The Conquest and Colonisation of Siberia

The Conquest and Colonisation of SiberiaAuthor(s): Anatole V. BaikalovSource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 10, No. 30 (Apr., 1932), pp. 557-571Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202706 .

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THE CONQUEST AND COLONISATION OF SIBERIA.

A FOREIGN traveller who visited Siberia in recent times described the country as " an ocean of land." If we remember that the total land area occupied by Siberia is 5,5I3,000 square miles, we can hardly consider the above definition to be a poetical exaggeration.

In correspondence with the hugeness of the area the natural conditions in Siberia vary considerably. Roughly speaking, the country may be divided into five principal zones.

I. The Tundra, which stretches along the shores of the Arctic Ocean from the northern ramifications of the Ural Mountains to the Behring Sea, is a marshy land covered, during nine or ten months of the year, by snow and ice. In the summer the earth melts for a few inches, forming numberless lakes and moors, which give shelter and provide food for flocks of various water-fowl. Hillocks and knolls are covered by moss, lichen and scanty grass, and by dwarf trees like cedar, birch and larch.

2. The Taiga is the last remnant of the huge forest belt which covered almost the whole of Europe from after the glacial period till recent times. The Taiga stretches from west to east for a distance of 4,600 miles; the breadth of the belt varying from 65o to I,300

miles. The predominant kinds of trees are pine, fir, larch and Si- berian cedar. The ground is covered with moss, grass growing only in the valleys of the numberless rivers and brooks. The Taiga is the home of fur-bearing animals, such as sables, Siberian grey squirrels, hares, foxes, wolves, bears, elk and deer.

3. The Forest-Steppe is a woodland intermixed with large stretches of prairie land. This zone occupies a considerable area in Western Siberia, while east of Lake Baikal the forest belt almost immediately borders on steppe-land or hills. The " forest-steppes" forms the most fertile part of the country and, being very suitable for agriculture, is populated more thickly than any other part.

4. The Steppes occupy an area of some 500 million acres in Western Siberia and about ioo million acres in Eastern Siberia. The northern part of the Siberian steppes is a fertile and well-watered country, while the southern portion, about two-thirds of the total area, is dry and sandy, being in many places actual desert.

5. The Mountain Region in Western Siberia is comparatively speaking small. There is only one district, Altai, which can be called

557



558 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

a hilly country. The main chain of the Altai Mountains, the Katun ridge, reaches a considerable height, equal to that of the Swiss Alps. The highest peak of this ridge, Mt. Belukha, is I4,300 feet above sea-level. Eastern Siberia, beyond the River Yenisey, is a hilly country intersected in various directions by huge mountain chains, such as the Sayany, Yablonovy, Stanovoy, Baikal ranges, and the Kamchatka hills. Geologists maintain that Eastern Siberia is the most ancient land on the surface of our planet: it has not been under water since the end of the Palaeozoic Era.

The number of rivers in Siberia is very large. Like a thick network they spread all over the country, and the basins they irrigate are enormous. That of the Obi is about I,140,000 square miles, the Yenisey I,OOO,OOO square miles, the Lena I,OOO,OOO square miles, and the Amur 900,000 square miles. The longest of the Siberian rivers is the Lena, its length being 3,000 miles. Next comes the Yenisey with 2,600 miles, then the Obi (2,150 miles), and the Amur (2,000 miles).

The Siberian rivers are swift, broad and deep, and abound in fish. Their great disadvantage from the economic point of view is that almost all of them fall into the Arctic Ocean, which can be navigated only during six or seven weeks in the year. On the other hand, their tributaries come so near to each other that it is possible to cross Siberia from west to east almost entirely by using its water- ways. As we shall see later, this greatly facilitated the conquest and colonisation of Siberia by the Russians.

It is commonly presumed that the Siberian climate is very severe. As a matter of fact, owing to the great dimensions of the country the climatic conditions in different parts of Siberia vary considerably. The main features of the climate, common to many districts, are dryness, coldness in winter and heat in summer. The mean temperature in January for the most of Siberia is 20 C. below zero, and in July 20 C. above zero. The cold, owinig to the dryness and stillness of the air, is comparatively easy to bear. On the whole, the Siberian climate is very healthy and invigorating.

