PEOPLES OF RUSSIA INXVII C.

Questions in the text of the paragraph

Like in the 17th century. did the further formation of the multinational Russian state take place? What peoples became part of Russia in the 17th century?

When did Left Bank Ukraine become part of Russia?

In 1653, the Zemsky Sobor decided to accept Ukraine into the citizenship of the Russian sovereign and declare war on the Polish crown. At the Pereyaslav Rada in January 1654, the army of Bogdan Khmelnitsky swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. The Hetman of Ukraine was given greater independence, including conducting international negotiations (with the exception of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire).

When was the Ukrainian Orthodox Church subordinated to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'?

In 1686, the Ecumenical Patriarch Dionysius IV and the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople issued a Tomos on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolis to the canonical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarch. It was a difficult and confusing story. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, being subordinate to Constantinople, for a long time did not want to become subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, fearing the loss of independence. As a result of complex procedures and a multi-step political game with the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Church of Constantinople, the government of the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, only in 1686 Moscow managed to obtain a document in Constantinople on the transfer of the UOC to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

What was the name of the government agency located in Moscow and in charge of managing the Ukrainian lands that became part of Russia?

In 1662, the Little Russian Order was created to manage the territories of Left Bank Ukraine. He was subordinate to the Ambassadorial Order. The first head of the Little Russian Prikaz was P.M. Saltykov, then A.S. Matveev, and from 1671 the order was led by the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz. The Little Russian Order controlled the domestic and foreign policy activities of the hetmans, managed intelligence and counterintelligence, material support for troops, the construction of fortresses on the territory of Little Russia, the movement of foreigners and residents of Little Russia, and prisoners. Through the Little Russian Order, funding was provided for the Zaporozhye Army and the Orthodox clergy.

When was the first Orthodox diocese created in the Volga region? Where was its center located? Who were called newly baptized?

The first Orthodox diocese was created in 1555 in Kazan. It was called the Kazan diocese. Its tasks included work on the Christianization of the peoples of the Volga region. Those who from the annexed peoples accepted Orthodoxy were called newly baptized. Such people received greater benefits compared to those who maintained the Muslim faith.

Questions and assignments to the text of the material intended for independent work and project activities of students

1. How did the Russians develop new lands? What positive and negative consequences did Russian colonization bring to the peoples of Siberia and the Far East?

The development of new lands by the Russians was carried out by groups of active pioneers who penetrated into new territories, established relationships with local peoples, and built fortresses and fortresses to organize and protect trade. Entering into relations with local peoples, the Russians shared their experience in agriculture, cattle breeding, housing construction, organizing trade and military affairs. Local peoples were at different levels of development, many had not yet emerged from the era of tribal communities, so the arrival of the Russians became a strong stimulus for their development. Of course, the Russians, along with the “benefits of civilization,” also brought their own negative experiences. For example, the Siberian peoples for the first time experienced the effects of alcoholic beverages, the greed and treachery of some Russians, Cossack cruelty and sloppiness.

2. Describe the features of management of Ukrainian lands in the 17th century. Why did some Ukrainians oppose reunification with Russia?

When it became part of Russia, Left Bank Ukraine retained self-government with minor restrictions in terms of conducting foreign policy activities. In Russia, relations with the hetmans of Ukraine were handled by the Little Russian Order, which controlled the domestic and foreign political activities of the hetmans, managed the material support of troops, the construction of fortresses on the territory of Left Bank Ukraine, the movement of foreigners and residents of Little Russia, and prisoners. Through the Little Russian Order, funding was provided for the Zaporozhye Army and the Orthodox clergy. The Russian government tried not to interfere in other management issues.

In Left Bank Ukraine itself, Cossack elders seized unlimited power and most of the fertile lands, subjugated the peasants and sought to increase their power even in the cities of Ukraine. All this caused popular discontent. As a result, contradictions began to appear in Ukrainian society, which led to a fierce struggle in which different forces tried to return to the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or even the Ottoman Empire. Only towards the end of the 17th century did this struggle end in victory for the supporters of Russia. At the same time, the management system of Left Bank Ukraine took shape. Under the hetman there was a senior council, which appointed its representatives to the main government positions - orders. The territory of the Hetmanate was divided into ten regiments, headed by colonels and regimental foreman. Large cities retained self-government. At the same time, Moscow governors with military garrisons were installed in Ukrainian cities.

3. What was the situation of the peoples of the Volga region?

The entry of the peoples of the Volga region into Russia was completed by the beginning of the 17th century. A special feature of the Volga region was the multinational composition of its population. The main support of the tsarist power in the Volga region became the Tatar nobility, who switched to the service of the Russian sovereign. It was the service Tatars, along with the Russian feudal lords, who developed the lands of the Volga region. Christianization played a major role in the subjugation of the local population. Those who converted to Christianity received significantly greater benefits compared to those who remained Muslim.

4. What steps were taken in the 17th century. to strengthen Russian influence in the Caucasus?

The strengthening of Russia's position in the Caucasus meant a corresponding weakening of the influence of the Ottoman Empire on the Caucasus region. Therefore, Russia took active political action to attract Caucasians to its side. Some peoples, like the Nogais and Kumyks, actively fought against the expansion of Russian influence. Other peoples, like the Kabardians, Imeretians, and Kakhetians, tried to solve their problems with their enemies with the help of Russia. In 1639, the ruler of Kakheti swore an oath of allegiance to the Russian Tsar, and in 1650, the Imeretian Tsar also accepted Russian citizenship.

5. Tell us about the life of the peoples of Siberia and the Far East in the 17th century. Fill out (in your notebook) the table “Peoples of Siberia and the Far East in the 17th century”:

Name of the people	Territory of residence	Main activities and lifestyle features
Buryats	Along the banks of the Angara and Baikal	Nomadic people. Main occupations: cattle breeding, fishing, farming. A tribal nobility appeared.
Yakuts (Sakha)	North-Eastern Siberia	They lived in yurts. Main occupations: cattle breeding, hunting, fishing. They prepared hay for the winter for livestock. We were engaged in the production of dairy products. Pottery and blacksmith crafts. A tribal nobility appeared.
Yukaghirs	Extreme northeast of Siberia
Evenki (Tungus)	From the Yenisei to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk	They lived in tents. Main activities: hunting and fishing. The tribal system has been preserved.
Koryaks	Extreme northeast of Siberia	Main occupation: reindeer herding. Stone tools, wooden utensils.
Chukchi	Extreme northeast of Siberia	Main occupation: reindeer herding. Stone tools, wooden utensils.
Nenets	Tundra from the European North to the lower reaches of the Yenisei	They lived in tents. Main activities: reindeer husbandry, fishing, fur-bearing animal hunting.
Itelmens (later, after contacts with the Russians, they began to be called Kamchadals)	Kamchatka, Magadan, Chukotka	Main occupation: fishing, collecting herbs. Stone tools, wooden utensils.
Ainu (Kuril Islands)	Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuril Islands	A mysterious ancient tribe that lived in Japan, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin appeared about 13 thousand years ago. Main occupation: fishing, collecting herbs, hunting. Skillful warriors and hunters.
Dauras	Amur region	They lived in fortified cities. Main occupation: farming, gardening, horticulture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing.

Working with the map

1. Show on the map the territory that became part of Russia in the 17th century. What peoples inhabited it?

Consider the map on pages 22 - 23 in the atlas.

• The territories that became part of Russia in the 17th century are indicated on the map in light green.
• The following peoples lived on the new Russian lands: Evenks, Buryats, Yakuts (Sakha), Evens, Yukaghirs, Koryaks, Itelmens, Chukchi, Ukrainians, Nenets, Kamchadals, Kurils, Daurs. The map does not show the lands and peoples of the Caucasus that accepted Russian citizenship in the 17th century: the Kakhetians and Imeretians.

2. Using the map, list the states with which in the 17th century. bordered by Russia in the south and east.

• In the south and east, Russia bordered on the following states: the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire, Persia (Iran), the Kazakh Khanate, China.

