chronicle, an obvious chronological failure begins, because wintering on the Tagil portage takes place here, as in the Remezov chronicle, all in the same 7087-7088 (1579), although, logically, we should be talking about 7088 -7089 (1580) It is further said that by August 1, 7087 (1579), the Yermakovites arrived at the mouth of the Tobol and defeated the Tatars "on Lake Karachin", after which they "wanted to return back to Russia" and went to Tavda, fought here until late autumn with the Voguls, and only by November 8 "arrived at Karachino", where they wintered. The next episode of the Kungur chronicle already refers to the events of the campaign against Belogorye, which is dated in it in the spring of 7090 (1582), from which it can be logically concluded that the "capture of Siberia" should have occurred a few months earlier, i.e., in the autumn of 7090 (1581) This dating coincides with the indications of both the Stroganov and Remezov chronicles. And this, in turn, allows us to suggest that information about wintering on the Tagil portage was included in the Kungur Chronicle by S.U. Remezov, who at the same time forgot to correct the dates.

In this review, not all are given, but only the chronicle versions about the beginning of Yermak's campaign in Siberia that are most often used by historians. Meanwhile, already at the beginning of the last century, since the discovery of the first (and, as it turned out, the earliest) list of the Main Edition of the Stroganov Chronicle, scientists became aware of the full text of the famous "disgraced" letter of Ivan the Terrible, sent by Stroganov on November 16, 7091 (1582) to Stroganov. , from which, according to the words of the Cherdyn voivode Vasily Pelepelitsyn, it directly followed that the Stroganovs "sent ... from Ostroshki their Volsk atamans and Cossacks Yermak with comrades to fight Votyaks and Vogulichs and Tatars and Pelym and Siberian places 91 (1582. - A.Sh .) in the year of September on the 1st day (italics mine. - A.Sh.), and on the same day, the Pelymsky prince gathered with Siberian people and with Vogulichi came to war on our Perm places and approached the city to Cherdyn and to the prison ... "Judging by the fact that this letter was addressed not only to Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich Stroganov, who owned land in the Kama region, but also to their uncle Semyon Anikievich, she was sent to Solvychegodsk. It was here, in the family archives of salt producers, that the author of the Stroganov Chronicle found this document and included it in his work. The original of the Solvychegodsk charter itself has not been preserved, but its authenticity is easily verified, because another charter that has come down to us in the original and is similar in content to it, but addressed only to M. Ya. and N. G. Stroganov and therefore delivered, obviously, to their Perm estates, was discovered in the Stroganov archive by G.F. Miller and later published.

The question arises: why, having this document, the author of the Stroganov Chronicle moved the date of the start of Yermak's campaign to Siberia a year earlier? There can be only one explanation here: in the Solvychegodsk archive, he found several more royal letters (some of them survived and were later published), which contained information that on September 1 (“about Semenya days”) 7090 (1581) the Pelymsky prince attacked the Stroganovs' possessions in Perm and ruined them. Having familiarized himself with these documents, the chronicler simply combined in his story two different raids, 1581 and 1582, considering them to be the same, and the answer to the question why during the attack of the Pelymians was the Kama region, where, according to his information, Yermak’s squad was , turned out to be without protection, he found in the royal "disgraced" letter. Not paying attention to the difference in dates, which he nevertheless mechanically reproduced, the chronicler came to the conclusion that by the time the Pelym prince arrived in 1581, the Yermakovites were no longer “in the towns”, because on the eve of “the same year Semyon and Maxim and Mikita to the Siberian land on the Siberian Saltan.

Since the time of N. M. Karamzin, the version set forth in the Stroganov Chronicle has become almost generally accepted. True, at the same time the question remained unresolved: how to avoid a contradiction in the dates relating to the Pelym raid? It was proposed, in particular, to amend the dating and the text of the “disgraced” charter of Ivan the Terrible, i.e. read everywhere not 7091, but 7090. It was also suggested that this charter was a belated reaction to the reply to Moscow of the Cherdyn governor V. I. Pelepelitsyn, who, for some reason, reported on the events of the autumn of 1581 only in 1582. Later, the Pelym raids with the light hand of A. A. Vvedensky began to be presented as follows: in the summer of 1580, the Trans-Urals attacked the Stroganov possessions with their Voguls Murza Begbeliy Agtagov (he is also described in the Stroganov Chronicle, but his attack is dated here on July 22, 1581), and on September 1, 1581, that is, immediately after Yermak went to Siberia, he came to Perm the Great Pelym prince Kihek with the army.

Relatively recently, R. G. Skrynnikov, relying on the royal letters of the Stroganovs and on the data of the Pogodin chronicler (more on this work will be discussed below), came to the conclusion that we should be talking about two different attacks on the Permian lands - 1581 and 1582. The first of them was headed by the Pelym prince Ablegirim, and the second by Aley, the eldest son of Kuchum. Yermak, on the other hand, arrived at the Stroganovs shortly before the second raid. Among some historians, the version of R. G. Skrynnikov found support, while others reacted critically to it.

In connection with the foregoing, one more source deserves attention, which turned out to be practically out of sight of scientists in the context of these disputes. We are talking about the so-called. Vychegodsko-Vymskaya (Misailo-Evtikhievskaya) Chronicle.

The history of her text is very complicated. At the end of the 1580s. With the blessing of Archbishop Anthony of Vologda and Great Perm (who held the chair in 1582-1586), the black priest Misail, the builder of the Ust-Vymskaya Arkhangelsk desert, began work on this work. After his death, chronicle records continued to be kept at the beginning of the 17th century. the Ustvym Annunciation priest Evtikhy, who did this until 1619, until "Vladyka Macarius of Vologda [and] Great Perm ordered the small priests and clergy people to write no matter what." In the future, the chronicle was kept first in Ust-Vym, and then in Okvada. In 1813, by order of the Vologda bishop Yevgeny, she was sent to Vologda, where she disappeared without a trace. However, before that, a certain Vologda seminarian A. Shergin took a copy from the annals, which for many years was first in the Vvedenskaya Church in Okvada, then in private hands, and since 1915 - in the Ust-Vymskaya Annunciation Church. In 1927, this copy was discovered in Ust-Vymy by a novice writer and local historian P. G. Doronin and made a list from it. Subsequently, the Shergin copy was also lost somewhere, and P. G. Doronin, 30 years later, prepared the text of the chronicle according to his list for publication.

