b SIHKklA. 



Only from the oml of (lie .M!vciitr..|iili (•.•ntmy wlieii the Ijuiiii'lariu- ul hiU-ria in itie 

 lar^'o soiiMi 1)1' lln; term wort! alrnmly imlicatcMl iikuo or les.s by the points of ilefeiise, could the 

 aclnal ponnancnl cdloni/atiiMi \irf\])'r,u>A; the Govcnirncnt hositles buililiiif( cities and yamas, or 

 postin;,? .slatimis, .strove Id cnMlo a dans of peasant artisans aii<i io spread corn growing. With 

 tills ohjcct, hy eoinniaml of Ihe Tsar J-'eodctr Ahjxeovich, volunteer ploufilinien were sent 

 Intiii Solvy('liej,'fH|sk ami oilier (owns of Ihe J'ernila (d' that lime, wh<» received besides every 

 kind of privil(';,'e, aKiieiilliiral iinplenienis and assislaiiee in money. The road of the first 

 setllemenis lay by Ihe rivers Tnra, Tavda, Tohol,' Irlysh, Ohi and Iheir tributaries. The enii- 

 f.'ninls cnt into tlie very heart of Ihe native popnialion; the Chuilic tribes Ihnisl back in Ihe 

 lilii'iiiih eeiiliiiy liv the Tiiiiks pe(i|ilc, themselves pi'csseil i'orwai'd by the Moiit.'oliaii movement 

 and known by the ^a'lieral name of 'J'artars, lemained in Iheir j)laees. fVoni the sonlli the greater 

 part of the Tartars had wandered away fiirthor into the dopllis (d' Ihe steppes, while the Oslyak 

 and Samoye<l tribes wei'c moved back to the north and east. 



The Government had to concern itself with llie provisioning of the people it had settled, 

 who reipdred to be supplied with everything. Grain was imported from Perm, Viatka and Solvycln- 

 godsk. In consequence of the bad roads the furnishing of provisions was delayed, and hence Govern- 

 menl servants siineiv(l terrible want. The niercliaiits oceuiiieil themselves with the furnishing of the 

 colonists with gootls. But trade relations of the new country with its metropolis Moscow \vere very 

 diilirult and were oifected but once a year. Corannnncations were accomplished by means of 

 the rivers. Tlit^ wares were transported on barges or plank levats. The Siberian sledges called 

 <^narta» were dragged over the portages by men. The merchants sometimes took up winter 

 quarters on their way. The method of trading was slow and therefore only a few dealers 

 penetrated into Siberia, but having reached there, from the absence of competition, became at 

 ouc(! monopolists. 



The spread of agriculture and the establishment of fixed settlements within the limits 

 of the new country were supported by the sending out of ploughmen, post drivers, and with 

 them girls to be married'to the Cossacks, and also by the alleviation of the burdens imposeil 

 by the vucvodes. By the care of the Government the growing of grain was spread not 

 only among the Russian population but among the Tartars and Yoguls of the present 

 Tinmen and Turinsk districts. The agricultural population having dotted the country with 

 villages forined the chief foundation (d" roldui/ation in the east. It may be said that the true 

 foundation of life in the region was laid when the conqueror's lirst grain of corn fell into the 

 soil of the conquered countries. 



Beginning with the end of the seventeenth centuiy, this permanent colonization obtained 

 iu the eighteenth a more regular form. The Government, settling the unoccupied spots, 

 at the same time took care to secure thom from the raids of the nomads, who had been driven 

 back into the steppe regions of 'Central Asia, and which were so frequent and so destructive to the 

 young colonies. Such raids indeed arrested the development of agi'icultural settlements in Siberia 

 and Zavolzhia not only in the end of the seventeenth but also in the lirst half of the eight- 

 eenth century. To protect the colonization as yet not firmly established, the fortresses of 

 Omsk, Yamyshevsk and Petropavlovsk were built, as well as among others the towns of Biysk, 

 Semipalatinsk and L'st-Kamenogorsk. 



