SIBERIA, a very large country of Asia, extending along all the northern part of the continent from the northern confines of Tartary quite to the Frozen Sea.
At what time this country was first inhabited, or by whom it was peopled, we are entirely ignorant. The Russians, from whom we have received our knowledge, knew nothing of it before the middle of the 16th century. In the reign of John Basilowitz I. indeed, an incursion had been made into Siberia, and some Tartar tribes subdued: but these conquests were not permanent; and we hear of no further communication between Russia and Siberia till the time of John Basilowitz II. It was opened again at that time by means of one Anika Strogonoff, a Russian merchant who had established some salt-works at a town in the government of Archangel. This man carried on a trade with the inhabitants of the north-west parts of Siberia, who brought every year to the town above-mentioned, large quantities of the finest furs. Thus he acquired a very considerable fortune in a short time; when at last the czar, perceiving the advantages which would accrue to his subjects from having a regular intercourse with Siberia, determined to enlarge the communication which was already opened. With this view he sent into Siberia a body of troops, who crossed the Yugorian mountains which form part of the north-eastern boundary of Europe. They seem, however, not to have passed the Irtish, or to have penetrated further than the western branch of the river Oby. Some Tartar tribes were laid under contribution, and a chief named Yediger contented to pay an annual tribute of a thousand fables. But this produced no lasting advantage to Russia; for, soon after, Yediger
was defeated and taken prisoner by Kutchum Khan, a descendant of the Great Jenghiz Khan: and thus the allegiance of this country to Russia was dissolved.
For some time we hear of no further attempts made by the Russians on Siberia; but in 1577 the foundation of a permanent conquest was laid by one Yermac Temoseff, a Cossack of the Don. This man was at first the head of a party of banditti who infested the Russians in the province of Casan; but being defeated by the troops of the czar, he retired with 6000 of his followers into the interior parts of that province. Continuing his course still eastward, he came to Orel, the most easterly of all the Russian settlements. Here he took up his winter-quarters: but his restless genius did not suffer him to continue for any length of time in a state of inactivity; and from the intelligence he procured concerning the situation of the neighbouring Tartars of Siberia, he turned his arms toward that quarter.
Siberia was at that time partly divided among a number of separate princes, and partly inhabited by the various tribes of independent Tartars. Of the former Kutchum Khan was the most powerful sovereign. His dominions consisted of that tract of country which now forms the south-western part of the province of Tobolsk; and stretched from the banks of the Irtilh and Oby to those of the Tobol and Tura. His principal residence was at Sibir, a small fortress upon the river Irtilh, not far from the present town of Tobolsk, and of which some ruins are still to be seen. After a course of unremitting fatigue, and a series of victories which almost exceed belief, but of which we have not room to give the detail, our intrepid adventurer dispossessed this prince of his dominions, and seated himself on the throne of Sibir. The number of his followers, however, being greatly reduced, and perceiving he could not depend on the affection of his new subjects, he had recourse to the czar of Muscovy, and made a tender of his new acquisitions to that monarch, upon condition of receiving immediate and effectual support. This proposal was received with the greatest satisfaction by the czar; who granted him a pardon for all former offences, and sent him the required succours. Yermac, however, being soon after drowned in an unsuccessful excursion, the Russians began to lose their footing in the country. But fresh reinforcements being seasonably sent, they not only recovered their ground, but pushed their conquests far and wide; wherever they appeared, the Tartars were either reduced or exterminated. New towns were built, and colonies were planted on all sides. Before a century had well elapsed, all that vast tract of country now called Siberia, which stretches from the confines of Europe to the Eastern Ocean, and from the Frozen Sea to the present frontiers of China, was annexed to the Russian dominions.
For an account of the climate, soil, and produce, &c. of this vast region, see the articles KAMTCHATKA and TARTARY.