It should immediately be said that the Vychegda-Vymskaya chronicle contains a number of unique pieces of information. Some of them are verifiable, while others are questionable. A typical example is the message that is available here that in 1451 "the great prince Vasily Vasilyevich sent to the Perm land a governor from the family of Veri princes (italics mine. - A.Sh.) Yermolai and after him Yermolai and his son Vasily to rule the Perm land Vychegotskaya; and the eldest son of Tovo Yermolai, Mikhail Yermolich, he released to Great Perm to Cherdynia. Some researchers took this text uncritically, as a result of which in the literature, including in the educational one, the assertion appeared that in this case we are really talking about representatives of the specific Vereian princes. But, as A. A. Zimin rightly noted, “the Vereisk prince Mikhail Andreevich did not have any relatives of Yermolai and the Yermolichs.” This news is contradicted by the Vychegodsk-Vym Chronicle itself, where, under 1462, it is said that “Vladyka Jonah additionally (additionally. - A.Sh.) baptize Great Perm, put up churches and priests for them, and rule Mikhailov’s crosses (italics mine. - A .Sh.)". Moreover, in the Typographic Chronicle, which contains a similar episode, it is indicated that Jonah baptized "their prince," i.e., Mikhail of Great Perm himself. And in the Ustyug chronicles of the first quarter of the 16th century, in the story that Ivan III in 1504 (in the Vychegodsko-Vymsky chronicle - Vasily III in 1505) "brought Prince Matvey Mikhailovich's patrimony from Great Perm, and in his place sent Prince Andrey Vasilyevich Kovra", the latter is directly said: "So be the first from the Russian princes." Considering the complex history of the text of the Vychegodsko-Vym chronicle, it can be assumed that either its protographer contained another word (for example, "Erensky"), which the black priest Misail read as "Veresky", or later one of the scribes made a similar mistake in relation to its text. annals. In any case, the traditional version is more correct that the Vym and Great Perm princes came from the local tribal nobility and had no family relations with the house of Ivan Kalita.

One of the main sources of unique information of the analyzed monument can be established with a greater or lesser degree of probability. So, B. N. Florya, who devoted a special study to the early (until the beginning of the 16th century) news of the Vychegda-Vym chronicle (he calls it the Komi-Vym chronicle), came to the conclusion that, in addition to the sources pointed out by the first of its compilers, Misail (grand-princely and royal charters kept in the "caskets" of the Ust-Vymskaya Arkhangelsk desert; letters that he "tried out" in Vologda "by order" from the archbishop; "lives" of the Perm bishops Stephen, Gerasim, Pitirim and Jonah), to compose the work an early list of the Ustyug chronicle was used, possibly the Nikon chronicle and the Perm sovereign chronicle that did not reach us, which was also reflected in the Vologda-Perm chronicle. At the same time, according to the observations of B. N. Flory, the data of the Perm sovereign chronicle in the process of working on the Vychegda-Vym chronicle, "probably were subjected to distortions and were greatly reduced, and local names were updated."

In this regard, it can be assumed that the Perm sovereign chronicle, which, according to M.N. Tikhomirov, was kept in Ust-Vym under Bishop Philotheus (he held the chair in 1472-1501), was continued in the subsequent time. And although in 1564 the residence of the Perm lord was transferred to Vologda, the chronicle tradition in Ust-Vymy, apparently, did not interrupt until 1586, that is, until the time when this baton was taken over by the black priest Misail, who began compiling his own chronicle. While working on it, he used as one of the sources not only the Perm imperial chronicle, covering the events of the 12th - early 16th centuries, but also its continuation. It was from here, obviously, that three articles came into the Vychegodsko-Vym chronicle, which should be specially mentioned.

The first of them says that in 1558 "Great Prince Grigory and Maxim granted the children of Anikiev Stroganov (hereinafter my italics. - A.Sh.) a patrimony to the latrine lands of Great Perm for a hundred miles on both sides of the Kama River and ordered build hills for them, put varnitsa, cook salt, save settlements for the sovereign. Meanwhile, in the letter of commendation of Ivan the Terrible of April 4, 1558, it is not about 100, but about 88 versts, and it was given only to Grigory Anikievich. Where the mysterious Maxim Anikievich came from in the annals is unknown, because Grigory had only two brothers, Yakov and Semyon, and his nephew, Maxim Yakovlevich, was only two years old in 1558.

"Summer 7081 (1573. - A.Sh.)," the second article says, "when an army came to Perm, the Great Mametkul, the son of the Siberian king, plundered and burned cities and towns (italics mine. - A.Sh.)." The same event is described in another charter of Ivan the Terrible, given to Yakov and Grigory Stroganov on May 30, 1547, where, according to salt producers, a slightly different picture is drawn: "and in the 81st (1573. - A.Sh.) Ilyina days from Tobol, brother Mametkul came to the Siberian Saltan, gathered with the army, visited the roads, where the army should go to Perm, and many of our given Ostyaks were beaten, and their wives and children were led in full, and our envoy Tretyak Chebukov and serving Tatars, some went to the Cossack horde, but he beat the Siberian one, and to their de (Stroganovs. - A.Sh.) prison, where our salary, their trades are behind them, the Siberian did not reach for 5 miles. Consequently, the Russian population of Perm the Great was not affected by Mametkul's raid.

Finally, the third article, which is directly related to our topic, looks like this in the Vychegodsk-Vym Chronicle as follows: Vogulichs and Yugortsy to Perm the Great to the towns on Sylvensky and Chusovsky, plundered the estates of the Stroganovs. ch , and Cherdynia attacked, but did not take. That same summer, Maxim and Grigory Stroganovs shelled Cossack vatamans and with them hunting people to fight the Siberian land and the Cossacks who marched for one year fought the entire Siberian one, brought them for the great prince.

Establishing the reliability of this information, let us first turn to the details. Firstly, the Pelym prince is named here by the name of Kikek. A similar spelling of this name (in the form "Kihek") was reflected in the late Solikamsk chronicle tradition. At the same time, it turned out to be included in the corresponding story, borrowed in an abbreviated form from the Stroganov Chronicle, where the name of the Pelym prince was absent from the very beginning. From Solikamsk sources, this story migrated to the chronicle compilation by V. N. Berkh and to the Perm Chronicle by V. N. Shishonko. As a result, the name of Kihek has firmly entered the historiography, although from the documents of the end of the 16th century. It has long been known that in fact the Pelym prince was called Ablegirim. Sometimes Ablegirim is mistakenly confused with Ablegair (Abu-l-Khair), the son of Kuchum, who was captured by Russians in 1591. remains unknown."