Studying documents

What new did you learn from the document about the life of the Tungus (Evenks)

The Tungus lived along the banks of rivers and lakes, engaged in fishing, and stored dry fish stocks.

1. How do Semyon Dezhnev and Nikita Semenov determine the purpose of their campaign?

Semyon Dezhnev and Nikita Semenov talk about the desire to bring benefit to the sovereign and his treasury as the main goal of their campaign.

2. What profitable trades do they talk about?

They talk about hunting walruses and getting their tusks.

We think, compare, reflect

1. How was our multinational state formed in the 17th century? At what level of development were the peoples who became part of Russia in the 17th century? How did they influence each other?

The formation of the Russian state as a multinational community was very difficult. Having passed through the Horde rule, the Russians learned to live together with people of different nationalities and beliefs. Subsequently, the Russians carried this quality through the centuries, expanding the borders of their state. New territories were annexed as a result of military conquests, annexation, treaties with other states, the development of new lands and voluntary expression of will.

Thus, numerous peoples of the Volga region (Tatars, Mari, Chuvash, Mordovians, Udmurts, Bashkirs) were annexed as a result of the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. It took a long time for these peoples to be able to begin to live peacefully as part of the Russian state. The basis for centralized power in these territories was the Tatar nobility.

The lands of Western Siberia were also annexed as a result of a military victory over the Siberian Khanate and their allies. Further advancement to the east was carried out by small detachments of pioneers who sought recognition of the native tribes both by force of arms and by peaceful means. So, by the end of the 17th century, the endless territories of the mainland up to the Amur and Kamchatka - Siberia and the Far East - were annexed to Russia. The Russian state includes Siberian peoples at different levels of development: Yakuts, Buryats, Nenets, Chukchi, Evenks (Tungus), Karyaks, Yukagirs, Itelmens, Daurs, Kuriles, etc.

The conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate and access to the Caspian Sea led to Russia being in direct contact with the peoples of the North Caucasus. Relations with the peoples of the Caucasus were also built differently. Some, the Nogais and Kumyks, opposed Russia’s penetration into the Caucasus. Others—Kabardians, Imeretians, Kakhetians—saw in Russia a reliable partner and protector from external threats.

The annexation of Left Bank Ukraine brought many problems. The voluntary entry of Left Bank Ukraine into Russia led to large-scale wars with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, and became an indirect cause of the church schism in Russia. Then the “freedom-loving” Ukrainian hetmans repeatedly tried to change their masters, but the Ukrainian people made their choice and remained with Russia.

2. Using additional literature and the Internet, collect information about one of the peoples (about the territory of residence, main occupations, way of life, cultural and religious traditions, clothing, etc.) that became part of Russia in the 17th century. Based on the collected material, prepare an electronic presentation.

Mysterious Ainu tribe

The Ainu are one of the most mysterious and ancient tribes in the world. Indigenous people of Sakhalin, Kamchatka Islands and... Japan. The Ainu are a tribe of skilled warriors and hunters, whose fighting skills and traditions formed the basis of the Japanese samurai caste. Hokaido and all the Northern Islands belong to the Ainu, as the navigator Kolobov wrote in 1646, the first Russian to visit there and meet the amazing Ainu people.

After meeting the Russians in the 17th-18th centuries. some Ainu began to profess Orthodoxy. The Ainu willingly communicated with Russian travelers. The latter, in their memoirs, often paid tribute to the virtues of this people. Thus, the famous navigator Kruzenshtern characterized the Ainu as follows: “Such truly rare qualities, which they owe not to exalted education, but only to nature, aroused in me the feeling that I consider this people the best of all the others that are known to me to this day.” The great writer A.P. Chekhov echoed him: “The Ainu are a meek, modest, good-natured, trusting, sociable, polite people, respecting property; when hunting, brave and... even intelligent.”

Origin of the Ainu

Where the Ainu came from is still not known. Scientists are still arguing about the origins of this mysterious people. It has been proven that the Ainu came to the islands of Japan 13 thousand years ago and founded the Neolithic Jomon culture. It is not known for certain where the Ainu came from, but it is known that in the Jomon era the Ainu inhabited all the Japanese islands - from Ryukyu to Hokkaido, as well as the southern half of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and the southern third of Kamchatka - as evidenced by the results of archaeological excavations and toponymic data.

Europeans who encountered the Ainu in the 17th century were amazed by their appearance. Unlike the usual appearance of people of the Mongoloid race with yellow skin, a Mongolian fold of the eyelid, sparse facial hair, the Ainu had unusually thick hair covering their heads, wore huge beards and mustaches (holding them with special chopsticks while eating), their facial features were similar to European ones. Women also tried to keep up and got tattoos around their mouths that depicted a mustache and goatee. Suffice it to say that when Russian sailors arrived on the Ainu islands in the 17th century, they seriously mistook the Ainu for Russians, they were so similar to us and unlike any other Mongoloid people.

Life and beliefs of the Ainu

Despite living in a temperate climate, in the summer the Ainu wore only loincloths, like the inhabitants of equatorial countries. The Ainu lived in harmony with nature in small settlements, quite distant from each other, in houses resembling a hut made of branches. In everyday life they were unusually modest. The Ainu did not engage in agriculture or cattle breeding. Near the sea they fished, in the depths of the islands they hunted and gathered, and with the arrival of the Japanese they actively robbed or traded.

Ainu mythology is permeated with the idea that not only people, animals, fish, birds, but also plants and, in general, all objects and phenomena of the surrounding world have a soul. The animation of all things was reflected in the religious and mythological ideas of the Ainu.

The practice of sacrifice was widespread among the Ainu until the end of the 19th century. The sacrifices had a connection with the cult of the bear and the eagle. The bear symbolizes the spirit of the hunter. The bears were raised specifically for the ritual. The owner in whose house the ceremony was held tried to invite as many guests as possible. The Ainu believed that the spirit of a warrior resides in the head of a bear, so the main part of the sacrifice was cutting off the head of the animal. After this, the head was placed at the eastern window of the house, which was considered sacred. Those present at the ceremony had to drink the blood of the slain beast from a cup passed around, which symbolized participation in the ritual.

The Ainu refused to be photographed or sketched by researchers. This is explained by the fact that the Ainu believed that photographs and various images of them took away part of the life of the person depicted in the photograph. There are several cases of confiscation by the Ainu of sketches made by researchers studying the Ainu. By our time, this superstition has become obsolete and took place only at the end of the 19th century.

Are the Ainu the ancestors of the samurai?

Around the 3rd millennium BC, Mongoloid tribes arrived on the Japanese islands, who later became the ancestors of the Japanese. The new settlers brought with them the rice crop, which allowed them to feed a large population in a relatively small area. Thus began difficult times in the life of the Ainu. They were forced to move to the north, leaving their ancestral lands to the colonialists. But the Ainu were skilled warriors, fluent with bows and swords, and the Japanese were unable to defeat them for a long time. A very long time, almost 1500 years. The Ainu knew how to wield two swords, and on their right hip they carried two daggers. One of them (cheyki-makiri) served as a knife for committing ritual suicide - hara-kiri.

Perhaps the most curious thing is that the well-known samurai would not have appeared without the Ainu. The Japanese who arrived on the islands settled far away immediately: they mastered the south and literally conquered these lands from the aborigines for two and a half millennia, long and persistently pushing the locals to the north. Even in the Middle Ages, a third of all present-day Japan was still not Japanese, but Ainu. To greatly exaggerate, one can call the original samurai something like the Cossacks. They appeared when the government and Japanese lords decided to settle a paramilitary class on the border with the Ainu: soldiers were often given free land right next to the wild bearded men, with the expectation that these soldiers would protect the new property at the cost of their lives. In general, this is what happened: from this melting pot and eternal hot spot grew what later became the samurai culture. And even more: much of what surprises us so much about them is precisely the heritage of the Ainu, with whom Japanese warriors fought, traded and married: refined archery techniques, the art of sword fighting, the tradition of hara-kiri, attitude to death and service etc.