One of the principal natural resources of Siberia is her vast forests. As a matter of fact, these forests have hardly yet been touched by man. So far the wood has been used only for satisfying local requirements, and it is only during the last few years that the Soviets have begun to export, in small quantities, Siberian timber to international markets.

The " forest-steppe," with its rich chernozem (black soil) is one of the most fertile parts of our planet. It is calculated that under



THE COLONISATION OF SIBERIA. 559

scientific cultivation it could produce twenty times as much agricultural produce as it at present yields.

The " steppes" present ideal conditions for horse, cattle and sheep breeding, and the Siberian mountains contain enormous deposits of various metals and minerals. According to recent calculations, the known coal deposits in Siberia are estimated at 500 billion tons, and the iron-ore deposits at 40 billion tons. There are huge deposits of copper, zinc, lead and silver, the reserves of which have never yet been properly estimated. As to gold, Siberia is probably the richest country in the world. Gold is found almost everywhere, but especially rich in gold deposits are many localities in Eastern Siberia. Although the working of gold began in Siberia a hundred years ago and the total quantity of gold extracted from Siberian mines is estimated at about 32,000 tons, it must be said that the Siberian gold industry is still in its infancy: the Siberian gold reserves have hardly been touched as yet. Manganese, inica, graphite, salt, and many other metals and minerals, including even radium, are also found in Siberia in large quantities.

The penetration of Russians into Siberia began long before the Cossack chief Yermak, exactly 350 years ago, on 26 October, I58i, after defeating the Tartar hordes of the Siberian Khan Kuchum, entered Isker, the capital of the Siberian kingdom. The name of Siberia is mentioned in the Russian chronicles for the first time in the year I407. While describing the murder of the famous Tartar, Khan Tokhtamysh, the chronicler says that this murder took place "in the Siberian land," near the town of Changa (now Tiumen). Up till that time Siberia was known to the Russians as Ugria.

According to the Novgorod chronicles, the bands of the Nov- gorod " braves " often visited this remote region. These adven- turous men, half-merchants, half-robbers, told wonders about Ugria. They said they had seen for themselves how little sables, squirrels, and foxes fell from the skies, quickly grew up and scattered through the vast forests of the country. The natives, whom the Russians called Ugry, Votyaki and Vogulichi, were not able to resist the well-armed bands of the Novgorod braves, and the raiders brought home large quantities of valuable furs from their expeditions. As furs represented the chief item of the trade which the Republic of Novgorod conducted with the Hansa League, the abundance of furs in Ugria always attracted thither the adven- turous men of Novgorod.

But these expeditions were not always successful. Sometimes the natives banded together and in bloody encounters murdered




the invaders. Registration of such disasters by the Novgorod chroniclers allows us to establish the approximate date of the penetration of Russians into Siberia. The first record of an unsuccessful expedition to Ugria is entered under the year I032.

This date is generally accepted by Russian historians as the earliest evidence of Russian acquaintance with Siberia.

In the I3th century Ugria was already an integral part of the Republic of Novgorod and was included in the list of lands which belonged to the Republic. Its name is mentioned in the agreements which the Republic concluded with its military chiefs, the " princes," whom they hired as leaders of their armed forces. The first instance when the name of Ugria was included in such agreement refers to the year I264.

After the conquest of Novgorod by John III, the Grand Duike of Moscow, Ugria naturallv became one of his possessions. In I465 a military expedition under the voevode VJasily Skryaba was sent thither. This expedition is rather important from the historical point of view; in the record of it many geographical names are mentioned which establish the fact that Ugria comprised parts of purely Siberian territory. According to the chronicle Skryaba penetrated as far as the lower reaches of the Obi.

