A Band of Adventurers Defeats a Kingdom

Description

A Band of Adventurers Defeats a Kingdom

Sujets

• Arts

Informations

• Publié par: ifydesut
• Nombre de lectures: 54
• Langue: Français

Extrait

Turchin_01.qxd7/28/053:03PMPage15

Chapter 1

A Band of Adventurers Defeats a Kingdom Ermak’s Conquering Cossacks

O l n b e a a n O di k c n s t  o g o  b f s e e t r v  h e e 2 r  2 a I , l r  t h 1 y u 5 sh 8 n  1 d , R r i e t v d h e  e r.  Co T w s a h s r e a r  c i C k o s o r ,  ss d E a e r c c m k id s a  e k w  d e T t r i o e   m d m o e f a e e k p e e  v  i , c n a  a t m n h  p e a  t o h a n o  s m t ti a h l n e e territory on the far side of the Urals, surrounded by savage hordes on every side. Night had already fallen, so they lit a ring of fires to guard themselves against stealthy attack and to keep warm their wounded comrades. After making camp, Ermak gathered together the unwounded and those not keeping watch to discuss what they must do next. They had few options, and none looked good. The chain of events that brought these Russian warriors to the Irtysh began a couple of decades before in 1558, when Tsar Ivan IV granted to Jacob and Gregory Stroganov a huge territory in the wild Upper Kama region just west of the Ural Mountains. The Stroganovs were the Russian counterparts of the Dutch and English merchant-adventurers and empire builders who founded trading companies in the East and West Indies. Earlier in the sixteenth century, the Stroganov family had developed large- scale industries on the northeastern frontier of Russia—salt extraction, fur trade, and fisheries—and therefore they had the necessary experience and capital to develop new territories. The Stroganov brothers immediately started attracting colonists and establishing settlements and military gar- risons. The land was sparsely inhabited by indigenous tribes of various Finno-Ugric peoples who, although resentful of the invasion, were unable to offer effective resistance. A more serious threat came from the Tatars inhabiting the steppe and forest-steppe regions beyond the Urals. The Tatars was the generic name used by the Russians for Turko-Mongolic