Artemy Safronovich Babinov (Артемий Сафронович Бабинов), a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

n explorer from the village of Verkh-Usolka, discovered the shortest path across the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

from Solikamsk in the

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places *Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 **Perm Governorate, an administrat ...

region to

Verkhoturye Verkhoturye (russian: Верхоту́рье) 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 Yekaterin ...

in the east in 1597. Babinov's Road was eight times shorter than the

Cherdyn Route The Cherdyn Road (Чердынская дорога) or Vishera Road (Вишерская дорога) was the standard route used by the Russians to travel to Siberia in the late 16th century. It started in Cherdyn west of the Urals and followed a ...

previously used. His story remains popular in the Urals. It is claimed that Babinov secretly followed the

Vogul The Mansi (Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум, ''Māńsi / Māńsi māhum'', ) are a Ugric indigenous people living in Khanty–Mansia, an autonomous okrug within Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the Khanty and Mansi lan ...

hunters through the woods, marking the road with broken branches. As a reward for his discovery, Tsar Theodor gave him a sizable tract of land and exempted him from payment of taxes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babinov People from Perm Krai Russian explorers 17th-century explorers Explorers of Siberia