Military expeditions to Ugria were repeated in I463, I481, and 1483. In 1488 the Grand Duke of Moscow added the words " Prince of Yugria" to his official title. The southern parts of Siberia remained, however, under the power of the Tartar Khans. When in I552-57 the Tartar tsardoms of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by the Tsar John the Terrible, the Siberian Khan Ediger sent an embassy to Moscow to seek the favour of the Russian Tsar. John " graciously consented to accept Siberia under his will and lofty hand " and added the words " Tsar of All Siberia " to his titles.

But Khan Ediger was soon murdered by one of his vassals, the Khan of the Nogais, Kuchum, who stopped paying tribute to the Tsar of Moscow. John the Terrible sent a punitive expedition to Siberia under the voevode Tretyakov. But this expedition ended in disaster; Tretyakov's detachment was exterminated to a man by the Tartars, and Siberia was lost.

What the Tsar, who at that time was engaged in long and difficult war on the western borders of Russia, could not accomplish, was done by the private initiative of the Stroganovs, the rich merchant- industrialists, who possessed vast lands in the district of Perm, on the upper reaches of the Kama. In order to defend their possessions from the raids of warlike Siberian Tartars, the Stroganovs obtained



THE COLONISATION OF SIBERIA. 56I

a charter from the Tsar, under which they were allowed to maintain their own army. In those turbulent times there was no lack of men willing to enlist in such a private army. After the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan the Tsar took strong measures to make safe the important trade route from Persia, Turkestan and India to Europe. This route went via the Caspian Sea to the River Volga, and bands of robbers, chiefly Cossacks from the Don, gathered on the shores of the Volga to rob the rich eastern caravans. One such band, under the chief (" ataman ") Yermak, fleeing from the Moscow troops, reached the Kama and enlisted under the Stroganovs.

Yermak, whose real name was Vasily Timofeyevich Alenin- Povolsky, began his Siberian raid in I578. After careful preparations, in the spring of I58I, with a band of 840 men, among whom were Polish, German and Livonian war prisoners, he undertook the decisive expedition into the interior of Siberia. The Tartars put up a brave resistance to the invaders, but the Cossacks, who had the advantage of firearms, overcame their resistance and, after many sanguinary battles, captured Isker, the capital of Siberia. As soon as the Tsar learned about the conquest of a new kingdom, he sent reinforcements to the battered band of Yermak, and from that time Siberia became an integral part of the Russian State.

The main reason for the annexation of Siberia appears to have been the richness of the country in furs. The conquered natives were made to pay their tribute to the Tsar in furs, and the furs formed a very considerable part of the State revenue at that time. Grigory Kotoshikhin, a State official, who in the reign of the Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich emigrated to Sweden and left a remarkable description of Muscovy in the first half of the 17th century, estimated the total State revenue in the forties of that century at i,6oo,ooo roubles. About one-third of this sum-5oo,ooo roubles-was received from Siberian natives as tribute in furs. It must be noted that foreign trade in the old Muscovy was a State monopoly, and that furs were eagerly sought by European merchants, who paid for them in gold.

During the last fifteen years of the i6th century the Russians firmly established themselves on the northern reaches of the Obi and its tributaries, building there a chain of forts and towns. In the very beginning of the U7th century they reached the valley of the Yenisey, where they found a great abundance of furs. The Yenisey and its tributaries, the lower Tunguska and Angara, presented an easy route for penetration into Eastern and Southern Siberia. In I607 the fort of Turukhansk was built near the estuary of the Lower Tunguska, and in i6I8 the town of Yeniseisk. Ten




years later the Russians took possession of the district situated on the banks of the middle Yenesey, where, in I628, they founded the town of Krasnoyarsk.

From Turukhansk, going up the Lower Tunguska, the Cossacks reached the banks of the Lena and built there the fort of Kirensk. In I632 was founded Yakutsk, which soon became the starting point for many expeditions to the north-eastern districts of Siberia. In I635 a Cossack expedition discovered the estuaries of the Lena, and hence) following along the shore of the Arctic Ocean, they reached the estuaries of the Yana (i638), Indigirka (I640), and Kolyma (I644). In I637-40, going up the Aldan, Maya, and Nyudom, the Cossacks discovered the Sea of Okhotsk.

