In what year was the conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Progress of the war with the Siberian Khanate

The Khanate or Kingdom of Siberia, the conquest of which Ermak Timofeevich became famous in Russian history, was a fragment of the vast empire of Genghis Khan. It emerged from the Central Asian Tatar possessions, apparently no 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 Horde. It was formerly called Tyumen and Shiban. Last title indicates that the branch of Genghisids that dominated here was descended from Sheibani, one of the sons of Jochi and brother of Batu, 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 ridge and the Ob. A century before Ermak, under Ivan III, the Sheiban Khan Ivak, like the Crimean Mengli-Girey, was at enmity with the Golden Horde Khan Akhmat and was even his murderer. But Ivak himself was killed by a rival in own land. The fact is that a part of the Tatars under the leadership of the noble Bek Taibuga separated from the Shiban Horde. True, Taibuga's successors were not called khans, but only beks; the right to the highest title belonged only to the descendants of Chingisov, i.e., the Sheibanids. Taibuga's successors withdrew with their horde further north, to the Irtysh, where the town of Siberia, below the confluence of the Tobol and the Irtysh, became its center, and where it subjugated the neighboring Ostyaks, Voguls and Bashkirs. Ivak was killed by one of Taibuga's successors. There was fierce enmity between these two clans, and each of them looked for allies in the Bukhara kingdom, the Kirghiz and Nogai hordes and in the Moscow state.

Oath of the Siberian Khanate to Moscow in the 1550-1560s

These internal strife explain the readiness with which the prince of the Siberian Tatars Ediger, a descendant of Taibuga, recognized himself as a tributary of Ivan the Terrible. A quarter of a century before Ermak Timofeevich’s campaign, in 1555, Ediger’s ambassadors came to Moscow and beat him with his forehead so that he would accept 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 a tribute of a thousand sables a year on him and sent Dimitri Nepeytsin 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; Ediger justified himself by saying that he was fought by the Shiban prince, who took many people captive. This Shiban prince was the future enemy of Ermak’s Cossacks Kuchum, grandson of Khan Ivaka. Having received help from the Kyrgyz-Kaisaks or Nogais, Kuchum defeated Ediger, killed him and took possession of the Siberian kingdom (around 1563). At first, he also recognized himself as a tributary of the Moscow sovereign. The Moscow government recognized him as a khan, as 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 neighboring Ostyaks, 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 power of Moscow - this later made it necessary for Ermak Timofeevich to go to Siberia.

Stroganovs

The origin of Ataman Ermak Timofeevich is unknown. According to one legend, he was from the banks of the Kama River, according to another, he was a native of the Kachalinskaya village on the Don. His name, according to some, is a change from the name Ermolai; other historians and chroniclers derive it from Herman and Eremey. One chronicle, considering Ermak's name a nickname, gives him the Christian name Vasily. Ermak was at first the chieftain of one of the numerous Cossack gangs that plundered on the Volga and robbed not only Russian merchants and Persian ambassadors, but also royal ships. Ermak’s gang turned to the conquest of Siberia after entering the service of the famous Stroganov family.

The ancestors of Ermak's employers, the Stroganovs, probably belonged to the Novgorod families that colonized the Dvina land, and during the era of Novgorod's struggle with Moscow, they went over to the latter's side. They had large estates in the Solvycheg and Ustyug regions and acquired great wealth by engaging in salt production, as well as by trading with Perm and Ugra foreigners, from whom they exchanged expensive furs. 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 ransom from Tatar captivity; for which they received various awards and preferential certificates. Under Ivan III, Luka Stroganov was famous; and under Vasily 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. During the reign of Ivan IV, they extended their colonization activities far to the southeast, to the Kama region. At that time, the head of the family is Anikius, the grandson of Luke; but he was probably already old, and his three sons are the leaders: Yakov, Gregory and Semyon. They are no longer simple peaceful colonizers of the Trans-Kama countries, but have their own military detachments, build fortresses, arm them with their own cannons, and repel attacks of hostile foreigners. A little later, the gang of Ermak Timofeevich was hired as one of these detachments. The Stroganovs represented a family of feudal owners on our eastern outskirts. The Moscow government willingly provided enterprising people with all the benefits and rights to defend the northeastern borders.

Preparation of Ermak's campaign

The colonization activities of the Stroganovs, whose highest expression soon became Ermak’s campaign, were constantly expanding. In 1558, Grigory Stroganov confronted Ivan Vasilyevich about the following: in Great Perm, on both sides of the Kama River from Lysva to Chusovaya, there are empty places, black forests, uninhabited and not assigned to anyone. The petitioner asks the Stroganovs to grant this space, promising to build a city there, supply it with cannons and arquebuses in order to protect the sovereign’s fatherland from the Nogai people and from other hordes; asks permission to cut down forests in these wild places, to plow arable land, to build courtyards, to summon unliterate 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 versts from the mouth of Lysva to Chusovaya, with the requested benefits and rights, and allowed the establishment of settlements; freed them for 20 years from paying taxes and zemstvo duties, as well as from the court of Perm governors; so the right to try the Slobozhans belonged to the same Grigory Stroganov. This document was signed by okolnichy Fyodor Umny and Alexey Adashev. Thus, the energetic efforts of the Stroganovs were not without connection with the activities of the Elected 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 right side Kama. Six years later, he asked permission to build another town, 20 versts 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 that their cities be included in the oprichnina, and this request was fulfilled.

In 1568, Gregory’s elder brother Yakov Stroganov challenged the Tsar to give him, on the same grounds, the entire course of the Chusovaya River and the twenty-verst distance along the Kama below the mouth of the Chusovaya. The king agreed to his request; only the grace period was now assigned to ten years (hence, it ended at the same time as the previous award). Yakov Stroganov set up forts along Chusovaya and started settlements that revived this deserted region. He also had to defend the region from attacks by neighboring foreigners - the reason why the Stroganovs then called upon Ermak’s Cossacks. 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 Stroganovs’ military men pacified the rebels. Cheremis raised the Siberian Khan Kuchum against Moscow; he also forbade the Ostyaks, Voguls and Ugras to pay tribute to her. The next year, 1573, Kuchum’s nephew Magmetkul came with an army to Chusovaya and beat many Ostyaks, Moscow tribute-bearers. However, he did not dare to attack the Stroganov towns and went back beyond the Stone Belt (Ural). Informing the Tsar about this, the Stroganovs asked for permission to spread their settlements beyond the Belt, build towns along the Tobol River and its tributaries and establish settlements there with the same benefits, promising in return not only to defend the Moscow tribute-bearers Ostyaks and Voguls from Kuchum, but to fight and subjugate the Siberians themselves Tatars With a letter dated May 30, 1574, Ivan Vasilyevich fulfilled this request of the Stroganovs, this time with a twenty-year grace period.

