Vassili Danilovich Poyarkov (Василий Данилович Поярков in Russian, – after 1668) was the first Russian explorer of the Amur region. The Russian expansion into Siberia began with the conquest of the

Khanate of Sibir The Khanate of Sibir (; ) was a Tatar state in western Siberia. It was founded at the end of the 15th century, following the break-up of the Golden Horde.Сибирское ханство // Большая советская энцикл ...

in 1582. By 1639 they reached the Pacific 65 miles southeast of the mouth of the Ulya River. East of the

Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

there was little land fit for agriculture, except Dauria, the land between the Stanovoy Mountains and 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 ...

which was nominally controlled by China. Poyarkov was sent to explore this land. In 1640 he was in Yakutsk as ''pismenyy golova'' (roughly, in charge of records and correspondence). In June 1643, Poyarkov with 133 men started out from

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 ...

. They were sent by the voevoda of Yakutsk, Peter Golovin. Having no idea of the proper route, Poyarkov travelled up the rivers Lena, Aldan, Uchur, Gonam. Delayed by 64 portages, it was early winter before he reached the Stanovoy watershed. Leaving 49 men to overwinter, he pushed south over the mountains in December to reach the upper Zeya River in Daur country, where he found a land of farmers with domestic animals, proper houses and Chinese trade goods who paid tribute to the Manchus who were just starting their conquest of China. He built a winter fort near the mouth of the Umelkan river. To extract supplies from the natives, he employed excessive brutality, thereby provoking their hostility and making supplies harder to get. His men survived on a diet of pine bark, stolen food, stray forest animals and native captives whom they cannibalized.W Bruce Lincoln, 'The Conquest of a Continent', page 65, citing Akheograficheskaya Kommissia,' Dopolneniia k Aktam Istoricheskim', St Petersburg 1846-72, III, document 12, pp. 52-60 By the spring of 1644, only forty of his men were left alive. Joined now by the overwintering party, they pushed down the Zeya to the Amur. Their reputation having preceded them, they had to fight their way down the Amur through numerous ambushes. By fall they reached the Gilyak country at the mouth of the Amur. With so many enemies behind him, Poyarkov thought it unwise to return by the same route. That winter they built boats and the next spring worked their way up the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

coast to the Ulia River and spent the next winter in the huts that had been built by Ivan Moskvitin six years earlier. The next spring, they followed Moskvitin's route along the

Maya River The Maya (; , ''Maaya'') is a river in Khabarovsk Krai and Sakha, Russia. It is a right tributary of the Aldan of the Lena basin. The length of the river is . The area of its basin . The Maya was part of the river route from Yakutsk to the ...

back to Yakutsk, arriving almost exactly three years after they left. Like so many Russian explorers and colonists in Siberia, Poyarkov received no reward. His brutal treatment of Siberian natives had made enemies even among his own men. The

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

of Yakutsk sent him to Moscow for trial and an unknown fate. Whatever the authorities thought of Poyarkov himself, they were happy with the information he supplied. The next Russian expedition to the Amur was led by Yerofei Khabarov in 1650. See also Russian-Manchu border conflicts. The 1963-built

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

''Ledokol-4'' was renamed ''Vasiliy Poyarkov'' in 1996.

References

Sources

* W. Bruce Lincoln, 'The Conquest of a Continent', 1994 {{DEFAULTSORT:Poyarkov, Vassili Year of birth unknown 17th-century deaths 17th-century Russian explorers Explorers of Siberia Russian cannibals