Ainu and Russians

The Kamchatka Ainu first came into contact with Russian merchants at the end of the 17th century. In 1697, a detachment of the Yakut Cossack Atlasov reached Kamchatka, explored the eastern and western coasts of the peninsula, and reached the southern tip. Vladimir Atlasov erected a memorial cross on the Kanuch River, indicating that the island belonged to Russia, and on the Kamchatka River he founded the Verkhnekamchatsky fort. Representatives of the Ainu ethnic group who lived in the south of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands were designated by the Russians as “Kurilians”, “Kurilians”, “shaggy Kurilians”. At the same time, among them stood out the “near Kuriles” - the Ainu of Kamchatka and the Shumshu Island, the “distant Kurils” - the Ainu of the island of Paramushir and its neighboring islands, and the “whose Kuriles” - the Ainu population of the islands of Urup, Iturup, Kunashir.

The Ainu considered the Russians, who were racially different from their Japanese enemies, as friends. Even the Japanese could not distinguish the Ainu from the Russians because of their external similarity (white skin and Australoid facial features, which are similar to Caucasoid in a number of features). When the Japanese first came into contact with the Russians, they called them the Red Ainu (Ainu with blond hair). Only at the beginning of the 19th century did the Japanese realize that the Russians and the Ainu were two different peoples. However, to the Russians the Ainu were "hairy", "swarthy", "dark-eyed" and "dark-haired". The first Russian researchers described the Ainu as looking like Russian peasants with dark skin or more like gypsies.

The Ainu sided with the Russians during the Russo-Japanese Wars of the 19th century. However, after defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the Russians abandoned them to their fate. Hundreds of Ainu were killed and their families were forcibly transported to Hokkaido by the Japanese. As a result, the Russians failed to recapture the Ainu during World War II. Only a few representatives of the Ainu decided to stay in Russia after the war. More than 90% went to Japan.

Ainu today

Unfortunately, a race that has existed longer than the entire human civilized history has practically disappeared: there are now 25 thousand Ainu, and almost all of them have been assimilated by the Japanese, thereby giving them the highest level of beardedness and belligerence among all other Asians. Nowadays, the Ainu are asking to reconsider the issue with the Kuril Islands, since Japan once appropriated the lands where primitive gatherers and hunters lived. The miraculously surviving families had to hide their true origins. So do Japan and Russia have the right to divide these lands among themselves? Back in the 19th century, local old people said: “Sakhalin is the land of the Ainu, there is no Japanese land on Sakhalin.”

During the 2010 census, about 100 people in Russia attempted to register themselves as Ainu, but the Kamchatka government rejected their claims and recorded them as Kamchadals. In 2011, the head of the Ainu community of Kamchatka sent a letter to the governor of Kamchatka with a request to include the Ainu in the List of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. The request was also rejected.

The ethnic Ainu of the Sakhalin region, Kamchatka and Khabarovsk Territory are not politically organized. In 2012, 205 Ainu were registered in Russia, and they, like the Kuril Kamchadals, are fighting for official recognition. Until the Ainu are recognized, they are noted as people without nationality, like ethnic Russians or Kamchadals. Therefore, in 2012, both the Kuril Ainu and the Kuril Kamchadals were deprived of the rights to hunting and fishing, which the small peoples of the Far North have.

3. Using additional literature and the Internet, write (in a notebook) an essay on the topic “The Peoples of Russia: Our Common History.”

Starting from the 16th century, Russia began to actively expand its territory by annexing and developing new lands. Dozens of tribes and peoples entered into a multinational family called Russia. However, to this day there are different points of view on our multinational composition. Some believe that Russia has become a “prison” for nations. Others see in such cooperation unconditional benefits for all nationalities included in the Russian state. Was the annexation of new lands necessary and logical from the point of view of the historical process? What did it bring to numerous peoples: benefit or misfortune?

To answer these questions, one should turn to historical facts and compare the processes of development of new territories by different countries. The Age of Great Discoveries did not bypass Russia. Of course, we did not discover a new continent, but for Russian pioneers and explorers, all the lands being developed, as well as America for Columbus, were practically unknown, full of mysteries and secrets. Therefore, for us, the exploration of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East is of the same importance as all the Great Geographical Discoveries.

The development of new territories by Russia has become a natural historical process, indicating the development of society, knowledge and technology. In this, historical logic fully corresponds to the spirit of the era. Many active people from different countries at this time went to unknown lands with different goals. Some wanted to achieve wealth, some wanted to increase the power and influence of their homeland, some went on a journey because of the insatiable thirst of the explorer. As a result, new lands appeared on the world map, becoming colonies of several European states, immeasurably increasing their wealth and international influence.

What did the development of Siberia bring to Russia? Can the annexation of the small Siberian peoples be considered a great achievement that influenced the wealth and influence of our state? Most likely, it’s unlikely - Russia already had too many problems to hang the problems of other nations around its neck, as well as to spend effort and money on holding such vast territories. And the tribute collected from the Siberians was so insignificant that there was no need to talk about any fabulous wealth. However, this could only seem so at first glance. The development of Siberia and the Far East turned out to be long-term investments, and today Russia has the richest reserves of natural resources in this region.

Unlike the European colonization process, Russian expansion was predominantly peaceful. The peoples annexed to Russia were not enslaved or exterminated. They often retained their way of life, customs and beliefs. Of course, history knows cases of cruelty and deception of native tribes, and even forced Christianization. But all this was not widespread. And the Russian people themselves sometimes suffered much greater hardships and cruelties from their own state. Suffice it to recall the persecution of Old Believers. In addition, many peoples joined Russia absolutely voluntarily, seeking protection from foreign aggression: for example, the Caucasian peoples of Kakhetians, Imeretians, Ingush, Ossetians, Kumyks, Abkhazians, Kabardins, etc. Numerous peoples of Siberia and the Far East were annexed to Russia as a result of the development of these territories by Russian pioneers.

What did the peoples annexed to Russia receive? In my opinion, they gained a lot without losing almost anything. Russia at that time was a fairly developed state and Russian merchants and settlers developed trade with the local population, shared new technologies of agriculture and cattle breeding, transferred experience in housing construction, carried out missionary and educational activities, etc. In fact, the annexed peoples received a powerful incentive for development, the protection of a strong state, improved their well-being, and enriched their culture. In turn, the Russians, getting acquainted with peoples new to them, also adopted their experience, skills and customs. Of course, along with the “benefits of civilization,” the Russians also brought negative experiences. For example, the Siberian peoples for the first time experienced the effects of alcoholic beverages, the greed and treachery of some Russians, Cossack cruelty and sloppiness. Yes, they were introduced to all this for the first time, but Russian people have to live with this “negative experience” all their lives.

One way or another, enriching each other, the peoples of Russia have turned into one united, strong family. Each nation retained its originality, but at the same time took from others something it needed for itself. Nobody forces peoples to consider themselves Russians, but they live in Russia and feel like Russians. And everyone considers each other their own. Dostoevsky also emphasized such qualities of the Russian person as receptivity to the culture of other peoples, acceptance and “apology” of other ideals, tolerance for other people’s customs, morals, and faith. Tolerance as an original quality of the Russian nation is expressed in the very spirit of Russian statehood as a multinational state that has incorporated various ideological and religious confessions.

Memorizing new words

• Chum- a cone-shaped tent, a tent among Siberian nomadic tribes, covered with skins or bark.
• Shaman- minister of a pagan religious cult among the peoples of Siberia.
• Yurt- a portable frame dwelling with a felt covering among nomads.

Enkelman Maxim, 4"B"

During this project, the main stages of development of the territories of the eastern part of the Eurasian continent were examined: from Ermak’s first campaign beyond the Urals to the massive movement of industry and population to Siberia after the start of the Great Patriotic War.

