Russia’s conquest of Siberia, 1558-1700. a documentary record [1] 0875951481

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UVfENTARY REC(

1558'1700 . BASIL DMYTRYSHYN E A.P. CROWNHART-VAUGHAN THOMAS VAUGHAN

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n this first of three volumes, a series entitled To Siberia and Russian America: Three Centuries of Russian Eastward Expansion, 1558-1867, are present at last the long-awaited English docu¬ mentary record of the Russian conquest of Siberia and its native peoples. Beginning with the imperial award of the Stroganov landgrant of 15 58, the translator-edi¬ tors have assiduously compiled this massive work of scholarship which unfolds, in a com¬ prehensible story of courage and savagery, the initial conquest of the vast continent. We ob¬ serve in firsthand reports through the hard eyes and actions of the Russian trader-explorers who pried open Siberia’s unknown expanses and as well the countless secrets of its fur-hunting tribes. The headlong eastern drive toward the rising sun, the audacity and verve of the march, its relentless reduction of furs and tribes are de¬ scribed in a formal chronology never before as¬ sessed by Western scholars; all is much en¬ hanced by a thorough reconstruction and evaluation of many obscure and relatively un¬ known manuscript sources. When the Russian conquerors at last reach the “quiet ocean” and extended their power on¬ to the Kamchatka peninsula, one might suppose that this was the final thrust. But no. Volume Two reveals an instant power shift with a sea¬ ward expansion into the Pacific. In a few short years, the discovery and exploration of the North Pacific island chain is accomplished, to¬ gether with the Alaskan littoral. The propelling force continues unabated—the search for furs—“soft gold”—with the preponderance changing from sable to sea otter. The diplomatic secrecy changes from early Chinese trade and frontier negotiations and boundary clashes in Volume One to the first meetings with the questing representatives of Spanish, British and French seapower in Vol¬ ume Two. Some of these first-described en¬ counters anticipate basic problems of presentday borders. In Volume Three, and for the first time in her long history, Russia establishes col-

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