In I648 the Cossack chief, Erofey Khabarov, following the course of the Olekma (a tributary of the Lena), reached the Amur, on the bank of which he built the town of Albazin, well known in Siberian history for several sieges which it bravely withstood against the Chinese. Approximately at the same time, namely, in I647, another Cossack chief, Semen Dezhnev, starting from the estuaries of the Kolyma, passed round the Chukotsk peninsula, thus discovering the straits between the Continents of Asia and North America. These straits were afterwards called the Behring Straits, after a Danish admiral in the Russian service who visited this part of the world in I725-8.

From Yeniseisk, following the course of the Angara, the Russians penetrated to the upper reaches of the Lena and discovered Lake Baikal, near which, in I654, they built the town of Irkutsk. By the end of the I7th century the Russians reached Kamchatka and founded there the town of Petropavlovsk.

Thus, in a period of I20 years, the Russians conquered the whole of Northern and Eastern Siberia, from the banks of the Obi to Kamchatka. If we remember that the Anglo-Saxons, who established their colonies on the eastern shores of the American continent approximately at the same time when Yermak came to Siberia- the first English colony in America, Virginia, was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in I584-reached the shores of the Pacific only in the middle of the igth century, we shall duly appreciate the audacity and initiative of the Siberian Cossacks.

Of course, the conditions which the Russians found in Siberia were more favourable for the conquest of the country than those which the English settlers met with in America. First of all, the mighty Siberian rivers with their numerous navigable tributaries formed natural roads by which the penetration into the vast Siberian




forests was made comparatively easy. As we mentioned above, the basins of the Siberian rivers come so near to each other that the passage from one basin to the other was not difficult. In this respect the natural conditions in America were not so favourable; its two main basins-the Mississippi and the Great Lakes-have no natural connection or exit to the Pacific Ocean.

The second favourable condition was that the Russians met in Siberia scattered and weak tribes of hunters who were leading a primitive life on a very low level of civilisation. The natives were not able to resist the well-armed and organised bands of Russian Cossacks. As one of the Siberian historians says, " it was a case of firearms against bows and arrows." On the other hand, the American pioneers had to deal with numerous warlike tribes of Red Indians who stubbornly fought the " pale-faced " newcomers.

Nevertheless, the feat performed by the Russian conquerors of Siberia was truly remarkable; they had to suffer great hardships and show an intrepid spirit of adventure in order to conquer this wild and severe country. The history of the early Siberian settlers is full of descriptions of how they perished from every kind of priva- tions, chiefly from the lack of provisions. All the Russian forts and towns were on several occasions besieged by the natives, who often rose in revolt against the heavy tribute and oppression.

The conquest of the southern parts of Western Siberia was, however, more difficult. The Russians had to fight many a hard fight before they subjugated the numerous Mongol tribes who inlhabited the steppes between the Urals and Altai Mountains. It can be said that during the 17th century the Russians were only able to hold what they had seized in the previous century and could not penetrate into the heart of the steppes. Especially dangerous were the Tartar risings of i6o8, when the son of the Khan Kuchum, Ishim, invaded the Russian possessions and devastated the country round Tyumen, and of I628, when the Tartars who lived in the Baraba steppe defeated the Cossacks and invaded the Tara district. The Tartar raids and risings ceased only about i68o.

In the i8th century the Russians began their systematic penetration into the steppes. In order to achieve this they employed the same methods which were employed in European Russia when the Moscow Tsars had to defend their country against the Crimean and Kazan Tartars. Chains of frontier forts were built in which permanent garrisons were stationed. Around these forts were settled Cossacks, who, in exchange for the lands granted to them, were obliged to enlist in the government service at the first summons.




As time went by, ordinary settlers built their huts in the vicinity of the forts, and the surrounding country thus became colonised by the Russians.

In I730-35 was built the Orenburg line of forts, which stretched from the Caspian Sea to the middle of the Urals. This line separated the Bashkirs from the Kirghiz. By I747 had been formed the Irtysh line along the upper reaches of the Irtysh. In 1754 it was joined by the Ishim line, and in I773 by the lines of Novokuznetsk and Bukhtarma.