The project also highlights the factors that prevented the development of eastern Eurasia by the Russian Cossacks and the factors that forced courageous and courageous Russian people to go to the north and east of Asia, explore new territories and put their names on the map of Russia.

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PROJECT

"Development of Russian territories"

GBOU secondary school No. 1386

Maxim Enkelman

4 "B" class

Classroom teacher:

Zakharyan T.R.

annotation

Our country is the largest country in the world. At the same time, the population density of Russia is significantly less than in other countries, and only Canada, second in size only to our homeland, is even less populated.

The territory of Russia has been developed for centuries at the cost of many lives of both Russian and Soviet people. At the same time, even now about half of the entire territory of Russia remains undeveloped, despite the unprecedented progress of mankind, the development of transport and other technologies that provide truly limitless opportunities for travelers.

During this project, the main stages of development of the territories of the eastern part of the Eurasian continent were examined: from Ermak’s first campaign beyond the Urals to the massive movement of industry and population to Siberia after the start of the Great Patriotic War.

The project also highlights the factors that prevented the development of eastern Eurasia by the Russian Cossacks and the factors that forced courageous and courageous Russian people to go to the north and east of Asia, explore new territories and put their names on the map of Russia.

Main part

Introduction

Russia is the largest country on Earth. In area it is significantly larger than Australia and almost equal to South America. Russia occupies a third of the giant continent of Eurasia. However, in two countries located in Asia - China and India - the population is 10 times larger than in Russia, and the area is much smaller.

There is another example: Canada. In size it is second only to Russia, while its inhabitants are almost 10 times smaller.

This sharp discrepancy between the size of the country and its population is explained by its geographical location and natural conditions. The climate in a large part of Russia and Canada is very harsh and unfavorable for human life.

Despite this, Russian people for many centuries developed these vast territories and sought to go where no man had gone before. But even at the moment, about half of the entire territory of Russia remains undeveloped, although modern vehicles and technologies give humanity truly enormous opportunities in studying the Earth.

In the course of this project, we will consider the main stages of the development of Russian territory, the factors that hindered its development, as well as the factors that favored this development.

“Where did the Russian land come from?”

The territory that is now part of the Russian Federation was inhabited by people approximately 10-12 thousand years ago. The lands located between the Volga and Oka began to be developed by the Slavs back in the 8th century, although for a long time they remained the far northeastern periphery of Kievan Rus. After the Mongol-Tatar conquests of the 13th century, a new center of Russian lands was formed in this area, headed by Moscow. It is around this center that the territorial expansion of the Russian state begins.

The period from the end of the 15th to the half of the 17th century is usually called the era of great geographical discoveries. The boom of discoveries has covered almost all countries. Including Russia. But if the Europeans had to overcome the oceans to discover new lands, then for the Russian discoverers the unexplored territories lay almost nearby: beyond the Ural ridge. But unlike the oceans, which could be crossed quite quickly on sea vessels, covering distances on land was much more difficult.

The initial directions for the development of Russian territories were the north and northeast. In 1581, the first Russian detachment crossed the Ural ridge, and in 1639 the Russians appeared on the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

Development of the Urals

Russian merchants began to penetrate the other side of the Ural Mountains already in the 12th century. They conducted active trade with local tribes: “Yugra” and “Samoyad”. However, until the middle of the 16th century, this matter was difficult and dangerous. On the way from Moscow to Yugra Land lay the Kazan and Astrakhan Tatar kingdoms, hostile to the Russian state.

Only when Ivan the Terrible managed to conquer Kazan and Astrakhan did the path beyond the Urals open, and the Volga and Kama became completely Russian rivers.

In the 17th century The development of the Urals continued. However, the advance of the Russian population to the northern regions of the Urals was hampered by unfavorable conditions for the development of agriculture. In the southern regions of the Urals, the Russians met resistance from the Bashkir population.

Therefore, the main areas of development are the undeveloped or poorly developed fertile lands of the Middle Urals. The local agricultural population treated Russian peasants kindly and together with them developed new arable land.

In the second half of the 17th century. the southern border of Russian lands advanced to the Iset and Miass rivers. At the end of the 17th century. the total population in the Urals was at least 200 thousand people. The main routes of migration were rivers. Population growth was fastest in areas rich in natural resources. Despite repeated devastation from Bashkir raids, the population of the Ural cities grew, including due to exiles, and due to the influx of non-Russian population: Komi-Zyryans, Karelians, Mari, Tatars, Lithuanians, as well as captured Poles and Mansi who switched to Russian service (Vogulov).

Development of Western Siberia

In the middle of the 16th century, the merchants the Stroganov brothers, to whom Tsar Ivan the Terrible transferred the eastern territories in the Perm region to rule, began to think about moving further east in developing the lands. But for this they needed a brave and skillful leader, who became the Cossack ataman Ermak, who had served in the service of the Stroganov merchants for several years.

Little is known about the origins of this legendary man. In the chronicles there are different versions of his name: Ermak, Ermolai, German, Ermil, Vasily, Timofey, Eremey.

In 1581, Ermak, at the head of an army of 500 people, crossed the Ural ridge and on October 26 took the city of Isker, the capital of the Siberian kingdom. But such an army could not hold back the Tatar raids for long and in 1584 it surrendered, and the entire army of Ermak was killed. Ermak himself died by drowning during the battle in the Irtysh.

But in 1587, reinforcements arrived from Moscow, and the capital Isker was again taken by the Russians, and several cities with fortified garrisons were built in its vicinity. This is how Tobolsk, Tara and other cities appeared on the map.

Numerous pioneers rushed along the path opened by Ermak, attracted by the richest spaces of Siberia. By the middle of the 17th century, they crossed all of Northeast Asia and reached the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

In 1604, the city of Tomsk was founded on the Ob River, and in 1610 travelers reached the mouth of the Yenisei. In 1618, Russian Cossacks founded a fortified fortress at the mouth of the Yenisei River, which later became the city of Yenisei.

Development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East

Local residents on the Yenisei River told the Russian Cossacks that further to the east there was a deep Lena River, on the banks of which sables and other animals with valuable fur were found.

A small group of 10 people went in search of this river. It was headed by the Cossack Vasily Bugor. Despite the fact that the journey was long and grueling, Vasily and his comrades reached the Lena, and in 1632 the city of Yakutsk was built on its banks. Returning to Yeniseisk, Vasily Bugor spoke about the riches of the Lena, and merchants, industrialists, and trappers flocked to the great river. Russian villages began to appear on its banks one after another.

It was from the banks of the Lena that the development of Siberia began. Having learned from local residents (Yakuts) about a new rich region in the south, the Yakut governor Pyotr Golovin equipped an expedition to search for it. The detachment consisted of almost 150 people, armed with rifles and even a cannon. Heavy boats were built for the trip. On July 15, 1643, a detachment led by Cossack Vasily Poyarkov set off on their journey.

Poyarkov's boats first sailed along the Lena, and then south along the Aldan River. Then they sailed for 10 days along the Uchur River until they found themselves at the mouth of the Gonam River. Then winter came and the boats froze in the ice. Poyarkov's detachment dragged the boats to the Branta River and, waiting for spring, sailed further along the Zeya River until they reached the great Amur River, which they discovered in the summer of 1644. The Cossacks reached the mouth of the Amur only in the fall. Only 60 people remained in the expedition. Poyarkov did not dare to sail by boat on the sea, so an awkward and slow-moving ship was built, on which in the spring of 1645 the detachment went out into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Poyarkov returned with the remaining 20 Cossacks to Yakutsk on June 12, 1646. Having neither a map nor a compass, through the impassable taiga and unknown rivers, enduring poverty and deprivation, the Cossacks made many discoveries. Subsequently, Vasily Poyarkov compiled a detailed description of the Amur region and handed over to the Yakut governor a project for its development, which became a new significant milestone in the history of geographical discoveries.

