Chukotka as a Part of Russia

Discovering and Exploring Chukotka

In the 16th century Moscow took over Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, and the Great Merchant Route that led to Central Asia, the Urals and Siberia was from then on fully controlled by Russia. Merchant caravans and Cossack detachments traveled East across the Urals. Moscow State was becoming a multi-national and mighty power.
Troops of Cossak people in service and merchants were going deeper and deeper, colonizing Siberia, building wooden fortresses as they took over new territories, and some of these fortresses were later given the status of administrative centres. Those Siberian peoples which were made part of the Russian State had to render natural tribute, yasak which was in the form of fur, to the tzar.
The aborigens of the Extreme North-East of Asia faced Russian detachments in the first half of XVII century. The first record mentioning the Chukchi as a nationality that was more numerous than all other ones in the region goes back to 1641-1642. On the Alazeya River they showed resistance to tribute-collectors and Cossacks informed the tzar about the fact. This was the first time when Russians learned about that nationality which had been unknown to them until then.
In 1644 Cossack Michailo Stadukhin reached the Kolyma River and set up Nizhnekolymskoe Zimovye. He provided a more or less detailed information about the Chukchi: «…There are people called Chukhchi who live along the Chukhcha river…Those Chukhchi have no sable-fur because they live in the tundra on the seashore».
Soon there started new explorations of the remote lands east of Kolyma. The eastern sea-boundary of the «Chukotka land» was «found and explored» by a sea expedition. In the summer of 1647 a Yakut Cossack, Semen Dezhnev, and a salesclerk of a Moscow merchant, Fedot Popov, organized an expedition which consisted of soldiers and fur trapper and put out to sea on ships called kotchas hoping to find and explore new lands and peoples. Unfortunately, the expedition was unsuccessful: fragile ships could not sail far because of the sea-ice. In 1648 they organized another expedition and this time reached «the Onadyr River», having lost half of the crew during the travel.
In 1649 near the upstream waters of the Anadyr River where Anadyr fortress was built in 1652 Dezhnev founded a zimovye (winter living quarters). Many times they tried to make the Chukchi render yasak (tribute), but did not succeed much: the tribute collected by Dezhnev in 10 years was insignificant. Industrialists were mostly attracted by walrus bones, but when almost all walruses in the neighborhood had been slaughtered, people started to leave Anadyr Fort. The situation became critical: people had to provide themselves with foodstuffs on their own, received no payment for their service and were undergoing all kinds of hardships.
Many times they wanted to cabandoon the Anadyr Fort. However, at the end of XVII century it once more became strategically important as a starting centre for many expeditions. When Kamchatka was discovered the Anadyr Fort became a base-station and all the forts and «zimovyes» in the neighborhood were subordinate to it. The voyage from Anadyr Fort to Kamchatka was a difficult and dangerous one as the Chukchi often attacked travelers, so the government had to find other routs to Kamchat peninsula with all its sables.
The discovery of a sea-route to Kamchatka changed the functions of the Anadyr Fort: having lost the status of the centre of Chukotka Region, it remained the only outpost of the Russian State in the North-East that was the closest settlement to America.
Kamchatka’s wealth changed the attitude of the Russian government towards the exploration of North-East of Asia. In 1725 Peter the Great issued an edict on sending the First Kamchatka Expedition which was headed by Vittus Bering. At the same time a military expedition headed by Major Afanasy Shestakov was undertaken in order to «subdue» the Chukchi and make them all render tribute. But the ship suffered a wreck, the detachment was crushed by the Chukchi and Shestakov himself was killed. In 1731 another expedition was headed by Shestakov’s subordinate, Dmitri Pavlutsky. Accompanied by Koryaks and Yukagirs, Cossacks through the Anadyr and the Belaya rivers reached the Arctic Ocean and crushed the Chukchi’s detachment there. After Pavlutsky’s campaign a part of the Chukchi began to render tribute, but their relations with their neighbors — Koryaks and Yukagirs — became more aggravated than before.
Concerned with the status of Koryaks and Yukagirs, the Senate instructed Major Pavlutsky to make the Chukchi Russian subjects as well. However, all campaigns organized to subdue the Chukchi failed. In 1747 the detachment was defeated by the Chukchi, and Pavlutsky himself escaped trying to make it for the fort but was caught on a hill now called Major Hill and was killed.
Judging by the two expeditions—Shestakov’s and Pavlutsky’s--the Russian Government realized that the Chukchi were difficult to defeat and that peace had to be made with them and therefore changed its policy in the region in 1750s. Since then «the Chukchi and other aliens» were to «be invited to become citizens by kind means». A new commander, Second-Major Shmalev came to the Anadyr Fort and bribing and threatening established amicable relations with the Chukchi, making official peace with them in 1778.
During the same year English ships of the J. Cook expedition appeared in the Bering Strait. They reached Cape Severny (now Cape Schmidt) and re-discovered Providenie Bay. Catherine II was worried about foreigner’s claims to the lands in the Far-East, so another major expedition was organized headed by Billings-Sarytchev which was the first one that mapped the region and explored the Aleut islands. In 1821-1825 expedition of F. Vrangel and F. Matyushkin explored the East-Siberian Sea coast and also rivers Kolyma, Bolshoy Anyui and Malyi Anyui. Vrangel leanred from the Chukchi, that there is a island named after him.

