192 THE POLAR WORLD. 



head, and caused him, as chief of the Greek orthodox Church, to exchange his 

 old title of Grand Prince for the more significant and imposing one of Czar. 



His grandson, Ivan Wasiljewitsch II., a cruel but energetic monarch, con- 

 quered Kasan in 1552, and thus completely and permanently overthrew the do- 

 minion of the Tartars. Two years later he subdued Astrakhan, and planted the 

 Greek cross on the borders of the Caspian Sea, where until then only the Cres- 

 cent had been seen. 



In spite of the inhuman cruelty that disgraced his character, and earned for 

 him the name of Terrible, Ivan sought, like his illustrious successor, Peter the 

 Great, to introduce the arts and sciences of Western Europe into his barbarous 

 realm, and to improve the Russian manufactures by encouraging German artists 

 and mechanics to settle in the country. It was in his reign that Chancellor dis- 

 covered the passage from England to the White Sea, and Ivan gladly seized 

 the opportunity thus afforded. Soon after this the port of Archangel was built, 

 and thus a new seat was opened to civilization at the northern extremity of 

 Europe. 



After the conquest of Kasan, several Russians settled in that province ; among 

 others, a merchant of the name of Strogonoff, who established some salt-works 

 on the banks of the Kama, and opened a trade \vith the natives. Among these 

 he noticed some strangers, and having heard that they came from a country 

 ruled by a Tartar Khan, who resided in a capital called Sibir, he sent some of 

 his people into their land. These agents returned with the finest sable skins, 

 which they had purchased for a trifling sum ; and Strogonoff, not so covetous 

 as to wish to keep all the advantage of his discovery to himself, immediately in- 

 formed the Government of the new trade he had opened. He was rewarded 

 with the gift of considerable estates at the confluence of the Kama and Tschin- 

 sova, and his descendants, the Counts Strogonoff, are, as is well known, reckoned 

 among the richest of the Russian nobility. 



Soon after Ivan sent some troops to Siberia, whose prince, Jediger, acknowl- 

 edged his supremacy, and promised to pay him an annual tribute of a thousand 

 sable skins. But this connection was not of long duration, for a few years after 

 Jediger was defeated by another Tartar prince, named Kutchum Khan ; and 

 thus, after Russian influence had taken the first step to establish itself beyond the 

 Ural, it once more became doubtful whether Northern Asia was to be Christian 

 or Mohammedan. The question was soon after decided by a fugitive robber. 



The conquests of Ivan on the Caspian Sea had called into life a considerable 

 trade with Bokhara and Persia, which, however, was greatly disturbed by the 

 depredations of the Don Cossacks, who made it their practice to plunder the 

 caravans. But Ivan, not the man to be trifled with by a horde of freebooters, 

 immediately sent out a body of troops against the Don Cossacks, who, not ven- 

 turing to meet them, sought their safety in flight. At the head of the fugitives, 

 whose number amounted to no less than 6000 men, was Yermak Timodajeff, 

 a man who, like Cortez or Pizarro, was destined to lay a new empire at the feet 

 of his master. But while the troops of the Czar Avere following his track, Yer- 

 mak was not yet dreaming of future conquests ; his only aim" was to escape the 

 executioner ; and he considered himself extremely fortunate when, leaving his 