Now, it seems, this source has been established, because for two centuries the Vychegda-Vym chronicle was probably read, as a result of which the name of the Pelym prince first fell into the oral and then into the written tradition. But how did "Kiqek" appear in the chronicle itself? If the Vologda seminarian A. Shergin and local history writer P. G. Doronin, who were related to the history of her text, were initially removed from suspicion, then the only "creator" of this name could only be the black priest Misail himself, who did this in the process of processing and abbreviations of the facts set forth in the continuation of the Perm sovereign chronicle. Here, apparently, there was a classic case of "lieutenant Kizhe": under the pen of Misail, an incorrectly interpreted relative pronoun with the meaning "which" of the type "like", "same", etc., was read, judging by phrase constructions, in protograph.

Another obvious mistake in the article of the Vychegda-Vym chronicle about the events of 1581 is the mention of the name of Grigory Stroganov, who, together with Maxim, allegedly "equipped" the Cossack expedition to Siberia. It is known that Grigory Anikievich Stroganov died on November 5, 1577. In addition to Maxim Yakovlevich and, according to the Stroganov Chronicle, Semyon Anikievich, Nikita, the son and heir of Grigory Anikievich, was involved in the Yermakov campaign. If, at the same time, we recall the article of 1558, we can conclude that only two representatives of the Stroganov family were known by name to the black priest Misail - Grigory and Maxim, whom he inserted into his chronicle in the right place and out of place.

At the same time, unlike the Stroganov Chronicle, the Vychegodsko-Vymskaya chronicle, not knowing about the performance of Begbeliya Agtagov, quite definitely names not one, but two raids in the Kama region, although it refers them, as well as the campaign beyond the Urals of the "Cossack vatamans", to to the same 7089 (1581). It is curious that one of the raids is led, according to the chronicle, by the “Siberian king”, and the other by the “Pelym prince”. Also noteworthy is the indication that the Cossacks conquered Siberia "for a single year".

It is easy to see that the author of this article (and he, obviously, is the same Misail, who "creatively" processed some information contained in the continuation of the Perm sovereign chronicle) for unknown reasons rearranged the leaders of the campaigns, as a result of which the "Siberian king "there were no Tatars in the army, but the" Pelynsky prince "came" from the Totars, Bashkirs, Yugortsy "and only last of all from the" Vogulichi ". If we make a reverse permutation and separate during the raids ("Pelymsky" is attributed to 1581, and "Siberian" - to 1582), timed to coincide with the last campaign of Yermak, then we will get a version close to the one that is built on the basis of royal letters 1581-1582 addressed to the Stroganovs.

Regardless of these documents, another narrative source adheres to a similar chronology and sequence of events - the so-called. Pogodinsky chronicler, who has come down to us in a single list of the end of the 17th century. Since the first edition of his text in 1907, this monument of Siberian chronicle writing, containing unique information about Yermak's campaign, has been considered by researchers as a later revision of the Esipov Chronicle. R.G. also agreed with this opinion. Skrynnikov, who suggested that the text of the chronicler was compiled at the end of the 17th century. a Moscow scribe who had access to the archive of the Posolsky Prikaz, from where he borrowed a number of facts about the Siberian expedition. However, the textological study of the monument, conducted by E.K. Romodanovskaya, allowed her to conclude that the Pogodinsky chronicler goes back to an early protographer that preceded the Esipovskaya chronicle. They were the so-called. Cossack "Writing", handed over around 1622 to the first Tobolsk archbishop Cyprian by the surviving Yermakovites. The author of this protograph, according to E. K. Romodanovskaya, was Cherkas Alexandrov, a participant in the Siberian campaign (Ivan Alexandrov, son of Korsak, nicknamed Cherkas).

Additional research in this direction, carried out by the author of these lines, generally confirmed, and in some ways clarified the hypothesis of E. K. Romodanovskaya. As it was possible to establish, the text of the Pogodinsky chronicler, through the medium of his protographer, who appeared after 1636, goes back to the Chronicle Tale, created around 1601 by the head of the Tobolsk Yurt Tatars, Cherkas Aleksandrov, an eyewitness and participant in Yermak's campaign in Siberia. Not only Siberian and Ural works (Synodik to Ermakov Cossacks, Esipovskaya and Stroganov Chronicles) turned out to be genetically connected with the same "Tale", but also monuments of all-Russian chronicle writing of the 17th century, including the chronographic story "On the Victory of the Siberian Tsar Kuchum on the Besermensk.. .", New Chronicler and Code of 1652

Thus, with the exception of later editorial overlays, which are easily distinguished, the text of the Pogodin chronicler is by far the most reliable source on the topic under study. Based on it, it is possible to reconstruct the chronology and sequence of events contained in Cherkas Aleksandrov's Chronicle Tale. This reconstruction, supplemented by data from other sources, allows building the next version of Yermak's Siberian campaign.

On the 20th of July, 1581, a Vogul rebellion began in the Stroganov possessions, led by Begbelius Agtagov. Its participants, "coming under the Chusovskie towns and under the Sylvensky prison, began to ruin their surroundings, but were soon defeated. This performance was only one of the links in the chain of events that unfolded on the eastern outskirts of the Muscovite state, in which, obviously, the Siberian Khan was involved Kuchum: "meadow" and "mountain" cheremis became agitated in the Middle Volga region, with which the Nogai prince Urus maintained contact, and at the end of the summer of the same 1581, having passed through the "Stone" by the old Siberian road along Lozva and Vishera, a vassal invaded the Urals Siberian "king" Pelym prince Ablegirim.His path, marked by pogroms, is accurately recorded by the petition of S. A. and M. Ya. Sh.) in the year about Semenya days (September 1. - A.Sh.) the Pelymsky prince came with an army, and with him seven hundred people, their de settlements on Koyva, and on Obva, and on Yayva, and on Chusovaya, and on Sylva villages were all burned down, and people and peasants were beaten, zhon and children were caught in full, and horses and animals were driven away. Judging by the royal charter sent on November 6, 1581 to N. G. Stroganov, in September "Prince Pelymsky with Vogulichi" was still standing "near the Chusovsky prison."

