Ancient Siberian ghost towns - before the arrival of Ermak. Strong Siberia

The gold rushes of the world gave humanity jeans, the city of San Francisco and the stories of Jack London - you can list them in any order depending on your priorities. They also gave away various secrets and legends that inspire even modern gold miners, in particular, the heroes of the Discovery Channel program “Gold Rush”. They have been trying to find their own Eldorado for the seventh season in a row. However, it all began in the 30s of the 19th century in Siberia. Sib.fm publishes a historical investigation by Discovery Channel about the secrets of Siberian gold.

Do you remember how it all began?

In 1812, the Senate issued a decree “On granting the right to all Russian subjects to find and develop gold and silver ores with payment of taxes to the treasury.” He gave the official start to the gold rush in Russia, which, however, for some reason did not begin immediately, but almost 20 years later. Only in 1828, the Ural merchants Popovs submitted an application to the Tomsk province to develop a section of the Berikul River. How did the Ural merchants end up in Siberia and why did this not happen immediately after the Senate decree was issued?

The Popov merchants spent more than two million rubles on geological exploration in the Tomsk province in search of gold.

According to numerous testimonies, Yegor Lesnoy lived in these parts - either a former exile, or an escaped convict, or simply an Old Believer hermit. Previously, he worked as a miner in the Ural placers, but he handed over the mined gold not to the owners of the mine, but to illegal resellers - they paid many times more. For this, Yegor was sent into exile in Siberia. Having freed himself (or escaped), the peasant settled near Lake Berchikul, where he began mining gold on the Sukhoi Berikul River. Yegor did not communicate with anyone except his assistant, and kept the place of gold mining a secret from everyone.

But the earth is full of rumors: stories about a peasant who discovered a gold-bearing province in Siberia soon reached the Urals. The rich merchants Popovs first sent their people on reconnaissance, and a year later they themselves came to the Tomsk province. They no longer found Yegor Lesnoy alive: he died under mysterious circumstances, and many versions agree that the peasant, who did not want to reveal his secrets, was simply strangled.

Apparently, his pupil told the merchants about the mine of Yegor Lesnoy, and already in 1828 the mine “1st Berikulskaya Square” began to work.

On November 23, 1851, such a coat of arms of Krasnoyarsk was approved. The lion symbolized strength and courage, and the sickle and shovel reflected the main occupation of the inhabitants - agriculture and mining, primarily gold.

Around the same time, the Popovs explored other major deposits in Siberia in the vicinity - on Sukhoi and Mokroi Berikul, the Salairk Ridge, in the Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Kansk and Nizhneudinsk districts. Thus began the gold rush in Russia, which over 50 years gave the country 583 tons of precious metal.

Gold feeds, gold feeds, gold leads naked

Largest gold-bearing region modern Russia— Krasnoyarsk: it is here that almost 50 tons of precious metal are mined annually, which is 20% of total production. The region took a leading position a long time ago: back in 1851, the coat of arms of Krasnoyarsk was approved - a golden lion holding a shovel in its paws, the main tool of a prospector. Of course, the largest gold mine in Siberia gave birth to its own millionaires, and, as you know, the rich have their own quirks. So, gold miner N.F. Myasnikov ordered business cards made of pure gold: he paid five rubles for each, but with this money he could buy 16 kilograms of sturgeon caviar.

The merchant ordered a medal with the inscription “Emperor of the entire taiga”, for which he received the nickname taiga Napoleon.

According to legend, the medal on the chain “Emperor of All Taiga” weighed more than five kilograms, so Gavrila Masharov never wore it

Gavrila did not rest on this: right in the middle of the taiga, he built himself a house, more like a palace, as befits an emperor. Glass galleries, greenhouses where pineapples were grown, rose gardens, and in a factory built nearby, real Venetian velvet was produced.

It all ended predictably and not at all rosy: Gavrila went bankrupt, went bankrupt, and creditors declared a real hunt for him. Fleeing from them, Gavrila died - most likely in a labyrinth of underground passages that he dug under his house. The location of his palace still remains a mystery, and many who are haunted by the history of the taiga Napoleon are trying to solve this mystery.

On December 3, 2010, the first season of the TV show “Gold Rush” aired on the Discovery Channel.

Gavrila’s story once again confirms the veracity of the proverb popular among gold miners: “Gold feeds, gold feeds, gold leads naked.” However, you can seize the initiative even from fate. Modern prospector Tony Beets, a Klondike legend and member of Discovery Channel's Gold Rush, is known for his experience and intuition. He does not blindly rely on luck, but prefers to create it himself, and instead of buying gold business cards and building palaces, he invests money in the development of his mine. So, he risked investing a substantial amount in the restoration of a 75-year-old non-working dredge, although everyone around said that this ruin was not worth a good word. Tony calculated everything perfectly accurately: after putting the repaired machine into operation, the prospector made a profit of more than five million dollars.

Crime chronicles of Siberian mines

The so-called Demino gold is even more shrouded in mystery. Legend has it that almost a century and a half ago - in the mid-60s of the 19th century - a group of prisoners escaped from the Alexander Central prison, not far from Irkutsk. Survive in harsh conditions The mountainous terrain of the Eastern Sayan was possible only for the most persistent and hardy - Dmitry Demin. He settled in the valley of one of the tributaries of the Kitoi River, where he built his winter quarters and hunted.

And then one day he accidentally stumbled upon a large deposit of ore gold.

Unlike Yegor Lesnoy, Demin did not intend to live as a hermit: he took the gold he mined with him and went to a relatively large settlement - Tunka. Here he bought his freedom by sharing the precious metal with a local official.

Afterwards, Demin married and settled in Tunka, and every few months he went to mine gold for his secret deposit. He revealed the secret only to his sons just before his death: supposedly the gold mine was located between the tributary of the Kitoy and the Shumak River, somewhere in the watershed area. But neither the sons of Demin, nor the gold miner Kuznetsov, who somehow found out about the secret mine, nor the mining technician Novikov, who spent more than three years, it was not possible to find the legendary Eldorado of an escaped convict.

But there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. There was a revolution in Russia, and then a civil war. Novikov ended up on Kolchak’s side. Fleeing with his officers from a detachment of partisans, Novikov accidentally stumbled upon gold. It is unknown whether this was the same Demino deposit, especially since the exhausted White Guards were hardly able to extract anything. However, there was little time to rejoice at the find: all three were soon arrested, and Novikov ended up in an Irkutsk prison. He left there only in 1927 and, together with his companions and hired workers - the Leonov brothers - immediately went in search of gold.

The thirst for profit, which did not disappear even after arrest and prison, turned out to be fatal: Novikov never returned back, nor did his companions.

Later their bodies were discovered, and the investigation quickly found the killers - the Leonov brothers confessed to everything. This is where the legend ends - and more or less reliable facts begin, confirmed by archival documents.

In December 1905, Alexander Kolchak received a golden weapon “For Bravery” - a saber with the inscription “For distinction in affairs against the enemy near Port Arthur.” Later, golden weapons were equated to the status of a state order Russian Empire

Several geological exploration expeditions following different routes, including those named by the Leonovs, ended in nothing. No gold was ever discovered in the area of ​​Kitoy and Shumak, which does not prevent modern gold miners from still hoping for a miracle: the Eastern Sayan annually attracts thousands of hunters for luck and at least grains of gold.

White Admiral's Yellow Gold

With the outbreak of the First World War, for security reasons, the evacuation of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire began, which at that time, after paying off all war loans, amounted to approximately 1.101 billion rubles. State treasures were transported by train from Petrograd to cities in the rear. Thus, in Kazan, captured in 1918 by White and Czechoslovak officers, half of the country’s entire gold reserve ended up - and this despite the Bolsheviks’ attempts to recapture it.