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

But for about ten years the Stroganovs’ intention to spread Russian colonization beyond the Urals was not realized, until Ermak’s Cossack squads appeared on the scene.

According to one Siberian Chronicle, in April 1579 the Stroganovs sent a letter to the Cossack atamans who were robbing the Volga and Kama, and invited them to their Chusov towns to help against the Siberian Tatars. The place of the brothers Yakov and Grigory Anikiev was then taken by their sons: Maxim Yakovlevich and Nikita Grigorievich. They turned with the aforementioned letter to the Volga Cossacks. Five atamans responded to their call: Ermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Yakov Mikhailov, Nikita Pan and Matvey Meshcheryak, who arrived to them with their hundreds in the summer of the same year. The main leader of this Cossack squad was Ermak, whose name then became next to the names of his older contemporaries, the conquerors of America Cortez and Pizarro.

We do not have exact information about the origin and previous life this wonderful face. There is only a dark legend that Ermak’s grandfather was a townsman from Suzdal, who was engaged in carriage; that Ermak himself, baptized Vasily (or Germa), was born somewhere in the Kama region, was distinguished by bodily strength, courage and the gift of speech; in his youth he worked in the plows that walked along the Kama and Volga, and then became an ataman of robbers. There are no direct indications that Ermak belonged to the Don Cossacks proper; rather, he was a native of north-eastern Rus', who, with his enterprise, experience and daring, resurrected the type of the ancient Novgorod free agent.

The Cossack atamans spent two years in Chusov towns, helping the Stroganovs defend themselves against foreigners. When Murza Bekbeliy with a crowd of Vogulichs attacked the Stroganov villages, Ermak’s Cossacks defeated him and took him prisoner. The Cossacks themselves attacked the Vogulichs, Votyaks and Pelymtsy and thus prepared themselves for the big campaign against Kuchum.

It is difficult to say who exactly took the main initiative in this enterprise. Some chronicles say that the Stroganovs sent Cossacks to conquer the Siberian kingdom. Others say that the Cossacks, led by Ermak, independently undertook this campaign; Moreover, threats forced the Stroganovs to supply them with the necessary supplies. Perhaps the initiative was mutual, but on the part of Ermak’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 boring guard duty in the Chusov towns for a long time and be content with meager booty in the neighboring foreign lands. In all likelihood, it soon became a burden for the Stroganov region itself. Exaggerated news about the river expanse beyond the Stone Belt, about the riches of Kuchum and his Tatars and, finally, a thirst for exploits that could wash away past sins - all this aroused the desire to go to a little-known country. Ermak Timofeevich was probably the main driver of the entire enterprise. The Stroganovs got rid of the restless crowd of Cossacks and fulfilled the long-standing idea of their own and the Moscow government: to transfer the fight with the Siberian Tatars to the Ural ridge and punish the khan who had fallen away from Moscow.

Beginning of Ermak's campaign (1581)

The Stroganovs supplied the Cossacks with provisions, as well as guns and gunpowder, and gave them another 300 people from their own military men, including, in addition to the Russians, hired Lithuanians, Germans and Tatars. There were 540 Cossacks. Consequently, the entire detachment was more than 800 people. Ermak and the Cossacks realized that the success of the campaign would have been impossible without strict discipline; therefore, for violation of it, the atamans established punishments: those who disobeyed and fugitives were to be drowned in the river. The upcoming dangers made the Cossacks pious; they say that Ermak was accompanied by three priests and one monk, who performed divine services daily. The preparations took a lot of time, so Ermak’s campaign began quite late, already in September 1581. The warriors sailed up the Chusovaya, after several days of sailing they entered its tributary, Serebryanka, and reached the portage that separates the Kama River system from the Ob system. It took a lot of work to get over this portage and go down into the Zheravlya River; quite a few boats were stuck in the portage. The cold season had already arrived, the rivers began to become covered with ice, and Ermak’s Cossacks had to spend the winter near the portage. They set up a fort, from where one part of them undertook searches to the neighboring Vogul regions for supplies and booty, while the other prepared everything needed for the spring campaign. When the flood came, Ermak’s squad descended down the Zheravleya River into the Barancha rivers, and then into Tagil and Tura, a tributary of the Tobol, entering the boundaries of the Siberian Khanate. On Tura there was an Ostyak-Tatar yurt Chingidi (Tyumen), which was owned by a relative or tributary of Kuchum, Epancha. Here the first battle took place, which ended in complete defeat and flight of the Epanchin Tatars. Ermak's Cossacks entered Tobol and at the mouth of the Tavda they had a successful deal with the Tatars. The 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; the arrows are not visible, but the wounds are fatal, and it is impossible to defend against them with any military harness.” These news saddened Kuchum, especially since various signs had already predicted for him the arrival of the Russians and the fall of his kingdom.

The Khan, however, did not waste time, collected Tatars, Ostyaks and Voguls from everywhere and sent them under his command close relative, the brave prince Magmetkul, towards the Cossacks. And he himself built fortifications and fences near the mouth of the Tobol, under Chuvasheva Mountain, in order to block Ermak’s access to his capital, a town in Siberia, located on the Irtysh, slightly below the confluence of the Tobol. A series of bloody battles followed. Magmetkul first met the Cossacks of Ermak Timofeevich near the Babasany tract, but neither the Tatar cavalry nor the arrows could withstand the Cossacks and their arquebuses. Magmetkul ran to the abatis under Chuvasheva Mountain. The Cossacks sailed further along the Tobol and on the road captured the ulus of Karachi (chief adviser) Kuchum, where they found warehouses of all sorts of goods. Having reached the mouth of the Tobol, Ermak first avoided the aforementioned abatis, turned up the Irtysh, took the town of Murza Atika on its bank and settled down here to rest, pondering his further plan.

Map of the Siberian Khanate and Ermak's campaign

Capture of the city of Siberia by Ermak

A large crowd of enemies, fortified near Chuvashev, made Ermak think. The Cossack circle gathered to decide whether to go forward or turn back. Some advised retreat. But the more courageous ones reminded Ermak Timofeevich of the vow he had made before the campaign to stand rather to fall to a single person than to run back in shame. It was already deep autumn (1582), the rivers would soon be covered with ice, and the return voyage would become extremely dangerous. On the morning of October 23, Ermak’s Cossacks left the town. When shouting: “Lord, help your servants!” They struck a mark, and a stubborn battle began.