The next expedition to the Amur from Yakutsk was made by Erofey Pavlovich Khabarov, who in the summer of 1649, together with 80 Cossacks, set off along the Lena River. But Khabarov was met first by unfriendly Daurs, and then by hostile Achans, who, with the support of the Manchurian army, forced Khabarov to return to Yakutsk.

In 1648, Semyon Dezhnev set out on an expedition from the Kalyma River to the ocean on seven ships. Only three ships out of seven sailed to the most northeastern point of the continent, now called Cape Dezhnev, and sailed south through the strait separating Asia from America. Through storms and storms, Dezhnev's ships were carried along the Pacific Ocean almost to the Kamchatka Peninsula and thrown ashore beyond the Anadyr River. This is how the Chukotka Peninsula was discovered.

Another great discovery was the discovery of Alaska by the Russian navigator of Danish origin Vitus Bering in 1741. In the same 18th century there were many discoveries in the coastal areas of the Arctic Ocean.

New discoveries and developments

The agricultural development of Siberia began in the 19th century. In 1850, the territories of the Amur and Primorye regions were annexed to the Russian Empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century (in 1916), the Trans-Siberian Railway was built. This allowed the Asian part of Russia to develop and settle even faster, because the route from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok could be covered in weeks, and many settlements were built along the train route.

This led to an even greater influx of population into the eastern regions of the country. In the western direction, the spread of Russians occurred on a smaller scale, since these territories were already densely populated.

In the 1920-1930s, the coal industry developed in Siberia. Construction and new factories require new workers. By 1939, the proportion of Siberia's urban population had grown significantly.

During the Great Patriotic War, the population of large cities in Siberia grew sharply due to the evacuation of industry and people from the European part of the USSR.

Conclusion

Once upon a time, the capital of the Russian state was Kyiv, then our country began to expand both to the north and to the south. But the greatest discoveries and conquests of lands were made, of course, in the direction of the eastern coast of Eurasia.

However, the development of the territory of the eastern part of our continent came at the cost of many lives of both Russian Cossacks and Soviet people.

Vast territories of Russia are located in the domains of permafrost, where the lowest temperatures are recorded, where there are the longest winters and the most persistent cold in the entire Northern Hemisphere. In the village of Oymyakon (Yakutia), a temperature of -71 degrees Celsius was recorded in 1926. It gets colder only in Antarctica (in 1983 a temperature of almost -90 degrees Celsius was recorded there).

In addition, in the territories that the Russian people developed, there lived both isolated tribes and united peoples (Tatars, Bashkirs, Daurs, Achans, Manchus and others).

These factors (huge territory, harsh climate and hostile natives)greatly hampered the development of Russian lands.

At the same time, the territory of Russia has always been very rich in various natural resources. In the old days, salt, furs, and commercial fish were valued. Currently – oil and natural gas. And gold and diamonds, with which the Russian land has always been very rich, have always been valued.

The presence of such resources forced and is now forcing people to develop the territory of Russia, despite its harsh climate.

But in addition to the richest resources, Russian people were driven by the desire to learn the unknown, to leave their names in the history of our great country for centuries, as well as by the very beautiful Russian nature.

List of resources used

1. Balandin, R.K. I'm exploring the world. Geography of Russia: children. encycl. / R.K. Balandin - M.: AST: Astrel: Transitbook, 2006 - 398 p.
2. Markin, V.A. I'm exploring the world. Geography: children. encycl. / V.A. Markin – M.: AST, 1995 – 560 p.
3. Petrova, N.N. Geography of Russia. Complete encyclopedia / N.N. Petrova – M.: Eksmo, 2014 – 256 p.
4. Children's encyclopedia. Russian names on the world map / No. 5 – 2010 / Ed. V.Polyakov – M., 2010 – 56 p.
5. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia [Electronic resource]. -http://wikipedia.org

Over the centuries, the Russian state has been formed not only by repelling external military threats and participating in wars and conflicts, but also by developing new lands and involving the peoples living on their territories into a single all-Russian socio-political space.

These processes have the starting point of their development precisely at the time when a state entity appeared in the east of the European continent - Ancient Rus', which declared its rights to resolve the most important issues of international politics, and based state building on the integration of various ethno-confessional communities inhabiting the territorial space included into its composition.

For centuries, the main dominant feature of the development of Russian statehood was, therefore, the practice of “gathering lands.” This determined the specifics of the formation of Russian statehood, which consisted in its multinational character.

At the same time, the peoples and tribes that were part of Ancient Rus' retained not only their identity, but also autonomy in organizing their life activities. This is the fundamental difference between the domestic practice of annexing new territories from the European one, which was carried out through conquest and the forcible imposition of one’s ethnocultural (primarily religious) principles and, thus, the subjugation of conquered peoples or their extermination.

Another important feature of the domestic practice of developing new lands was the predominantly voluntary nature of joining Rus' - Russia. With the exception of certain regions (state entities formed on the basis of the remnants of the Golden Horde: the Kazan, Astrakhan, Nogai and Crimean khanates), most of the ethno-territorial entities annexed to Russia were part of Russia voluntarily or under the terms of treaties with states with which Russia waged wars, as compensation for military expenses1.

This predetermined the strength of the national-state structure of Russia. While the great colonial powers - Belgium, Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, France - ultimately lost their colonial status and returned to the borders of the metropolises. Russia was steadily expanding in territory.

Finally, the third most important feature of Russia’s territorial expansion was that it was initially carried out not under the auspices of the state, but by volunteers called explorers.

Due to a number of circumstances, the processes of developing new lands initially took place in the north and northeast of Ancient Rus'. This was due to the fact that the southern Russian principalities at that time repelled the raids of nomads, and could not participate in territorial expansion to the fullest. In the north of the country, during this period (XI - XII centuries) the situation was less tense, since the warlike tribes of the Norman Vikings, living in adjacent territories, were actively developing the coasts of Western Europe (England and France).

This predetermined that the initiator of the development of new lands in Ancient Rus' was the Principality of Novgorod, whose elite was distinguished by increased entrepreneurship, and the population - by passion2.

Directly, the very development of new territories began from the Trans-Urals - Northwestern Siberia or, according to sources of that time, the Yugra land. At the forefront of the development of new territories were detachments of Novgorod ukshuiniks, who were attracted by this territory with furs and other riches of the region; the pioneers hunted here, extracted furs, and also exchanged with the local population: they exchanged furs for iron products. Novgorod military detachments were often equipped for campaigns in the Ugra land, collecting tribute (mainly furs) from local tribes, since this process did not always occur without resistance from its indigenous inhabitants.

Thus, already at that time the entire Russian north, the Subpolar Urals and the lower reaches of the Ob were considered the Novgorod fiefdom, and the local peoples were formally considered Novgorod vassals.

The civil strife of the Russian principalities, which manifested itself most acutely in the second half of the 12th century, followed by their defeat and subordination to the Golden Horde, suspended the processes of territorial expansion for almost two centuries. But, as soon as Rus' finally freed itself from the Mongol-Tatar yoke in the second half of the 15th century, the processes of development of new territories and their annexation to the growing Moscow Principality resumed.

Apparently, it was the desire to establish control over the untold riches of the northern territories that was the economic background for the military seizure of Novgorod by Moscow. After its conquest by Ivan III in 1477, not only the entire North, but also the so-called Ugra land went to the Moscow Principality. And already during the reign of Ivan III, expeditions to the Urals and further to the east began to be organized.

The first such expedition was the campaign of a detachment led by Prince Fyodor Kurbsky, who in the spring of 1483 (almost 100 years before Ermak) crossed the Stone Belt - the Ural Mountains and conquered the Pelym Principality, one of the largest Khanty-Mansi tribal associations in the Tavda basin. Having walked further to Tobol, Kurbsky found himself in the “Siberian Land” - that was the name then of a small territory in the lower reaches of Tobol, where the Ugric tribe “Sypyr” had long lived3. From here the Russian army marched along the Irtysh to the middle Ob, where the Ugric princes successfully “fought”. Having collected a large yasak, the Moscow detachment turned back, and on October 1, 1483, Kurbsky’s squad returned to their homeland, having covered about 4.5 thousand kilometers during the campaign.

