I. The Geography of Russia
II. The Mongol Empire in Asia
III. Russian Expansionism
     A. The Gathering of the Lands and Conquest on the Volga
     B. The Conquest of the Lands Beyond the Urals


Terms:

Cossacks, former peasants and “colonists”
The Gathering of Russian Lands by Ivan III
The “Golden Horde” (Kazan, Astrakhan, the Crimea, and Khan Kuchum, a part of Siberia)
Ivan III, “The Great” (1462-1505)
Ivan IV, “The Terrible” (1533-1584)
The Mongols or Tatars/Tartars, or “people from Hell” (the age of conquest, 1235-1279)
The Treaty of Nerchinsk (27 August, 1689)
Ostrogs, or fortified outposts esp. along the Volga and in Siberia
Vasily Poyarkov, commander of Russian colonists in the Amur Valley (1643-1644)
The Romanov Dynasty (1613-1917), Russia's longest-lived royal family
Serfdom (abolished 1861), perhaps worse here than anywhere else in Europe
Yermak Timofeevich and the River Pirates (1581-1584)


Geographical Features of Russia:

The Ural Mountains (running north-south roughly at 60° longitude)
The Dnieper River
The Volga River
The Dvina River
Sibir, the Capital of the Kuchum Khanate
Okhotsk, the eastern-most point of Russian advance in Siberia
Amur River (bordering modern China)


Population Growth in Siberia:

Year:    Natives:    Russians:     Total:
1622    173,000    23,000        196,000
1662    288,000    105,000       393,000
1709    200,000    229,227       429,227
1763    260,000    420,000       680,000


Timeline:

1219-1223                    Mongol Conquests of Moscow, Vladimir, and Ryazan under Batu
1240                            Fall of Kiev to Mongol Invaders
1380                            The Battle of Kulikova and the Russian Defeat of the Mongols
1462-1480                    Moscow Freed from Mongol Control by Ivan III
1556                            Fall of Atrakhan to Troops under Ivan IV
1 September 1581         Yermak Timofeevich Begins the Conquest of Siberia
1635                            The Russians Reach the Arctic Coast
1637                            The Russians Reach Pacific Ocean, Build Okhotsk
1643-1644                    Descent into the Amur Valley, Bordering China
1658                            Chinese Defeat of the Cossacks in the Amur Basin
27 August, 1689           The Treaty of Nerchinsk, Drawing the Line North of the Amur
1792                            The Treaty of Jassy and the Acquisition of Crimea
 

A contemporary representation of Ivan, the so-called "Terrible" (1533-
1584). It was under Ivan that Russia carried out the conquest of the last
of the Mongol Khanates.

A woodcut engraving of Russian frontiersmen. Armed incursions led by men like
these rapidly subdued the wilderness of the vast Siberian plains.