In the same year 7089 (1581), according to the Pogodinsky chronicler, God "sent" the Cossacks "to defeat Tsar Kuchum" (Pog. S. 130). The events that preceded this are well known. In mid-July 1581, the tsar's ambassador V. I. Pelepelitsyn, who was in the Nogai Horde with Prince Urus, set off for Moscow, accompanied by a Nogai embassy with a guard of 300 horsemen and a trade caravan of Bukhara merchants - "Ordo-Bazarites" to Moscow. In early August, while crossing the Volga near Sosnovy Ostrov (near the Samara River), they were all ambushed and defeated. "Cossacks Ivan Koltso, Bogdan Borbosha, Mikita Pan, Sava Boldyrya and his comrades" took part in the attack. The same pogrom is mentioned from the words of the Cherdyn voivode V.I. Siberian places "- A.Sh.) before that they quarreled with us with the Nagai horde, they beat the Nagai ambassadors on the Volga on the ferries, and robbed and beat the Ordo-Bazarites, and inflicted many robberies and losses on our people."

Attention is drawn to the fact that the list of "thieves" atamans who attacked the Nogai-Russian embassy does not contain the name of Yermak. R. G. Skrynnikov found the following explanation for this: from the summer of 1581 to the spring of 1582, he fought with his village on the fronts of the Livonian War, after which he joined up with the Volga Cossacks on Yaik, who had previously smashed the embassy. From here, having accepted the offer of M. Ya. Stroganov to serve in his estates, Yermak's squad went to the Urals.

If the version that "Ermak Timofeevich, Cossack chieftain", mentioned in the letter of the Polish commandant P. Stravinsky among those who were part of the Russian rati near Mogilev at the end of June 1581, and the conqueror of Siberia Ermak Timofeev is really true nicknamed Tokmak (see: Pog. S. 130) is one and the same person, then, given the chronology of the Pogodinsky chronicler, the events on the eve of the Siberian expedition can be presented in a slightly different way.

In the summer of 1580, Yermak and his comrades "driven a thousand horses from the Volga" that belonged to the Nogai murza Urmagmet, while killing his "karachey Batugay-baatyr". In the spring of 1581, preparing for a campaign against the western theater of operations, Yermak's Cossacks stole another 60 horses from the same Murza. On June 25, 1581, the Russian corps under the command of the governor, Prince. M. P. Katyrev-Rostovsky, which included the Yermakov detachment, crossed the Dnieper to the area of ​​​​Mogilev and Orsha. By August 1581, hostilities here had basically ended, and the regiments were "ordered to be in Rzhev."

Meanwhile, at the beginning of May of the same 1581, the Moscow authorities became aware of an attack on Russian possessions not only by the Crimean and Azov, but also by the Nogai Tatars. In response to these treacherous actions on the part of Prince Urus, "Urmagmetya-Murza and other Murzas", the government of Ivan the Terrible actually granted the Volga Cossacks freedom of action against the Nogais. As a result, the Cossack freemen, which included I. Koltso and his comrades, in late June - early July 1581, Saraichik, the capital of the Nogai Horde, located in the lower reaches of the Yaik, was burned and plundered. At the same time, military units were sent against the Tatars, who were plundering Russian lands. Obviously, one of them was the equestrian village of Yermak, transferred from the western borders to the Volga region. In mid-August 1581, pursuing a Nogai detachment of 600 people who were leaving with booty from Temnikov and Alatyr, the Yermakovites reached the Volga crossing near Sosnovy Ostrov, where there was still a gang of "free", Cossacks, who had defeated the Nogai-Russian embassy the day before. . Squeezed on both sides, the Nogais were defeated. Probably, some of them managed to break out of the encirclement and went to Yaik. A united detachment of Cossacks on horseback rushed after them in pursuit.

Having reached Yaik, the Cossacks began to decide the question: what to do next? It was clear that the Moscow government would not forgive them for having robbed the embassy on the Volga. After long disputes, part of the detachment, led by chieftain Bogdan Borbosha, remained in the Yaik region, and the remaining 540 people, including chieftains Ivan Koltso, Nikita Pan, Matvey Meshcheryak, Yakov Mikhailov and Savva Boldyrya, decided to leave for the Urals with Yermak. It was the end of August, ending 7089 (1581), and the Cossacks remembered it well.

According to the Pogodinsky chronicler, the Yermakovites moved from Yaik to the upper reaches of the Irgiz, and from there they went to the Volga (see Pog. S. 130). Apparently, they made this way on horseback. Already on the Volga, the Cossacks moved into boats hidden on one of the secret wharfs (perhaps in the area of ​​the same Pine Island), and moved up the river, "and from the Volga to the Kama River and the Kama River up the same" (Ibid.). Reaching the mouth of the river Chusovoy, turned to Sylva (according to the Kungur chronicle, this happened, as mentioned above, on September 26), where, obviously, they encountered the rearguard of Ablegirim and defeated him. Echoes of these events were later reflected in the stories about the battles of the Yermakovites with the Voguls at the very beginning of their campaign in Siberia, which are read in the chronographic story "On the Victory of the Besermen Siberian Tsar Kuchum ...", in the Stroganov Chronicle, in the Likhachev edition of the Episovskaya Chronicle, in Buzunovsky chronicler, etc. The Cossacks met the onset of winter in a fortified camp on Sylva.

The only written source reporting the wintering of the Yermakovites in these places is the Kungur Chronicle, which says: "... and they buried up the Sylva and in the frost reached the tract, the Yermakov settlement is now dead; and going from the inhabitants they robbed bread and supplies and here they wintered, and for Kamenya they fought and became rich, and fed themselves with bread from Maxim Stroganov.

