Siberian tract: history, description, extent

The Siberian route is a land route that stretches from the European territory of Russia to the borders of China through Siberia. It has many names. Among them:
- The Moscow-Siberian tract.
- A large tract.
- The Moscow-Irkutino tract.
- The main Siberian postal route.

The end of this path is indicated by the branches on Kyakhta and Nerchinsk. The length of the Siberian tract, according to some estimates, was 11 thousand kilometers. This is a quarter of the distance of the Earth's circumference along its equator.

The need to create

For a fairly long period, the communication between the European part of Russia and Siberia was carried out only along separate river routes. It was connected with the lack of roads.

In 1689, the Nerchinsk Treaty was signed between Russia and China, thanks to which official relations were first possible between the countries. In addition, the agreement opened the way to various trade relations, which caused the need to create a transport corridor between the states.

Start of construction

12 (22). 11. In 1689, the royal decree was issued, which ordered the arrangement of a route connecting Moscow with Siberia. However, the construction of the tract was delayed. Another forty years, no action was taken. The decree remained on paper.

Even under Peter the Great, it was possible to get from Moscow to China only through a variety of overland routes, waterways and roads. Only in 1725 a delegation headed by Count Savva Raguzinsky Vladislavovich was sent to China. As a result of her negotiations, in 1727, the signing of the Burin Treaty took place. This agreement established the borders of states near the future settlement of Kakhta. The Kakhtinsk Treaty was also signed, which defined trade and political relations between the countries. And, finally, in 1730 Russia took up the construction of a new road, which was named the Siberian route. The works were completed by the middle of the 19th century.

Geography

The Siberian tract is the longest road of that time, which connected together two different parts of the world. But the land route from Moscow to China became the shortest route connecting the central part of the Russian state with its eastern outskirts.

Built Siberian route where on the map of Russia? Its thread originates from Moscow itself, then goes to Murom, passes through Kozmodemyansk and Kazan, Osu and Perm, Kungur and Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and Tobolsk, Tara and Kainsk, Kolyvan and Yeniseisk, Irkutsk and Verneudinsk, and Nerchinsk. The final point is Kyakhta. Thus, the Siberian tract stretches across Siberia to the borders of China.

At the beginning of the 20th century, this overland route changed somewhat. If you take a map of the time, then on it the Siberian tract is located somewhat south of Tyumen. It runs through Yalutorovsk and Ishim, Omsk and Tomsk, Achinsk, and Krasnoyarsk. Further it stretches to Irkutsk and coincides with the previous route.

However, by the end of the 19th century. The Siberian tract - one of the longest roads in the world - has become incapable of meeting the ever growing transportation needs of the Russian state. That is why the government decided to build the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Construction of settlements

The newly created Siberian tract required a certain arrangement. For this purpose, settlements were built throughout its entire length. Moreover, the villages and villages on the tract were long and were on both sides of the road. The outskirts of the settlement settlements were located at a distance of one to two kilometers from the center.

In order to make the streets more compact, the houses were put to the road by the narrowest side. The central part of such a settlement, located near the church, as a rule, expanded due to the streets that ran parallel to the dry route.

Development of the territory

The Siberian tract became the main reason for the settlement of previously poorly occupied places. The government paved the way for forced colonization. The Siberian tract is a place where coachmen moved from European regions of Russia. In addition, exiled peasants were driven here, whom the landlords put in reckoning as recruits. Those territories and free immigrants settled down. They came from different parts of Siberia and Russia.

As the land route developed, so did the influx of migrants to these places. Gradually these territories became the most inhabited in Siberia. People who moved here had government benefits. For two years, they were exempt from all existing in those days of duty, except for the capitation.

When the Siberian route was finally built, the government imposed additional duties on the peasants from the pre-village villages and villages on the maintenance of crossings and bridges, transport of military personnel, etc. Such duties were 40 times higher than those of the same peasants who lived in the Russian provinces.

Mail message

In addition to establishing ties with China, the Siberian route was necessary for Russia for one more purpose. Without this overland route, it was impossible to organize a state postal service. The construction of the road has already justified all expectations of the government. So, if in 1724 postal items from Moscow to Tobolsk were transported only once a month, then as early as 1734 - weekly, and after two decades - every three to four days.

To ensure the smooth organization of delivery throughout the Siberian tract, a number of postal stations were built. Delivery of parcels was carried out by coachmen or peasants.

Shandal path

The Siberian route is a land route, where, in addition to the many postal stations, there were stages every 25-40 versts. The first of these were built in the twenties of the 19th century. According to the administrative reform, the convict parties followed their path, broken down into the 61st stage. The order of the prisoners' movement along the Siberian route was regulated by a special document. It was the "Charter of the stages." In it, the main rules for arranging prisons, the procedure for moving exiled parties, etc., were painted.

The Siberian tract is where the prisoners, after two days of traveling along the route, could rest in the transit prison. Served for this purpose and stage huts, which were located at almost all postal stations. A distance of 25-30 versts in two days overcame the prison wagons, which sometimes included the carts carrying household goods. Sometimes along the way the prisoner could get sick or die. Then his corpse was put on a cart and continued to carry after the next stage. It was from here that the proverb was born: "To deliver the living or the dead."

