BIYSK 1

Biysk is the oldest city of the Altay territory. The pages of its nearly 300-year-old history are full of most interesting events – sometimes dramatic, sometimes mysterious.

Biysk was founded in the period of great changes in the Peter I era, when Russia was opening up to the European civilization on the one hand and increasing its strength in the East, on the other. For this reason Peter the Great gave an order to erect a fortification on the confluence of the Biya and Katun rivers to divide possessions of the Russian Empire and the Eastern Mongolian Khanate.

On July, 18^th, 1709 Russian Cossacks completed the construction of a small wooden fortress by the source of the river Ob. The fortress was called the Bikatun one.

In 1757 it was in the Biysk fortress where the elders of some Altaic tribes signed the Treaty stating Russian naturalization of the Altai native population.

In 1782 by the Senate' s order the fortress was granted the town status.

In 1804 when Biysk became one of the 8 district centers of the Tomsk province it got its town emblem.

In the beginning of the 19^th century the tzarist government began to use the fortress as an exile place.

In the middle of the 19^th century Biysk was a typical provincial town of pre-revolutionary Russia. It was built on with one-storey wooden houses. 5000 people lived here. With the development of capitalism the town became the greatest centre of transit trade with Mongolia and China. It was in Biysk where Chuysky Highway began. The local merchants began to invest their money into industry and transport.

Gradually Biysk was changing: industrial enterprises, banks and beautiful stone buildings were built, electricity and telephone appeared. In 1915 Biysk was connected with Barnaul and Novosibirsk by a railroad.

During the post-Civil War period Biysk grew considerably thanks to heroic effort s and hardships of its people. Old factories were modernized, new plants were built and the whole network of schools and hospitals was organized.

At the Second World War more than 38.000 of Biysk soldiers fought in famous Siberian divisions, they fought for Moscow and Stalingrad, liberated Europe, took Berlin. 12 industrial enterprises were evacuated to Biysk and by the end of 1941 the first products such as furnaces, boilers, trench mortars, uniform were sent to the front.

After the War Biysk became the second largest industrial and cultural center of the Altai region after Barnaul. Many outstanding people lived in Biysk: V.V Bianky, Mukhachyov, Savchenko, Vasilyev, Maximova, and others.

Vocabulary:

to be full of –быть полным to be founded- быть основанным

on the one hand- с одной стороны on the other hand- с другой стороны

to increase- увеличивать reason- причина

fortification- укрепление fortress- крепость

confluence-слияние to divide possessions- разделять владения

to complete- заканчивать, завершать tribe- племя

treaty- договор naturalization- вхождение в состав

order- приказ exile- ссылка

transit trade- транзитная торговля merchant- купец

enterprise- предприятие to appear- появляться

effort- усилие hardships- лишения

boiler-котел furnace-печь

trench mortar-миномет outstanding- выдающийся

Read the following words by their transcription:

Architectural[,a:ki`tekt∫ərəl] centuries[`sent∫uriz] valuable[`væljuəbl] considerable[kən`sidərəbl] worth[wə:θ] quiet[kwaiət] pedestal[`pedistl] anniversary[,æni`və:səri] icon[`aikon] mansion[`mæn∫ən] rare[rεə] possess[pə`zes] archaeological[,a:kiə`lodgikəl] ethnographical[,eθnou`græfikəl] exhibit[ig`zibit] culture[`kΛlt∫ə] geography[dgi`ogrəfi] neighboring[`neibəriŋ] war[wo:]