The plausibility of this story is confirmed by the following facts. In September 1581, when the soldiers of the Pelymsky prince were still standing "near the Chusovsky jail", S. A. and M. Ya. And a month or a month and a half later, they turned to him already for permission to recruit "eager people" into their patrimonial army. At the same time, from the context of their petition, even in the presentation of the royal letter, it becomes clear that they had in mind some real military contingent that they were going to use in the war against the Voguls: "Semyon dei da Maxim of eager Cossacks and their people (my italics. - A .Sh.) they do not dare to come to the Vogul uluses without our decree by war." This suggests that the Stroganovs needed only a formal sanction from above, which would allow them to semi-legally employ the wanted "thieves" who, by chance, ended up on Sylva. Knowing the tough temper of the king, the salt merchants were well aware of the riskiness of this enterprise and therefore slyly kept silent about who they decided to involve in the defense of their possessions. As a result, the Stroganovs achieved their goal: by a letter dated December 20, 1581, addressed to the Perm and Solikamsk elders and kissers, all Zemstvo "eager people" were allowed to go "to hire them." “And those vogulichs on their (Stroganovs. - A.Sh.) prisons come with war and repair enthusiasm,” it was said in the same letter, “they would have come on those vogulichs, and after them they were fished ... annoy them with war, and forward them (to Vogulich people - A.Sh.) it was disgraceful [it was] to steal." In allowing military actions against the Voguls, the Moscow government put forward only one condition - not to provoke a big war in the Urals as a result of such actions.

Meanwhile, in December 1581, a new governor, V.I. Pelepelitsyn, arrived in Cherdyn, who replaced Prince. I. M. Yeletsky. Soon, news began to reach him about what was happening in the Stroganov estates, but for the time being the governor preferred to remain silent about this, not wanting to quarrel with powerful neighbors even because of the insults and insults inflicted on him by the Cossacks at the Volga crossing. However, when in the late summer - early autumn of 1582 the Perm Territory turned out to be engulfed in the flames of a great war, V.I. Pelepelitsyn, trying to shield himself, remembered everything. “And then (the raid of the Siberian-Pelym army. - A.Sh.) became your treason,” Stroganov said from the words of his formal reply in the “disgraced” letter, “you took the Vogulich and Votyak and Pelym people away from our salary, and they were bullied and war they came to them (hereinafter, my italics. - A.Sh.), and with that enthusiasm they quarreled with the Siberian saltan, and the Volga chieftains (who, as follows from the context of the letter, carried out these actions. - A.Sh.), having called to themselves, the thieves were hired into their prisons without our decree.

But all this will come later. In the meantime, the Yermakovites made winter raids on the "Vogul uluses" from their Sylven camp, not really caring about their consequences. At the same time, the Stroganovs, who received permission from the tsar in late January - early February 1582 to recruit “eager people” into their patrimonial army, were still postponing the final conclusion of an agreement with Yermak and his squad on service. They decided to take this step only in the spring.

“In the summer of 7087 (1579. - A.Sh.), the Stroganov Chronicle says, April on the 6th day (hereinafter my italics. - A.Sh.), I hear God Semyon and Maxim and Nikita Stroganovs from reliable people about the riot and courage of the Volga Cossacks and atamans Yermak Timofeev with comrades, how on the Volga on the transport Nagais are beaten and the Ardobazars are robbed and beaten ", and sent to them" their people with writing and many gifts "inviting the Cossacks" to the Chusovskie towns and in prisons to help them." Apparently, the chronicler constructed this news from various sources. Thus, the indication of the arrival of the Yermakovites "from the great rivers of the Volga", read in the title of this article, obviously goes back to the chronicle protographer, and information about the Cossack "exploits" is clearly borrowed from the "disgraced" royal charter of 1582. Where did the first part of the date come from (7087), unknown. But its second part (April 6) most likely has some kind of documentary basis. Also noteworthy is the date of the arrival of "Ermak Timofeev with his comrades in the Chusovskie towns", placed in the following article: "June on the 28th day, in memory of the holy miracle worker and unmercenary Cyrus and John."

According to the Kungur Chronicle, the departure of Yermak’s squad from the camp on the Sylva occurred around the same time: “And on the 9th day of May, they promised a chapel on the ancient settlement in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. on the hill fort with wives and children, forever settling down. And before June 12 or 13, the Cossacks were already taking supplies and weapons from Maskim Stroganov in the Nizhnechusovsky town. Obviously, in the summer of 1582, Yermak also visited Orel-gorodok (Kergedan), the capital of N. G. Stroganov's Kama possessions. Evidence of this is copied in the XIX century. an inscription on the trunk of a squeaker later lost: "In the city of Kergedan on the Kame River, I, Maxim Yakovlev, the son of Stroganov, give to Ataman Yermak in the summer of 7090 (1582. - A.Sh.)".

During the winter raids on the camps of the Voguls, the Yermakovites collected a lot of information about the lands behind the "Stone". The Stroganovs and their people also told them a lot. As a result, at the end of the summer, a campaign against the Pelym principality was planned, which promised rich booty. July 1582 was spent in preparations, and in August, on the very eve of the Cossack expedition, "Kuchyumov's son Alei came to war against Chusovaya." The attack was carried out through the so-called. Tyumen portage near Sylva with access to the Stroganov towns. Together with Alei, the prince of Pelym Ablegirim, who longed for revenge, also participated in the raid. Since the Yermakovites "Chyusovaya did not let the Siberian fight" (Pog. C 130), the Tatar-Pelym army moved on, ruining the Russian settlements along the Kama along the way, burned the Kama Salt, and on September 1, 1582 besieged Cherdyn. After an unsuccessful attempt to take the capital of Perm, the Great "repentance", according to the Stroganov Chronicle, "went near the Kai town, and that great dirty trick was done." As mentioned above, the Vychegodsko-Vymsky Chronicle also reports that the enemy "burned the Vymsky settlements of Kaygorod and Volosenets". At this time, Yermak's squad, which repelled the attack of Alei's army on the Nizhnechusovsky prison and thereby fulfilled its obligations to M. Ya. Stroganov, changed its plans for a campaign against Pelym. “And from those places,” recalled Cherkas Alexandrov, “they, Yermak and his comrades, taught how to think and climb, how would they get to the Siberian land to Tsar Kuchum” (Pog. S. 130). Not later than mid-August of the same 1582, they set off up the Chusovaya, making their own way beyond the Urals. As in the case of the defeat of Saraichik, the Volga Cossacks decided to retaliate with blow for blow. And therefore, Siberia, the capital of "Tsar Kuchum", has now become their main goal.

From Chusovaya, the Yermakovites turned to the mouth of the river. Serebryanka that "came from the Siberian countries to the Chusovaya river on the right side." Climbing up it, they dragged a 25-verst port through the pass "the courts dragged on themselves" to the river. Baranchi and already on it floated, without stopping, "down into the river in Tagil", which flowed into the Tura (Ibid.).

