Yermak Timofeyevitch (towards 1540 - 1585), Cossack of the Gift and one of the first Russians to explore the Western Siberia, made it possible Ivan the Terrible to begin the conquest of this area and to move back the border of Russia of the the Ural to the Irtych.

Origins

His/her grandfather, Afanassi Alémine, fled in the destitution the town of Souzdal to take refuge in the forests of the the higher Volga where he became brigand. His/her father, Tomofeï, undertake the same career and Vassili follows its traces by taking the name of Yermak .

In 1570, the soldiers of the tsar purge banks of the Volga of its robbers because their plunderings harm the economy of the area. Constrained to flee, Yermak goes back to north, in the area of Perm, where it puts at the service Stroganov.

This family, which built her fortune on the trade of salt and the furs, is with the head of the most powerful commercial empire of Russia and it is it which precisely feeds Moscow out of salt and furs. Ivan IV had authorized Stroganov to cultivate the virgin lands of the east, to arrange establishments and with raising a private army which could protect them. In 1572, same Ivan proposes to them to engage of the Cossacks charged to defend them against the incursions of the Tatars of Siberia. It is in this context that Yermak is engaged to take part in the guard of the Eastern border, in extreme cases western of the Ural.

Yermak in Siberia

In 1575, Stroganov request of the tsar the permission to send punitive forwardings in Western Siberia in order to prevent the attacks tatares. Ivan grants to them the authorization of guerroyer against the Eastern tribes, in general, and against Chaybanide Koutchoulou, khan of Siberia, in particular. It is with Yermak , recognized for its courage and its spirit of decision, that Stroganov entrust the head of forwarding. This one organizes its voyage carefully. Between 1577 and 1580, it unifies the bands cossacks which it engaged and which end up recognizing it as single and uncontested chief. September 1st 1581, Yermak leaves Perm with 640 Cossacks and 200 men whom entrusted to him Stroganov. They are armed with arquebuses, spades, sabers and daggers. It is about a true miniature army, and Yermak is assisted by five atamans, of the notorious gangsters who fled the justice of the tsar.

By the Kama and its affluents, Yermak and its men are inserted in the Ural Mountains. It is around the Toura that they reach the borders of Western Siberia. They push back a first attack tatare easily and spend the winter to Yepancha, close to the current town of Tioumen.

At the summer 1582, Yermak and its Cossacks descend Toura and the Tobol then, with the autumn, seize Sibir, capital of the Khanat of Siberia, that Koutchoulou is obliged to flee. Sibir is located on the current site of Tobolsk, with the confluence of Tobol, the Ob and the Irtych. It is there that it spends the winter. Several regional tribes, whose Khantys (Ostiaks), prefer to pay him tribute than with the khan rather.

The winter is hard for the troop cossack and the attacks tatares are done increasingly persistent. Yermak sends the ataman Ivan Koltso towards the west to require of the assistance. In Perm, Stroganov prefer to direct it towards Moscow where it is received by the tsar. Initially skeptic, Ivan IV is surprisingly surprised brought back richnesses of Siberia. It orders from Koltso to turn over to Sibir by promising assistance and assistance. Yermak thus manages to push back the troops of Koutchoulou.

At the summer 1583, it organizes a new forwarding along Irtych in order to subject to it of another tribes. It also progresses along Ob. To the end of the year, its dominatuion extends to 400 kilometers in north from Sibir.

The death of Yermak

In spring 1584, a general insurrection of the Siberian tribes bursts, carried out by one their chiefs named Karatcha. Ivan Koltso and 40 Cossacks fall into a ambush and are cut the throat of. Karatcha is finally overcome by Yermak , but it does not remain any more with this one but 150 men to maintain the order.

In August 1585, Koutchoulou, which wants to be avenged for its defeats passed, makes spread the rumor that a caravan of Bukhara reached Irtych. Yermak , from which one of the missions is to protect trade route from Siberia, takes along with him 50 Cossacks and goes up the river in order to be used as escort to the merchants. As it does not find anything, it decides to await them and makes build a camp on an island of Irtych. Koutchoulou and its men benefit from it to encircle it and attack it. Yermak tries to flee while crossing the river but drowns.

Thereafter, Koutchoulou succeeds in taking again Sibir but for little time. In 1586, they are the soldiers of the tsar who penetrate in Siberia and who undertake the conquest of the area. The same year, they found Tioumen and, the following year, reconquer Sibir which becomes Tobolsk. Koutchoulou must flee. It is the final end of the khanat of Siberia.

For the Russians, Yermak became a legend, the symbol of the new Western capacity on the Siberian ones. He is the explorer and the conqueror having opened the way towards the east.

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