Anadyrsk was an important Russian ostrog (fortified settlement) in far northeastern Siberia from 1649 to 1764. It was on the

Anadyr River The Anadyr (russian: Ана́дырь; Yukaghir: Онандырь; ckt, Йъаайваам) is a river in the far northeast of Siberia which flows into the Gulf of Anadyr of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous ...

, near the head of small-boat navigation, about 300 miles upstream, 12 miles northeast of the present Markovo. In 1649

Semyon Dezhnyov Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov ( rus, Семён Ива́нович Дежнёв, p=sʲɪˈmʲɵn ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ dʲɪˈʐnʲɵf; sometimes spelled Dezhnyov; c. 1605 – 1673) was a Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through t ...

built a ''zimov'ye'' (winter quarters) here after being wrecked on the Pacific coast the previous year. In 1650

Mikhail Stadukhin Mikhail Vasilyevich Stadukhin (russian: Михаил Васильевич Стадухин) (died 1666) was a Russian explorer of far northeast Siberia, one of the first to reach the Kolyma, Anadyr, Penzhina and Gizhiga Rivers and the northern Se ...

and Semyon Motora arrived overland from the

Kolyma River The Kolyma ( rus, Колыма, p=kəlɨˈma; sah, Халыма, translit=Khalyma) is a river in northeastern Siberia, whose basin covers parts of the Sakha Republic, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, and Magadan Oblast of Russia. The Kolyma is frozen ...

. In 1659

Kurbat Ivanov Kurbat Afanasyevich Ivanov (russian: Курбат Афанасьевич Иванов, (died 1667) was a Cossack explorer of Siberia. He was the first Russian to discover Lake Baikal, and to create the first map of the Russian Far East. He also ...

took over, built a proper stockade and made major improvements in administration. About 1697, Anadyrsk was the launching place for

Vladimir Atlasov Vladimir Vasilyevich Atlasov or Otlasov ( or Отла́сов; between 1661 and 1664 – 1711) was a Siberian Cossack who was the first Russian to organize systematic exploration of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Atlasov Island, an uninhabited volcanic ...

's conquest of

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and wes ...

. The local

Chukchis The Chukchi, or Chukchee ( ckt, Ԓыгъоравэтԓьэт, О'равэтԓьэт, ''Ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, O'ravètḷʹèt''), are a Siberian indigenous people native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Berin ...

and

Koryaks Koryaks () are an indigenous people of the Russian Far East, who live immediately north of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Kamchatka Krai and inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea. The cultural borders of the Koryaks include Tigilsk in the sou ...

were warlike, and the post was attacked a number of times.

George Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histo ...

reported that its garrison through much of its service was 600 men and a battery of artillery. Its importance declined with the opening of the sea route through

Okhotsk Okhotsk ( rus, Охотск, p=ɐˈxotsk) is an urban locality (a work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk. Population: ...

to Kamchatka in 1718. Subsequently, its importance was limited to interactions with the Chukchis. Concluding that attempts to collect tribute from the Chukchis were not a paying proposition, the Russian government of Catherine II ordered Anadyrsk abandoned in 1764. In 1866, when it was visited by Kennan (at that time only the second non-Russian or non-native in living memory to do so), Anadyrsk consisted of four villages: Markovo (the central one), Pokorukov, Psolkin and Krepost. There were about 200 inhabitants and a priest. Krepost ('fort') was the site of the Anadyrsk fort, on a bank about 30 feet above the level of the river, and at that time consisted of a dozen log cabins, with no trace of the old fortifications visible. Markovo was about 15

verst A verst (russian: верста, ) is an obsolete Russian unit of length defined as 500 sazhen. This makes a verst equal to . Plurals and variants In the English language, ''verst'' is singular with the normal plural ''versts''. In Russian, the no ...

s (16 km) upriver, and Pokorukov a further 20 versts. Kennan described it as the Ultima Thule of Russian civilization.

References

* Bush, Richard J. (1871
''Reindeer, Dogs and Snowshoes: A Journal of Siberian Travel and Explorations''
Republished Kessinger Publishing, 2005 , . * Fisher, Raymond H. (ed) (1981) The Voyage of Semen Dezhnev in 1648: Bering's precursor, with selected documents.

Hakluyt Society The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishing rol ...

, London. * Forsyth, James (1994
''A History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony 1581-1990''
Cambridge University Press, 1994 . reprint 1986 ; reprint 2007 . * Lincoln, W. Bruce (2008
''The Conquest of a Continent: Siberia and the Russians''
Cornell University Press. , {{ISBN, 978-0-8014-8922-8. History of Siberia Fur trade Defunct towns in Russia Former populated places in Russia Populated places established in 1649 Cultural heritage monuments in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug

See also

References