Development of trade links in Chukotka

From the second half of the 18th century the Russian government fully gave up the policy of violence in the region.
A humane and prescient policy of I.S. Shmalev and later — of his son T. I. Shmalev in connection to the Chukchi resulted in a peace agreement. When Catherine the Great found this out she commanded «to relieve the Chukchi from paying any tribute for ten years provided that they lived in peace with Koryaks» and to let the Chukchi trade «without any confiscation and restriction».
Russian Law Code contained a special section which applied to peoples «not fully subdued». One of its articles was the following: «The Chukchi render tribute in that quantity and quality as they themselves wish».
Trade and particularly organization of fairs contributed to establishment of better relations. It turned out that the Chukchi were willing to trade. They needed Russian goods badly and readily agreed to meet in spring on river Bolshoy Anyui, in the mouth of its tributary the Angarka river, in order to make trade. The first trade-fair took place in 1788. Several years later the fair was moved to Sukhoy (Malyi) Anyui where a small fortress was built. Russian merchants were selling tile tea, leaf tobacco, iron axes, lances, knives, copper caldrons, kettles and many other things. The Chukchi were selling beavers, otters, martens, silver and red foxes, sables, walrus tusks, etc.
There were no strict trade rules or standards, as there was no common equivalent of exchange. The natives had no idea about money and that the price for their goods had to be coordinated with the price of goods brought by merchants. For example, one of the Chukotka explorers informed that «for 20 deer deacon fells a merchant paid a Chukcha 20 ordinary sewing needles. The Chukcha blessed him for his kindness…» In 1810 the governor of Irkutsk Treskin made an attempt to regulate the system of trade with smaller nations. Regulations were prepared which clearly defined the task of the Tzar government: to win the favor of Chukotka natives with the help of trade and to make them economically dependent. The main clause of «Treskin’s Regulations» was, of course, devoted to the regulation of trade. Deals were to be made only during fairs and were permitted only when the Chukchi had delivered their tribute. Those who tried to sell alcoholic beverages at fairs were deprived of their rights to trade. Before an opening of a fair prices for goods were determined, i.e. exchange scheme or table was prepared and it appeared that the «main unit of exchange from the Russian side was tobacco, from the Chukotka side — red fox». Regulations also provided for the necessity to give the Chukchi gifts in order to win their favor.
The annual Anyuiskaya fair normally took place in March when people had more free time. The Chukchi came to the fair from all parts of the tundra and the coast, some of them spent about 5-6 months to reach their destination point, covering distances which exceeded 1000 miles. «Treskins Regulations» were in effect more than 50 years and were abolished in 1869 only. However, the head of a new expedition to the Chukotka region, baron Maidel tried to reestablish them with certain changes. He established a certain tribute for Deer Chukchi — one deer skin curried as chamois leather («rodvuga»). But the quality of Chukotka rodvuga was so low that the government stopped taking it. Then Maidel replaced natural tribute with its money value — one rouble per one rodvuga, and cancelled the necessity to present the Chukchi with gifts and abolished their reward for rendering tribute. The Chukchi were unsatisfied because of abolishment of gifts and lost interest in fair trading.

Chistianization of the Chukchi, Evens, Yukagirs and Chuvans

A great assistant to the government helping it to naturalize new nations was the Russian Orthodox Church. A famous Russian explorer V. G. Bogoraz wrote: «The first attempts to christianize the Chukchi were probably made immediately after the discovery of that tribe by Russians». The first chapel was built concurrently with the erection of Anyui fortress. The Chukchi visited the chapel during fairs but did not understand the basis of Christianity which were strange and far from their ideology. This is how Fedor Matyushkin, a participant of the Vrangel expedition, described the ceremony of christianization of the Chukchi at Anyui fair: «They get christened once, then — for the second time, then — for the third, and so on, all because they wish to be presented with tobacco, a knife, a purse or some beads. A few words uttered indistinctly may not have any meaning for them. One of the newly-christened could not plunge into the bowl of water as it was cold, then he finally did it, but immediately jumped out of it and started to run round the chapel, shivering with cold. "Give tobacco, give tobacco", — he kept repeating. "It is not over yet…" "No, I’m not having any more of this, give tobacco, give tobacco…"
Missionaries could turn the Chukchi to Christianity, i.e. to accomplish the official ceremony, only by giving them various gifts. But when they got their presents the Chukchi turned back to paganism and worshipped their numerous spirits — kelet.
There have been found no traces of Christianity among the Chukchi, though some few dozens were Christians. Attempts to christianize them were of no avail. Eskomos stayed unbaptized.
The case was different with Chuvans, Yukagirs and Evens. They assimilated the Russian belief, mixing it with pagan rituals, began to take Russian Orthodox names and last names and icons became a necessary part of their houses. On the other hand, some aspects of native ideology were assimilated by Russian explorers.