The enemies met the attackers with clouds of arrows and injured many. Despite desperate attacks, Ermak’s detachment could not overcome the fortifications and began to exhaust. The Tatars, considering themselves already winners, broke the abatis themselves in three places and made a sortie. But then, in desperate hand-to-hand combat, the Tatars were defeated and rushed back; The Russians burst into the abattoir. The Ostyak princes were the first to leave the battlefield and went home with their crowds. The wounded Magmetkul escaped in the boat. Kuchum watched the battle from the top of the mountain and ordered the Muslim mullahs to say prayers. Seeing the flight of the entire army, he himself hurried to his capital Siberia; but did not stay in it, because there was no one left to defend it; and fled south to the Ishim steppes. Having learned about Kuchum's flight, on October 26, 1582, Ermak and the Cossacks entered the empty city of Siberia; here they found valuable booty, a lot of gold, silver, and especially furs. A few days later, the residents began to return: the Ostyak prince came first with his people and brought Ermak Timofeevich and his squad gifts and food supplies; then little by little the Tatars returned.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895

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

Ermak and Kuchum

With the conquest of Kuchum's capital, however, the war was far from over. Kuchum himself did not consider his kingdom lost, which half consisted of nomadic and wandering foreigners; the vast neighboring steppes provided him with reliable shelter; from here he made surprise attacks on the Cossacks, and the fight with him dragged on for a long time. The enterprising prince Magmetkul was especially dangerous. Already in November or December of the same 1582, he waylaid a small detachment of Cossacks engaged in fishing, and killed almost everyone. This was the first sensitive loss. In the spring of 1583, Ermak learned from a Tatar that Magmetkul was encamped 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 temporarily protected Ermak’s Cossacks from Kuchum. But their number has already greatly decreased; supplies were exhausted, while much work and battles still lay ahead. There was an urgent need for Russian help.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. 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 the Ring to Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich himself with expensive Siberian sables and a request to send them royal warriors to help.

Cossacks of Ermak in Moscow near Ivan the Terrible

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the fact that in the Perm region after the departure of Ermak’s 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 Kama Usolye, Kankor, Kergedan and Chusovskie towns, burning out surrounding villages and taking peasants captive. Without Ermak, the Stroganovs barely defended their towns from the enemies. Cherdyn governor 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 region on the Stroganovs: they, without the royal decree, called the thieves' Cossacks Ermak Timofeevich and other atamans to their prisons, the Vogulichs and They sent Kuchum and they were bullied. When the Pelym prince came, they did not help the sovereign cities with their military men; and Ermak, instead of defending the Perm land, went to fight to the east. Stroganov sent an unmerciful royal letter from Moscow, dated November 16, 1582. Stroganov was ordered not to keep the Cossacks from now on, but to send the Volga atamans, Ermak Timofeevich and his comrades, to Perm (i.e. Cherdyn) and Kama Usolye, where they should not stand together, but separated; It was allowed to keep no more than a hundred people at home. If this is not carried out exactly and again some misfortune occurs over the Perm regions from the Voguls and the Siberian saltan, then “great disgrace” will be imposed on the Stroganovs. In Moscow, obviously, they knew nothing about the Siberian campaign and demanded that Ermak be sent to Cherdyn with the Cossacks, who were already located on the banks of the Irtysh. The Stroganovs were “in great sadness.” They relied on the permission previously given to them to establish 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 news arrived from Ermak and his comrades about their extraordinary luck. With her, the Stroganovs personally hurried to Moscow. And then the Cossack embassy arrived there, led by Ataman Koltso (once sentenced to death for robbery). Of course, opals were out of the question. The Tsar received the ataman and the Cossacks kindly, rewarded them with money and cloth, and again released them to Siberia. They say that he sent Ermak Timofeevich a fur coat from his shoulder, a silver cup and two shells. He then sent Prince Semyon Volkhovsky and Ivan Glukhov with several hundred military men to reinforce them. The captive Tsarevich 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 grants, Big and Small Sol.

Arrival of the detachments of Volkhovsky and Glukhov to Ermak (1584)

Kuchum, having lost Magmetkul, was distracted by the renewed struggle with the Taibuga clan. Meanwhile, Ermak's Cossacks completed the imposition of tribute on the Ostyak and Vogul volosts, which were part of the Siberian Khanate. From the city of Siberia they walked along the Irtysh and Ob, on the banks of the latter they took the Ostyak city of Kazym; but then during the attack they lost one of their atamans, Nikita Pan. The number of Ermak’s detachment decreased greatly; barely half of it remained. Ermak was looking forward to help from Russia. Only in the fall of 1584 did Volkhovskaya and Glukhov sail on plows: but they brought no more than 300 people - the help was too insufficient to consolidate such a vast space for Russia. The loyalty of the newly conquered local princes could not be relied upon, and the irreconcilable Kuchum still acted at the head of his horde. Ermak happily met the Moscow military men, but had to share meager food supplies with them; In winter, the death rate in the Siberian city began due to lack of food. Prince Volkhovskaya also died. Only in the spring, thanks to the abundant catch of fish and game, as well as bread and livestock delivered from surrounding foreigners, did the people of Ermak recover from hunger. Prince Volkhovskaya, apparently, was appointed Siberian governor, to whom the Cossack atamans had to surrender the city and submit, and his death freed 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, Ermak again became the head of the united Cossack-Moscow detachment.

Death of Ermak

Until now, success has accompanied almost all of Ermak Timofeevich’s enterprises. But happiness finally began to change. Continued success weakens constant precaution and gives rise to carelessness, the cause of disastrous surprises.

One of the local tributary princes, Karacha, that is, a former Khan's adviser, conceived treason and sent envoys to Ermak with a request to defend him from the Nogai. The ambassadors swore that they did not think any harm against the Russians. The atamans believed their oath. Ivan Ring and forty Cossacks with him went to the town of Karachi, were kindly received, and then treacherously all were killed. To avenge them, Ermak sent a detachment with ataman Yakov Mikhailov; but this detachment was also exterminated. After that, the surrounding foreigners bowed to the admonitions of Karachi and rebelled against the Russians. With a large crowd, Karacha laid siege to the city of Siberia itself. It is very possible that he was in secret relations with Kuchum. Ermak's squad, weakened by losses, was forced to withstand the siege. The last one dragged on, and the Russians were already experiencing a severe shortage of food supplies: Karacha hoped to starve them out.

