A funny nickname among the colonizers of Siberia is pioneers. How can one “traverse for the first time” lands that have long been inhabited by people with a developed and distinctive culture? It seems that Russian historiography never considered the indigenous nations of the North to be people, because judging by the term “pioneers,” the first people to visit the Far North were subjects of the Tsar of Muscovy. Although, rather, they were called pioneers, when composing the history of the Russian State, this name was given a more politically correct look. Yuri Garmatniy writes about the struggle of the Sakha (Yakut) people against Russian colonialists in his blog. According to the author, the advance of the Muscovite kingdom to Siberia was by no means a mission of civilizers, and certainly not an expedition of people tormented by a thirst for knowledge of unknown lands. “Tanal greed drove the pioneers to the harsh northern region. By imposing racketeering on the conquered nations, the adventurers-colonialists cut the loot for themselves and their father-tsar. By the beginning of the 17th century, these servants of the sovereign came to the banks of the Yenisei. It was there, in 1619, in the Yenisei fort that the Tungus Prince Iltik told the serving Moscow people about the Yakuts: they say that far in the East there is a huge river, and on it “large ships sail and there are great bells on them, they often hear them ringing, and they fire from cannons from those large ships.” In the early XVII centuries, the first expedition to the Lena River took place under the leadership of the industrialist Pantelei Penda. He left the first written description of those places, which became a “road map” for subsequent conquest,” the article says. The author reports on the way of life of the Yakuts before the appearance of the Moscow colonialists, which can only be judged based on the surviving oral traditions of these people. “The hero of most of the legends relating to the era that interests us was Tygyn – the toyon (head) of the Khangalas tribe who lived on the Tuymaada plain on the left bank of the Lena (now here is the city of Yakutsk). Tygyn owned huge herds of cattle and had many warriors, thanks to whom he became a very influential person among all the Yakut clans. Judging by the available data, Yakutia was on the verge of creating a unified state, to which the centralization of Toyon Tygyn made great efforts. True, by the time of the Moscow invasion of the Khangalas lands, Tygyn was already at a very advanced age. Perhaps that is why the best shoemakers “The “explorers” initially did not receive a harsh rebuff. Different versions of legends tell of Tygyn’s different fate: either he died of old age or was killed, or died in captivity in Moscow,” the author writes. According to him, the Yakuts of the 17th century were pastoralists who specialized in breeding cows and horses. During the cold season, people lived in villages with warm houses for themselves and winter huts for livestock. In the summer, these villages were empty: the herds were driven to summer pastures, where people had other homes.
“The Sakha people had developed metallurgy, which made it possible to equip warriors with iron armour, kylys (swords with one-sided sharpening), and spears with metal tips. For fighting at distant approaches, they used composite bows, the combat range of which exceeded a hundred meters,” the article says.
First meeting with the invaders
Yakut legends preserved memories of the first meeting with the then-not-yet “green” men from the Muscovite kingdom. We are probably talking about Penda’s group, which appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into nowhere.
“In 1629, following in the footsteps of Penda, a new group of yasak seekers from Muscovy, under the leadership of Anton Dobrynsky, set off. They reached the Vilyui and Lena rivers, as well as the mouths of the Aldan. Along the way, they robbed weapons from everyone who was inferior to them. There are historical records of similar bandit raids who entered with the hard hand of Russian historians under the name “bringing under the sovereign’s hand and collecting yasak.” But as you know, Russian words were created to hide the meaning,” writes Garmatniy.
However, according to him, the Yakuts, Evens and Dolgans did not greet the colonialists with bouquets of northern flowers and certainly did not reward the invaders with sable magpies: Dobrynsky’s expedition provided more written reports than the soft junk (furs of valuable species of fur-bearing animals) so necessary for the Moscow Tsar.
“But the thirst for enrichment pushed the greedy Muscovites to new conquests. The robbery of the indigenous nations of the North – yasak, became one of the main sources of filling the Moscow treasury. Therefore, in 1631, a new conquest expedition led by the otaman of the Yenisei Cossacks Ivan Galkin followed. Five native “princes”: Sergu, Burukha, Izhil, Semyon, Noguy. Having robbed (“explained”) them, Galkin went down the Lena to the Aldan River. Here he showed the local population all the delights of the “Russian world”: the men were exterminated, and the “wives and they took their children in full.” At the same time, another “explorer” Pyotr Beketov acted no less harshly. Having suppressed the resistance of local residents, he built the Lensky fort. Taking the “Yakut people” by surprise, he reported on the “voluntary annexation of lands of 31 princes” in Central Yakutia. A weighty argument for “voluntary” submission was the burning of several Yakut villages by Beketov with the destruction of about 90 people,” the text of the article says.
According to the author, the death of so many people is not a trifle act. In the yasak books of the Moscow occupiers for 1641, there are only 35 people of the Khangalas tribe paying taxes to the Moscow aggressors; in 1648 – 111 yasakopayers; in 1656 – 328; in 1662 – 545; 1700 – 738; 1708 – 837 (Materials on the history of Yakutia in the 17th century (Documents of Yasak collection) in 3 parts. M., 1970, tab.).
“Yasak payers were men aged 16 years and older. The payment amount was one sable skin from two cows that were in the possession of a foreigner. Let us remember that hunting sable requires special hunting skill, and even the most experienced hunter is not able to “get more than 5-6 animal skins per season. Because the Yakuts were not hunters, but cattle breeders, one can imagine how painful the royal yoke was for them,” the author notes.