The Role of the Russian-American Joint Company in the Development of Trade Relations in the North-East

The development of Russian trade in North-East is connected directly with the activity of the half-state Russian-American Company that was established by G. Shelikhov in 1780s and its prosperity period is connected with Baranov brothers.
In 1780s there began a new period of colonization of Pacific Ocean islands. Large trade companies were founded with a large capital like that of Ost-Indian Company. The initiative to create a powerful monopoly in North America belonged to Grigory Shelikhov. He was the first among Russian merchants-industrialists who realized the necessity to switch from small, non-permanent forms of commercial activity to permanent, large and complex forms of trade. In cooperation with other merchants he established a Russian trade-and-industry company which was called North-East Company as well as three other companies — on Prybylov, Aleut Islands and on the coast of the Bering Strait. But Shelikhov did not manage to unite all companies established by him, as he died early — when he was only 48. But his dream later came true: in 1799 the government approved the foundation of a United Russian-American Company. The company was managed by Alexander Baranov and was under the control of the government.
Using its big monopoly and representing economic and political interests of Russia in the Far East, the company obtained the rights and obligations of a State body. Shelikhov and Baranov — these two important figures represented Russian interests at its Eastern boundary acting purely on their own initiative and following their vocation.
Soon after 1810 Alexander Baranov called his brother Peter Baranov from Kargopol, provided him with all assets and authorized him to resume trade with the Chukchi on the Anadyr.
Having enough funds and his brothers support, P. Baranov managed to revive the region which had been deserted since the liquidation of Anadyr Fort. He created conditions good enough for people to move back into the region, he organized trade in the centre of the Chukotka peninsula and laid the foundation for stable relations between the Chukchi and the Russians. Apart from a «fortress» on the Anadyr, Baranov founded a small trade centre in the mouth of that river (where Anadyr City is presently situated), where the Chukchi began to settle, a village appeared and later a post was built which was called Novo-Mariinsky and which later became the centre of the region.
When developing complex economy on American islands and along the coast the company involved the whole Okhotsk-Chukotka territory into its system. Monopoly trade and transport communications with Siberia revived the economy of small nations of the North-East Asia and created such conditions that Russia could trade on both Asian and world market. Besides, the company was also important for research purposes — it sent scientific expeditions, conducted research, its ships were discovering new lands. Russian-American Company ceased to exist in 1867 when Alexander II sold Alaska for 7 million dollars (14 million roubles) at an extremely low price — 4.7 cents/hectare.

American expansion in Chukotka

The end of 19th century is believed to be the time when Anyui fair started to lose its significance and popularity as well as the same thing was happening with Russian trade in the Far North-East in general. Americans who had first come to the region to hunt whales, saw that it was more profitable to trade with the natives. Hunting and trade were uncontrolled and no duty was ever imposed on any goods, as according to the agreement concluded between the Russian and the American government, American ships could freely enter all bays and gulfs.Predation of whales just because of valuable whalebone undermined the economy of the natives. Walrus breeding-grounds became deserted, cases of epidemics and starvation became more frequent than before. Besides, Americans found gold on the coast and so gold-diggers rushed into the region.
As soon as the treaty expired, the Russian government forbade American ships to enter the inland waters of Chukotka seas, but it was impossible to stop the flow of American moneymakers and merchants.
That situation courld not the Russian government unconcerned and in 1883 regular patrol cruising was organized near the Chukotka coast. American ships were arrested and goods — confiscated. The population of the Chukotka region was in the positive mood concerning the appearance of Russian cruisers, the authority of Russians in general among the natives was gradually growing.
However, it was clear that that was not enough to stop the American «invasion», and on the 9th of July, 1888 it was decided that Anadyr regional administration should be organized. The place of residence was Markovo village and L. F. Grinevitsky was appointed the first commander and a year later he founded Novo-Mariinsk post (now — Anadyr) on the Anadyr. The natives liked the first commander for his humane activities.
In 1909 Anadyr and Chukotka districts were established in the Anadyr region.
Providence Bay and from 1912 Yelen village became the centre of Chukotka Okrug. Elections and appointment of deans and elders from among well-off Chukchi and Eskimos and the establishment of police supervision commemorated the completion of administrative structure organization in the Chukotka region.
At the end of the 19th century first exiles started to appear in the region. Some of «political exiles» took part in many expeditions. V. G. Bogoraz, an exiled member of the «Narodnaya Volya» gathered a lot of useful information about Chukotka inhabitants at the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries. His work became and has been a foundation for the development of North-East ethnography up to these days.
By the start of the 20th century fairs had resumed in the Chukotka region and public warehouses were opened. Private trade was conducted and Russian merchants were entitled to bring goods to the Chukotka region from Vladivostok free of charge on board of military guard-ships. That was also the time when gold-mining began in the region. The yellow metal gave no rest to either Russians or Americans. Serious geologic expeditions were organized and a profound hydro-geographic research of the coasts of the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea was conducted. Regular sea-trips between Vladivostok, the Kolyma and the Lena were organized.