But despair gives determination. One June night, the Cossacks split into two parts: one remained with Ermak in the city, and the other, with ataman Matvey Meshcheryak, quietly went out into the field and crept to the Karachi camp, which stood several miles from the city, separate from the other Tatars. Many enemies were beaten, and Karacha himself barely escaped. At dawn, when the main camp of the besiegers learned about the attack of Ermak’s Cossacks, crowds of enemies hastened to the aid of Karacha and surrounded the small squad of Cossacks. But Ermak fenced himself off with the Karachi convoy and met the enemies with rifle fire. The savages could not stand it and scattered. The city was freed from the siege, the surrounding tribes again recognized themselves as our tributaries. After that, Ermak undertook a successful trip up the Irtysh, perhaps to search beyond Kuchum. But the tireless Kuchum was elusive in his Ishim steppes and built new intrigues.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895. Fragment

As soon as Ermak Timofeevich returned to the city of Siberia, news came that a caravan of Bukhara merchants was heading to the city with goods, but stopped somewhere, because Kuchum did not give him the way! The resumption of trade with Central Asia was very desirable for the Cossacks of Ermak, who could exchange woolen and silk fabrics, carpets, weapons, and spices with furs collected from foreigners. In early August 1585, Ermak personally with a small detachment sailed towards the merchants up the Irtysh. The Cossack plows reached the mouth of the Vagai, however, not meeting anyone, they swam back. One dark, stormy evening, Ermak landed on the shore and found his death. Its details are semi-legendary, but not without some plausibility.

Ermak's Cossacks landed on an island on the Irtysh, and therefore, considering themselves safe, fell into sleep without posting a guard. Meanwhile, Kuchum was nearby. (The news of the unprecedented Bukhara caravan was almost released by him in order to lure Ermak into an ambush.) His spies reported to the khan about the Cossacks’ lodging for the night. Kuchum had one Tatar who was sentenced to death. The Khan sent him to look for a horse ford on the island, promising pardon if he was successful. The Tatar crossed the river and returned with the news of the complete carelessness of Ermak’s people. Kuchum did not believe it at first and ordered to bring proof. The Tatar went another time and brought three Cossack arquebuses and three canisters with gunpowder. Then Kuchum sent a crowd of Tatars to the island. With the sound of rain and howling wind, the Tatars crept into the camp and began to beat the sleepy Cossacks. Waking up, Ermak rushed into the river towards the plow, but ended up in a deep place; Having iron armor on him, he was unable to swim out and drowned. With this sudden attack, the entire Cossack detachment was exterminated along with its leader. This is how this Russian Cortes and Pizarro died, 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 people’s memory.

Two important circumstances helped Ermak’s Russian squad during the conquest of the Siberian Khanate: on the one hand, firearms and military training; with another - internal state the Khanate itself, weakened by civil strife and discontent of local pagans against Islam forcibly introduced by Kuchum. Siberian shamans with their idols reluctantly gave way to Mohammedan mullahs. But the third important reason success is the personality of Ermak Timofeevich himself, his invincible courage, knowledge of military affairs and iron strength of character. The latter is clearly evidenced by the discipline that Ermak was able to establish in his squad of Cossacks, with their violent morals.

Retreat of the remnants of Ermak's squads from Siberia

Ermak's death confirmed that he was the main driver of the entire enterprise. When news of her reached the city of Siberia, the remaining Cossacks immediately decided that without Ermak, given their small numbers, they would not be able to hold out among the unreliable natives against the Siberian Tatars. Cossacks and Moscow warriors, numbering no more than one and a half hundred people, immediately left the city of Siberia with the Streltsy leader Ivan Glukhov and Matvey Meshcheryak, the only one remaining of the five atamans; By the far northern route along the Irtysh and Ob, they went back beyond the Kamen (Ural ridge). As soon as the Russians cleared Siberia, Kuchum sent his son Aley to occupy his capital city. But he didn't stay here long. We saw above that Prince Taibugin of the Ediger clan, who owned Siberia, and his brother Bekbulat died in the fight against Kuchum. Bekbulat's little son, Seydyak, found refuge in Bukhara, grew up there and became an avenger for his father and uncle. With the help of the Bukharians and Kyrgyz, Seydyak defeated Kuchum, expelled Aley from Siberia and himself took possession of this capital city.

Arrival of Mansurov's detachment and 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, diversity of this kingdom and its natural wealth; They were not slow in returning.

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

This time the task of conquest went easier with the help of experience and along the paths laid by Ermak. The surrounding Ostyaks tried to take the Russian town, but were repulsed. Then they brought their main idol and began to make sacrifices to it, asking for help against the Christians. The Russians aimed 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 fight so that the sovereign would accept him as one of his tributaries. They treated him kindly and imposed a tribute of seven forty sables on him.

Foundation of Tobolsk

Ermak Timofeevich’s victories were not in vain. Following Mansurov, the governors Sukin and Myasnoy arrived in the Siberian land and on the Tura River, on the site of the old town of Chingiya, they built the Tyumen fortress and erected a Christian temple in it. The following year, 1587, after the arrival of new reinforcements, the head of Danil Chulkov set off further from Tyumen, went down the Tobol to its mouth and here on the banks of the Irtysh founded Tobolsk; this city became the center of Russian possessions in Siberia, thanks to its advantageous position at the junction of Siberian rivers. Continuing the work of Ermak Timofeevich, the Moscow government here also used its usual system: to spread and strengthen its rule by the gradual construction of fortresses. Siberia, contrary to fears, was not lost to the Russians. The heroism of a handful of Ermak's Cossacks opened the way for the great Russian expansion eastward - all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Articles and books about Ermak

Solovyov S. M. History of Russia since ancient times. T. 6. Chapter 7 – “The Stroganovs and Ermak”

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

Kuznetsov E.V. Initial literature about Ermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1890

Kuznetsov E.V. Bibliography of Ermak: Experience of citing 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. Oksenov “Ermak in the epics of the Russian people.” Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892

Kuznetsov E.V. Information about the banners of Ermak. Tobolsk Provincial Gazette, 1892

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

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

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

Fialkov D.N. About the place of Ermak’s death and burial. Novosibirsk, 1965

Sutormin A. G. Ermak Timofeevich (Alenin Vasily Timofeevich). Irkutsk, 1981

Dergacheva-Skop E. Brief stories about Ermak’s campaign in Siberia - Siberia in the past, present and future. Vol. III. Novosibirsk, 1981

Kolesnikov A. D. Ermak. Omsk, 1983

Skrynnikov R. G. Siberian expedition of Ermak. Novosibirsk, 1986

Buzukashvili M.I. Ermak. M., 1989

Kopylov D.I. Ermak. Irkutsk, 1989

Sofronov V. Yu. Ermak’s campaign and the struggle for the Khan’s throne in Siberia. Tyumen, 1993

Kozlova N.K. About the “Chudi”, Tatars, Ermak and Siberian mounds. Omsk, 1995

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

Kreknina L.I. Theme of Ermak in the works of P.P. Ershov. Tyumen, 1997

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

Sofronova M. N. About the imaginary and the real in the portraits of the Siberian ataman Ermak. Tyumen, 1998

Shkerin V.A. Ermak’s Sylven campaign: a mistake or a search for a way to Siberia? Ekaterinburg, 1999

Solodkin Ya. G. On the debate about the origin of Ermak. Ekaterinburg, 1999

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

Zakshauskienė E. Badge from Ermak’s chain mail. M., 2002

Katanov N. F. The legend of the Tobolsk Tatars about Kuchum and Ermak - Tobolsk chronograph. Collection. Vol. 4. Ekaterinburg, 2004

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

Skrynnikov R. G. Ermak. M., 2008

The years of Ermak Timofeevich’s life are not known for certain today. According to different versions, he was born either in 1531, or in 1534, or even in 1542. But the date of death is precisely known - August 6, 1585.

