Kamchatka is the eastern edge of vast Russia. Today this peninsula is a tourist gem of our country. Kamchatka is famous for magnificent volcanoes, relic groves, thermal springs, pristine lakes, an amazing valley of geysers, diverse flora and fauna, almost untouched by civilization.
But these fertile and endowed with severe beauty lands became part of the Russian state relatively recently, a little more than three centuries ago. This is explained not only by the distance of Kamchatka from the capital, but also by its inaccessibility. The peninsula stretched for 1200 kilometers is connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, the Sea of Okhotsk is washed from the west, the Pacific Ocean from the east, and the icy waters of the Bering Sea from the north-east. It took almost half a century for a Russian man to start seriously exploring the peninsula after it was discovered. But who discovered Kamchatka? This question is quite interesting and deserves a detailed story.
Antiquity
According to excavations and studies, the oldest human footprints in Kamchatka are approximately 14,000 years old. Not far from the village of Kozyrevsk, archaeologists found people’s campsites with bonfires, the remains of dwellings and stone tools.
In those days, the Bering Strait did not yet exist, people could move between the continents. Glaciers lay on the mountains, and the tundra between them was teeming with herds of deer, woolly rhinos and bison, and shaggy mammoths. Hunters in search of rich prey gradually moved from south to north. In fact, they were the first to discover Kamchatka.
About 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to melt intensively. America and Asia were divided by an insurmountable strait for ancient people. Water significantly flooded the coast of Kamchatka, turning it into a practically isolated peninsula. People who settled on it became ancestors of modern indigenous peoples, who lived here unknown to the rest of the world until the middle of the 17th century, when those who discovered the territory of Kamchatka for the second time came.
Exploits of explorers
The Far East and most of Siberia were mastered with the help of explorers. As a rule, they were desperate Cossacks, quick-witted merchants and traders. They were attracted by uncharted lands east of the Russian Empire. In search of good luck and at the behest of the state, these harsh people voluntarily subjected themselves to dangers and hardships. They conquered new lands, subjugated the peoples they met by force or promises, brought Orthodoxy and power to the sovereign.
It was they who discovered Kamchatka. Who exactly did this? It is believed that Mikhail Stadukhin with his detachment was the first Russian explorer who visited the peninsula, this happened in 1650. Following him, detachments of Ivan Kamchatov came to Kamchatka in 1658–1661, and several years later, the Cossack detachment of Ivan Rubts. These people would be the first to study and discover Kamchatka, they even collected yasak (feed furs) from local residents.
Merits of Atlasov
But still, spontaneous and short trips can not be called a full development of the peninsula. It was ahead. And here the question arises: which traveler really discovered Kamchatka, paved the way for thousands of Russian people who subsequently settled in these lands and made them finally Russian.
It was Vladimir Vasilievich Atlasov. His life and death are connected with Kamchatka. He was born in a mixed family of Yakutia and Cossack in 1661. His service began in Yakutsk in 1682. In the rank of a ten's manager, he collected yasak in the areas of the Kolyma, Amur, Anadyr, Indigirka rivers . In 1695 he rose to the post of clerk (leader) of the prison in Anadyr. In 1696 he sent a reconnaissance detachment to Kamchatka led by Luke Morozko.
And in 1697 he went to the peninsula himself, at the head of a rather large detachment of 60 Yukagirs and 65 Cossacks at that time. Moreover, the authorities did not want to give supplies and money for the expedition, Atlasov spent his own money. Having passed the isthmus, the detachment was divided into two parts. The first - under the command of Atlasov - moved along the western coast of Kamchatka. The second - led by Cossack Morozko - went along the east coast. However, such tactics almost turned into a tragedy.
The team of Vladimir Vasilyevich faced numerous local hunters who did not want to pay tribute and attacked strangers: three Cossacks were killed, several wounded, including Atlas. The two units hastily joined. In July 1697, the expedition put up a big cross on the Kamchatka River. It meant that the peninsula, with all its wealth and people, belonged to the Russian Empire.
During his glorious campaign Atlasov carefully collected information about Kamchatka. He described the nationalities living on it, animals and plants, first mentioned mineral springs and volcanoes, made the first tolerable drawings of the area. In a word, he became the one who discovered Kamchatka and its potential value for the central government. It is not surprising that it was Vladimir Vasilievich who, in 1701, went to the capital for a detailed report on the newly attached lands.
The development of Kamchatka in the XVIII century
Following the Atlasov expedition, active settlement of the peninsula began. Its first Russian inhabitants were Cossacks. In 1703, Rodion Presnetsov's detachment reached the Avacha Bay, where the city of Petropavlovsk would later appear. For several years, Kamchatka was passed from north to south; by 1711, three full-fledged prison houses were built on the peninsula.
However, the actual lack of central authority and the steep disposition of the Cossacks caused lawlessness and oppression of the indigenous people. The development of new lands turned into robbery and arbitrariness. The Cossacks, who collected yasak, humiliated hunters and their relatives, beating them, turning them into slaves and demanding an excessive tribute.
In order to put an end to lawlessness, in 1707, a proven man was sent to the peninsula - Atlasov, who eagerly took up the difficult task. He organized the normal collection of yasak, restrained dashing heads and rightly punished crimes, which made him many enemies. In 1711, one of the conflicts led to a conspiracy and the assassination of Atlasov by the Cossacks, who no longer wished to endure his power. Thus ended the glorious life of the one who discovered Kamchatka for thousands of future immigrants, who later mastered its territory.
Sea way
But the settlement of the peninsula by people was greatly complicated by its inaccessibility. Harsh climate, vast distances, taiga, mountains and tundra became an obstacle for people. We needed a simpler and safer way. On water. For the first time, the sea route to Kamchatka was laid in 1716, when the Vostok boat, leaving Okhotsk, crossed the sea and reached the Kamchatka coast.
Then there was the famous Bering expedition, which, in addition to the strait of the same name, explored the eastern coast of Kamchatka and reached the Avacha Bay. Then several expeditions followed. Thanks to them, convenient sea lanes and the distant peninsula were finally studied and mapped. From now on, getting to it became much easier not only for immigrants and employees, but also for scientists who want to study Kamchatka.
Labor Krasheninnikov
In fact, Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov is the one who discovered Kamchatka in the 18th century for the scientific community and ordinary people. A soldier born in the family in 1711, Stepan Petrovich became an authoritative scientist and indefatigable traveler. He began his research work with a Siberian expedition led by Johann Gmelin in 1735-1736. Krasheninnikov visited Lake Baikal, the Yenisei, Tom, and Lena rivers.
Having gained experience, in 1737 he decided on an independent expedition to Kamchatka, going there by sea from Okhotsk. However, off the coast of the peninsula, the ship began to sink. The team barely escaped, and the traveler lost a significant part of the equipment. But this could not quench the ardor and thirst for knowledge of the young scientist. In less than three years, from the spring of 1738 to the winter of 1740, Stepan Petrovich literally proceeded and traveled Kamchatka.
The internal routes along the peninsula amounted to more than 3,000 kilometers, the coastline studied was 1,700 kilometers. Krasheninnikov was a truly universal scientist, at the same time manifesting himself as a zoologist and botanist, ethnographer and historian, as a geographer and linguist. He collected a tremendous amount of invaluable information about Kamchatka.
The result of the expedition of this amazing man was a monumental scientific work with the simple title “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”, which Stepan Petrovich completed in 1751. The masterpiece and model of ethnographic and geographical composition was soon translated into four European languages. It still remains in demand. The last Russian reprint of labor was relatively recent, in 1994.