Beryozovo (;

Khanty The Khanty (), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (), are a Ugric Indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as " Yugra" in Russia, together with the Mansi. In the autonomous okrug, the K ...

: Сўмт вош, ''Sŭmt-voš'';

Mansi Mansi may refer to: * Mansi people, an Indigenous people of Russia ** Mansi language *Mansi (name), given name and surname *Mansi Junction railway station * Mansi Township, Myanmar ** Mansi, Myanmar, a town in the Kachin State of Myanmar (Burma) * ...

: Ха̄льӯс, ''Hāļūs'') is an urban locality (an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

) and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of Beryozovsky District of

Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, also known as Khanty-Mansia (Khantia-Mansia), is a federal subject of Russia (an autonomous okrug of Tyumen Oblast). It has a population of 1,532,243 as of the 2010 Census. Its administrative center is lo ...

, Russia, located on the

Ob River The Ob (; ) is a major river in Russia. It is in western Siberia, and with its tributary the Irtysh forms the world's seventh-longest river system, at . The Ob forms at the confluence of the Biya and Katun which have their origins in the Alta ...

. Population:

Geography

It is situated on three hills on the left bank of the Severnaya Sosva River, at its junction with the Ob River. It has more than once suffered from

conflagration A conflagration is a large fire in the built environment that spreads via structure to structure ignition due to radiant or convective heat, or ember transmission. Conflagrations often damage human life, animal life, health, and/or property. A c ...

s, including fires in 1719 and 1808. The yearly mean temperature is , with the low being .

History

Some ill-documented Russian trade took place in the area before the

Russian conquest of Siberia The Russian conquest of Siberia took place during 1581–1778, when the Khanate of Sibir became a loose political structure of vassalages that were being undermined by the activities of Russian explorers. Although outnumbered, the Russians pr ...

. Beryozovo was founded in 1593 on the Severnaya Sosva route across the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

to the fur-rich Mangazeya region. Ostyaks besieged the settlement in 1592, 1697, and 1608. It grew into a town of Beryozov () in Tobolsk Governorate. By the late 17th century most trade had shifted south to

Verkhoturye Verkhoturye () is a historical town and the administrative center of Verkhotursky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located in the middle Ural Mountains on the left bank of the Tura River north of Yekaterinburg. Population: 7,815 ( ...

. Prince Menshikov, the favorite of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

and of Catherine I, died here in

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

in 1729. In 1730 Menshikov's enemy and rival, Alexey Grigoryevich Dolgorukov, was interned here with his family. On 9 April 1740 the

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

-based French astronomer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle arrived in Beryozovo with the intention of observing the

transit of Mercury file:Mercury transit symbol.svg, frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Mercury across the Sun takes place when the planet Mercury (planet), Mercury passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet. During a Astronomical transit, transit, Merc ...

due to take place on 22 April – but cloudy weather thwarted his plan. In his account of his expedition, Delisle mentions the name of the incumbent governor of Beryozovo: Fyodor Ivanov Schulginoff (Shulginov). During his sojourn in Beryozovo, where he lodged in the house of the hetman of the Cossacks ("la maison la plus distinguée de la Ville"), Delisle visited the church founded by Menschikoff (Menshikov), where the prince was subsequently buried."l'Eglise qu'a fait bâtir le fameux Prince Menschikoff, qui y est inhumé sous l'autel", ''Continuation de l'Histoire générale des voyages'', vol. 72, Paris, 1768, p. 116. The town has a cathedral, near which lie buried Mary Menshikova (1711-1729, a daughter of Aleksandr Menshikov, who attempted to betroth her to tsar Peter II) and some of the Dolgorukovs. In 1742 the Empress Yelizaveta Petrovna banished General Ostermann to Beryozov with his wife; he died there in 1747. In the mid-18th century, gold was discovered at Beryozovo – Siberia's first important gold mine. Serfs and convicts worked the mine under primitive conditions and produced about 400 ounces a year (by the mid-19th century the gold sands further east were producing 600,000 ounces per year). In the 1960s, gas fields were discovered near its lower course, causing major population growth in the area. Transport is by river boat or by

ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Int ...

. After 1825, Beryozovo became a place of exile for many of the Decembrists. In the 20th century, the Tsarist regime also banished a number of revolutionaries to the area. In 1907, on his way to exile in Obdorsk,

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

escaped from Beryozovo on 12/13 February. It had taken him 33 days by train and horse to travel from St Petersburg. He mentions the exiling of Prince Menshikov.

Climate

Notes

External links

Beryozovo Museum
(mostly in Russian with some English) {{Authority control Urban-type settlements in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Beryozovsky Uyezd Populated places on the Ob River