After Kolchak was proclaimed Supreme Ruler of Russia in November 1918, Kazan gold was called Kolchak’s gold - it has not gotten rid of this label to this day, although the admiral had practically nothing to do with it.

In total, the white movement had 650 million rubles in its hands - almost 500 tons of bullion.

1 gram of gold as of April 10, 2017 at the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation costs 2,313.7 rubles. For 500 tons of gold you can earn more than 115.5 billion rubles

These are the numbers that specialists from the State Bank branch in Omsk obtained during recalculation and verification, where the gold was transported through Samara and Ufa.

However, gold did not remain in Kolchak’s headquarters for long. On October 31, 1919, he was sent in 40 carriages along the Trans-Siberian Railway, which on the section from Novosibirsk to Irkutsk was controlled by Czechoslovak soldiers loyal to Kolchak at that time. In addition, the gold reserves were also guarded by officers of the white movement: they accompanied him in an additional 12 carriages. But all these security measures turned out to be useless: when the train arrived in Nizhneudinsk (a city in the Irkutsk region), representatives of the Entente forced Kolchak to renounce the title of Supreme Ruler and give the gold to the Czechoslovak Corps.

This change in political mood was caused, firstly, by the fact that the admiral dispersed the Ufa Directory, which served as the beginning of repression, and secondly, by the desire of the Czechoslovak Corps, first of all, to finally evacuate from Russia in turmoil. By returning the country's gold reserves to the Bolsheviks and handing over to them the chief admiral of the entire white movement, the Czechs actually made a deal and bought their freedom.

Kolchak was arrested and shot, the Czechoslovak Corps returned to its homeland, but the history of the gold reserves does not end there, but is just beginning. Whether the admiral guessed that he would be betrayed, or whether the Czechs kept part of the gold for themselves is unknown, but the fact remains: the People's Commissariat of Finance of the RSFSR in 1921 missed 236 million rubles, that is, 182 tons of gold.

It was established that Kolchak sent part of the money abroad and placed it in foreign banks, and spent another part on uniforms and weapons for his army, but still the missing amount amounts to tens of millions. The versions of historians and amateur researchers differ, and modern media periodically flashes information that a trace of Kolchak’s gold has allegedly been discovered, but there is still no reliable information about the fate of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire.

IN Soviet years- Since about the middle of the 20th century, private gold mining has been prohibited, that is, you cannot just pick up a shovel and go explore mines or small deposits. In recent years, a bill has just been discussed that would allow everyone to engage in individual fishing. If it is successfully approved by all ministries and departments, then it is quite possible that anyone can play with the heroes of the Gold Rush.

An ancient Nenets legend tells that once a year, when the Great Sun reigns in the sky, the Solar Baba rises from under the frozen and lifeless earth, carrying in her womb a baby who is destined to become the spirit of fertility.

Another legend among the Mansi people tells how a golden idol crossed the Ural stone belt, but was stopped by an old shaman who considered himself its owner. The angry golden idol roared with a thunderous voice, from which all living things in the area died, and the daring shaman himself turned into stone.

Back in the Middle Ages, Europeans reported from Russia about a deity named Golden woman. She is allegedly worshiped by the Russians in the very north of Europe. These legends are still alive today.

The first mentions of the Golden Idol of the North are contained in the Icelandic sagas, in which Western European Christian monks described the adventures of numerous bands of atheist Varangians at that time. They claim that bandits from the 9th to the 12th centuries. raided the powerful kingdom of Biarmia or Bjarma, stretching from the White Sea to the Urals and the upper reaches of the Kama Saga, they talk about a Golden Idol named Yumala. about the fabulous riches surrounding the temple of this goddess:

“The exterior of the temple was covered with gold and diamonds, which illuminated the entire surrounding area with their rays. On the sculpture of the goddess inside the temple there was a necklace of several pounds of gold, the crown on her head was strewn with precious stones, and on her knees stood a golden bowl of such a size that four heroes could quench their thirst from it. Finally, the clothes on the idol were such that their price exceeded the richest cargo three ships sailing on the Greek Sea."

How can such a fabulous description not fall into the empty souls of those who live by thieves? And, of course, there were such people.

These were Carli, a rich and noble man, one of the courtiers of King Olaf of Norway, and his brother Gunstein. The brothers hired the famous robber Thorir, nicknamed the Dog, for the campaign. The latter equipped a large ship for this purpose, on which 80 more people from his gang sailed.

Approaching the mouth of the Dvina, to divert attention, we bargained. And at night they decided to attack the Yumala temple, which was located nearby in a dense forest.

Six watchmen guarded that temple at night, changing by two every third of the night. The Vikings attacked the temple precisely at a time when a detachment of sentries had just left and another had not yet come to replace it.

Since ancient times, there has been worship of the mother goddess... Thorir the Dog thrust an ax into the gate, and with its help he climbed over the gate. Carly did the same, and they let the accomplices inside the fenced area. On the mound they collected as much money as they could and filled their pockets with it. We also reached the statue of Yumala. On the knees of the Biarmian goddess stood a silver bowl full of coins, and a precious gold chain hung around her neck. The dog grabbed a silver bowl with money. Karli was seduced by the chain and, trying to tear it off, slashed at Yumala’s neck with an ax so hard that the head of the statue rolled off his shoulders.

The approaching guards heard the noise and blew their horns. The thieves fled.

In Europe they began to actively write about the Golden Idol of the North after 1517, when it was published "Treatise on Two Sarmatias" Rector of the University of Krakow Matvey Miechowski. In it, the geographer told the world that “...behind the region called Vyatka, on the road to Scythia, there is a large idol, the Golden Woman...”

The neighboring tribes greatly honor and worship him, and no one passing nearby will pass by the idol. They come with offerings...

The Austrian ambassador to Russia, Herberstein, was a very educated and inquisitive person. Having studied the Russian language, he read all the ancient chronicles and made their translations. In 1549, in “Notes on Muscovy,” he drew up a map and explained: “ Beyond the Ob, at the Golden Baba, where the Ob flows into the ocean, the rivers Sosva, Berezva and Danadym flow, which originate from Mount Kamen of the Big Belt (Ural) and the rocks connected to it. All the peoples living from these rivers to the Golden Woman are called tributaries of the Prince of Moscow. The Golden Woman is an idol at the mouth of the Ob, in the Obdore region. It stands on the right bank... They say... that this idol is a statue representing an old woman holding her son, and that another child is visible there...

In addition, they claim that there are some instruments placed there that produce a constant sound like a trumpet. If this is so, then, in my opinion, the winds blow strongly and constantly against these instruments."

Herberstein's information was the first report that The Golden Woman, as it turned out, is already beyond the Urals, on the Ob.

Thirty years later, this fact was confirmed by the Italian Alexander Guagnini in his essay “Description of European Sarmatia.” He reports that the idol is located in the lower reaches of the Ob, and it is worshiped not only by the Samoyeds (Nenets), but also by the peoples of Ugra and other tribes. He also writes that some kind of loud roar is heard around the idol.

The Italian Alexander Guagnini wrote about the same thing in 1578: “They even say that in the mountains next to this idol they heard a sound and a loud roar like a trumpet.”

What is this golden idol, the appearance of which is accompanied by a terrible scream and roar? Where did he come from and where did he disappear to?

Great Biarmia

In Russia, the oldest written mention of it is the Novgorod Chronicle of 1538. The chronicle talks about the missionary activities of Stephen of Perm. Stefan walked across the Perm land, destroyed ancient sanctuaries and erected Christian churches in their place. The chronicle says that Stefan sowed the faith of Christ in the Perm land among the peoples who previously worshiped animals, trees, water, fire and the Golden Woman.

