Difficult Life of the First Russian Settlers

When N.N. Muravyov was appointed the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia he had to solve simultaneously several problems: to protect the Russian Pacific Coast from the English and French armies, to determine the border with China, and to settle the Far East. It required him great efforts, foresight, responsibility and mind.

He addressed the Emperor to work up a special program for this activity and supply all settlers with everything they needed.

The first settlers were the Cossacks. They were sent there forcibly. Every tenth Cossack was chosen and sent there with his family. They were granted allowances providing their life on new places for 14 months. Freedom from serfdom, unlimited lands, money and help were promised to peasants, so some of them decided to move to the Far East.

In 1856 -1869 the first settlers were prosperous peasants, Cossacks, military men, retired soldiers, exiles, workers, government personnel, and temporary staff from the Trans-Baikal area, Siberia, the European part of Russia, the Ukraine and Byelorussia. Each peasant got up to 100 dessiatina (1 dessiatina=2,7 acres) of land. The migrants were exempted from the recruit duty for 10 years and from the poll-tax forever. But the first settlers except government personnel, temporary staff and military men had to go to those lands for their own account.

The Far East met the first settlers severely. It was very difficult to reach the place of settlement but it was more difficult to survive there. The government had to supply all settlers with provision and other necessary things beforehand, but these reserves were not enough to live there and not always were brought there in time.

Expensive life, absence of cultivated lands, primeval forests with lots of midge, mosquitoes, and other insects, including ticks, harsh climate met the first settlers in the Far East. Long winters, short and rainy summers, frequent floods, loss of cattle, lack of roads, rare settlements, absence of Orthodox Churches – these were some of the main difficulties for the first residents in new villages. People could rely only on themselves. The natives were friendly and helped them to survive in those conditions. They taught the settlers different methods of hunting, fishing and surviving.

Firstly the first settlers had to live in the earth-houses or tents. Only in 6-10 years they were able to construct wooden houses, because one house cost 3 000 rubles. The basements of such houses were made of stone, walls consisted of planking logs with moss between them, and roofs were covered by galvanized iron.

Agriculture, hunting and fishing were the main activities of the resettled people. Every family grew oats, wheat and buckwheat. Every 5-10 families had a self-made millstone. They milled grain by turn. Potatoes, corn, pumpkins were growing in the vegetable gardens.

People hunted mainly badgers, raccoons and bears. Sometimes they hunted in China but it was necessary to pay the one ruble toll. The skins of wild animals were used to make clothes and in every day life.

During salmon spawn people united into groups. They constructed big tables on the banks of the Amur and the Ussury rivers. Men were fishing and women were splitting and salting fish in barrels. Every man could make a dugout himself.

There were no shops in the first villages so the settlers had to make everything by their own hands: tools, dishes, clothes, etc.

How did they spend winter? In winter women baked bread and froze it. On weekends the residents liked to drink tea with curd tarts filled with bird cherry and wild apples.

Women from families spent winter evenings knitting, sewing, weaving, embroidering, preparing something for holidays, talking, singing, dancing, etc.

Every family prepared firewood and hay in advance. Everything was kept on special plots of land located in the adjoining forest. They were not afraid of thieves and transported firewood and hay to their houses as required, so there were no wood-sheds and haystacks in the yards.

How did the first settlers spend holidays? They liked walking, visiting each other, constructing ice-hills to toboggan on Christmas, and went for a drive on swings on Easter, danced, sang songs, ate traditional tasty dishes and drunk wine made of wild berries. Sometimes people went to China to spend their holidays and to do shopping. Historians mark that if the first people were industrious, hard-working and sober all of them could become well-to-do in three-four years.

There was the Dean council in every settlement. Members of that council solved all problems and punished guilty fellow villagers. For example, pugnacious men were punished by hard work. They had to repair bridges and roads in their settlements. That work was very hard, so such punishment was rather effective.

Sometimes the settlers married the representatives of the local nations. Such mixed marriages helped both sides to survive in difficult conditions, to interchange by experience, cultures and traditions.

6. Answer the following questions:

•What problems had N.N. Muravyov to solve?

•How did he manage to do it?

•What kinds of people were the first settlers of the Far East?

•Did all Cossacks want to live in the Far East?

•What attracted peasants in that land?

•Why did the government prefer to send there prosperous peasants?

•What was the most difficult: to reach the place of settlement or to survive there?

• How could the Orthodox Church help the first settlers?

•Why could the settlers construct wooden houses only in 6-10 years?

•What and who helped the settlers to survive?

•Why did the settlers marry the representatives of the local nations?