The results of the campaign were the recognition in 1484 by the princes of Western Siberia of dependence on the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the annual payment of tribute. Therefore, starting from Ivan III, the titles of the Grand Dukes of Moscow (later transferred to the royal title) included the words “Grand Duke of Yugorsk, Prince of Udorsky, Obdorsky and Kondinsky.

16 years later, in the winter of 1499-1500, a detachment of four thousand, led by princes Semyon Kurbsky and Peter Ushaty, made a second trip to the lower reaches of the Ob. This campaign led to the fact that the Ugric princes once again recognized themselves as vassals of the Russian sovereign and pledged to pay tribute to the Moscow principality, which they themselves collected from the population subject to them.

Thus, already in the second half of the 15th – early 16th centuries, attempts were made to expand the emerging Russian state to the east – to Siberia. However, the absence of Russian cities and fortresses, permanent representatives of the tsarist administration and the Russian population in this territory made their dependence on Russia weak.

In reality, the discovery of Siberia and its annexation to Russia began after the destruction of the Kazan Khanate. Its annexation to Rus' in the middle of the 16th century opened up a shorter and faster route to Siberia: through the Kama and its tributaries. Now not only the northern route through the Trans-Urals, but also the Volga region has become the main direction of Russia’s advance to the Urals and further to Siberia.

To solve this problem, Ivan the Terrible, due to the Livonian War, not being able to send troops to this region, used the potential, on the one hand, of the emerging entrepreneurial class - merchants-industrialists, and on the other - the Cossack freemen, who had already established themselves by that time in protection of state borders.

In accordance with this, in 1558, the lands in the Urals in the Kama basin were farmed out to the industrialists Stroganovs (whose ancestors had traded in these areas since the time of the Novgorod Republic). The king gave them the broadest powers. They had the right to collect yasak (tribute), extract minerals, and build fortresses. To protect their territories and industries, the Stroganovs also had the right to create armed formations.

It should be noted that by this time the situation in the region had changed radically. This was due to the fact that power in the Siberian principalities was seized by Khan Kuchum, the son of one of the last khans of the Golden Horde, Murtaza. Relying on his relative, the Bukhara khan Abdullah Khan II and using an army consisting of Uzbek, Nogai, and Kazakh detachments, Kuchum in 1563 overthrew and killed the Siberian khan Ediger and became the sovereign khan over all the lands along the Irtysh and Tobol. The very population of the Siberian Khanate, which was based on the Tatars and their subordinate Mansi and Khanty, perceived Kuchum as a usurper.

After seizing power in the Siberian Khanate, Kuchum initially continued to pay yasak and even sent his ambassador to Moscow with 1000 sables in 1571. But when his wars with local competitors ended, he organized several campaigns into the Stroganovs’ possessions.

The presence of a source of threat forced industrialists to intensify the search for volunteers capable of not only resisting the raids of Kuchum’s troops, but also defeating him on his territory - in the Siberian Khanate. Such volunteers were found in the Volga-Yaik Cossacks, who were hiding in the Urals from the tsar’s wrath for systematically robbing merchant ships on the Volga. The squad of free hunters - Cossacks - was led by the most authoritative participant among them in the Livonian Don War (according to other sources - Yaitsky) Cossack Ermak Timofeevich Alenin - Ermak4.

In 1582, Ermak formed a squad of 600 Cossacks and 300 warriors allocated by the Stroganovs for a campaign in Siberia, and already in the summer of the same year his famous campaign was launched, which marked the beginning of the annexation of this rich region to Russia.

For almost 100 days, the Cossacks traveled along the rivers of the Urals and Siberia to Kuchum’s possessions. In October the first battles with his troops took place. Despite the superiority in numbers, Kuchum's troops were defeated, and in November of the same year, Ermak took the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Isker. This was largely facilitated by the fact that the free Cossacks had long-term wars with nomads in the “wild field” and they learned to defeat them, despite their numerical superiority.

An important reason for the success of Ermak’s expedition was also the internal fragility of the Siberian Khanate. Military failures led to the resumption of internecine struggle among the Tatar nobility. The power of Kuchum was no longer recognized by many local Mansi and Khanty princes and elders. Some of them began to help Ermak with food.

Nothing prevented Ermak from establishing his own order in Siberia... Instead, the Cossacks, having become the government, began to rule in the name of the tsar, brought the local population to swear an oath in the sovereign’s name and imposed a state tax on them - yasak5. With the onset of spring 1583, the Cossack circle sent messengers to Moscow with the news of the conquest of the Siberian Khanate. And thus, it was actually presented to Ivan the Terrible, who appreciated this gift and sent detachments of archers of up to 300 people under the command of governors S. Bolkhovsky and I. Glukhov to help Ermak.

For two years, Ermak’s expedition established Russian jurisdiction in the Ob left bank of Siberia. The pioneers, as almost always happens in history, paid with their lives. But the Russian claims to Siberia were first outlined precisely by the warriors of Ataman Ermak. Other conquerors came after them. Soon enough, all of Western Siberia “almost voluntarily” became a vassal, and then administratively dependent on Moscow.

The death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584, and then the death of Ermak in 1585, stopped expansion to the East for some time, but by the end of the 16th century, the basins of the Ob and Taz rivers were completely developed by merchant-industrialists, who built a number of fortifications here, which later became fishing and shopping centers. Thus, in 1586, Tyumen was founded - the first Russian city in Siberia; in 1587 - Tobolsk; in 1594 - Surgut; in 1595 - Obdorsk (since 1933 - Salekhard). In 1601, Mangazeya became the main administrative center of the Urals, and for a long time served as a transit point for further advancement to the east.

The 17th century is rightly called the golden age of Russian volunteer pioneers in the development of Siberia and the Far East. This process was started by the discoverer of the Lena River, the legendary Cossack personality Demid Safonov, nicknamed Pyanda. This man made an unprecedented trek of thousands of miles through completely wild places in terms of his determination. In 1620, with a detachment of 40 people, he set out from Mangazeya and climbed the Yenisei from Turukhansk to Nizhnyaya Tunguska. In 3.5 years, Pyanda sailed along the rivers about 8 thousand km, found portages from the Lower Tunguska to the Lena and from the Lena to the Angara and met two new peoples for the Russians - the Yakuts and Buryats.

The founder of a number of Siberian cities (Yakutsk, Chita, Nerchinsk, etc.) Pyotr Beketov made a significant contribution to the development of Eastern Siberia. Arriving in Siberia voluntarily, he asked to go to the Yenisei fort, where in 1627 he was appointed rifle centurion.

In 1628 - 1629 he took part in campaigns up the Angara. And in 1632, P. Beketov founded the Lensky fort, from which Yakutsk originates, and within two years he swore an oath of allegiance to Russia to the inhabitants of almost all of central Yakutia.

Yakutsk, founded by P. Beketov, subsequently became one of the main starting points for Russian explorers. It was from here, in particular, that the expedition began in the spring of 1639 under the leadership of the Tomsk Cossack Ivan Moskvitin, exploring the lower reaches of the Lena River and the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The expedition consisted of only 39 people. First they walked up the Mae River and its tributary Nudym, and then went deeper into the mountains. In the fall of 1639, the Cossacks reached the shore of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. On Ulye, where the Lamuts (Evens), related to the Evenks, lived, I. Moskvitin set up a winter hut, which became the first known Russian settlement on the Pacific coast. Here, at the mouth of the Ulya River, I. Moskvitin built two ships, from which the history of the Russian Pacific Fleet actually began.

In general, the results of the campaign were the discovery and exploration of the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk for 1300 km, the Udskaya Bay, Sakhalin Island and the Sakhalin Bay, as well as the mouth of the Amur and the Amur Estuary.