But legends about the Golden Woman, hiding somewhere in the North, appeared a long time ago. They are associated with the legendary, vast country, spread in the 9th-12th centuries in the forests covering the valleys of the Northern Dvina, Vychegda and the upper reaches of the Kama. In Rus' her name was Perm the Great, in the Scandinavian sagas a powerful state Biarmia or Biarmalandia. The peoples who inhabited it worshiped a huge golden idol - the Golden Woman. Her sanctuary, which according to the Scandinavian sagas was located somewhere near the mouth of the Northern Dvina, was guarded day and night by six shamans. Many treasures were accumulated by the servants of the idol, which bore the name Yumala in the sagas. Perm the Great was rich in the skins of valuable fur-bearing animals. Merchants from Khazaria, which lies in the lower reaches of the Volga, and Vikings from distant Scandinavia paid for them generously.

On ancient maps of Muscovy, near the mouth of the Ob, the inscription “Golden Baba” is often found. Sometimes the inscription accompanies a drawing of a beautiful woman. The inhabitants of the North worshiped her. The Siberian golden idol teased the imagination, and foreigners traveling around Rus' willingly included stories about it in their books.

Russian chroniclers described the customs of ancient Perm as follows: “They worship idols, sacrifice to them... they come from afar, bringing gifts... or sables, or martens, or ermines... or foxes, or bears, or a lynx, or a squirrel... gold, or silver, or copper, or iron, or tin.” The northern lands are rich in gold. But what about diamonds? After the recent discovery of deposits of these precious stones near Arkhangelsk, doubts disappeared.

But time passed and the stronger neighbors of Perm the Great extended their tenacious hands to this rich but sparsely populated region.

First, the Novgorod ushkuiniki, then the squads of the Moscow Grand Duke, increasingly began to make their way into the once reserved northern forests. Fleeing from Christianity, admirers of the Golden Woman hid their idol either in caves on the Ural ridge, or in the impenetrable forest-tundra of the Ob River, or in the inaccessible gorges of the Putoran Mountains in Taimyr.

The golden woman has been moved once again. And this time - beyond the Urals, saving the goddess from destruction during the period of conversion of the inhabitants of Great Perm to Christianity. The first written mention of the Golden Woman in Russian chronicles is associated with one of those who converted the Urals peoples to Christianity, Stefan of Velikoperm. Or rather, not with him, but with his death in 1398. Here is an excerpt from a kind of obituary for the death of the missionary: “...It was the blessed Bishop Stephen, a man of God, living among the infidels: not those who know God, not knowing the laws, praying to idols, fire and water, and stone, and the Golden Woman, and magicians, and magicians, and trees ... "

The message of Metropolitan Simon to the Perm residents in 1510 also mentions the worship of the local tribes of the Golden Woman.

Those who were the first among the Russians to try to find the Golden Woman and even once found themselves close to her were the Cossacks from Ermak’s gang, who “conquered” Siberia in 1582. According to the story of the survivors of the daring raid on the Siberian Khanate of Kuchum, collected by Remezov, the Cossacks first heard about the golden idol from Chuvash who ran over to their camp. From him the Ermakovites learned that the Khanty pray to an idol - “God cast in gold, sitting in a bowl.” Later, a cavalry detachment of Cossacks was sent by Ermak to the Ob for booty. They went out through deserted places to the great river and stopped at Belogorye at the large sanctuary of the ancient goddess. But the Cossacks failed to look at the Golden Woman, much less get her - before the detachment arrived here, the goddess with all the property of the sanctuary was hidden in an inaccessible place. In subsequent years, ethnographers searched for the mysterious idol.

One of the first explorers of the Siberian peoples, Novitsky, unsuccessfully searched for native idols made in the likeness of humans. He managed to see one god, which looked like a board with a trumpet nose, small horns on its head and a golden chest. When absolutely necessary, the Khanty “took” pieces of gold from the idol, and this really helped them survive in difficult times. However, Novitsky knew about the existence of another anthropomorphic idol, but the natives hid it.

This has been going on for four centuries: none of the researchers have been able to see the mysterious goddess, although they have no doubt about her existence. So who is she, whose image is captured in her? How did the golden sculpture get to the north? Why do the Nenets, Khanty, Mansi and other peoples consider her their goddess?

For twenty years, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, archaeologists studied an ancient sanctuary on the Sacred Forest River, in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra above the Arctic Circle. Objects dating from the 11th to 1st millennia BC and those belonging to the first centuries of our era were found here. Several hundred pieces or fragments of women's jewelry were discovered here. Is this a coincidence? Or was it the sanctuary of a goddess? It is unlikely that random episodes and facts that accumulate near the coast of the Arctic Ocean for about one and a half thousand years are possible in history. But if this is so, then did not the sanctuary of the mother goddess, abandoned many hundreds of years ago, belong to whom the northern peoples call the Golden Woman?

Yagababa translated from Nenets means “river woman”, “river woman”, “river ancestor”. It would be more correct to pronounce “yakha” instead of “yaga”, but in modern maps you can find many examples of both forms being used.

Does this mean that the Russian Baba Yaga is a Nenets goddess? No. The peculiarities of the pagan religiosity of the northern peoples allow them, when performing rituals, not to “become attached” to a specific deity. The northerner worships, by offering gifts and sacrificial animals, the idol at home or closest to the home, simply “god.” If a hunt, for example, was unsuccessful, then, of course, “God” is to blame. The northerner punishes his pet idol, beats him, spits on him, and sometimes throws him out. It is therefore unlikely that the Northerners worshiped a specific goddess, Yagababa.

For them, the Golden Woman was the personification of the general concept God as a supernatural force influencing their lives.

In addition, the sanctuary of the ancient goddess on the Sacred Forest River was already used for sacrifices before the Nenets arrived here. This means that ideas about the river goddess existed among their predecessors. And that there were such things is confirmed by both archaeological data and research by linguists who claim that many geographical names on both sides of the Northern Urals belong to the predecessor people of the modern Nenets and Finno-Ugric peoples. For example, in the names of rivers and lakes (hydronyms) these are words ending in a vowel plus a nasal consonant: Nadym, Pim, Agan, Lyapin, Sabun, Vym, Lokchim, Ukhtym and others. What kind of people were they?

The famous orientalist and linguist Marr back in the 1920s. called the ancient peoples of the European north, preceding the Finno-Ugrians, “northern Sarmatians” or “Russians”. The Nenets called these predecessors Sirtya. It turns out that long before the Nenets and Finno-Ugric tribes came to the north, there was a cult of the “water, river goddess” here, adopted and adapted to their own culture by newcomers from the Northern Altai, which later turned into Yagababa, but in the form of a minor mythological character.

Even in the modern distorted image of Baba Yaga, several main features are combined that characterize the sorceress as a representative of another world, the world of the gods. Firstly, Baba Yaga is always an old woman with supernatural powers that only the gods possess. She is the owner and ruler of the forest world and the animal kingdom, and has close connections with the elements of air and water. It is associated with the fertility of the earth. Secondly, Baba Yaga is the ruler other world: lives in a hut on “chicken legs” - poles, the fence around the hut is made of human bones, on the fence there are skulls, instead of bolts there are human arms and legs, instead of a lock there is a mouth with sharp teeth, in the hut there is a stove with fire and a shovel, she flies in a mortar with a broom... Thirdly. Baba Yaga is a judge. She decides who is good and who is bad, it depends on her who will have precious stones falling out of their mouths instead of words, and who will have toads flying out of them. She punishes violations of the laws known to her, i.e. administers justice. In a word, she acts as a triune goddess - “day, and night, and the red sun” in one person.

Back in the middle of the 19th century. great expert and researcher of Russian mythology A.A. Potebnya came to the conclusion that the image of Baba Yaga has many similarities with Demeter, one of the main goddesses of the ancient Greek pantheon. In myths, she is the goddess of fertility and agriculture, just like Baba Yaga, she is kind to people, a giver, and she reflects the well-known struggle of life and death.

Hunt for the Golden Woman

They tried to take possession of the Golden Woman for a long time.