These forts served for offensive as well as defensive operations. Many expeditions were sent from them into the steppes. These expeditions, partly by negotiations, partly by force, urged the nomads to recognise the supreme power of the " White Tsar." The merchants and traders followed the military expeditions, established trade relations with the wild tribes of Kirghiz and Kalmyks, thus bringing cultural influence into the steppes. Gradually the nomads submitted and became accustomed to the Russian rule. The final occupation of Siberia and of Central Asia took place in the second half of the Igth century; the last military expedition was carried out in I885, when the Merv Oasis on the Persian frontier was annexed.

In I858 was concluded the Treaty of Aygun with China. By this treaty the lands situated along the left bank of the Amur were annexed, and in i86o Count Ignatyev, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, by successful negotiations with the Chinese, managed to include in the Russian possessions the Ussuri district, where the port of Vladivostok was constructed. In the beginning of this century, after the Boxer rising, the Russian Government forced the Chinese to lease to it Northern and Southern Manchuria. However, the unsuccessful war with Japan in I904-5 put an end to further penetration of the Russians into the Far East.

Such is a short sketch of the conquest of Siberia. We must now turn our attention to the question how this huge country has been colonised by the Russians and her enormous riches opened up for the benefit of the world.

The first Siberian settlers were naturally those Cossacks and soldiers who conquered the country. It was usual in those early days that the voevodes, when they were ordered by the Government to proceed to Siberia, recruited bands partly among the members of the military class and partly among the so-called " free-men" or volunteers. Sometimes the Government ordered groups of Cossacks to go to Siberia for military service. The men recruited for this service received salaries in money and in kind; but as the




salaries were small and as it was very difficult to transport grain and victuals from European Russia to remote places in Siberia, the settlers were obliged to plough some land around the forts and settlements which they built. The main task of the military settlers being, however, not colonisation, but the occupation of the country, they could not make good and permanent colonists. They founded forts and towns, subjugated local native tribes, collected tribute from them, and generally established the Russian rule over the country. As we have already seen, during the first hundred years military bands were always " on the move." Until the country had been firmly occupied and the natives finally subjected, the Cossacks and soldiers could not settle as permanent colonists.

The second group of settlers who went to Siberia under government instigation were the peasants, " plough men," as they were then called. They were sent to this far away country in order to provide the military detachments with food supplies. As we have mentioned, the transport of grain from European Russia was costly and irregular, and it was more expedient to have grain, the staple food of the Russians, grown on the spot. These " plough men " were also either recruited from volunteers or sent at orders from the authorities for the " Tsar's service " in Siberia. They were freed from taxes for three years and given assistance during their journey to their new homes. After the colonists had settled in, they were made to surrender a certain portion-usually one-fifth-of their harvest to the government authorities. It must be added that the nuimber of voluntary settlers was very small.

Far the greater number of the original settlers in Siberia was recruited from the so-called " roving men " (gulyashchie lyudi). They were peasants who had fled from their masters, and also thieves, robbers and criminals who found a safe refuge in the Siberian wilder- ness from the long arm of the law. It must be remembered that the conquest of Siberia coincided with the tying up of the hitherto free Russian peasants to the land on which they lived, or, in other words, with the introduction of the social system known as " serfdonm." The landowners-pomeshchiki-received unrestricted power over their serfs; they could take them into their houses for personal service, transport them to their lands in other parts of the country, sell them together with their families or separately. According to a law made in the middle of the i6th century, the landowner, if he murdered his serf, could not be brought to justice for this crime.

