Siberian river routes

Siberian River Routes were the main ways of communication in Russian Siberia before the 1730s, when roads began to be built. The rivers were also of primary importance in the process of Russian conquest and exploration of vast Siberian territories eastwards. Since the three great Siberian rivers, the Ob, the Yenisey, and the Lena all flow into the Arctic Ocean, the aim was to find parts or branches of these rivers that flow approximately east-west and find short portages between them. Since Siberia is relatively flat, portages were usually short. Despite resistance from the Siberian tribes, Russian Cossacks were able to expand from the Urals to the Pacific in only 57 years (1582-1639). These river routes were crucial in the first years of the Siberian fur trade as the furs were easier to transport over water than land. The rivers connected the major fur gathering centers and provided for relatively quick transport between them.

Southern Route

Distances are straight lines and only approximate. Siberian rivers can be very crooked. Dates usually refer to the foundation of the first Russian settlement.

Over the Urals: From the Volga River, up the Kama to Perm (1472), then up the Chusovaya River, or the Vishera (see Cherdyn Route). The Urals here are only about 350 meters high, about 150 meters above the surrounding lowlands. Down either the Tavda River or Tura River and a short way up the Tobol River to its juncture with the Irtysh River at Tobolsk (1582). This was the approximate route used by Yermak. Tobolsk is about 700 km east of Perm and 1800 km east of Moscow.

The Siberian Route, a road begun in the 1730s, ran southeast from Perm to Kungur, then over another low pass to Yekaterinburg (1723) and Tobolsk. By 1885 there was a railway from Perm to Yekaterinburg. Another branch of the Trans-Siberian Railway (1891) goes south of the Urals through Chelyabinsk (1736), Omsk (1716) and Novosibirsk (1893).

Ob Basin: Near Tobolsk was the capital of the Khanate of Sibir, which was conquered in 1582. North down the Irtysh to its juncture with the Ob River, then 750km up the Ob to Narym (1594), and up the Ket River (1602) about 300 km to its headwaters.
Here a portage leads to the Yenisei River at Yeniseysk (1619). Yeniseysk is about 1400 km from Tobolsk and 3200 km from Moscow.
An alternative route led from the Irtysh-Ob juncture 450 km up the Ob to the Vakh, 500 km up the Vakh, then portage to the Sym, down it to the Yenisei, upstream to Yenisesk.

Yenisey and Lena Basins: Yeniseysk is on the Yenisei River just north of its juncture with the Angara River. From Yeniseysk east up the Angara to the Ilim River, upstream to Ilimsk (1630), portage to Kuta River, short trip downstream to Ust-Kut (1631) on the Lena River. From here northeast down the Lena about 1400 km to Yakutsk, which is 4900 km east of Moscow. Yakutsk is a major stopping point and administrative center. Then 125 km down the Lena to the Aldan, up the Aldan River

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