The Vikings scoured the most remote corners in search of treasures. of Eastern Europe. Usually they acted under the guise of merchants. One day, the Vikings managed to attack the trail of the Biarm sanctuary and rob it. There was a wooden copy of the Golden Woman in it. The original remained inaccessible to the Scandinavians. In the 11th century Biarmia was conquered by the Rus. The Russians, unlike the Germans, did not destroy other people's sanctuaries. They were satisfied with the usual tribute. The Golden Baba continued to be the main protector of the Biarms. The more Christianity grew stronger, the more intolerant it became towards foreign gods and customs. At the end of the 14th century, Bishop Stefan Khrap, the future Saint Stephen of Great Perm, arrived in the Kama region. He was a person of outstanding intelligence and education. At the same time, the bishop was stern and adamant and was eager to eradicate paganism in the lands entrusted to him. The chronicler dispassionately reports: “Vladyka Stefan was furious with the Perm idols, their filthy, idolized, sculptured, hollowed-out gods. In the end he crushed, dug up, burned with fire, chopped with an ax, crushed with a butt, incinerated without a trace, through forests, and through churchyards, and at boundaries, and at crossroads.”

From the life of St. Stephen, we know that the missionary preached among the admirers of the Golden Baba. Of course, he would give a lot for the possession of the main shrine of the pagan Permians. But the idol disappeared. Only later did it become clear that he had been taken beyond the Ural Mountains. In the middle of the 15th century, Moscow governors began to conquer the Northern Trans-Urals. They made their most outstanding campaign in 1499-1501. A large army of 4 thousand people at that time, led by Semyon Kurbsky and Pyotr Ushaty, crossed the Subpolar Urals in winter. The skiers went out into the Northern Sosva basin and fought all over the Ugra land. They captured 42 fortresses and colonized 58 local princes. But the main value of the Ostyaks, the idol of the Golden Baba with temple treasures, could not be found.

The later the message about it, the further from ancient Biarmia we find it. Later, the trace of the idol was lost. Explorers in the 17th century traveled all over Siberia far and wide, but the mysterious idol is not mentioned in Russian documents of that era. At the same time when foreigners placed the Golden Woman on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, she was known much further south.

At the end of the 16th century, Volga robbers plundered the sovereign's ship sailing to Astrakhan with "treasury of money and gunpowder". The royal ambassador was killed in the battle. Ivan the Terrible's patience has come to an end. The Cossacks, saving their lives, fled to the Ural outskirts of the state. They were readily accepted by the Kama merchants and salt industrialists the Stroganovs. Beyond the Stone Belt lay the Siberian kingdom of Khan Kuchum. This descendant of Genghis Khan continually ravaged Kama villages and took the inhabitants into slavery. The arriving Cossacks were given the task of discouraging Kuchum from attacking.

The campaign for the Stone was led by Ermak Timofeevich Alenin. Maxim Stroganov added 300 of his warriors to his Cossack detachment of 540 warriors. The army of the Siberian Khan was many times larger than the aliens and even had guns brought from Kazan. But nothing saved her from destruction. After several victories in the fall of 1582, the Russians settled in the capital city of Siberia. North of the city they encountered Ostyak idols. Ermak dispatched Captain Bogdan Bryazga to capture the Demyansk and Nazym towns. These towns lay in the lower reaches of the Irtysh and near its confluence with the Ob. The defenders of one of the fortresses put up fierce resistance. For three days the Cossacks stormed its walls and were about to turn back. But then they heard a story about the siege from a local Chuvash, who had once been brought by Kuchum’s soldiers from Rus': “They pray to the Russian God, and that Russian God made of cast gold sits in a thicket.”

The news about the Russian golden idol struck the Cossacks so much that they forgot about the retreat. The Chuvash volunteered to steal the statue and entered the fortress. We were looking forward to his return. But the spy returned empty-handed. Strong security prevented the plan from being carried out. When the town was captured, the idol disappeared. Having reached the Ob, Bogdan and his comrades approached Belogorye, sacred to the Ostyaks. Here was the “great prayer place of the ancient goddess.” Several years before the conquest of Siberia, Poland already knew that the Golden Baba was a woman with a child in her arms. The Belogorsk idol looked the same: “naked, sitting on a chair with her son.” Later sources call him the Golden Baba.

The Belogorsk goddess was terrible. Here's what the hikers said about it: “And they give her a share of every industry. And if anyone breaks this law, he will be tormented and tormented. And whoever brings it not from the heart and with pity will fall before it and die. It has many priests and a great community.". Bogdan was not afraid to disturb the sacred peace and entered Belogorye. Then the mistress of the Ugrians ordered to hide her idol, and hid the huge place of prayer so that the strangers could not find it. Soon after returning from the campaign, the Cossacks, along with Bryazga, were ambushed and exterminated.

A year later, a well-armed detachment of Ivan Mansurov approached Belogorye. At the mouth of the Irtysh, the soldiers cut down a fortress and spent the winter. A large Ostyak army surrounded the fortification and launched an attack all day. The next day the besiegers brought the goddess, placed her under a tree and began a prayer service for victory. The Russians did not wait for the end of the prayer service, after which the Golden Woman was supposed to show her power. In order not to tempt fate, they hit the crowd with cannons. One of the cores reached the target. From the chronicles we learn: “The tree, under which stood the Besurmen idol, was broken into many parts, and the idol was crushed.”

Despite the assurances of the chroniclers about the destruction of the idol, reports about the Golden Baba appeared later. At the beginning of the 18th century, Philotheus and Grigory Novitsky unsuccessfully chased after her, exterminating the remnants of paganism among the Trans-Ural Ugrians.

In the 20th century, the fight against paganism continued. The year was 1933. The competent authorities received a signal. It turned out that the Khanty, who lived along the Kazym River (the right tributary of the Lower Ob), hide the Golden Baba and worship her. The battle with the “religious dope” was in full swing. The Kazym shaman was captured and thrown into a dungeon. After some time, the specialists obtained the necessary information. It was necessary to kill two birds with one stone - to strike at religious remnants and replenish the country's budget with a product made of precious metal. A group of security officers went to the secret temple. But then the taiga hunters rebelled and shot the uninvited guests. The reprisal was swift. A new detachment of atheists destroyed almost all the men of the taiga tribe. The guns of those who remained were taken away, dooming them to starvation. The sanctuary was destroyed. What happened to the Kazym idol of the Golden Baba still remains a mystery.

The two-meter Kyzym goddess, blackened by time, or, as she is called, the Golden Woman, brings fear to restorers, so many secrets, mysteries, and tragedies are associated with her name. Anyone who disturbs her peace must be ready to say goodbye to life and health.

According to legend, " permanent place residence” of the Kazym goddess are the vicinity of the village of Yuilsk in the upper reaches of the Kazym River, which is approximately 270 kilometers north of Khanty-Mansiysk. The Khanty and Mansi believe that the Kazym goddess - sometimes called the Golden Woman or Golden Woman - determines a person’s destiny.

Since the 16th century, there has been a search for the Golden Woman, and in this village the statue was discovered only in 1961. It’s impossible to count how many misfortunes happened during the search. Horse detachments disappeared, stuck in a swamp, dozens of armed people died, and local residents explained the mystical events as the wrath of a disturbed goddess.

The researchers who discovered the statue in 1961 also had a hard time. One by one they literally melted before our eyes, dying suddenly. However, according to legend, the team discovered not a gold statue, but a wooden statue covered with silver. The Yule Idol was once again out of reach. The Khanty and Mansi are convinced that the statue was replaced, and the real one was hidden on a small, inconspicuous island in the vicinity of Yuilsk, which after some time was completely flooded due to a sharp rise in water level.

