The prominent Russian explorer and traveler Ivan Moskvitin, having become one of the key figures in the development of the Far East and Siberia, left extremely scarce information about his life. Not only the details depicting the features of his appearance, but also many stages of the biography are forever hidden from us. And yet, his services to Russia are so great that a simple Tomsk Cossack - Ivan Moskvitin, whose contribution to geographical science is truly invaluable - has gone down in Russian history forever.
The era of conquering new lands
In the thirties of the XVII century, there was an active development of previously unknown lands lying behind the Great Ural Mountains. The starting point for explorers of that era was Yakutsk. It was from here that desperate travelers began their journey into the unknown. There were two main directions for the movement of their detachments — north and south along the Lena River. It is known that in the remote taiga region, water arteries have long been used as natural routes of communication.
Ivan Moskvitin, whose years of life fell just during this period, was one of those desperate heads that intoxicated the air of unknown lands. He also had a like-minded person - the Tomsk chieftain Dmitry Epifanovich Kopalov. They were haunted by rumors that somewhere in the east there is the Warm Sea. It is difficult to say why it was called Warm - perhaps, in association with the sun, rising from there every morning. But, in order to reach this sea, it was necessary to move not along the river surface, but to break through the centuries-old, unpalatable taiga.
Expedition Start
And in 1637, with a detachment of Cossacks, Kopalov moved east, and his friend Tomsk Cossack Ivan Moskvitin set off with him. History has not preserved either the date of his birth, nor the information about the ways in which the Lord brought him to Tomsk. One can only make assumptions based on his last name. In olden times, it was customary to dignify people at the birthplace of themselves, or their immediate ancestors. So it is entirely conceivable that if not Ivan himself, then his father or grandfather was from Moscow lands.
Starting his journey in Tomsk, the detachment reached Yakutsk, and continued to move east. Before delving into the taiga, they took advantage of the already explored waterway. In search of a “new land” (as the documents of that era wrote) and the Warm Sea, travelers went down the Lena River in 1638 to its tributary Aldan, and for five weeks they climbed upwards, moving their plows with ropes and poles. Having made this difficult journey, the Cossacks reached the mouth of another taiga river called May, the right tributary of the Aldan.
The first information about the Amur River
Here, in the taiga wilderness, they met a shaman, the real one - in those days a similar meeting was in the order of things. With the help of a translator Semyon Petrov, specially taken into the detachment for the sake of such cases, Kopalov learned from a forest magician that a huge river flows to the south, right behind the ridge, which the local tribes call Chirkol. But the main news was that, according to the shaman, on its shores there lived a lot of "sedentary", that is, sedentary residents involved in cattle breeding and agriculture. So for the first time sovereign people heard about the great Siberian river Amur.
But the main goal of the expedition - the Warm Sea, still called the Cossacks to the east. In May 1639, the ataman equips an advanced detachment, headed by Ivan Moskvitin, in search of a path to the coveted “sea-ocean”. His biography, so incomplete and stingy with the facts, nevertheless reproduces this episode in sufficient detail. It is known that under his command were three dozen of the most tested and experienced Cossacks. In addition, they were hired by the conductors - Evenks.
Up the May River
As his closest assistant, Ivan Moskvitin took a resident of Yakutsk, Cossack Kolobov. His name is firmly in history due to the fact that in 1646 he, like his boss, submitted to the sovereign a written report on his participation in the trip. This document, called the “bevel,” became the most valuable historical evidence of the events associated with the discovery of the Sea of Okhotsk. The detachment also included a translator - the already mentioned Semyon Petrov.
The group formed in this way continued on up May along a flat-bottomed board - a spacious and roomy boat. But the trouble is that for about two hundred kilometers most of the way had to be dragged by scourge, wading through dense coastal thickets. After six weeks of hard travel, the Cossacks reached another taiga river - the narrow and shallow Nyudym.
The path to the ridge Dzhugdzhur
Here I had to part with a spacious, but heavy and awkward plank, and build some light plows. On them, travelers reached the headwaters. During the journey, Ivan Moskvitin briefly described all the tributaries of the Lena, Mai and Nyudym they saw, which subsequently served to compile geographical maps of that area.
In front of them was a green pass covered with cedar forest, a low pass with a ridge later named Dzhugdzhur. This was an important stage of the journey - a mountain range separated the rivers belonging to the Lena system from those that flowed to the “sea - ocean” they desired. Pass Moskvin with his detachment overcame in a day, throwing plows, and taking with him only the most necessary.
