Serving Tatars in the frontier development of Western Siberia in the XVII century

Abstract

This article analyzes the poorly studied in Russian historiography question of the role of serving Tatars in the process of addition and development of Western Siberia. The object of this research is the Siberian serving Tatars “Yomışlı Tatarlar” as a special group of serving people. The subject of this research is the contribution of the serving Tatars to the frontier development of Siberia in the XVII century. Based on the previously elaborated methodology - the phase of development of the Siberian frontier, the author highlights the point and transitional stages characteristic to the initial period of colonization. It is noted that at these stages, the consolidation strategy for the recently annexed territories was the erection of fortresses as the benchmarks. The author provides various evidence to prove the significance of contribution of serving Tatars to the military and economic development of Siberian territories at the early stages of the frontier. Records on the number of serving Tatars in the garrisons of the first Russian cities during the XVII century, which demonstrate that their share of in the initial period of frontier development of Western Siberia comprised approximately one third of the military staff, are of special importance. Leaning on different types of sources, the article describes active participation of serving Tatars in construction of Russian fortresses and development of attached territories. The novelty of this research lies in the formulated conclusions that broaden the knowledge on the history of serving population in this period, and give a new perspective upon the role of serving Tatars “Yomışlı Tatarlar” in the process of colonization of Western Siberia.