The expedition turned out to be so successful that already in July 1643, 4 years after I. Moskvitin’s campaign, the first Yakut governor P. Golovin equipped a detachment of 133 Cossacks under the command of the explorer Vasily Danilovich Poyarkov for further exploration of the Amur region. In the same year, the expedition climbed the Aldan and its tributaries, to the portage to the tributaries of the Zeya. After wintering on its banks in May 1644, the detachment descended to the Amur to its mouth, and in early September to the mouth of the Ulya River.

Over the 3 years of this expedition, V. Poyarkov covered about 8 thousand km, collecting valuable information about the peoples living along the Amur River, as well as about the island of Sakhalin. Only in the summer of 1646 did the expedition return to Yakutsk, having lost two-thirds of its members during the campaign. This was the price that explorers paid for the first detailed information about the Amur region.

News of the discovery of the Amur River extremely interested another famous Russian explorer, Erofei Pavlovich Khabarov, a man of extraordinary destiny, energy and desire to explore new lands.

Born in the European part of the country near Veliky Ustyug, E.P. Khabarov in his youth served in the Khetsky winter quarters in Taimyr. Having then moved to the upper reaches of the Lena, from 1632 he was engaged in buying furs. In 1639 he discovered the Ust-Kutskoe salt deposit6, which subsequently, along with the Irkutsk Usolie, supplied the entire Eastern Siberia with salt. At the same time, he was engaged in sable and fishing, as well as arable farming, becoming one of the largest grain merchants in the Yakutsk district7. In addition to the “commercial vein” at this time, which the biographers of E.P. Khabarov is called the Lena period, according to F. Safonov, Erofey Pavlovich, “looking for profit for the sovereigns” and “profit for himself,” collected information about the Lena basin, the possibilities and time of sailing along the Lena and rowing to the mouth, “what kind of people are on those rivers live,” tried to obtain and double-check data about the various peoples of this basin8.

The income received by E.P. Khabarov, from his crafts and trade in grain, could not leave indifferent the Siberian officials of that time in the person of the Yakut governors P. Golovin and M. Glebov. First, they borrowed 3,000 pounds of grain from him, then they “signed off” his salt production to the treasury without any remuneration. In 1643, for refusing to “lend money” to the voivodeship treasury, all his possessions were illegally taken away from him, and he was thrown into a Yakut prison, where he spent 2.5 years, apparently because he put the interests of the state above personal ones, and especially the needs of officials.

Released from prison in 1645, E.P. For several years, Khabarov collected information about the results of expeditions to the Amur. In 1649 E.P. Khabarov recruited 70 volunteers at his own expense and, having received permission from the new governor of Yakutsk D.A. Franzbekov (Fahrensbach), went on his famous campaign to Dauria.

Unlike V. Poyarkov, E. Khabarov chose a different route. Leaving Yakutsk in the fall of 1649, he climbed up the Lena to the mouth of the Olekma River and reached its tributary, the Tugir River. From the upper reaches of the Tugir, the Cossacks crossed the watershed and descended into the valley of the Urka River. Soon, in February 1650, they were on the Amur.

Being amazed by the untold riches that opened before him, in one of his reports to the Yakut governor he wrote: “and along those rivers live many Tungus, and down the glorious great Amur River live Daurian people, arable and livestock meadows, and in that great Amur River there are fish - Kaluga, sturgeon, and all kinds of fish are plentiful against the Volga, and in the mountains and uluses there are great meadows and arable lands, and the forests along that great Amur River are dark, large, there are a lot of sables and all kinds of animals... And in the land you can see gold and silver”9.

In September 1651, on the left bank of the Amur, in the area of ​​Lake Bolon, Khabarovsk residents built a small fortress and called it Ochansky town. To establish Russia’s position in the Amur region, E. Khabarov needed help. For this purpose, nobleman D. Zinoviev was sent from Moscow to the Amur, who, without understanding the situation, removed Khabarov from his post and took him under escort to the capital. Thus, once again the activities of the brave explorer were influenced by bureaucratic arbitrariness. And although he was later acquitted, nevertheless, he was no longer allowed onto the Amur.

The most important contribution to the development of the Far Eastern territories was made by the traveler who was the first to walk along the sea coast of the modern Magadan region, Mikhail Vasilyevich Stadukhin. He is also one of the discoverers of the Kolyma River. Being a merchant by birth, he entered the Cossack service and served for 10 years on the banks of the Yenisei, then on the Lena.

In the winter of 1641, at the head of a detachment of volunteers, having crossed the northern part of the Suntar-Khayata ridge, he ended up in the Indigirka basin. In the summer of 1643, he was the first to reach the delta of the “big Kovami River” (Kolyma) by sea and founded a fort at its mouth, called Nizhnekolymsky. Along the Kolyma, M. Stadukhin climbed to its middle course (having discovered the eastern outskirts of the Kolyma Lowland), set up the first Russian winter hut on the shore by the fall, and in the spring of 1644 - the second, in the lower reaches of the river, where the Yukaghirs lived. Founded by the explorer, Nizhnekolymsk became the starting point for further great geographical discoveries in Northeast Asia.

In the fall of 1645, M. Stadukhin returned to the Lena, but in 1648 he returned to Kolyma again. In 1649, he sailed east from Kolyma, and in 1650, with a detachment, he went overland to the Anadyr River to the Anadyr winter quarters founded by the discoverer of the Bering Strait, Semyon Dezhnev. There he spent the winter, and in February 1651 he set off from Anadyr to the Penzhina River and descended along it to the Okhotsk coast. Here the Cossacks built ships and explored the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and in the fall of the same year they founded a winter quarters at the mouth of the Gizhiga River. In the summer of 1652, M. Stadukhin and his companions set off on a journey to the west along the Okhotsk coast, along the way they built the Yamskoye winter hut, and later a fort on the Tauy River10. In the summer of 1657, M. Stadukhin’s expedition reached the mouth of the Okhota River, and in 1659, through Oymyakon and Aldan, it returned to Yakutsk, completing a giant circular route through Northeast Asia.

In total, in 12 years, M. Stadukhin walked over 13 thousand kilometers - more than any other explorer of the 17th century. The total length of the northern shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk that he discovered was at least 1,500 kilometers.

Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev, a Cossack ataman, explorer, traveler, sailor, explorer of Northern and Eastern Siberia, was also on M. Stadukhin’s expedition. Service S.I. Dezhnev began in Tobolsk as an ordinary Cossack. In 1638 he was sent as part of the detachment of P.I. Beketov to the Yakutsk prison. He was a participant in the first campaigns in the Far Asian North. Later he served on the Kolyma River.

In 1648, S. Dezhnev undertook a voyage along the coast of Chukotka and for the first time in the world passed the Icy and Anadyr Seas (the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea) from the mouth of the Kolyma to the northern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. This campaign proved the existence of a strait separating the Asian continent from the American one.

The following year, 1649, he explored and mapped the banks of the Anadyr River, and in the period from 1659 to 1669, he made trips along the Anyui River, the lower reaches of the Lena and Olenek rivers, and along the Vilyuyu River. All this testified to the great contribution of S. Dezhnev to the history of the development of the Far East.

But at the same time, his most significant discovery was the strait separating Eurasia from America. The paradox of history is that it was his most significant discovery that remained little known for a long time.

As a result, this strait discovered by him by J. Cook, who did not know about the feat of S. Dezhnev, received the name of V. Bering, who visited these places almost a century later than him and did not pass through the strait from the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic Ocean, but only approached him.

S. Dezhnev's geographical merits were appreciated only in the 19th century, when in 1898, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the campaign from Kolyma to Anadyr, at the proposal of the Russian Geographical Society, the extreme eastern point of Eurasia was named after him - the name of the man who proved that the Far East is an integral part of our country.

One of the last explorations of Siberia and the Far East in the 17th century was the expedition of the Cossack Pentecostal Vladimir Vasilyevich Atlasov to Kamchatka in 1697. And, although he was not the discoverer of Kamchatka, he was the first to walk almost the entire peninsula from north to south and from west to east. V. Atlasov's expedition to explore Kamchatka actually completed the so-called volunteer stage of the development of new lands in Russia.

