Kamenetskiy Ivan P.,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the Siberian Branch on the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Crimean Tatars serving in Siberia in the 17th Century
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-5-12
The paper collects and summarizes scattered information about the Crimean Tatars, who came in a wide variety of ways to serve in Siberia in the early period of its development. It is shown that some of them voluntarily made “trips” to Moscow, where they were holding fairly high positions in the system of state administration and served in the army, while others were captured during the constant military conflicts between Crimea and Russia. The article gives a general assessment of the reforms carried out in Siberia by the Tobolsk voivode Yu. Suleshev, a native of Crimea; their impact on the subsequent development of the region is noted. It is underlined that in achieving the “sovereign's profit” Suleshev attached particular importance to the yasak matters and compliance with the yasak mode under which the service class people had to act “not by cruelty, but by affection”. Basing on the archival materials analysis, the official activity, financial standing and family ties of another Crimean native, the Tatar head S. Nikitin and his descendants in Kuznetskiy stockaded town were considered. It was established that their “sovereign” service was associated with a constant military threat from non-peaceful nomads and that this fact had contributed to the accelerated incorporation of the Crimean Tatars into the Siberian army. Other representatives of the Crimean Tatar ethnos exiled to Siberia as a result of the Russian war for the Ukraine were also identified among the service class people of Tomsk. The conclusion is made about the successful integration of the Crimean Tatars into the Siberian emerging community, their real participation and contribution to the development of the region being colonized are shown.
Publishing: 31/10/2019
How to cite: Kamenetskiy I.P. Crimean Tatars serving in Siberia in the 17th Century // Historical Courier, 2019, No 5 (7), pp. 156–163. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-5-12.pdf
Links: Issue 5 2019
Keywords: Crimean Tatars; Siberia; reforms of Yu. Suleshev; Yasak; Kuznetskiy stockaded town; “services” of the interpreter S. Nikitin and his descendants