Thus began the swift and daring campaign of the Cossack detachment of Ermak Timofeevich to Siberia. The events that preceded it (the pogrom of the Nogai-Russian embassy on the Volga, the departure of Yermak’s squad from Yaik through the Irgiz, Volga and Kama in the Urals, wintering on the Sylva, the invitation of the Yermakovites by the Stroganovs to serve to defend their possessions from the Vogul raids, the preparation of the Pelym expedition and, finally, the rebuff given to the army of Aley and Ablegirim on Chusovaya) indicate that the main initiators of this campaign were not the Stroganovs, and even more so not the state, but the Cossacks themselves, accustomed to acting according to circumstances. They had neither the time nor the opportunity to move slowly, "with skill", to spend the winter on the Tagil portage or on the Tura. From the very beginning, it was a typical robbery raid (“with a return they thought of fleeing to Siberia to smash”), which, unexpectedly for the Cossacks themselves, led to the collapse of the formidable Siberian “kingdom” and, due to various circumstances, subsequently dragged on for three whole years.

Yermak's personality

The most legendary hero of the Cossack atamans of the 16th century is undoubtedly Yermak Timofeevich, who conquered Siberia and laid the foundation for the Siberian Cossack army. When Ermak was born, it is not known for certain. Historians refer to the 30-40s of the 16th century. Questions arise about the origin of his name. Some researchers tried to decipher it as Ermolai, Ermishka. The surname is also not exactly established. Some sources say that his surname was Alenin, and at baptism he was given the name Vasily. But no one has proven this for sure. "The origin of Yermak is not known exactly: according to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama (Cherepanov Chronicle), according to another, a native of the Kachalinskaya village (Bronevsky). His name, according to Professor Nikitsky, is a change in the name Yermolai, other historians and chroniclers produce him from Herman and Yeremey. One chronicle, considering the name Yermak as a nickname, gives him the Christian name Vasily. "

On the question of Yermak's personality, scientists have not yet come to a consensus. Most often, he is called a native of the estates of the industrialists Stroganovs, who then went to the Volga and became a Cossack. Another opinion is that Yermak is of noble origin, of Turkic blood. Vyacheslav Safronov in his article suggested that Yermak was a representative of the legitimate dynasty of Siberian khans overthrown by Kuchum: "... In one of the annals, Yermak's appearance is described -" flat face "and" black hair ", and, you must admit, that a Russian person is characterized by an elongated face and blond hair. It is also believed that hunger in his native land forced him, a man of remarkable physical strength, to flee to the Volga. Soon, in battle, he obtained weapons for himself and, from about 1562, began to master military affairs. Thanks to the talent of the organizer, his justice and courage, he became the chieftain. In the Livonian War of 1581 he commanded a Cossack flotilla. It's hard to believe, but, apparently, Yermak was the ancestor of the Marine Corps. He drove his army along the river surface on plows, and, if necessary, threw him ashore - and into battle. The enemy could not resist such an onslaught. "Plane army" - that was the name of these fighters at that time.

Cossacks, organization of the squad

The word "Cossack" is of Turkic origin, the so-called people who lagged behind the Horde, leading their economy separately. But gradually they began to call so dangerous people who hunted robbery. And nationality did not play a big role for the Cossacks, the main thing was the way of life. Ivan the Terrible decided to attract the steppe freemen to his side. In 1571, he sent messengers to the chieftains, invited them to military service and recognized the Cossacks as a military and political force. Yermak was, of course, a military genius, who was greatly facilitated by his experienced friends and like-minded people - Ivan Koltso and Ivan Groza, Ataman Meshcheryak. His chieftains and captains were distinguished by courage and bravery. Not one of them faltered in battle and did not betray the Cossack duty until the last days. Apparently, Yermak knew how to understand people, because in a life full of danger, only the best can be trusted. Ermak also did not tolerate licentiousness, which could ruin the best army, he clearly demanded the fulfillment of all Orthodox rites and holidays, the observance of fasts.

In his regiments there were three priests and a defrocked monk. The tsarist governors could envy the clear organization of the troops. He divided the squad into five regiments led by the captains, by the way - elected. The regiments were divided into hundreds, then into fifty and tens. The number of troops then equaled 540 fighters. Even then, in the Cossack army there were clerks and trumpeters, as well as drummers who gave signals at the right moments of the battle. The strictest discipline was established in the squad: desertion and treason were punishable by death. In all cases, Yermak followed the customs of the free Cossacks. All issues were decided by the general meeting of the Cossacks - a circle. By decision of the circle, a campaign to Siberia began. The circle also elected the ataman. The power of the ataman relied on the strength of his authority in the Cossack environment. And the fact that Yermak remained an ataman until the end of his life convinces us of his popularity among the Cossacks. The team was united by the spirit of camaraderie. In the Cossack freemen on the Volga, the military operations of the Livonian War and in the Urals, Yermak acquired rich military experience, which, combined with his natural mind, made him the best military leader of his time. By the way, prominent commanders of later times also used some of his experience. For example, the formation of troops in battle was used by Suvorov.

Service at the Stroganovs. Expedition to Siberia

In 1558, the wealthy landowner and industrialist Grigory Stroganov asked Ivan the Terrible for empty lands along the Kama River in order to set up a town here to protect against barbarian hordes, to call on people, to start arable farming, which was all done. Having established themselves on this side of the Ural Mountains, the Stroganovs turned their attention to the lands beyond the Urals, to Siberia. "Ulus Dzhuchiev" collapsed in the XIII century. into three hordes: Golden, White and Blue. The Golden Horde, located in the Volga region, collapsed. The remnants of other hordes fought for supremacy over vast territories. In this struggle, local princelings hoped for the support of the Russian Tsar. But the king, bogged down in the Livonian War, could not pay enough attention to Eastern affairs. In 1563, Khan Kuchum came to power in Siberia, who at first agreed to pay tribute to Moscow, but then killed the Moscow ambassador. Since that time, Tatar raids on the Russian border lands in the Perm region have become a constant phenomenon. The owners of these lands, the Stroganovs, who had a letter from the tsar for the settlement of empty territories, turned to the Cossacks, whose detachments multiplied on the borders of the Russian kingdom.