The hardships which serfdom inflicted on the peasants were so severe that many of them left their homes and fled to Ukraine, to




the Don Cossacks and to Siberia, where they hoped to find better conditions of life. The Government, and especially the local Siberian authorities who were interested in bringing agricultural settlers to these vast lands, at first looked rather sympathetically on this influx of " roving men," and in many instances even encouraged it. Later on, in the last quarter of the 17th century, when the population in the central Russian provinces had diminished to an alarming extent -according to Russian historians the peasant population in the central districts in I690 was about 20 per cent. of the number living there in I650--measures were taken to prevent the peasants from fleeing to Siberia, and strict orders were issued to the Siberian authorities " to seek the fugitives and return them to their lawful masters." All these orders remained, however, on paper; the vast dimensions of the country, the complete absence of communications and the scarcity of population afforded many chances to the " roving men" to escape the vigilant eye of the authorities.

Even at the present time there are places in Siberia where people live without the authorities having any knowledge of their existence. Only two years ago the Soviet papers reported the " discovery'" of a community of 500 persons in North-Eastern Siberia. These people had lived for many years without any communication with the outside world; they knew nothing about the Great War or about the Bolshevist Revolution. It is easy to imagine therefore that three hundred years ago people had much more chance of settling in remote out-of-the-way places where the Government officials could not find them.

The third group of early Siberian settlers was composed of the exiles. The first exiles were sent to Siberia as far back as I593.

They were the citizens of the town of Uglich, who had taken part in the riots which had occurred there after the murder of the Tsare- vich Dmitry, the youngest son of John the Terrible, in I59I.1 To- gether with them the church bell which had sounded the tocsin during the riot, was also sent to Siberia. Its ear was cut off and it was made to serve a punishment: it was used for striking the hours. This bell, as the Siberian historian Slovtsev remarks, " was the first immortal Siberian exile; it became the symbol of the future destinies of Siberia."

1 Historians have never ceased to debate what really happened in Uglich on this occasion. The more generally accepted view is that the young Prince Dmitry was murdered, that the townsmen rose to lynch the murderers, but that a government commission declared that the boy's death was an accident and punished the townsmen in the way described here, which is certain. The prince was subsequently personated successively by several pretenders to the throne, one of whom actually succeeded in mounting it.-ED.




At first only political offenders were sent to Siberia. But in I669 an ukaz was published according to which some crimes punish- able hitherto by imprisonment were to be punished by exile to Siberia for life. Later on, prisoners taken by the Russians in wars with Poland and Crimea were also sent to Siberia. Many of them remained there till death. Peter the Great, for instance, exiled many of his " teachers" in the military art, the Swedes, to Siberia, and in order to make them stay there ordered the Russians, under threat of severe punishment, to give their daughters and sisters as wives to the exiled Swedes.

It is not to be imagined that the lot of the exiles in the I7th century was too hard. On the contrary, the exiles enjoyed full freedom, and some of them occupied government posts of considerable importance or served as volunteers in the government troops. They also took part in private expeditions or settled on the land and became " plough men."

From the reign of Peter the Great, however, the conditions changed for the worse. The mineral resources of the country began to be worked, and owing to the lack of free workmen, the labour of exiles was employed in the mining industry. Several katorgas were organised in the Urals and in Siberia (prisons with compulsory labour for prisoners). These katorgas were attached to the mines and metal works which belonged to the State.

In I754 the Empress Elisabeth abolished the death penalty for criminal offences. The criminals were sent instead to Siberia, either for compulsory work in the mines or for permanent settlement. In I760 this legislation was supplemented by another ukaz according to which landowners were given the right to deport their serfs to Siberia at their pleasure. This ukaz greatly augmented the number of exiles, because it provided channels for getting rid of rebellious or lazy serfs. Besides, the landowners utilised this ukaz to deport those peasants who fell under their masters' displeasure. How large was the number of exiles of this category may be judged from the fact that in I77I 6,ooo such persons were settled in Siberia, and over 4,000 were on their way from European Russia. Besides, many of the exiles perished from starvation, disease and privation. As the official report says: " Out of the exiles sent from Moscow and Kaluga only one-fourth part reaches the destination, and even these are all suffering from grave illness."