—————————————————————————————-

RIDDLES OF THE GOLDEN BABA

The Temple of the Golden Baba was, according to legend, located in the country of Obdorsk, at the mouth of the Obigo (that is, Ob) River. However, the too frequent mention of this goddess proves that she was worshiped in all Slavic lands. She held one child in her arms and led the other by the hand. The residents of those places called the children her grandchildren, which is why she received the name Baba.

One of these grandchildren, by the way, was Svyatovid himself. Near the Golden Woman there was always a multitude of harps and other musical instruments, which continuously played by themselves - sometimes quietly, sometimes louder. By their sound, the priests predicted the future, for the Golden Baba was revered as a good prophetess. The reverence for her was so great that no one dared to pass by the statue without making at least a small sacrifice, and if he had nothing at all, he would tear out a thread from his dress or a hair from his head, offer it to the Golden Baba, bow to the ground - and thereby hoping to appease her.

In general, they sacrificed sables and martens to her, and dressed her in their skins.

Even strangers who believed in other gods did not skimp on gold, silver and furs for her, for those who did not make a sacrifice to the Golden Baba would certainly get lost on the way.

A sign that the sacrifice is accepted favorably by Baba is a shooting star. The Golden Baba was also the main one among the Rozhanits - the goddesses of fate that every person has, and then the midwives who help relieve the burden. When a child was born, the Golden Woman invisibly tied his legs, demanding a ransom from the father.

If the midwives were well rewarded (that is, they sacrificed in this way to the Mothers in Birth and the Golden Baba herself), then the child grew up healthy and happy, and if not, he could remain lame.

The Czechs called the Golden Baba Alzbeta, and she was the goddess of the mother's womb.

Herberstein's story about the Golden Woman has long puzzled scientists.

Here he is: “The idol of the Golden Woman is a statue representing an old woman holding a son in her womb, and that another child is already visible there, who is said to be her grandson.”

It turns out that there is another child inside the unborn child. Such an unlikely situation was clarified after the discovery of a bronze figurine of the Ugric goddess in the Urals. An image of a man appears from the body of the goddess, and another face looks out from his womb. Before us is a mythological image.

Several drawings and verbal portraits of the Golden Woman have been preserved. She either stands, holding a spear in her hand, or sits in a chair with a staff or a child in her arms. Sometimes, along with the baby, an older child appears next to the chair. The goddess appears sometimes in clothes, sometimes without them.

Historians suggest that the statue originally depicted some other goddess. There are very different opinions on this matter: the Mother of God, the Slavic Golden Maya, Buddha, Guanyin, etc.

The key to unraveling the mysterious appearance is given by Bazhov's tales. In them, the Golden Snake is a golden man with a beard twisted into such tight rings that “you can’t straighten it out.” He has green eyes and a hat with “red gaps” on his head. But this is an image of green-eyed Osiris.

The beard of the Egyptian god was pulled back into a narrow, tight bun. The pharaohs who imitated him had the same beard. It is enough to recall the famous masks of Tutankhamun from his golden sarcophagi to understand what the rings on the beard of the golden man looked like. A hat with “red gaps” “pschent” is the white and red crown of a united Egypt.

The wife and sister of Osiris was the green-eyed Isis - the goddess of fertility, water, magic, marital fidelity and love. She patronized lovers. In the same way, the Ural goddess is the goddess of waters, closely associated with the theme of love and marital fidelity.

The image of the green-eyed Mistress of the Copper Mountain goes back to Isis. Today we can tell what the copper statue of an Egyptian woman looked like. Let us remember that the Golden Woman was depicted as a Madonna. The image of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus arose under the influence of the sculptures of Isis with the baby Horus. One of these idols is kept in the Hermitage. Naked Isis sits and breastfeeds her son. On the goddess's head is a crown of snakes, a solar disk and cow horns.

Egyptian myths help us understand a lot in our tales. Here, for example, is a magic green button. It was given to Gornozavodskaya Tanyusha by the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, and through the gift the girl communicated with her patroness. The Egyptian gods had the wonderful eye of Wadjet (“green eye”). It also provided the owner with protection and patronage. Isis-Hathor was the guardian of the Eye and its embodiment.

Isis was known as the goddess of music. Because of this, her cult in the North was so loud. At one time, the goddess invented the sistrum rattle, with which she was often depicted. The base of the sistrum was usually the figure of a cat with a human head.

Talking earthen cats were in the retinue of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. In Ural tales, Isis’s cat appears either as the cat Fiery Ears, who protected the brave Dunyasha, or as the domestic Murenka, who persuaded the goat Silver Hoof to amuse the girl Darenka with gems.

In one of the tales we meet ants running along a treasured path. They have golden little shoes on their feet. The paws increased in size as their owners moved. We see echoes of the Egyptian myth about the scarab beetle rolling the sun across the sky.

The Egyptians themselves called Isis Iset. Near Gumeshki the source of the Iset – “the river of Isis” – originates. Through this river, Ural copper entered the forest Trans-Urals. The earthen cat was known in Sysert, whose name comes from sistrum. Once upon a time there was a temple in which the musical animal of the goddess was kept.

Osiris, aka the Golden Man, in the stories of Western Europeans looks like a child standing next to the Golden Woman. Consequently, his golden idol was miniature. Bazhov's tales feature another miniature golden character - a female one. The Golden Goddess takes on the form of Ognevushka-Jumping, a red-haired factory girl, a blue snake, and old lady Sinyushka. This mistress of gold veins lived in the water, protected girls and pure-hearted miners.

Before us is Isis again, but now golden. This means that the name Golden Baba was not born out of nowhere. At first this was the name of the golden figurine, and later the copper statue of Isis and all her other images.

Petria knew that the Golden Baba was Isis (1620). But no one believed him. The appearance of Egyptian sculptures in Siberia seemed too surprising.

Siberian Slavs

The most burning secret of the Golden Woman turned out to be her Russian-sounding name. The Ob Ugrians had one more thing, and again Slavic - the Old Woman. Belogorsk Golden Baba was called by the Ostyaks Slovutes, that is, “Slavic”. Her Irtysh husband, Golden Osiris, was directly called the Russian God. In addition, the country of worshipers of Russian gods was called Siberia. Medieval authors associated this name with the Slavic word “north”. But then this explanation was considered incredible and others were invented.

The clue to the appearance of Slavic names is contained in the news of Muslim writers of the early Middle Ages. Al-Masudi (10th century) describes three temples of the Slavs. The transcript of his story shows that one temple with the idol of “Saturn” stood in the Minusinsk Basin. The second, with a gold idol and a statue of a girl, is in the Taimyr region, the third is in the Urals.

Abu Dulef (10th century), who visited here, wrote about the veneration of “Saturn and Venus” in the Minusinsk Basin. Ibn Muqaffa (8th century) called the inhabitants of this place Slavs. Under Saturn of Eastern authors hides the god of the underworld Veles - Osiris, and under Venus - the goddess of love Morena - Isis.

The Slavs have lived in the Minusinsk Basin since the Cimmerian era. They belonged to the so-called Tagar archaeological culture. The Tagarians were talented miners, metallurgists and blacksmiths. Under the pressure of the nomadic hordes, mixed streams of Slavs, Ugrians and Kets left the area of ​​the upper Yenisei to the east and north. The divided people also divided the shrines. Golden Osiris and Copper Isis ended up in Taimyr, from there they went to the Kama region, then to Western Siberia. The Golden Isis was transferred to the Urals. Copper Osiris remained in place.

The Minusinsk Slavs settled in the Irtysh basin and in the southern part of the Urals, which at that time were called the Slavic Mountains. With time brutal wars and mixed marriages led to the fact that Slavic speech ceased to be heard in these places. Only the Golden Woman kept the secret of the disappeared people.

Traces of the presence of the Slavs on Siberian soil were felt for a very long time. Back in the 14th century, Elomari knew fair-haired and blue-eyed Siberians. He wrote: “Their figures are a perfect creation in beauty, whiteness and amazing charm; their eyes are blue.