The Cossacks came to the Stroganovs in the composition of 540 people. The detachment of Yermak and his atamans received an invitation from the Stroganovs to join them: “... they opened it for him, Yermak, with his comrades, putting aside any imaginary danger and suspicion from the Stroganovs, to reliably follow them, and by that with his arrival he frightened their neighbors enemies..." Here the Cossacks lived for two years and helped the Stroganovs defend their towns from attacks by neighboring foreigners. The Cossacks carried guard duty in the towns, went on campaigns against hostile neighboring tribes. During these campaigns, the idea of ​​a military expedition to Siberia matured. Going on a campaign, Yermak and the Cossacks were convinced of the great state significance of their work. Yes, and the Stroganovs could not but wish success to Yermak and defeat to the Tatars, from which their towns and settlements so often suffered. But disagreements began between them about the equipment of the campaign itself. "... The initiative of this campaign, according to the annals of Esipovskaya and Remizovskaya, belonged to Yermak himself, the participation of the Stroganovs was limited to the forced supply of supplies and weapons to the Cossacks. them on a campaign ... ".

Ermak believed that all the costs of providing weapons, food, clothing and armies should be borne by the industrialists, because this campaign also supported their vital interests. When gathering for a campaign, Yermak showed himself to be a good organizer and prudent commander. The plows made under his supervision were light and mobile, and in the best way corresponded to the conditions of navigation on small mountain rivers. In mid-August 1581, preparations for the campaign ended. On September 1, 1581, the Stroganovs released the Cossacks against the Siberian sultan, adding military men from their towns to them. In total, the troops became 850 people. After serving a prayer service, the army plunged into the plows and set off. The flotilla consisted of 30 vessels, ahead of the plow caravan was a light, unloaded, patrol vessel. Taking advantage of the convenient moment when Khan Kuchum was busy with the war with the legs, Yermak invades his lands. In just three months, the detachment made its way from the Chusovaya River to the Irtysh River. Through the Tagil passes, Yermak left Europe and descended from the "Stone" - the Ural Mountains - to Asia. The way along Tagil was completed without incident. The planes easily rushed down the river and soon entered Tura. Kuchum's possessions began here. Near Turinsk, the Cossacks endure the first battle against prince Yepanchi. The non-belligerent Mansi tribe could not stand the battle and fled. The Cossacks landed on the shore and freely entered Yepanchin town. As punishment for the attack, Yermak ordered everything of value to be taken from him, and the town itself to be burned. He punished the disobedient in order to show others how dangerous it is to resist his squad. Sailing along the Tura, the Cossacks did not meet any resistance for a long time. The coastal villages surrendered without a fight.

But Yermak knew that the main battle was waiting for him on the banks of the Irtysh, where Kuchum's headquarters was located and the main forces of the Tatars had gathered, so he was in a hurry. The boats only landed on the shore at night. It seemed that the chieftain himself was awake for whole days: he himself set up night patrols, had time to dispose of everything and managed to do it everywhere. Having received the news about Yermak, Kuchum and his entourage lost their peace. By order of the Khan, towns on the Tobol and Irtysh were fortified. The army of Kuchum represented the usual feudal militia, recruited by force from "black" people, poorly trained in military affairs. The core was the Khan's cavalry. Thus, it had only a numerical superiority over Yermak's detachment, but was much inferior in discipline, organization and courage. The appearance of Yermak came as a complete surprise to Kuchum, especially since his eldest son Aley at that time was trying to take the Russian fortress of Cherdyn in the Perm Territory by force. Meanwhile, at the mouth of the Tobol River, Yermak's detachment defeated the hordes of Murza Karachi, Kuchum's chief dignitary. This infuriated Kuchum, he gathers an army and sends his nephew Prince Mametkul to meet Yermak, who was defeated in battle on the banks of the Tobol. After some time, a grandiose battle broke out on the Chuvash Cape, on the banks of the Irtysh, which Kuchum himself led from the opposite side. In this battle, Kuchum's troops were defeated, Mametkul was wounded, Kuchum fled, and Yermak occupied his capital.

This was the final defeat of the Tatars. On October 26, 1582, Yermak entered Siberia, abandoned by the enemy. In the spring of 1583, Yermak sent an embassy of 25 Cossacks to Ivan the Terrible, headed by Ivan Koltso. The detachment brought tribute to the tsar - furs - and a message about the annexation of Siberia to Russia. Ermak's report was accepted by the tsar, he forgives him and all the Cossacks their former "guilts" and sends a detachment of archers in the amount of 300 people, led by Semyon Bolkhovsky, to help. "The royal governors arrived at Yermak in the autumn of 1583, but their detachment could not deliver significant assistance to the Cossack squad, which had diminished in battles. Atamans died one after another: Nikita Pan was killed during the capture of Nazim; in the spring of 1584, the Tatars treacherously killed Ivan Koltso and Yakov Mikhailov. Ataman Meshcheryak was besieged in his camp by the Tatars and only with heavy losses forced their khan, Karacha, to retreat. On August 6, 1584, Yermak also died. The winter of 1583-1584 in Siberia was especially hard for the Russians. Supplies ran out, famine and disease set in. By spring, all the archers died along with Prince Bolkhovsky and a significant part of the Cossacks.

In the summer of 1584, Murza Karacha fraudulently lured a detachment of Cossacks led by Ivan Koltso to a feast, and at night, having attacked them, he slaughtered them all sleepily. Upon learning of this, Yermak sent a new detachment to the camp of Karachi, led by Matvey Meshcheryak. In the middle of the night, the Cossacks broke into the camp.

In what year did Yermak make his first trip to Siberia?

In this battle, two sons of Murza were killed, and he himself fled with the remnants of the army. Soon, messengers from Bukhara merchants arrived at Yermak with a request to protect them from the arbitrariness of Kuchum. Yermak, with his small remaining army, less than 100 men, set out on a campaign. On the banks of the Irtysh, where Yermak's detachment spent the night, Kuchum attacked them during a terrible storm and thunderstorm. Yermak, assessing the situation, ordered to get into the plows, but the Tatars had already burst into the camp. Yermak was the last to withdraw, covering the Cossacks. He was seriously injured and was unable to swim to his ships. The legends of the people say that it was swallowed up by the icy waters of the Irtysh. After the death of the legendary ataman, Matvey Meshcheryak assembled the Circle, on which the Cossacks decide to go to the Volga for help. After two years of possession, the Cossacks ceded Siberia to Kuchum, only to return there a year later with a new detachment of tsarist troops. Already in 1586, a detachment of Cossacks from the Volga came to Siberia and founded the first Russian city there - Tyumen. There now stands a monument in honor of the conqueror of Siberia.

