Pyotr Beketov (, c. 1600 – c. 1661) was a

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

explorer of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

and founder of various fortified settlements in the region, which later developed into modern cities such as

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

, Chita, and Nerchinsk. Beketov started his military service as a guardsman ( strelets) in 1624 and was sent to Siberia in 1627. He was appointed Enisei voevoda and proceeded on his first voyage in order to collect taxes from Zabaykalye

Buryats The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their ti ...

. He carried out his mission successfully and he was the first Russian to enter

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

and founded the first Russian settlement, Rybinsky Ostrog. Y-ostrog

Beketov was sent to the

Lena River The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of Siberia which flow into the Arctic Ocean, the others being Ob (river), Ob and Yenisey. The Lena River is long and has a capacious drainage basi ...

in 1631 and in the following year he and his Cossacks founded Yakutsk, which became a base for further expeditions eastward. He sent his cossacks to explore the

Aldan River The Aldan ( Sakha and ) is the second-longest right tributary of the Lena in the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia.Ingoda River they built a winter settlement to follow-up, named Chita. In the following year Beketov's Cossacks founded future Nerchinsk. In 1655 Beketov's Cossacks were besieged in Shilkinsky Ostrog by rebellious Buryats and after pacifying these indigenous inhabitants, they had a chance to leave the fortress for the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

. Beketov returned to

Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...

in 1661 where he met

Protopope A protopope, or protopresbyter, is a priest of higher rank in the Eastern Orthodox and the Byzantine Catholic Churches, generally corresponding to Western Christianity's archpriest or the Latin Church's dean. History The rights and duties of th ...

Avvakum Avvakum Petrov (; 20 November 1620/1621 – 14 April 1682; also spelled Awakum) was a Russian Old Believer and protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch Nikon's reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church. H ...

and probably died in the same year.

References

General References

Pyotr Beketov
at www.oldchita.org (The history of Chita) {{DEFAULTSORT:Beketov, Pyotr Explorers of Siberia History of Siberia 1660s deaths Year of birth uncertain 17th-century Russian explorers Russian conquest of Siberia