He was a Cossack chieftain, he is called a National Hero. It was he who discovered a huge part of our country - Siberia.

According to one version, Cossack Ermak Timofeevich was born in the Middle Urals region. He looked like this: large, broad-shouldered, with a black beard, of medium height, with flat face. We do not know what surname Ermak bore. But one historian is sure that full name sounded like Vasily Timofeevich Alenin.

Ermak was a participant Livonian War, commanded the Cossacks. In 1581 he fought in Lithuania. Ermak also participated in the liberation of besieged Pskov. In 1582 he was in the army that stopped the Swedes.

Historical reference

The Siberian Khanate was part of the possessions of Genghis Khan. In 1563, Kuchum began to rule there, but this did not happen in an honest way. Having killed Ediger, a tributary of Moscow, he “pretended to be one of his own.” The government recognized him as a khan and also obliged him to pay tribute. But, having settled well in Siberia, Kuchum decided to make the Khanate independent and independent: he did not pay tribute and attacked other territories. And Moscow now faced the task of returning the Siberian Khanate under its control.

It should be noted that the eastern lands were colonized by the famous Stroganov family, industrialists and merchants. Their activities were controlled by Moscow. The Stroganovs were unusually rich. They had their own detachments and fortresses beyond the Kama, which they themselves supplied with weapons. The earth had to be protected somehow. And now Ermak comes to their aid.

Ermak Timofeevich: the conquest of Siberia and the discovery of new lands

How it all began

One of the Siberian Chronicles tells that the Stroganovs sent a letter to the Cossacks. The merchants asked for help against the attacking peoples. A Cossack squad led by Ermak came to Siberia and successfully defended the lands from the Vogulichs, Votyaks, Pelymtsy and others.

Still, it remains unknown exactly how the “deal” took place between the Stroganovs and the Cossack army.

The merchants simply sent or even ordered Cossack troops to conquer Siberia.
Ermak and his army himself decided to go on a campaign and forced the Stroganovs to provide the necessary weapons, food and other things.
Both of them made this decision on conditions beneficial to everyone.

Before the start of the campaign, the Stroganovs allocated weapons (guns and gunpowder), provisions, as well as people - about three hundred people. The Cossacks themselves numbered 540. The strictest discipline reigned in the detachment of eight hundred people.

The campaign began in September 1581. The detachment swam along the rivers, long and hard. The boats got stuck, the water was already starting to freeze. We had to spend the winter near the portage. While some were getting food, others were preparing for spring. The flood came, the boats quickly set off. And so the detachment ended up in the Siberian Khanate.

Getting closer to the goal

In the area of present-day Tyumen, which then belonged to Kuchumov’s relative, Epanch, the first battle took place. Ermak's army defeated the Epanchi Tatars. The Cossacks stubbornly moved forward. The Tatars could only flee and report the attacks to Kuchum. It should be noted that the Tatars did not have gunpowder weapons; they used bows. Therefore, the guns of Ermak’s detachment completely discouraged them, which they reported to the khan. But, on the other hand, the Tatars had a superiority in troops by twenty times or even more. Kuchum, although depressed, as a true leader, quickly gathered all the Tatars under the leadership of Magmetkul and ordered them to go against the Cossacks. And at this time he strengthened the borders of the city of Siberia - the capital of the Khanate.

Magmetkul and the Cossacks fought bloodily and cruelly. The weapons of the former were significantly inferior, so Magmetkul had to flee. Meanwhile, the Cossacks moved further and took a couple of cities. Ermak stops to decide how to proceed. The decision had to be made: go back or move forward. Ataman Ermak Timofeevich feared that there were too many enemies. It was already October 1582. The rivers will soon begin to freeze again, so it is risky to swim back.

And so, early in the morning of October 23, Ermak’s army, with the hope of God’s help, went on the offensive. The fight was incredibly difficult. Ermak’s army was unable to break through the Tatar defenses. But the Russians managed to break through, and the Tatars began to flee the battlefield. Kuchum, seeing all this, also fled, leaving Siberia.

And on October 26, Ermak and his Cossack detachment entered the capital, rich in precious metals and furs. Ermak's banner now fluttered in Siberia.

But it was too early to rejoice. Kuchum, hiding in the steppes, continued to attack the Cossacks. Magmetkul also posed a danger. First, he killed part of the Cossacks in November 1582. But Ermak made a very far-sighted act in the spring of 1853, sending part of the army to attack the Tatars and capture Magmetkul. Although the Cossack army coped with this task, it began to decrease in number and strength. Russian princes with an army of three hundred people were sent to help the detachment. After all, Kuchum did not calm down, and it was necessary to defend the conquered city

Death of Ermak Timofeevich

Here is how it was. Ermak and his detachment walked along the Irtysh. They spent the night at the mouth of the Vagai River. Unexpectedly, in the dead of night, Kuchum attacks the Cossacks and kills them. Only a part managed to escape. Survivors say that the ataman tried to swim to the plows (these are such ships), but drowned in the river. This happened, most likely, due to the heaviness of the armor (Ermak was wearing two chain mail shirts at that time). Of course, it is possible that he was also wounded.

Conquest of Siberia.

Secrets of Siberia. The mysterious grave of Ermak.

Researchers cannot answer in the affirmative the question “who had the idea to go on a campaign to Siberia” (industrialists Stroganov, ataman Ermak Timofeevich, or Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself). Historians agree that the campaign was beneficial to all parties. Grozny - new vassals and lands, Ermak and the Cossacks - the opportunity to make money, covering it up with state necessity, and the Stroganovs - security.

So, in September 1581 (according to other sources, in the summer of 1582), Ataman Ermak went on a military campaign. His army included three hundred militia from the Stroganovs, as well as five hundred and forty of his own Cossacks. The army set out on plows along the Chusovaya River. From the towns located along the riverbed, the detachment reached the Serebryannaya River, ascended it to the Barancha River (according to another version, Ermak’s army reached the Mezhevaya Utka River, then crossed the plows into the Zhuravlik River and reached the Vyu River).

The Cossacks descended along the Tagil River to Tura, fighting there for the first time with Tatar troops. Victory was Ermak's. As the legend says, the ataman put effigies on the plows, and he himself attacked from the shore and defeated the Tatars from the rear. However, the first serious battle took place in October 1582 near the Tavda River, when the flotilla entered Tobol.