Ermak's Cossacks, who broke through the Stone Belt, among the short and Mongoloid aborigines, to their surprise, sometimes met genuine giants, and among the aborigines - indescribable beauties.

Legacy of the Mother of the Gods

Travelers of the 19th century noted that in their time the Ob Ugrians no longer had ancient idols, and later copies were kept in the temples. They were made very simply. The idol was buried in a mixture of sand and clay and molten metal was poured into the resulting mold. One such Silver Woman was allegedly acquired by the Finnish scientist Karjalainen and taken to his homeland. Apparently, another similar idol fell into the hands of Soviet security officers and died. Are the chroniclers really right, and a cannonball destroyed Copper Isis back in the 16th century? No. The core did not harm her.

Only later sources report the destruction of the idol. From earlier and more reliable sources it is known that the core was crushed only by a nearby tree. Later this story was somewhat embellished.

After the fall of the kingdom of Kuchum, Copper Isis and Golden Osiris were transferred to an ancient temple near modern Norilsk. Somewhere in the Taimyr mountains of Putorana they are hidden to this day. The trace of the Golden Isis is lost near the sources of Chusovaya and Iset. Tales point to Azov Mountain near the modern city of Polevsky. Copper Osiris never left the Yenisei. Someday, an archaeologist's spade will stumble upon sculptures made in Egypt almost 30 centuries ago.

Siberian Khanate history, culture and annexation to Russia

The Siberian Khanate is a state in Western Siberia, which was formed at the end of the 15th century during the collapse of the Golden Horde.

Its center was originally Chimga-Tura (now the city of Tyumen), another capital was the city of Isker (aka Siber, Siberia, Siberia), which was located on the right steep bank of the Irtysh.

The khanate got its name from the second capital, which in the 15th century was also called Kashlyk.

History of education

Some researchers believe that during the formation and existence of the Golden Horde, the lands of the future Khanate were ruled by the descendants of the Tatar prince Taybug. It was he who formed the Taibuga yurt, on the territory of which the Siberian Khanate was later formed. But not all historians support this version, since there are no documents confirming or refuting this theory.

Others, citing the description of the uluses as evidence, believe that the territory of the Khanate was under the control of the Sheibanids.

Rulers

The first ruler of the ulus was Taibuga, followed by Khoja, Makhmet, Angish, Kasim, brothers Bek-Bulat and Ediger (who occupied the throne almost simultaneously), Senbakta, Sauskan. All of them were descendants of the first prince and were called Taibugids. Almost nothing is known about them, since information has reached us only orally.

Khan Kuchum photo

Further, more accurate information appears, which is based on reliable written sources, from which it is known that from 1396 to 1406 Khan Tokhtamysh took the throne. The greatest contribution to the development of the Khanate was made by Khan Ibak, who initially ruled the Nogai Horde, and Kuchum. Under their rule, it becomes a powerful state.

Heyday

Ibak is considered the founder of the independent Siberian Khanate with its capital Chimga-Tura. Its territory extended from the Barabinsk steppe to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. How is Khan Ibak remembered in history?

• He defeated the Great Horde, killing its last ruler, Ahmad;
• He united two thrones - the Siberian yurt and the Nogai Horde; He actively intervened in the affairs of the Kazan Khanate (in some sources he is called the “Kazan Khan,” although he not only never occupied the Kazan throne, but never even visited it).

Ibak was a strong ruler, which could not irritate his Nogai patrons. They even removed him from the throne, but under the pressure of the backlerbeks - the highest dignitaries - they returned the Nogai throne to him. Nevertheless, he had enough enemies, and in 1495 he died at the hands of Muhammad from the Taibugid clan. After committing the murder, Muhammad becomes khan and moves the capital to the city of Isker. From this moment on, the state formally becomes the Siberian Khanate with its capital Siberia.

After Muhammad, the throne was occupied by two brothers - Ediger and Bek Bulat, who restored friendly relations with the Nogais. During their reign happened historical event— Ivan the Terrible conquered the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates. This made a strong impression on Ediger, he hastened to congratulate the Russian Tsar and offered to pay tribute to Muscovy, which Ivan IV did not fail to take advantage of. Why did Ediger do this?

He was well aware that the Shaybanids, sooner or later, having united with the Nogais, would want to regain power in Siberia. Counting on the help of Moscow, he thought to defend the throne, but the calculations turned out to be incorrect, the Russian Tsar was not going to help him. In 1557, the Shaybanids began to act, deciding to restore their power everywhere where they had ruled before.

Very soon they occupied Kyzyl-Tura (the very first capital of the Taibugid state). Having not yet occupied Isker, they first proclaimed Murtaza ben Ibak khan, but since he was old and could not bear the campaign against the capital of the Siberian Khanate, they pinned their hopes on Kuchum ben Murtaza. He managed to capture Isker only in 1563. He executed the Taibugids, brothers Ediger and Bek Bulat. From that moment on, Sheybanid again stood at the head of the Khanate and the era of Kuchum began.

Culture

By the middle of the 16th century, the Khanate entered into relations with Russia. By this time, it occupied a vast territory, almost the entire Western Siberia - from the Ural Mountains to the Nadym and Pima rivers. It bordered on the Perm lands, the Kazan Khanate, the Nogai and “Pieto Horde”. However, it was extremely sparsely populated; during this period, 30.5 thousand people lived in it. The population consisted mainly of Turkic-speaking peoples, more often called “Siberian Tatars,” who led a semi-sedentary lifestyle.

The population was engaged in nomadic cattle breeding - raising horses and sheep, hunting fur-bearing animals, fishing and beekeeping. In settled settlements, pottery production, agriculture, weaving, and metal smelting developed. The state had a feudal system and consisted of numerous small uluses, headed by beks and murzas. The lowest stratum of society - the “black” ulus people were obliged to pay taxes every year and bear military service in the detachments of the nobility. Islam spread among the latter and became the official religion.

Under Kuchum, the state reached economic and political prosperity. 15 cities were formed, which were powerful fortifications.

Wars

The Siberian khans managed to subjugate the Finno-Ugric tribes in the Urals and force them to pay tribute. Kuchum conquered some Bashkir tribes and Barabins. The army of the Khanate consisted of Tatar detachments, as well as detachments of conquered peoples. It is difficult to talk about the size of the army, but it is known for certain that during the battle on Lake Abalatskoye Mametkul commanded a tumen, that is, an army consisting of 10 thousand soldiers. However, despite the impressive numbers, the detachments were unorganized, which is why Kuchum was unable to stop the Russian invasion.

Warrior of the Siberian Khanate photo

The Tatars' weapons primarily consisted of bows and arrows and edged weapons - broadswords, sabers, and darts. Strength they had reconnaissance in the art of war. They had no equal in setting up ambushes and surprise attacks.

Joining Russia

“To impose tribute on the Khanate, which is headed by Genghisid, and Kuchum is a real Genghisid, is much more prestigious than taking tribute from the Taibugids, but if, like Kazan, you manage to take it, it will be a victory,” so thought the Russian Tsar. While Kuchum was solving internal problems, he regularly paid tribute to Moscow so as not to cause displeasure. But once he had dealt with all internal enemies, he stopped paying tribute and broke off diplomatic relations in 1572. An equally daring act was his expedition to the lands owned by the Stroganovs, where the Tatars killed Permians - the main tax-paying population.

In 1574, he gave a “letter” to the Stroganovs for the territory where he was allowed to build towns, but at that time it belonged to the Khanate. In 1582, the Cossacks, led by Ermak, a squad organized with money from the Stroganovs, took possession of Kashlyk, where they behaved like a ruler, imposing tribute and accepting the loyalty of the conquered local princes. However, despite the successful capture, the Cossacks suffered from hunger.