Goals and results of the annexation of Siberia

Historians are still solving the question - why did Yermak go to Siberia? It turns out that it is not so easy to answer. In numerous works about the legendary hero, there are three points of view on the reasons that prompted the Cossacks to make a campaign, as a result of which huge Siberia became a province of the Russian state: first, the tsar blessed the Cossacks to conquer this land without risking anything; the second - the campaign was organized by the industrialists Stroganovs in order to protect their towns from the raids of the Siberian military detachments, and the third - the Cossacks, without asking either the king or their masters, went to fight the Siberian land, for example, with the aim of robbery. But if we consider them each separately, then none of them will explain the purpose of the campaign. So, according to one of the chronicles, Ivan the Terrible, having learned about the campaign, ordered the Stroganovs to immediately return the Cossacks to defend the towns. The Stroganovs, apparently, didn’t really want to let the Cossacks go either - it was not beneficial for them both from a military point of view and from an economic point of view. It is known that the Cossacks pretty much plundered food and gun stocks. So the Stroganovs, apparently against their will, became participants in the campaign against Siberia. It is difficult to dwell on any of the versions of this campaign, because there are many contradictions in the facts given by various biographies and annals.

There are Stroganovskaya, Esipovskaya, Remizovskaya (Kungurskaya) and Cherepanovskaya annals, in which even the timing of the arrival of the Cossacks in the service of the Stroganovs is different, as is the attitude towards Yermak himself. Later, in the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous "chronicle tales" and "codes" appeared, in which wonderful fiction and fables were intertwined with retellings from old chronicles and with folk traditions. Most researchers are inclined to the facts of the Stroganov Chronicle, since they consider it written according to the royal letters of that time. According to the historian, "... Stroganovskaya explains the phenomenon to us in a completely satisfactory way, pointing to the gradual course, the connection of events: a country neighboring Siberia is being colonized, colonialists are usually given great rights: due to the special conditions of a newly populated country, rich colonialists must take upon themselves the obligation to protect with their own means their settlements, build prisons, support military people; the government itself in its letters indicates to them where they can recruit military people - from eager Cossacks; they especially need these Cossacks when they intend to transfer their crafts beyond the Ural Mountains, to the possession of the Siberian Sultan, for which they have a royal charter, and now they call on a crowd of eager Cossacks from the Volga and send them to Siberia. Karamzin attributes its writing to 1600, which is again disputed by some historians.

Accession of Western Siberia to the Russian state

In 1581-1585, the Moscow kingdom, headed by Ivan the Terrible, significantly expanded the borders of the state to the East, as a result of the victory over the Mongol-Tatar khanates. It was during this period that Russia first included Western Siberia in its composition. This happened thanks to the successful campaign of the Cossacks, led by ataman Ermak Timofeevich against Khan Kuchum. This article offers a brief overview of such a historical event as the annexation of Western Siberia to Russia.

Preparation of Yermak's campaign

In 1579, a detachment of Cossacks consisting of 700-800 soldiers was formed on the territory of Orel-town (modern Perm Territory). They were headed by Yermak Timofeevich, who had previously been the chieftain of the Volga Cossacks. Orel-town was owned by the merchant family of the Stroganovs. It was they who allocated money for the creation of the army. The main goal is to protect the population from the raids of nomads from the territory of the Siberian Khanate. However, in 1581 it was decided to organize a retaliatory campaign in order to weaken the aggressive neighbor. The first few months of the campaign - it was a struggle with nature. Very often, the participants of the campaign had to wield an ax in order to cut a passage through impenetrable forests. As a result, the Cossacks suspended the campaign for the winter of 1581-1582, creating a fortified camp Kokuy-gorodok.

The course of the war with the Siberian Khanate

The first battles between the Khanate and the Cossacks took place in the spring of 1582: in March, a battle took place on the territory of the modern Sverdlovsk region. Near the city of Turinsk, the Cossacks completely defeated the local troops of Khan Kuchum, and in May they already occupied the large city of Chingi-tura. At the end of September, the battle for the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Kashlyk, began. A month later, the Cossacks won again. However, after a grueling campaign, Yermak decided to take a break and sent an embassy to Ivan the Terrible, thereby taking a break in joining Western Siberia to the Russian kingdom.

When Ivan the Terrible learned of the first skirmishes between the Cossacks and the Siberian Khanate, the tsar ordered the "thieves" to be recalled, referring to the Cossack detachments that "arbitrarily attacked the neighbors." However, at the end of 1582, Yermak's envoy, Ivan Koltso, arrived at the tsar, who informed Grozny about the successes, and also asked for reinforcements for the complete defeat of the Siberian Khanate.

YERMAK'S PATH

After that, the tsar approved Yermak's campaign and sent weapons, salaries and reinforcements to Siberia.

Historical reference

Map of Yermak's campaign in Siberia in 1582-1585

In 1583, Yermak's troops defeated Khan Kuchum on the Vagai River, and his nephew Mametkul was completely captured. The khan himself fled to the territory of the Ishim steppe, from where he periodically continued to attack the lands of Russia. In the period from 1583 to 1585, Yermak no longer made large-scale campaigns, but included the new lands of Western Siberia in Russia: the ataman promised protection and patronage to the conquered peoples, and they had to pay a special tax - yasak.

In 1585, during one of the skirmishes with local tribes (according to another version, the attack of the troops of Khan Kuchum), a small detachment of Yermak was defeated, and the ataman himself died. But the main goal and task in the life of this man was solved - Western Siberia joined Russia.

The results of Yermak's campaign

Historians identify the following key results of Yermak's campaign in Siberia:

1. Expansion of the territory of Russia by annexing the lands of the Siberian Khanate.
2. The emergence in Russia's foreign policy of a new direction for aggressive campaigns, a vector that will bring great success to the country.
3. colonization of Siberia. As a result of these processes, a large number of cities are emerging. A year after Yermak's death, in 1586, the first Russian city in Siberia, Tyumen, was founded. It happened at the place of the Khan's headquarters, the city of Kashlyk, the former capital of the Siberian Khanate.

The annexation of Western Siberia, which happened thanks to the campaigns led by Ermak Timofeevich, is of great importance in the history of Russia. It was as a result of these campaigns that Russia first began to spread its influence in Siberia, and, thereby, to develop, becoming the largest state in the world.

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