After Ermak expelled Kuchum from the city of Kashlyk, he began to conquer one after another the Vogul and Tatar cities located along the Ob and Irtysh, where he was more than once welcomed by the local population, wanting to come under the rule of Moscow themselves. After the army captured Ermak Kuchum, he sent an ambassador (ataman Ivan Koltso) to the Tsar, as well as messengers to the Stroganovs. The Tsar was pleased with the outcome of the military operations and sent Ermak not only expensive gifts (including the chain mail of Prince Shuisky), but also the governors Glukhov and Bolkhovsky, and with them three hundred warriors.

The royal reinforcements that arrived in Siberia in the fall of 1583 were unable to correct the current situation. Kuchum's outnumbered detachments individually defeated the Cossack hundreds, killing all the atamans. In March 1584, Ivan the Terrible died, and the Moscow government completely abandoned Siberia.

Ermak died on August 6, 1585, stopping with fifty soldiers at the mouth of the Vagai River, which flows into the Irtysh. Kuchum's troops attacked the sleeping Cossacks, and Ermak himself drowned in the Irtysh, trying to get to the plows (according to eyewitnesses, the ataman was wearing two chain mail, which did not allow him to reach the goal).

Historical film: The exploration of Siberia by the Cossack Ermak

The history of the conquest of Siberia by Ermak begins in 1552, when the Russian army conquered Khanate of Kazan. After this, the Khanate of Siberia became Russia's immediate neighbor in the east. In 1555, its ruler Khan Ediger (Edigar) received consent to grant citizenship to Ivan IV the Terrible. A moderate fur tax, yasak, began to flow into the royal treasury. It amounted to one sable and one squirrel skin per person per year.

This one yasak and became the very magnet that attracted people to him. Siberia has long been famous for its fur riches, and furs in those days were highly valued not only for their beauty. Therefore, it is not surprising that this region was a favorite place for Russian merchants, who carried out extremely profitable trade with the local population, often deceiving them.

However, the Siberian Khanate did not submit to the demands of Ivan the Terrible for long: soon a coup took place in Siberia, and a descendant of Genghis Khan, Kuchum, became the khan. At first, he continued to consider himself a vassal of the tsar, but then he stopped sending yasak, he himself imposed tribute on the tribes that had previously obeyed Ivan the Terrible, and even dared to attack the Ural settlements of Russian merchants.

Equipment of Ermak's campaign: merchants Stroganovs

Among those, the rich Stroganovs stood out, to whom the government allowed to build fortresses and maintain Streltsy troops in the Urals, armed with arquebuses. Despite the fact that these troops represented a significant force, they could not prevent the constant raids of detachments of the Siberian princes. Then the Stroganovs decided to hire people who were truly skilled in military affairs, who could not only defend the border, but also undertake a campaign in Siberia to seize new territories. Moreover, the second point was almost more important than the first. Cunning merchants, looking for profit everywhere, thought of killing two birds with one stone: both to ward off the danger from their walls and to acquire new lands that could bring considerable income.

The Cossacks were ideal for the role of such people. Being excellent warriors, they were ready to do anything for money. The campaign “for the Stone,” as the Urals were called in those days, promised huge profits, and there was no point in refusing. In addition, at this time one large Cossack detachment was in disgrace with the tsar for raiding the Nogais, which the tsar strictly forbade.

Ivan the Terrible summoned a detachment from the Volga steppes to send it into the thick of the raging Livonian War.

When the chief ataman of the detachment, Ermak Timofeevich, learned about the tsar’s plan, he immediately responded to the Stroganovs’ proposal - largely out of concern for his Cossacks. Ivan the Terrible was going to not just send them to war, but put them in the vanguard, which meant inevitable death. Disagreeing with the tsar's decision, the Cossacks decided to flee to the Volga steppes. But on the Volga they were within the reach of the royal power, while beyond the Stone no one could reach them except Khan Kuchum.

The beginning of the conquest of Siberia by Ermak

After the defeat of the Karachi detachment, the conquest of Siberia by Ermak entered its final stage. Kuchum began to act cunningly. He sent two horsemen to the fortress, introducing themselves as Bukhara merchants. They told Ermak that they wanted to trade with Russia, and that Kuchum was preventing this and was holding the merchant caravan captive.

The chieftain decided to free the “prisoners” and went to their rescue on one of the plows. Khan equipped a detachment that constantly monitored the progress of the Cossacks along the river. On the night when Ermak was forced to land on the shore for the night, his detachment was attacked by Kuchum’s army. Almost all the Cossacks were killed, and Ermak himself died. It is curious that the ataman covered the retreat of his soldiers to the end and died due to the fact that, rushing into the departing plow, he missed and drowned - two precious and heavy shells, a royal gift, did not leave Ermak the slightest chance. This happened on August 5, 1585.

But, despite this, the conquest of Siberia by Ermak actually took place. The days of the Khanate were numbered: on the orders of the Tsar, military reinforcements moved to Siberia. Kuchum suffered a final defeat, after which he fled, first to the Baraba steppes, then to the Irtysh, and finally to the Nogais, who executed him. A famous fact has gone down in history: during his wanderings across the steppes, Kuchum once asked Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich to return to him one of the Bukhara merchants’ packs, on which they were carrying a special potion for the Khan’s sick eyes.

After this, Russian cities began to emerge on Siberian soil, the first of which was Tyumen. The conquest of Siberia by Ermak opened a new page in.

While failures in the west greatly upset Ivan the Terrible, he was unexpectedly pleased with the conquest of vast Siberia in the east.

Back in 1558, the tsar gave the wealthy industrialist Grigory Stroganov large uninhabited lands on both sides of the Kama River to Chusovaya for 146 miles. Grigory Stroganov and his brother Yakov, following the example of their father, who made a huge fortune in Solvychegodsk from the salt industry, decided to start salt pans in large size in the new region, populate it, start arable farming and trade. The settlement of empty places and the establishment of new industries was, of course, very beneficial for the entire state, and therefore the tsar not only willingly ceded lands to enterprising industrialists, but also gave them great benefits.