The significance of this stage in the history of Russia was perhaps most imaginatively expressed by one of the last classics of Russian literature, V.G. Rasputin, in the words “After the overthrow of the Tatar yoke and before Peter the Great, there was nothing more enormous and important, more happy and historical in the fate of Russia than the annexation of Siberia, in the vastness of which old Rus' could have been laid down several times.”

It is noteworthy that around the same time, active colonization of African and American lands by Spain, Portugal and England was underway. But it was carried out under the auspices of the leadership and governments of these countries, that is, in essence it was of an administrative nature.

In Siberia and the Far East, everything was exactly the opposite. At first, these lands were discovered and developed by volunteers, who flocked here mainly for furs, valuable metals and simply for a better life. And the administration followed them. In fact, Siberia and the Far East fell to the Russian state thanks to the dedication and energy of volunteer pioneers.

Another fundamental difference between the development of Siberia and the Far East from European colonization was the attitude towards the population living in the annexed territories. Of course, development was not always of an exploratory nature. There were also armed clashes, especially in the south of Siberia11, but in general the development of the territories was not of a destructive nature, as was the case during the colonization of the North American continent by the British and French, and then by the Americans themselves.

This was largely due to the fact that from the very beginning of Russian expansion into Siberia, the tsarist government not only supported the pioneers, but also carefully ensured that they did not offend the native population. So, for example, in one of the Decrees of Alexei Mikhailovich, a direct order was given to the governors: “The governors were ordered to treat the yasaks kindly, and not with bondage or cruelty”12.

All this allows us to talk about the development or annexation of Siberia, and not its conquest.

From the beginning of the 18th century, not only the modernization of Russia began, the result of which was its transformation into a leading state in the world community, but also the further development of new lands, which expanded the expanses of Russia all the way to Alaska and California. Russia was firmly established on both sides of the Pacific Ocean in the northeast, which allowed already in the second half of M.V. Lomonosov to utter a historical phrase that has accompanied the development of Russian statehood to this day: “the power of Russia will increase with the riches of Siberia and the Arctic Ocean.”

But this was already another stage of “gathering lands”; it was no longer volunteer Cossacks, industrialists-merchants and other “willing” people who were exploring new lands, but expeditions organized under the auspices of the state with subsequent approval in the annexed territories of the Russian administration.

Bocharnikov Igor Valentinovich

Description:

Formation of the territory of Russia

How did the development of new lands begin?

The territory of Russia historically began to take shape due to the expansion of the Moscow principality: first by annexing other Russian principalities, and then annexing lands inhabited by other peoples or very sparsely populated. The annexation of new lands to the Moscow Principality, and subsequently to the Russian state, entailed their settlement by Russians, the construction of new cities - fortified centers, and the organization of the collection of tribute from the local population.

For almost six centuries - from the 14th to the 20th - the history of Russia consisted of a constant expansion of its territory. According to the famous Russian historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky, the history of Russia is the history of a country that is being colonized.

Only the directions and forms of colonization changed. Since the 12th century. First, the Novgorodians, and then the Muscovites, actively explored the north of European Russia, mixing with the local Finno-Ugric tribes, who, gradually adopting the Russian language and the more developed culture of the settlers, became Slavic and dissolved among them. On the other hand, the Russians also learned from the indigenous peoples the skills of environmental management, the ability to survive in the harsh conditions of the North.

On the coast of the White Sea, a specific group of Russian people, the Pomors, gradually formed, engaged in fishing, hunting sea animals and making long sea crossings. The Pomors were the first explorers of the seas of the Arctic Ocean (which they called the Icy Sea), they discovered Spitsbergen (Grumant) and many other islands.

How did the annexation of the eastern territories take place?

In the 16th century, after the annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Russia ceased to be an almost purely Russian and Orthodox state: it included numerous peoples professing Islam. The annexation of both khanates allowed Russia to rapidly expand eastward.

In 1581, the famous campaign of Ermak began, and already in 1639, the Russian detachment of Ivan Moskvitin reached the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. A huge territory was covered by Russian explorers and assigned to Russia in just 58 years!

The Siberian peoples paid tribute (yasak) to the Russian government in furs, which constituted one of the main Russian exports and sources of income for the treasury. Therefore, first of all, explorers sought to gain a foothold in the forest zone. The development of forest-steppe and steppe regions of Siberia suitable for agriculture began much later - in the 18th-19th centuries, and was especially active after the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In the south of the Far East, on the banks of the Amur, in the middle of the 17th century. The Russians encountered the Chinese Empire, which was then ruled by the Manchu dynasty, and as a result of the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, the border of Russian possessions was pushed north (approximately along the Stanovoy Range to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk).

The expansion of Russian territory continued in northeast Eurasia. In 1741, the expedition of Vitus Bering and Alexander Chirikov discovered Alaska, and in 1784 the first Russian settlement was created there.

How did the annexation of the southern territories take place?

Simultaneously with the rapid advance to the east, the Moscow state slowly but steadily expanded its borders to the south - into the zone of forest-steppes and steppes, where Russian cities and villages existed before the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Subsequently, the vast majority of them were destroyed, and this territory became known as the Wild Field, which was used almost exclusively for pastures of nomads. Wild field at the end of the 15th century. began almost immediately beyond the Oka, and the Moscow princes began to strengthen the Oka border - they built fortresses in Serpukhov, Kolomna, then in Zaraisk, Tula, etc. Fortified chains of fortresses and fences (blockages in the forest, impassable for cavalry), and in open areas earthen ramparts and wooden walls were gradually built further south. The southern part of European Russia was finally protected from raids at the end of the 18th century, when, after several Russian-Turkish wars, Russia reached the Black Sea coast from the Dniester to the Caucasus Mountains.

The newly annexed fertile lands of Novorossiya (the modern south of Ukraine and the North Caucasus) were flooded with peasants who suffered from land shortages - immigrants from the central provinces. This flow especially intensified after the abolition of serfdom (1861).

According to rough estimates, for the 19th - early 20th centuries. (before 1917) about 8 million people moved to Novorossiya, and about 5 million people moved to Siberia and the Far East. The population of Siberia, which was at the beginning of the 19th century. about 1 million people, by 1916 it increased to 11 million people.

How did Russia gain a foothold in the Far East?

In the south of the Far East, Russia in 1858-1860. annexed the sparsely populated lands of the Amur and Primorye, and the border acquired its modern shape.

In 1898, Russia received a lease on the Kwantung Peninsula in the south of Manchuria (where the Port Arthur naval base and the Dalniy commercial port began to be built at a rapid pace on the shores of the Yellow Sea) and the right to build railways across the territory of Manchuria. A powerful military squadron was created in Port Arthur, which became (instead of Vladivostok) the main base of the Pacific Fleet.

But defeat in the Russo-Japanese War limited the Russian presence in Manchuria only to the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), which connected Chita and Vladivostok along the shortest route.

How did the period of expansion of the state's territory end?

In the second half of the 19th century. Russia continued to expand southward. The end of the Caucasian wars with the highlanders (in 1864) made it possible to secure the Caucasus and the Black Sea coast for Russia. In Central Asia, Russia's borders were expanded to Persia and Afghanistan.

The shocks of World War I and the Russian revolutions led first to the collapse of the Russian Empire and then to its rebirth in the form of the USSR.

The collapse of the USSR in 1991 led to the fact that the borders of the former union republics, which at one time (1920-1930s) were established as purely administrative, suddenly became state borders, dividing many peoples who had been accustomed for a long time to living in one state.

In the first decades of Soviet power, the process of settling the national outskirts of the USSR by Russians continued. But in the 1970s. There has been a return migration of Russians from the Union republics of the USSR. The collapse of the USSR sharply intensified these processes - the reduction of the territory inhabited by the Russian people began.