It must not therefore be supposed that only desperate criminals, habitual thieves, robbers and murderers were exiled to Siberia. On the contrary, the majority of exiles belonged to a good and




industrious class of people; after the split in the Russian Orthodox Church in i666, many religious sectarians were sent there, then the streltsy (the regular soldiers of the old army who, under the rule of Natalia Alexeyevna and her son Peter the Great often rebelled against the Government). There were also war prisoners, Cossacks from Ukraine and the Don, and the peasants whom their owners deported.

Owing to the absence of regular and reliable statistics it is very difficult to ascertain the exact number of the Russian population in Siberia in the I7th and i8th centuries, and the figures we give below are to be taken as only approximate. According to these figures, the male Russian population in I709, that is, I25 years after the conquest of Siberia, was I52,788; in I783 the total number of both sexes reached the figure I,059,850. Generally speaking, in the I7th century the Siberian population increased mainly through the influx of " roving men," while in the i8th century the increase was chiefly due to the wide practice of deportation.

Colonisation of Siberia in the first half of the Igth century proceeded along the same lines; the largest portion of the new settlers was still recruited from the exiles. But at the same time the Government began to realise that something must be done to improve the economic and cultural conditions in that vast and rich country. In i8o8 was passed a law wlhich attempted to regulate colonisation and legalise the settlement of so-called"'' State peasants," that is, peasants who lived on the State lands and were free from the bondage of serfdom. The Siberian authorities were ordered to grant good arable lands to those peasants who came to Siberia with the intention of settling there; the settlers were given subsidies in money and in kind, and also freed from all taxes and military service for a period of five years. But this law remained on paper, inasmuch as the State peasants did not experience such hardships as the serfs and, consequently, did not want to go to a far-away country. On the other hand, the Siberian authorities treated voluntary settlers exactly in the same manner as they treated criminal exiles, thus hardly making the colonists' lot one to be envied.

In I83I the Government ordered a general land survey in Siberia, to ascertain the reserves of land suitable for agricultural purposes and for colonisation. Further legislation in regard to colonisation of Siberia was passed in i842. This law regulated the conditions under which the State peasants could emigrate to Siberia, and granted some facilities and privileges for the settlers. These regulations remained in force till I889. But all these laws failed to produce




favourable results. The number of settlers who emigrated to Siberia with permission and under the auspices of the Government was rather small: between I823 and i85I only I9,503 persons of male sex were settled in the province of Tobolsk. The number of compulsory immigrants-the exiles-was far greater. According to the official statistics, between I823 and I863 356,ooo persons were sentenced by the criminal courts to exile in Siberia.

The exiles, however, made very poor settlers. Many of them had no inclination for agriculture and preferred to wander from one place to another, begging or stealing their food and clothing; very few of them had enough money for purchasing cattle and agricultural machinery; the Siberian peasants were rather reluctant to give their girls and women as wives to the exiles. The Govern- ment tried to found so-called " State settlements " for the exiles, and granted money for the establishment of such settlements. But all these settlements proved to be complete failures; the exiles did not want to live in them and fled from them almost as soon as they were brought there. At the same time the Government forbade voluntary emigration to Siberia. Even " State peasants," if they went to Siberia without permission from the Government authorities, were prosecuted and no land was given to them. Serfs, of course, if they fled from their masters, were treated like criminals.

Nevertheless, the unauthorised emigration from European Russia to Siberia continued, and the Siberian authorities were often surprised to find villages and settlements in places which they thought to have been uninhabited. According to some data, the number of peasants who settled in Siberia between I83I and i866 was 320,000. This figure must be considered, however, as an under- estimate of the unauthorised immigration.

The " Great Reform" of i86i, which liberated the serfs from personal bondage, brought about almost complete prohibition of emigration to Siberia. The landowners, deprived of the right to own and exploit their serfs, wanted them, nevertheless, to stay in their native villages. Two arguments were advanced against granting the peasants the right to emigrate to other districts of the Russian Empire : (i) if the peasants left their homes, the landowners would be unable to lease their lands at a good profit; and (2) there would be a shortage of the cheap agricultural labour necessary for the cultivation of landowners' estates. These arguments were accepted by the Govemment, and a series of laws were passed in i86i-66 by which not only the former serfs, but even the State

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peasants, were prevented from emigrating to the free lands of Siberia and to other sparsely populated provinces of the Empire.