Waking up from the first shock…
It is not surprising, the author writes, that having woken up from the first shock caused by the impudence of the “high-spirited bond-bearers,” the Yakuts rose up to fight the oppressors.
“Already in 1631, the Yakuts laid siege to the Dobrynsky fort (somewhere at the mouth of the Vilyuy, the exact location is unknown). The invaders fled with sad feelings because they were unable to squeeze out the tribute. In 1632, the freedom fighters of Yakutia, led by the sons of Tygyn, gathered a detachment of a thousand horsemen, they recaptured the stolen yasak from racketeers from Ivashka Galkin’s group. Fleeing from justified anger, Galkin and his accomplices locked themselves in the Lena prison, from where Pyotr Beketov and his henchmen were already running away, sparkling in their heels. The siege of the colonialists lasted two months. Famine began in the prison. It seemed that victory was close. But strife began in the Yakut camp. We had to lift the siege and retreat,” the author writes.
According to him, the Yakuts retreated but did not stop fighting. “Having gathered new detachments of fighters (up to 600 people), Otkurai and Bozek (sons of Tygyn), together with the leaders Ortuy, Kamyk and Ulty, again besieged the Lena fort in 1636. Again, the better-armed invaders managed not only to resist but also to counterattack the rebels. It should be taken into account, that the Borogon tribe led by Legoy not only did not support the liberation movement but also collaborated with the enslavers. After the suppression of the uprising, calm reigned for several years. The opposing sides were preparing for new battles. In 1641, reinforcements for the invaders arrived in the Yakutsk fort from Tobolsk: 400 thugs with 7 cannons and 10 arquebuses,” writes the blog author. The article reports that at the end of February 1642, the majority of Yakut clans rose up to fight the colonialists. “They manage to clear their land of racketeer groups in a short time, who called themselves “collectors of yasak for the sovereign’s treasury.” But not all toyons longed for freedom. Influential Legoy (ulus of the Borogonians) and Mymak (ulus of the Namtsy) did not support the rebels. Thanks to this, the new governor, Pyotr Golovin, managed to suppress the uprising of the Yakuts. A brutal reprisal began against the leaders of the liberation struggle. Bedzheke, Challai, Usun Oyuun (sons of Tygin) and 20 other leaders of the uprising were executed. In addition, many others were tortured to death and then hanged on display, and dead bodies were used as intimidation,” writes the author. According to him, the predatory policies of the colonialists aroused indignation even among the Toyons who did not support the liberation struggle.
“Already in 1646, the Nam toyon Mymak, with the support of other Yakut clans, destroyed the “children of the boyars, otaman, and service people” who carried out the yasak census. The Yakut detachments began an attack on the Yakut fort, but for unknown reasons stopped two miles from it, and soon scattered in their uluses. In 1654, the Yakuts attacked the Ust-Vilyui winter quarters of Moscow service people. In 1675, the toyon of the Yarkansk volost Timirev drove yasak collectors from their lands,” the article says.
The author notes that by the beginning of the 80s of the 17th century, the Khangalas Yakuts were finally driven out of their ancestral lands in the Tuymaada valley.
“Voivode Priklonsky launched the construction of the city and fortress of Yakutsk on these lands. The Khangalasians made a last attempt to resist the invaders. In 1682, Toyon Dzhennik and his soldiers made several unsuccessful attempts to take control of Yakutsk. On September 27, Voivode Priklonsky inflicted a crushing counterblow on the rebels. The Yakut militia was defeated by a professional army in the Moscow kingdom. Captured Yakuts were subjected to cruel torture and executions. Dzhennik himself was wounded and captured. In Yakutsk, he was killed in a dungeon: his skin, while still alive, was torn off. Later, the executioners wrapped Dzhennik’s newborn child in this skin. This procedure was performed in the eyes of the child’s mother, who was then pulled up on the rack for greater effect (Dioneo. In the extreme northeast of Siberia. St. Petersburg, 1895. – pp. 231-232),” writes the author.
He recalls that in 1684 the last armed uprising of the once-free people took place: “The Toyon of the Batulin Yakuts, Oryukan Sekuev, defeated the detachments of yasak collectors and retreated with his people to China.”
Collective image
Significantly, Yakut legends have not preserved a single name of freedom fighters, except for Tygyn Darkhan. This image became a symbol of the national liberation movement, incorporating the memory of the exploits of all freedom fighters: Tygyn himself, his sons, Dzhennik, and many others,” the author noted.
Exploitation of Tygyn’s image by careerists
According to the author, during the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Nikolaev, a nomenclature communist official, to increase his political popularity, began to speculate on the age-old aspirations of the Yakut people for freedom and independence: he proclaims a course toward the sovereignty of the Republic of Sakha, patronizes the publication of books about Tygyn, even opens Yakutsk four-star hotel “Tygyn Darkhan”. But…
“He did not become a fighter for the freedom of enslaved Yakutia. Nikolaev converted the dreams of independence of the Sakha people into high-ranking positions as an official in the colonial administration,” the author writes.
At the same time, according to the author, the political speculations of the former communist and now United Russia member Nikolaev around the image of the leader of the national liberation movement Tygyn indicate that the Yakut people still have a strong desire to live a full-blooded national life in their independent state.
TURAN today.com
