TravelTill

History of Tyumen


JuteVilla
The Tyumen area, originally part of the Siberia Khanate, was annexed to Russia by the Cossack ataman Yermak Timofeyevich in 1585. On July 29, 1586, Tsar Feodor I ordered two regional commanders, Vasily Borisov-Sukin and Ivan Myasnoy, to construct a fortress on the site of the former Tatar town of Chingi-Tura ('city of Chingis'), also known as Tyumen, from the Turkish and Mongol word for 'ten thousand.'

Tyumen was founded on the "Tyumen Portage" on the historical trade route between Central Asia and the Volga region. Control of the portage had been continuously contested by various South Siberian nomads in the preceding centuries. As a result, early Russian settlers were often attacked by Tatar and Kalmyk raiders. These attacks caused Tyumen's population to be dominated by the Streltsy and Cossack garrisons stationed in the town until the mid-17th century. As the area became less restive, the town began to take on a less military character.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Tyumen had developed into an important center of trade between Siberia and China in the east and Central Russia in the west. Tyumen had also become an important industrial center, known for leather goods makers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. In 1763, 7,000 people were recorded as living in the town.

In the 19th century the town's development continued. In 1836, the first steam boat in Siberia was built in Tyumen. In 1862, the telegraph came to the town, and in 1864 the first water mains were laid. Further prosperity came to Tyumen after the construction, in 1885, of the Trans-Siberian Railway. For some years, Tyumen was Russia's easternmost railhead, and the site of transhipment of cargoes between the railway and the cargo boats plying the Tyumen, Tobol,Irtysh, and Ob Rivers.

By the end of the 19th century, Tyumen's population exceeded 30,000, surpassing that of its northern rival Tobolsk, and beginning a process whereby Tyumen gradually eclipsed the former
previous123next
JuteVilla