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In consequence, their military strength lay in their cavalry, equipped with bow and lance.

They were largely nomadic, travelling with their flocks and herds, which were their wealth. They were led by Kuchum, khan of the Siberian Tatars and an implacable opponent of Muscovite expansion. Ivan led an expedition to conquer Kazan in 1552, and Astrakhan four years later, but there were still many warlike tribes threatening the Stroganov explorers.

Of these, the Crimean Tatars were the best organised and most dangerous, capable of devastating raids into Russian territory, even to the walls of Moscow raids which went on into the seventeenth century. Indeed, these Tatars had ruled Muscovy as 'the Golden Horde' until the middle of the fifteenth century, when their state broke up into separate khanates, of the Crimea, Astrakhan, Kazan, Nogai and Siberia (see map 2). descendants of the fierce Mongols who had swept across Asia over three centuries before, under their leader Genghis Khan, conquering all in their path. For the Russians were gradually advancing into lands that, though vast and thinly populated, were not empty. The first charter to the Stroganovs dates to 1558, but the most interesting military developments did not take place until the 1580s. Ivan agreed to the setting up of fortress-trading posts, equipped with musketeers and cannon, so long as the Crown had rights over the hunting, fishing and mineral resources that were to be exploited. The wealthy, boyar (noble) family of the Stroganovs proposed expeditions into Siberia, which were authorised by the Tsar. Ivan and his armies were forced to direct their attentions against the organised states that opposed them, so the eastward expansion was largely left to private enterprise. On one border there were less formidable opponents and the greatest opportunity for profit the East. His reign was a series of advances and rebuffs against the Poles and Swedes to the West and the Turks to the South. Tsar Ivan needed money, through the fur trade, with which to acquire Western European skills and technology, and so create his empire. (More properly called Muscovy, since it was based on Moscow - see maps 1 & 2.)Īt the time of the conquest of Siberia, Muscovy was ruled by Ivan IV 'The Terrible' (1530-1584). The Elizabethans were aware of the wealth to be found there and the fur trade drew them to the towns of Novgorod and Archangel, the northern outposts of the rising Russian state. We tend to think only of the discovery of the New World, but there was a similar expansion to the East. The sixteenth century was an age of exploration and adventure, when European countries began to build up land and trade empires across the globe. Illustrated by Paul Hitchin Join Prime Video Channels Free TrialĪn extract from Miniature Wargames 23, April 1985 The Old Wild East of The Old Wild East of Renaissance Europe: the Muscovite Conquest of Siberia.