Yerofey Khabarov
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Yerofey Pavlovich Khabarov or Svyatitsky (Russian: Ерофей Павлович Хабаров (Святицкий) Erofej Pavlovič Chabarov (Svjatickij; the first name is often spelled Ярофей (Yarofei) in contemporary acounts; 1603 — after 1671), was a Russian entrepreneur and adventurer, best known for his exploring the Amur river region and his attempts to colonize the area for Russia. The major Russian city of Khabarovsk, as well as the small town and railway station Yerofey Pavlovich (Ерофей Павлович) (located on the Trans-Siberian railroad in Amur Oblast) bear his name.
[edit] Biography
A native of the Veliky Ustyug area in the northern European Russia, Khabarov was a manager for the Stroganovs at the saltworks in Solvychegodsk.[1] In 1625, Khabarov sailed from Tobolsk to Mangazeya. Three years later, he left the town with his expedition and reached the Kheta river (eastern part of Taimyr). In 1630, Khabarov took part in a voyage from Mangazeya to Tobolsk. In 1632—1641, he reached the Lena River and founded a farming settlement with saltworks along the Lena at the mouths of the Kuta and Kirenga Rivers.
In 1649 he became the second Russian to explore the Amur after Vassili Poyarkov (1643-1646). In the spring of 1649 he set off at his own expense up the Olyokma River, a far better route than Poyarkov's and several hundred miles to the west. Reaching the upper Amur (Dauria) in early 1650, he found the country nearly deserted, the cossacks' reputation having preceded them. Having pioneered a good route, he returned to Yakutsk in May, 1650 and gave his report. He praised the land, warned of the danger of Chinese intervention and suggested a larger expedition with professional soldiers. Given the time delays in communicating with Moscow, the Yakutsk Voivode Frantsbekov decided to act on his own and sent Khabarov back south with a larger force.
The voivode also gave Khabarov letters from His Majesty Czar Alexis to the Daurian Prince Lavkai and "Prince Bogdoi" (Russian: Князь Богдой, i.e. the Qing Emperor), asking those potentates to submit to the Russian Czar, and threatening to send a 6,000-strong army if they don't obey.[2][3][4]
Khabarov crossed the mountains in the fall of 1650 and this time was met with armed resistance. After receiving reinforcements in June 1651 he set off down the Amur. By September they reached the mouth of the Sungari and built a winter fort at Achansk near present-day Khabarovsk. Their demands for supplies provoked a native rebellion. After a round of fighting the local people appealed to their Manchu overlords. On March 24, 1652 a force of 2,000 Chinese armed with artillery arrived from Ninguta and attacked Achansk. Khabarov somehow managed to defeat them, but not knowing how many more Chinese were in the area, he withdrew up the Amur. At one point he encountered another force of 6,000 Chinese, but was able to slip around them under cover of fog and darkness. Further upstream he met a force of 117 cossacks who had been sent as reinforcements. These promptly mutinied and Khabarov spent the remainder of the year trying to regain control of his men. What happened in early 1653 is unclear, but in the fall of 1653, 150 reinforcements under Dimitry Zinovev appeared. As a nobleman, Zinovev demanded full command. When Khabarov refused, he was arrested. Unable to gain the support of Khabarov's men and having no adequate way to deal with the Chinese, Zinovev withdrew the whole force from the Amur.
Khabarov was deprived of his rank and property and was sent on a fifteen-month journey to Moscow to be tried. After a year's delay he was acquitted. He was given a minor noble rank (Syn boyarsky of Ilimsk) on the condition that he return to Siberia. He reappears again in the records in 1658 when the Siberian Office ordered that he be placed in irons if he refused to guide a new expedition to the Amur. After that he disappears from the records.
Khabarov charted the Amur river in his "Draft of the Amur river" (Russian: Чертёж реки Амур).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bobrick, Benson (1992). "5: The Black Dragon River". East of the Sun. New York, New York: Poseidon Press. pp. 81-85. ISBN 0-671-66755-6.
- ^ Грамата, данная из Якутска, для вручения ея, через Хабарова, Князю Богдою, после перваго возвращения Хабарова с Амура, в 1650 г. (A letter issued in Yakutsk to be handed by Khabarov to Prince Bogdoi, after Khabarov's first return from the Amur, in 1650) (Russian)
- ^ "ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЕ АКТЫ О ПОДВИГАХ ЕРОФЕЯ ХАБАРОВА, НА АМУРЕ, В 1649-1651 ГГ. (Historical acts concerning Yerofei Khabarov's Amur explouts in 1649-1651)". Syn Otechestva (1). 1840. http://ostrog.ucoz.ru/publikacii/4_34.htm.
- ^ Lincoln, W. Bruce (2007). The Conquest of a Continent: Siberia and the Russians. Cornell University Press. p. 69. ISBN 0801489229. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=a7JrTvgU4yMC.
- W Bruce Lincoln, The Conquest of a Continent, 1994