But the impossibility of earning a living on the small parcels of land which the peasants received in accordance with the law of I9 February, i86I, made them seek better conditions elsewhere, and the unauthorised emigration to the eastern provinces of Euro- pean Russia and to Siberia began gradually to grow in volume and in strength. The Government did everything to check this move- ment and refused facilities and assistance to the emigrants. Yet, in spite of this, the peasants went to Siberia and occupied free land there, and the Government had to pass laws post factum sanctioning this unauthorised occupation.

In i88i were issued " temporary Regulations " in respect of emigration which gave more facilities for peasants who wanted to settle in Siberia. These regulations provided for medical and other aid to the settlers on their way to Siberia, for the establishment of information bureaux where intending immigrants could receive the necessary data about places to which they wanted to go. In I889 they were embodied in a special law which remained in force, with some alterations and additions, up till the Revolution of I9I7.

According to this law, anyone who wanted to go to Siberia with the intention of settling there, had to obtain a special permit from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry had the right to with- hold such permission if it thought that the reasons given in the appli- cation were not satisfactory. The Ministry of State Domains was instructed to make a general survey of free State lands in Siberia and to form colonies, which were to be allotted to settlers on the same conditions on which the State lands were given to the peasants in European Russia, that is, without the right to dispose of these lands. The settlers were entitled to receive government grants for the purchase of horses, cattle, implements, and seeds, and they were freed from the land tax and some other taxes for a number of years.

During the first years of the functioning of this law the Govern- ment was rather conservative in issuing permission to intending settlers. However, conditions changed when, in I892, the Govern- ment decided upon the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Colonisation of Siberia then received a great impetus; firstly, because the Government became alive to the fact that the railway could work profitably only when the adjoining country had a sufficient population, and secondly because the railway greatly facilitated the transport of large numbers of settlers and their property. The changes which the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway



THE COLONISATION OF SIBERIA. 57I

brought about in Siberia are, however, too large a subject to be dealt with in this article, which aims only at a very brief outline of the cultural history of Siberia. We shall therefore leave the latest developments in this vast country till another occasion.

As has already been mentioned, the Government during the first twenty years following the Reform of i86i put every imaginable obstacle in the way of emigration to Siberia. According to Yadrintsev, who, in his book, Siberia as a Colony, investigated the question of Siberian colonisation very thoroughly, during this period the annual number of settlers never exceeded i,ooo, and in I874-78 the emigration had stopped altogether. Only from the beginning of the eighties did the number of colonists begin to increase. In i88i, according to official statistics, the number of settlers was 36,ooo, in I882, 32,000, increasing in each consecutive year and reaching the figure of 200,000 in I896. It is calculated that during the period I880-I897 about 950,000 persons migrated from European Russia to Siberia and settled there.

During the whole of the igth century the exile system continued to function. The total number of exiles who were deported to Siberia between I807 and I899 is estimated at 864,000. Only in the beginning of the present century was exile to Siberia for criminal offences abolished. Political offenders continued, however, to be sent to Siberia, either for periods of three to five years or for life.

According to the census of I897 the total population of Siberia (except Kamchatka and Sakhalin) was 8,I84,400, thus having increased over seven times in one century.

The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway opened a new chapter in the history of Siberia. The economic and cultural de- velopment of the country went forward by leaps and bounds and the future of Siberia presented itself in rosy colours. Unfortunately, this process was interrupted by the Great War and the Bolshevist Revolution. But these times will pass, and Siberia, which has already made her first steps on the path of economic and cultural progress, could soon recover and fulfil the prophecies made by many foreign observers who were able to travel through her great spaces and study her natural conditions. With her practically untouched and almost inexhaustible natural riches, Siberia is truly " a land of promise," as the late Dr. Fritjof Nansen, who visited Siberia in I9I3, has called her.

ANATOLE V. BAIKALOV.

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Documents

The Conquest and Colonisation of Siberia