The country's economy was destroyed, food supplies were quickly depleted. The morale of the Cossacks was also undermined by the death of the ataman, who was ambushed by Kuchum and drowned in the river. They fled from conquered Siberia, leaving the country to the mercy of fate. But Khan Kuchum could not take advantage of the happy opportunity that turned up to take the throne again.

At first, Kuchum's son Ali sat on the throne of Isker, but Ediger's nephew Seydyak did not sleep, he kicked Ali out and proclaimed himself the new prince. On the other hand, the Russians were not going to abandon the rich lands of Siberia. At the end of 1585 Russian army advanced to the Ob, set up a town and spent the winter there. At the beginning of 1586, a detachment of archers occupied Chimgi-Tura, and not far from the fortress they founded the city of Tyumen. And in the spring of 1587, Tobolsk was founded near Isker.

Conquest of Siberia by Ermak photo

At this time, Seydyak spent time falconry, having received an invitation from the Russians to a feast, he, suspecting nothing, came, where he was captured. However, Kuchum did not give up and took up guerrilla warfare. Until 1598, he carried out raids on Russian cities, until he died in 1601 at the hands of the Nogais. But even after his death, the war against the Russians did not end. Kuchum's son Ali declared himself khan again.

The first half of the 17th century took place in the struggle for the return of the throne of the Siberian Khanate by the numerous sons of Kuchum. One of the last and serious uprisings occurred in 1662-1664, when Tsarevich Davlet Giray raised the Bashkirs with the goal of capturing all Russian cities, making Tobolsk the capital and taking the throne. This uprising was suppressed with difficulty and harshly. With this, the history of the Siberian Khanate was completed. Soon Siberia was populated by Russians. A stream of servicemen and merchants rushed to the Siberian lands; peasants and Cossacks fled there from serfdom.

History remembers many countries that disappeared from the world map without a trace. One of them is the Blue Horde - a state created by the descendants of the legendary conqueror Genghis Khan. Little is known about it, although part of modern Russia - Southern Siberia - was part of this country. And here Golden Horde– this name is on everyone’s lips.

How did this country come into being?

The fact is that Genghis Khan himself divided the huge empire he conquered among his sons. At the same time, its western part went to the eldest son, whose name was Jochi. These lands were very rich and promising in terms of future expansion: it was enough just to organize aggressive campaigns.

The Mongols called the territory located west of the Irtysh River the Jochi ulus. In 1227, Genghis Khan's eldest son died at unclear circumstances, a few months later the founder of the empire himself died. Jochi's lands were divided among himself by his heirs.

Orda-Ichin (Orda-Eugene), the eldest of the brothers, received the eastern part of his late father’s possessions. This territory extended from the Irtysh to the Urals, and the southern border of its ulus was Lake Balkhash. That is, the lands of modern Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia came under the rule of the eldest son of Jochi and his descendants. This state was called the Blue Horde.

Jochi's second son, Batu Khan (Batu), inherited the western part of his father's possessions. His lands began with the Urals and the Lower Volga region; the grandson of Genghis Khan conquered the rest of the future empire, extending the borders of his ulus all the way to the Danube. With the support of the Mongol army, Batu managed to conquer rich lands, founding a state that later became known as the Golden Horde - its rulers had a lot of money, jewelry and influence.
Purely theoretically, Horde-Ichin could also expand the borders of his possessions, but he had only one way left - to the north. And in the 13th century there was still no country there that could be conquered. And the unfertile cold lands of Siberia did not attract the Mongols.

Successful military campaigns, the authority gained in battle, the wealth of the subject peoples and the awe-inspiring army - all this made Batu and his heirs the most influential among the descendants of Genghis Khan. And the rulers of the Blue Horde de facto found themselves in vassalage from their Western relatives.

Why Blue?

In the 16th century, the book “Chingiz-name” was written, telling about the legendary conqueror and his descendants. Its author is the Khorezm scientist Utemish-haji ibn Maulan Muhammad Dosti. This work contains a legend about the emergence of the White, Blue and Gray Hordes. It says that after the death of Jochi, Genghis Khan himself determined how to divide the inheritance between his grandchildren.

The Great Khan ordered a white yurt with a golden entrance frame to be installed for Batu, a blue one with a silver frame for Orda-Ichin, and a gray one with a steel entrance for Shiban (fifth son of Jochi). Of course, this is just a legend. And obviously, the author of the above-mentioned book was a supporter of the Shibanid dynasty, whose influence noticeably increased in Central and Central Asia in the 15th-16th centuries. But if we do not take this fact into account, we can conclude that Batu inherited the western part of the Jochi ulus, because the Mongols traditionally associated with this direction White color, and blue has always symbolized the east.

The Mongols themselves called Batu’s empire Ak Orda (White Horde), and the name “Golden Horde” was first recorded in the second half of the 16th century, when this state no longer existed.

True, some researchers believe that the Orda-Ichin ulus eventually divided into the White (Western Kazakhstan) and Blue (Eastern Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia) Horde, and the Golden Horde should be called exclusively the Batu Khan ulus.
There is also an alternative hypothesis among historians that the White Horde allegedly occupied the territories of the Caucasus and the Northern Black Sea region, up to the Danube, and the Blue Horde - the eastern half of the Jochi ulus. At the same time, the Golden Horde was the central part of the empire, the capital of which was the city of Sarai-Batu.

Lifting moment

The Blue Horde could not boast of such wealth, military force and influence, like the western part of the Jochi ulus. It was a real provincial wilderness, the small population of which consisted of various Turkic-speaking tribes (mainly Kipchaks), as well as Mongols and representatives of other peoples who had once joined the army of Genghis Khan. All of them were engaged mainly in livestock farming. Extensive agriculture was widespread on the southern outskirts of the Blue Horde.

The capital of this medieval state was the city of Orda-Bazar, located 150 kilometers northwest of modern Zhezkazgan (Kazakhstan). The Blue Horde minted its own coins - silver and copper.
Not the entire territory of this country belonged to the descendants of Orda-Ichin, although they were considered the first in seniority here; part of the lands was occupied by the heirs of Jochi’s other sons - Shiban and Tuka-Timur (Tokai-Timur).

However, the protectorate of the Golden Horde over these lands ended in the middle of the 14th century, when most of the rulers of the western part of the empire were mired in civil strife, which went down in history under the eloquent name of the “Great Jam”.
The first independent khan of the Blue Horde was Mubarek-Khoja, who ruled from 1345 to 1352. Then he was replaced by his brother, Chimtai (Chamtai), who occupied the throne until 1372.

The weakening of the positions of Batu's heirs led to the strengthening of the influence of the descendants of Orda-Ichin. Thus, Khan Tokhtamysh, after the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, managed to unite the two parts of the empire, defeating, with the help of Russian troops, the army of Mamai, who was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, but managed to seize power in Sarai thanks to his administrative and managerial talent.

However, Tokhtamysh failed to retain power. He committed a number of short-sighted actions, the main one of which was the campaign against Moscow in 1382. As a result of this senseless and cruel military action, Tokhtamysh lost his main strategic ally - Prince Dmitry Donskoy, who hoped for an alliance with the Horde in the fight against the strengthened influence of the Principality of Lithuania.

Further political intrigues and bloody civil strife led to the weakening of the Golden Horde, which finally collapsed in the 15th century.

Decline of the Blue Horde

In addition to the politically short-sighted campaign against Moscow, Tokhtamysh made another strategic mistake: in 1383 he captured Khorezm, spoiling relations with the legendary commander Tamerlane (Timur). This Turkic-speaking conqueror of Mongol origin, who founded the Timurid dynasty, united many states of Central Asia under his rule.