Down the Hive River
On the opposite slope, they again met a river - unhurried and shallow, making wide loops on its way before connecting with the Hive - one of the rivers of the Okhotsk Sea basin. I had to take up the axes again and get on the plows again. But now the river itself helped travelers. If until now, climbing upstream, they had to drag their boats on themselves, now, going down, it was possible to take a short rest.
Eight days later, a characteristic noise was heard ahead, warning of the approach of steep and dangerous rapids, about which the conductors, Evenks, had told them. These stones that filled the river bed stretched for a long distance, and again had to, having thrown the recently made plows, and, having luggage put on their shoulders, to wade through the impenetrable taiga. To top it off, the Cossacks had run out of food by this time, and it was not possible to replenish its reserves with natural resources - the river was fishless, and only a handful of berries were collected along its banks.
The long-awaited access to the ocean
But the Cossacks did not lose heart, and Ivan Moskvitin was an example for them. Years of life spent in the taiga region, taught him to be strong. Passing a dangerous section of the river, they again took up the usual thing - the construction of boats. This time they built a kayak for the advance group, and for everyone else - a large and heavy transport boat, capable of accommodating thirty people and the entire load of the expedition. Soon reached the full-flowing and rich fish of the Lama River. If before the Cossacks had to eat tree bark, grass and roots, now the time has come for hearty fish meals.
Five days later, an event occurred that went down in the history of Russian geography - Ivan Moskvitin and his detachment reached the Sea of Okhotsk. All the way from the mouth of the May River to the "sea-ocean" was overcome in two months. It should be noted that he ran through previously uncharted territory, and various circumstances required frequent stops from travelers. As a result, in August 1639, Russian explorers for the first time in history reached the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean - the Sea of Okhotsk.
Start of coastal exploration
Autumn has come. From the hibernation set on the Ulja River, a group of Cossacks went north to study and describe the coast of the sea. All leadership of their actions was carried out by Ivan Moskvitin. The contribution to geographical science made by this party was enormous. They covered a distance of more than five hundred kilometers, during which records were kept. A significant part of the journey was done by sea in a boat.
The experience of this journey showed the need to build larger and more reliable ships, and for further travel the Cossacks built two small but strong koch equipped with masts and sails. Thus, in the winter of 1639-1640, the construction of the Pacific Fleet was symbolic.
In summer, the entire detachment sailed south to the sea and reached the Sakhalin Gulf. The sea route of Ivan Moskvitin and his team was also described in detail, as well as their land wanderings. The mainland coast of the Sea of Okhotsk over a thousand seven hundred kilometers, for the first time in history, was traveled and studied by Russian people.
On the approaches to the great Siberian river
In his voyage, Ivan Moskvitin came close to the mouth of the Amur, but he failed to enter it. There were two reasons for this: the famine, which forced the brave explorers to turn back, and the guides' stories about the extremely aggressive disposition of the inhabitants of the coastal areas. Trying to make contact with them and thus replenish food supplies was extremely risky, as a result they decided to go back. In the spring of 1641, the Cossacks again overcame the Dzhugdzhur ridge, and reached one of the tributaries of the May River. In July of that year, the entire detachment safely returned to Yakutsk.
From the taiga wilderness - to Moscow
Documents of those years report that Ivan Moskvitin, whose discoveries received a well-deserved evaluation of the Yakut authorities, was made at Pentecost, and his Cossacks received all of their four-year labors and deprivations from two to five rubles. The most distinguished ones were, moreover, given a piece of cloth. In 1646, Moskvitin was sent to Moscow to report to the sovereign himself. So for the first time in the capital it became known about a trip to the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk. The brave traveler returned home already at the rank of chieftain.
To further conquer open lands, he recommended sending there a large armed detachment, numbering at least a thousand people with ten guns and enough food. According to him, those lands were unusually rich in fish and fur-bearing animals, which could bring significant revenue to the treasury.
Here, I regret all the information that Ivan Moskvitin left about himself. The years of life and death of this man remained unknown, but his name and the contribution he made to the development of the Far East forever went down in history. Other travelers continued his work, among which V.D. Poyarkov became one of the most famous. Without a doubt, the motto of Ivan Moskvitin and his followers could be expressed by the words of Christ: "Seek and come to an end." And they went in search of the unknown and into the taiga far away, and into the vast expanses of the sea.