The Stroganovs were given the right to call free people to their lands, to judge the settlers, who were freed from all taxes and duties for twenty years; then the right was given to build fortifications and maintain armed detachments for defense against attacks by neighboring peoples (Ostyaks, Cheremis, Nogais, etc.). Finally, Stroganov was allowed to recruit willing people, Cossacks, and go to war against hostile foreigners. Soon the Stroganovs had to face the tribes that lived next door, beyond the Ural Mountains. Here, on the banks of the Tobol, Irtysh and Tura rivers, was the Tatar kingdom; main city called Isker, or Siberia, on the Tobol River; After the name of this city, the entire kingdom was called Siberian. Previously, the Siberian khans sought the patronage of the Moscow Tsar, at one time they even paid him yasak (tribute) in furs, but the last Khan Kuchum showed hostility towards Moscow, beat and captured the Ostyaks who paid tribute to her; and the Siberian prince Makhmet-Kul went with his army to the Chusovaya River to explore the routes to the Stroganov towns, and here he beat many Moscow tributaries, took their wives and children captive. The Stroganovs notified Ivan the Terrible about this and beat him to allow them to fortify themselves beyond the Urals, keep a fire outfit (artillery) there for defense, and at their own expense recruit volunteers to fight the khans of Siberia. The king allowed it. This was in 1574. Grigory and Yakov Stroganov were no longer alive. The business was continued by their younger brother Semyon and children: Maxim, son of Yakov, and Nikita, son of Gregory.

It was not difficult to recruit a squad of daredevils at that time.

Along the southern and eastern steppe outskirts of the Moscow state, as was said, since the 15th century, free, walking people eager for war have been appearing - the Cossacks. Some of them lived in the villages, carried out the sovereign's service, defended the borders from attacks by bandit Tatar gangs, while others, in the full sense of the free “steppe birds,” escaped from any supervision, “walked” in the expanse of the steppe, attacked at their own peril , on the Tatars, robbed them, hunted in the steppe, fished along the rivers, broke up Tatar merchant caravans, and sometimes they didn’t let Russian merchants go... Gangs of such Cossacks walked both along the Don and the Volga. To the complaints of the Nogai Khan that the Cossacks, despite the fact that he was at peace with Moscow, were robbing Tatar merchants on the Don, Ivan the Terrible replied:

“These robbers live on the Don without our knowledge, they run from us. We have sent more than once before to catch them, but our people cannot catch them.”

It was indeed very difficult to catch gangs of these “thieving” Cossacks, as they were called, in the wide steppes.

A gang of such Cossack freemen, more than 500 people, was brought into the service of the Stroganovs by Ataman Vasily Timofeev, nicknamed Ermak. He was a daredevil of heroic strength, and, moreover, very dexterous and quick-witted... Ermak’s main assistants were Ivan Koltso, who was sentenced to death for his robberies, but was not caught, Nikita Pan and Vasily Meshcheryak - all of these were fellows who, as they say, went through fire and water, who knew no fear. The rest of Ermak’s comrades were like them. The Stroganovs needed such people, ready for anything. They wanted not only to defend their possessions from the attacks of the Siberian king, but to give him a warning in order to discourage him from attacks for a long time. To do this, it was decided to attack Kuchum in his own Siberia. This enterprise, which promised both good booty and military glory, was very much to the liking of Ermak and his fellows. The Stroganovs provided them with everything they needed: food supplies, guns, even small cannons.

Several dozen more daring hunters joined Ermak’s detachment, so that in total there were 840 people in the detachment. Taking with him counselors who knew the river routes well and interpreters, Ermak on September 1, 1582 set off with his daring squad to Siberia to seek his fortune.

According to the slander of one governor, the unkindness of the Stroganovs, the tsar ordered them to return Ermak and not to bully the Siberian “Saltan”; but the royal letter arrived late: the Cossacks were already far away.

At first they sailed on plows and canoes up the Chusovaya River; then we turned into the Serebryanka River. This path was difficult; in some places it was necessary to swim in shallow water on rafts. From Serebryanka, Ermak's people were transported by drag through passes in the Ural ridge to the Zharovlya River, which flows into Tagil, from here they descended into the Tura River. Until now the Cossacks had not encountered any obstacles; Rarely did they even see people along the banks: the land here was wild, almost completely deserted. The Tura River became more crowded. Here we first met the town (now the city of Turinsk), where the Siberian prince Epancha ruled. Here we had to use our weapons, because from the shore they began to shoot at Ermak’s Cossacks with bows. They fired a volley of guns. Several Tatars fell; the rest fled in horror: they had never seen firearms before. The town of Epanchi was ravaged by the Cossacks. Soon they had to disperse another crowd of Tatars with gunfire. They frightened those captured with shots, showed them how bullets pierced their armor, and obtained information from them about Kuchum and his forces. Ermak deliberately released some of the captives so that they would spread fear everywhere with their stories about the miraculous properties of Russian weapons.

“Russian warriors are strong,” they said, according to the chronicle, “when they shoot from their bows, then fire blazes out of them, great smoke comes out, and it’s as if thunder strikes.” The arrows are not visible, but they wound and kill. It is impossible to protect yourself from them with any armor; our kuyaks, armor and chain mail - they all pierce through!

The gun, of course, was what the handful of brave men, led by Ermak, hoped most of all for, planning no more, no less, than to conquer an entire kingdom and subjugate tens of thousands of people.

Map of the Siberian Khanate and Ermak's campaign

The Cossacks sailed down the Tobol, and more than once they had to disperse crowds of natives with shots. The ruler of Siberia, Kuchum, although he was frightened by the stories of the fugitives about the large forces of the enemy and various ominous predictions, did not intend to give up without a fight. He gathered his entire army. He himself encamped on the banks of the Irtysh, near the mouth of the Tobol (not far from the present city of Tobolsk), on Mount Chuvashevo, set up a new ambush here just in case, and sent Tsarevich Makhmet-Kul forward with a large army to meet Ermak’s Cossacks. He met them on the banks of the Tobol, at the Babasan tract, started a battle, but could not defeat them. They floated forward; On the way we took another Siberian town; They found rich booty here, took it with them and moved on. When the Tobol flowed into the Irtysh, the Tatars again overtook the Cossacks and showered them with arrows. Ermak's people repulsed this attack, but they already had several killed, and almost all were wounded by arrows. Things were getting hot. The Tatars probably saw that there weren’t too many enemies, and they attacked them with all their might. But Ermak was already not far from the capital; the fate of his Siberian campaign was soon to be decided. It was necessary to knock Kuchum out of his abattoir and take possession of the capital. The Cossacks began to think: Kuchum had much more strength - for each Russian, perhaps, there were twenty Tatars. The Cossacks gathered in a circle and began to discuss what to do: whether to go forward or go back. Some began to say that we had to return; others and Ermak himself thought differently.

“Brothers,” they said, “where should we run?” It’s already autumn: the ice in the rivers is freezing... Let’s not accept bad glory, let’s not lay reproach on ourselves, let’s hope in God: He is also a helper for the helpless! Let us remember, brothers, the promise we made to honest people (the Stroganovs). We cannot return back from Siberia in shame. If God helps us, then even after death our memory will not fade in these countries, and our glory will be eternal!

Everyone agreed with this and decided to stay and fight until death.