During the period from 1783 to 1883 years. Approximately 1.5 million prisoners passed through the Siberian route. There were also political rebels among them. For example, in the 1890s. This road was twice delivered by A.N. Radishchev, who was the founder of domestic samizdat.

Trade route

Constructed from Moscow to China, the tract revived not only international, but also domestic economic relations. During this land route, there were major fairs - Makarievskaya and Irbitskaya. Also thanks to the route, there were constant exchanges of goods between different regions. For example, in the province of Kazan appeared rich bays, which opened their factories not far from the road.

Thanks to the Siberian tract, economic ties between Russia and China have expanded. On this road, leather and furs were delivered abroad, silver and oil, pine nuts and rare fish, goose meat and much more. Holland, England and France also used the Siberian tract. On this route they transported their goods to China. It should also be said that the trains stretched along the Siberian tract with an uninterrupted chain throughout the year.

The emergence of a transport corridor contributed to the creation of three large arms factories in the country. In their list Permian cannon, Izhevsk weapons and Kazan powder. They transported their products along the highway to the center of the Russian state.

The eastern part of the overland route, located in Siberia, is called the "Great Tea Route". On it were caravans, delivering tea from China. In Russia in the late 18 century. Even a new company, Perlov with Sons, appeared. She traded tea, delivering it to all regions of the empire.

Road condition

It was extremely difficult to travel along the Siberian route. The fact is that the condition of the entire road was in an extremely unsatisfactory state. The description of the area of the Siberian tract is found in the memoirs of some travelers. According to their stories this way in places looked like a plow, cut by longitudinal furrows. This significantly slowed down the movement, in connection with which the distance of thirty miles could be overcome only in 7-8 hours.

East of Tomsk, the tract passed through a hilly area, but was also in an extremely unsatisfactory state. It also caused complaints from travelers, the number of which has increased steadily. Nevertheless, despite this state of affairs, the road for thousands of kilometers was a means for reliable and cheap communication. Initially, it was allocated only verst columns, crossings passing through mountains and rivers, gati and copses. Then Catherine II ordered to land along the birch tract. Trees were located from each other at a distance of 2 m 84 cm (four arshins), protecting the road from snowdrifts and not allowing travelers to get off the road in bad weather.

The tract in our days

The Moscow-Siberian land route had a huge national importance for almost a century and a half. However, after the discovery of the steamship river traffic in 1840, as well as the laying of a railway in 1890 in these parts of the railway, its use began to be carried out on a smaller scale. Russia's economic growth has increased the transport needs of the country. This led to the decision to start construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. After its completion in 1903, the slow caravan trade moved to new rails.

Today the old southern branch of the Siberian route is almost entirely covered by the road in the message from Kazan to the city of Malmyzh, and then to Perm and Yekaterinburg. At the same time, the former Siberian route has been almost completely reconstructed and today it is the highway of the highest category. Outside the modern route there is, for example, a plot from Zura to the village of Debiosy, the degree of preservation of which is different. Actively used for local needs is only one of its length. This is the route from Shurnogut to Debjes.

On the road Kazan-Perm there are other sections of the Siberian tract, which were outside the boundaries of the new highway. Their condition is different. Some of the previously laid ways are maintained in good condition and are used in local traffic, while others are completely withdrawn from circulation and are now overgrown.

The Museum

In 1991 a unique complex was opened in the village of Debesy. This is a museum of the history of the Siberian tract. Its main goal is to preserve the memory of the main road between Moscow and China, which in the 18-19 centuries. Was the main postal, trade and shackles of Russia.

There is a museum in the building, built in 1911 by the merchant of the second guild, Murtazoy by Mulyukov. In former times it was the barracks of the lower ranks, which was not far from the prison-stage, where the prisoners were kept between the shipments. The building of the museum is under state protection.

The staff of the complex consists of fifteen employees and four researchers. They protect and multiply the museum's funds, in which today there are more than three thousand rare books, items of ethnography and other exhibits.
The exposition of this unique complex is open in three halls. Their subjects:
"The Sovereign Road."
- "The village on the Siberian tract."
- "Forest Encounters".

On the second floor of the building there are such expositions as "History of the school of the village of Karaduvan" and "History of the Siberian tract". Their exhibits tell about the development of postal communication from 1790 to the present day. At the same time, visitors can get acquainted with the clothes of coachmen, as well as bells, harnesses used for transportation, etc. The guests of the complex are greatly interested in pre-revolutionary documents, including letters and maps of the postal and geographical district, which depict Kazan district. Among the exhibits you can see a telephone set made in the beginning of the 20th century, the Morse apparatus, branded clothes of postal workers of the 40s of the 20th century, as well as the first Soviet television.

The section about the history of the village of Karaduvan is equipped with local history materials, including the handwritten Koran, personal belongings of the former owners of the merchant's house, etc.

Employees conduct excursions not only in the museum, but also in the village of Debesy, as well as in its surroundings. The main activity of this unique historical complex is not commercial, but research and cultural-mass.