History of Yakutsk
Founded in 1632.
In 1634 the city repelled the siege of the Yakut princes. Since 1638, the center of the Yakutsk district. In the XVIII-XX centuries the place of residence of political exiles. Since 1822, the provincial city.
The beginning of the city of Yakutsk was laid by the Lensky (or Yakutsky) fort, based on the right bank of the Lena by a detachment of Yeniseichki Cossacks led by the centurion Peter Beketov. In the celobite Tsar, Beketov wrote: "That same year, September 25, the day of the Tsar's Sovereign and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, I put a decree with the servicemen on the Lena River for the Tsar's Majesty in distant Ukraine and for the yasak brow and for the arrival of Yakut people." And before that, on the Lena River in the Yakut land, the sovereign's prison had never been anywhere.” A prison was set up, called Lensky, "against the Yakutsk prince Mymakov ulus and among many other uluses among the whole earth" in 1632.
So the Lensky fortress became the first Russian fortified point on the Yakut land, thanks to which the Cossacks later annexed the entire northeast of Siberia. Two years later, he was moved to a new place. This was done by Ataman Galkin, who replaced Beketov. From the prison, small detachments of servicemen went to collect yasak in the surrounding uluses. Local princes tried to defend their exclusive right to collect yasak from their fellow tribesmen and often opposed detachments of Russian collectors. In 1634, the combined detachments of Yakut princes under the leadership of Mamak, having gathered up to 600 Yakuts, attacked the Lena Fortress. In a bloody battle, the Yakuts overpowered Ataman Galkin, forcing him to retreat to the prison, and after a month-long siege they tried to burn the prison. The Yakuts failed, and they retreated. Two years later, the Lensky fortress was again besieged by the Yakuts. However, now the Russian detachment not only defended its prison, but also captured the prisons of the Yakut princes. After the defeat, part of the Yakuts emigrated to the Vilyui River, and part moved to the Yana and Olekma rivers. Russian detachments here on these rivers were so small (the largest reached 30-50 people) that, despite the excellent armament, they could not establish control over the vast territory. Until the early 1640s, local residents repeatedly destroyed the Yasak collectors.
Until 1638, the Lena prison was subordinate to the Yenisei Voivodeship Chancellery and commanded by service ranks sent from Yeniseisk. Then Moscow decided to create an independent administrative unit - the Yakutsk district. The Lensky Fortress became the center of a new territorial formation. From a remote suburban prison, it turned into such a city of a huge region, encompassing all the rivers "which fell into the Lena." Here from Moscow sent the first voivode, Peter Golovin and Maxim Glebov. Arriving in the prison in 1641 with 395 Cossacks and five ministers of the church, when transferring powers to them, they promised to “repair the truth in all violence”, “keep the economy” and “kill thieves from theft”. The Voivodeship Department from the very beginning was distinguished by cruelty against non-residents and Russian residents of the prison. Especially distinguished was the voivode Golovin, who wished to curry favor before the king and not to offend himself. Bribery, robbery, denunciations and snubs became common during his reign.
In the first year of Golovin’s voivodeship, the Lena prison was flooded during the Lena spill. Written head Vasily Poyarkov was sent "in many tracts" to look for a new place to transfer the prison. The search led Poyarkov to Eyukov meadow, which was found under the "sharp place of all the best and sweetest". In 1643, the Lena prison was moved to a new place, on the left bank, in the Tuimaada valley, the center of Yakut settlements near Lake Saisary. Then the prison became a city and was called Yakutsk.
The new city was a small military fortress, had a garrison consisting of several dozen Russian Cossacks, was equipped with guns and guns. Ten years later, a census of the population was conducted here and compiled a "Painting of servicemen and commercial and industrial people, huts and yurts Zastrostychny". Being the main point of supply of all prisons and wintering areas, Yakutsk immediately took the position of the economic center of a huge region. Hundreds of industrialists and merchants came here annually for sable fishing and for trade with the local population. They carried Russian goods: cloth, canvases, non-water nets, leather, candles, axes, knives and much more. By the middle of the XVII century, a large bazaar appeared in Yakutsk, where the local population is actively exchanging furs, fish, meat and lard for Russian goods. The craft at that time in Yakutsk almost no one was engaged, only 15 residents of the city were handicrafts.
In 1678, a new voivode Thomas Bibikov came to Yakutsk. The city and its successors began to rebuild. The fortress is enclosed with a new palisade, the moat is deepened, five towers on the fortress walls are enclosed with a palisade.
In the XVIII century, the Yakut region included territories in the north, east and south inhabited by northern peoples, which significantly expanded the borders of the region. The city of Yakutsk lost its military and defense importance, becoming an administrative and commercial center. In addition, Yakutsk became the place of residence of political exiles, the first of whom were the participants in the uprising of Stepan Razin and the Moscow Streltsy, who supported Princess Sophia in the fight against Tsar Peter. Later, schismatic Old Believers, participants in the uprising on Senate Square in December 1825 and many other “politically unreliable citizens” were exiled here. In Yakutsk and the Yakut region served exile Decembrists A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, S. Krasnokutsky, Z. Chernyshev, writers N. Chernyshevsky, V. Korolenko.
Until the middle of the XIX century, the administrative-territorial structure of Yakutsk was often reorganized. Since 1708, the city was part of the Siberian province, in 1764 it was assigned to the Irkutsk province, 20 years later it was appointed the regional city of the Irkutsk governorship. In 1805, Yakutsk was reduced to a county city, and in 1822 again made a regional city, assigning five districts to it. In 1851, the administration of the Yakut region was entrusted to a special civilian governor. Gradually, the city's population is growing and by the end of the XIX century reaches seven thousand people. In addition to permanent residents, it was always possible to meet visiting merchants and Yakuts from different regions of the region who came to the city to work.
What was Yakutsk in the early XX century? Dry statistics show that there were 930 residential buildings in the city, including 79 Yakut yurts, there were 8 stone and 8 wooden Orthodox churches, a synagogue, 16 educational institutions were opened (including a real school, a women's gymnasium, a theological seminary), a regional statistical committee with a regional museum, a state printing house, two libraries. The city is quite different from the notes of those who visited it at that time: In appearance, Yakutsk looks more like a well-to-do village than a city; there is not a single beautiful building, not a single cobbled street, there is no proper lighting, boards are lined on some streets instead of sidewalks, and then with frequent interruptions. The mud is everywhere, the descent of water from the streets is not taken care of. Drinking water by sufficient inhabitants is taken from the main channel of the Lena, and most insufficient people use water from the tributary, where all sorts of garbage fall. Most residents stock up on ice from Lena, and ice water is used for tea and cooking.”
In the days of fairs, Yakutsk was transformed. At the winter fair, cattle, meat and milk were sold. At the summer fair brought fabrics, tea, furs, mammoth bone. Goods bought here were delivered to fairs throughout Northeast Asia, including the coast of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Over time, the importance of the summer fair began to fall due to the start of shipping along the Lena and the opening of the Siberian railway. New ways allowed to order goods from shopping centers of Russia and receive them much earlier.
In 1913, a department of the Russian Geographical Society was formed in the city. It wasn't an accident. Speaking of Yakutsk, one cannot but recall that this city was the starting point of many campaigns of Russian explorers and almost all scientific expeditions to the East. From here Semyon Dezhnev, Yerofey Khabarov, Vasily Polyakov, Vitus Berin, Stepan Krasheninnikov and many other researchers of unknown lands went on a further journey.