At dawn, October 23, Ermak's Cossacks moved to the abatement. Cannons and rifles have now served them well. The Tatars fired clouds of arrows from behind their fence, but did little harm to the Russian daredevils; Finally, they themselves broke through their ambush in three places and attacked the Cossacks. A terrible hand-to-hand battle began. Here guns didn’t help: we had to cut with swords or grab them directly with our hands. It turned out that Ermak’s people showed themselves to be heroes here too: despite the fact that the enemies were twenty times more numerous, the Cossacks broke them. Makhmet-Kul was wounded, the Tatars mixed up, many lost heart; Other Siberian princes subject to Kuchum, seeing that the enemies were prevailing, left the battle. Kuchum first fled to his capital Siberia, seized his belongings here and fled further.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895

On October 26, Ermak’s Cossacks occupied Siberia, abandoned by its inhabitants. The winners were despondent empty city. Their numbers have greatly diminished: in the last battle alone, 107 people fell; there were many wounded and sick. They could no longer bear to go any further, but meanwhile their supplies had run out and a fierce winter was approaching. Hunger and death threatened them...

But after a few days, the Ostyaks, Vogulichs, Tatars with their princelings began to come to Ermak, beat him with their foreheads - they brought him gifts and various supplies; He swore the oath to the sovereign, reassured them with his mercy, treated them kindly and released them without any offense to their yurts. The Cossacks were strictly forbidden to offend the conquered natives.

The Cossacks spent the winter quietly; As soon as Makhmet-Kul attacked them, Ermak defeated him, and he did not bother the Cossacks for some time; but with the onset of spring, I thought about attacking them by surprise, but I myself was in trouble: the Cossacks waylaid the enemies, attacked them sleepy at night and captured Makhmet-Kul. Ermak treated him very kindly. The captivity of this brave and zealous Tatar knight was a blow for Kuchum. At this time, his personal enemy, a Tatar prince, went to war against him; Finally, his governor betrayed him. Things were very bad for Kuchum.

The Cossacks spent the summer of 1582 on campaigns, conquering Tatar towns and uluses along Siberian rivers Irtysh and Ob. Meanwhile, Ermak let the Stroganovs know that he “defeated Saltan Kuchum, captured his capital city and captured Tsarevich Makhmet-Kul.” The Stroganovs hastened to please the Tsar with this news. Soon a special embassy from Ermak appeared in Moscow - Ivan Ring with several comrades - to beat the sovereign with the kingdom of Siberia and present him with a gift of precious products of the conquered Siberia: sable, beaver and fox furs.

For a long time, contemporaries say, there has not been such joy in Moscow. The rumor that God's mercy towards Russia had not diminished, that God had sent her a new vast Siberian kingdom, quickly spread among the people and delighted everyone who was accustomed to hearing about last years only about failures and disasters.

The Terrible Tsar received Ivan the Ring graciously, not only forgave him and his comrades for their previous crimes, but generously rewarded him, and, they say, sent Ermak a fur coat from his shoulder, a silver ladle and two shells as a gift; but most importantly, he sent the governor, Prince Volkhovsky, to Siberia with a significant detachment of troops. Very few daredevils remained under the hand of Ermak, and it would have been difficult for him to maintain his conquest without help. Makhmet-Kul was sent to Moscow, where he entered the service of the Tsar; but Kuchum still managed to recover and gain strength. Russian soldiers had a bad time in Siberia: they often suffered from shortages of life supplies; diseases spread among them; It happened that the Tatar princes, at first pretending to be loyal tributaries and allies, then destroyed Ermak’s troops, who trusted them. This is how Ivan Koltso and several comrades died. The governor sent by the king died of illness.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. Painting by V. Surikov, 1895. Fragment

Soon Ermak himself died. He found out that Kuchum was going to intercept the Bukhara caravan on its way to Siberia. Taking with him 50 of his daredevils, Ermak hurried to meet the Bukhara merchants in order to protect them from predators on their way along the Irtysh. The Cossacks waited all day for the caravan at the confluence of the Vagaya River with the Irtysh; but neither the merchants nor the predators showed up... The night was stormy. The rain was pouring down. The wind raged on the river. The exhausted Cossacks settled down to rest on the shore and soon fell asleep like the dead. Ermak made a mistake this time - he didn’t post guards, he didn’t think, it’s obvious that the enemies would attack on such a night. And the enemy was very close: the Cossacks were lying in wait on the other side of the river! . At the direction of the spies, the Tatars secretly crossed the river, attacked the sleeping Cossacks and cut them all down, except two. One escaped and brought to Siberia the terrible news of the beating of the detachment, and the other - Ermak himself, hearing groans, jumped up, managed to fight off the killers who rushed at him with his saber, rushed from the shore into the Irtysh, thinking to escape by swimming, but drowned from the weight of his iron armor (5 August 1584). A few days later, Ermak’s body was washed ashore by the current of the river, where the Tatars found him and, judging by his rich armor with a copper frame, with a golden eagle on his chest, they recognized the drowned man as the conqueror of Siberia. It is clear how happy Kuchum was about this, how all his enemies celebrated the death of Ermak! And in Siberia, the news of the leader’s death led the Russians to such despair that they no longer tried to fight Kuchum, they left Siberia to return to their homeland. This happened after the death of Ivan the Terrible.

But Ermak’s case did not die. The path to Siberia was indicated, and the beginning of Russian rule was laid here. After the death of Ivan the Terrible and the death of Ermak, Russian detachments, one after another, followed the path that he indicated, beyond the Stone Belt (Ural) to Siberia; the native semi-wild peoples, one after another, fell under the power of the Russian Tsar and brought him their yasak (tax); Russian villages were established in the new region, cities were built, and little by little the entire north of Asia with its inexhaustible riches went to Russia.

Ermak was not mistaken when he told his companions: “Our memory will not fail in these countries.” The memory of the daredevils who laid the foundation for Russian rule in Siberia lives to this day both here and in their homeland. In their songs, our people still remember the daring Cossack chieftain, who atoned for his guilt before the tsar by conquering Siberia. One song talks about Ermak, how he, having defeated Kuchum, sent to tell the king:

“Oh, you are a goy, Nadezhda Orthodox Tsar!
They didn’t order me to be executed, but they told me to say:
Like me, Ermak, son Timofeevich,
Just like I walked on the blue sea,
What about the blue sea along the Khvalynsky (Caspian),
Just like I broke bead ships...
And now, Nadezhda the Orthodox Tsar,
I bring you a wild little head
And with a wild little head the kingdom of Siberia!”

Local legends about Ermak have also been preserved in Siberia; and in 1839 in the city of Tobolsk, not far from the place where the ancient Isker, or Siberia, was located, a monument was erected to perpetuate the memory of the daring conqueror of this region.