In 1387, together with the troops of Shah Hussein Sufi, the ruler of Khorezm, Tokhtamysh carried out a predatory raid on Bukhara, which completely angered Tamerlane. The commander, who was called the “Iron Lame,” successively led three campaigns against the lands of the Horde, finally defeating them in 1395 in the battle on the Terek River.
If Tokhtamysh had loyal allies, he would have had a chance to defend his state. But the khan’s short-sighted policy forced many neighboring rulers to turn away from him.

After the conquest by Timur's troops, the Blue Horde lost its influence, breaking up into a number of separate uluses.

The depths of our beloved region are rich not only in black gold, our native coal, but also... deposits of that very precious (or cursed) metal, about which legends are written in almost all countries and cultures of the world. It was in the wilds of the Kuzbass taiga that the first stream of gold fortune seekers poured in, and not into some California. Our region has been covered in golden legends since very ancient times. Legends about our countless treasures found a place in chronicles and even in the heroic epics of other peoples and have survived to this day. We share interesting research.

Beri kul: how the “Wolf River” became the ancestral home of the gold rush

The tiny Berikul river in Martaiga, lost in the folds of conifer-covered mountains (as the locals call the Mariinsky taiga for short) - the right tributary of the Kiya River in its upper reaches - is actually not so simple. It was this gold-bearing river, in the remote, remote Siberian taiga somewhere at the junction of the Krasnoyarsk and Altai territories and the Kemerovo region that became the foremother of all the known gold rushes of the world.

And, like all places associated with gold mining, Berikul is shrouded in many legends, each more interesting than the other. There are, for example, stories about the origin of the name of the river; they are told with sincere conviction by residents of villages in the vicinity of Berikul. In time immemorial, several convicts fled home to Russia from Eastern Siberia from custody. We came across this river, then still nameless. On the shore they found first one large nugget, then a second, a third, a fifth, and so on. It turned out that the banks of the river were literally strewn with gold nuggets, large, medium and tiny. The fugitives, forgetting about fatigue, about food, about sleep, only had time to collect them. “Yes, there is so much gold here - even take a sack and collect it!” one of the convicts exclaimed in excitement. And with light hand Runaway people, as the legend says, gave the river its name. From the merger of two words “take” and “cul”.

Maybe that’s true, of course, or maybe not. Linguistic scientists studied the issue and came to the conclusion that, after all, the name is derived from the Ket “boru” - “wolf” and the Ket-Assan “kul-ul” - “river”. Then it turns out that “Berikul” is the “river of the wolf”.

Well, now for the fact: it was on the “Wolf River”, Sukhoi Berikul (present-day Tisulsky district) that the first Siberian gold was actually found in 1828, which gave rise to the Siberian gold rush long before the Klondike. And (this is according to another legend), it was not escaped convicts who found him, but an Old Believer peasant (according to other sources, an exiled settler) Yegor Lesnoy.

Yegor Lesnoy lived in a hut with his pupil on the shore of the large lake Berchikul, which was fifteen to twenty kilometers from Berikul. From time to time he went to the remote mountain taiga, from where he returned with gold. Then a lone miner secretly panned for gold, not counting it in pounds. And one day I found a real curiosity - a kilogram (!) nugget. Other visiting merchants Andrei and Fedot Popov found out about this, who also arrived in Siberia for gold and immediately staked out Yegor’s plot for mining, followed by dozens of others on the Sukhoi and Wet Berikul, tributaries of the Kiya, Salair Ridge, in Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Kansk and Nizhneudinsk districts.

Mines were opened wherever at least a handful of gold was found. Over half a century, prospectors have mined more than five hundred tons of precious metal in Siberia. However, they did not have time to enjoy the wealth and for some reason died one after another.

Emperor of the Taiga, Kuzedey's Treasure and the Golden Woman

The luckiest of all was the prospector Gavrila Masharov from Kansk. Having found his first mine in 1836, he became fabulously rich. He built a palace with glass galleries, a velvet factory in the Kuzbass taiga, and ordered himself a medal of the emperor of the taiga weighing ten kilograms. Extravagance ruined Masharov, and he died at the hands of creditors, but they say that under his mansion they found a rich vein that yielded almost 13 thousand tons of gold. But where the palace of the taiga emperor is located is still not known.

Another legend says that almost 500 tons of Kolchak’s gold may be hidden not at the Taiga station, but near Lipov Island in the Novokuznetsk region, near the village of Kuzedeevo. Enthusiasts are still searching for treasure under relict black linden trees, although historical facts they say that Kolchak and his army were never in this part of Kuzbass, but the legend is still alive today. According to the legend of the inhabitants of Mountain Shoria, in the 15th-16th centuries, the head of the Shors, Kuzedey, shot an arrow into the mountain (exactly opposite the legendary Kolchak cave) so that the enemies of the tribe would go there and disappear forever. That's where, they say, the legendary gold is hidden.

But perhaps the most famous story- about the giant Golden Woman, or the Siberian Pharaoh, as she is called by those knowledgeable in gold and treasure hunters. The statue depicting an old woman with a child has been known since the time of the Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator. And he even depicted a giant golden miracle on his cards. The same idol, supposedly belonging to the Bjarm tribes, is also mentioned in the Scandinavian “Saga of Saint Olaf”. The Golden Woman was also mentioned in Russian chronicles in 1396. The chroniclers settled the Siberian pharaoh either beyond Vyatka or at the mouth of the Ob. Whether it ever existed or not and where it is hidden now still remains a mystery.

Make friends with Earth Grandfather

Like representatives of any other professions, miners have their own signs, and many of them have not changed for centuries. For example, all seekers of gold and other valuables know that it is best to dig in rainy weather. There will be no luck if you quarrel with someone from your family before the excavation, wash the shovel, or do not put your most successful find in your pocket as bait.

The first find should be worthless - if something worthwhile is immediately found, the rest of the search will be empty. Searchers do not wear the jewelry they find and do not talk while they dig. At the mine, you cannot use obscene words, because this can anger the Earth Grandfather, and he will not give the gold to the impolite miner. To appease this spirit, you need to thank him for every find, and before excavations, pamper him with small coins or sweets, burying gifts in the ground.

It’s easiest to find treasure on New Year’s and Easter, but the best time to search is May 23, the day of remembrance of the Apostle Simon the Zealot, whose name in the old days was associated with the word “gold.” Treasure seekers have many conspiracies, and all of them are aimed at attracting success. In a business where luck plays a major role, the role of omens is so great that sometimes stories about those who do not comply with them turn into legends. Colleagues in the gold workshop in the American state of Arizona even have their own Superstition Mountains. According to legend, the Hohokam Indian tribe has lived there since the Middle Ages, and the treasures are kept by the souls of deceased elders who go to the Lower World through the sacred grotto. This grotto contains the most gold.

In 1846, the German Jacob Waltz, nicknamed the Dutchman, found this grotto and took away seven million dollars worth of nuggets, promising the Indians to keep their secret, but he did not keep his word. Since then, everyone who dared to try their luck in the Superstition Mountains was found dead. The last were three prospectors from Utah today. Curtis Merivors, Ardyn Charles and Malcolm Mynx disappeared in those mountains in 2010 and were found a year later. So the old legend, no matter what is hidden behind it, remains valid.

We live on gold

Well, now about the pleasant things. The gold mining industry in our region is gaining momentum today. Geologists estimate the reserves of this metal in the Kuzbass lands at approximately 500 tons. In total, there are almost 150 deposits in the region, most of them placers. The largest are located in the Tisulsky district on the Bogorodsky Stream, the Voskresenka, Gromotukha and Bolshoy Tuluyul rivers.

Today Kuzbass is one of the top twenty gold mining regions. Every year we mine about a ton of precious metal. The region's balance sheet includes complex, gold and alluvial deposits. And according to experts, due to new technologies that make it possible to extract gold from placers even in the form of dust, production volumes can be increased to 3.5 tons per year by 2020. And then Kuzbass will already be in the top ten for gold production in the Russian Federation.

Photo: Yandex.Images, Google Images