Ataman Dmitry Kopylov’s and His Descendants’ Service in Siberia in the 17th Century: Touches on the Portrait of a Russian Explorer

The purpose of this study is to compile a portrait of the famous explorer and Tomsk Cossack ataman, Dmitry Kopylov, who organized the first expedition to the shores of the Pacific Ocean and participated in diplomatic missions to the rulers of Eastern states and Siberian nomadic polities. The research is based on published materials and archival sources, such as salary books, drawn from various archival collections. Dmitry Yepifanovich Kopylov was a descendant of Muscovite hereditary servicemen. Like his father, who served in Tobolsk and Tomsk, he rose through the ranks from a mounted Cossack to an ataman and boyar's son. Like all Siberian officials, D. Kopylov fulfilled the duties assigned to him, the primary one being the "sovereign's profit" achieved by collecting yasak, discovering and developing new lands, and searching for ore deposits. In the summer of 1633, the ataman was sent with a detachment to the Bratsk Ostrog to bring the "Bratsk people" under Russian subjugation. In the winter of 1636, he was sent with a detachment to the Lena River to find new lands, collect yasak, and search for silver ore. On the Yande, a tributary of the Aldan River, his Cossacks founded the Butala Ostrog. A detachment led by the pentecostal Ivan Moskvitin, dispatched by Kopylov, overcame the Dzhugdzhur Mountain Range and reached the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. In the spring of 1640, these Cossacks sailed along the mainland to the entrance of the Amur Estuary, discovering the Shantar Islands and Sakhalin Gulf along the way. For discovering these new lands, both explorers were awarded the rank of boyar's son. D. Kopylov also proved himself an experienced diplomat and administrator. He participated in diplomatic missions to the rulers of Mongol and Turkic peoples, including the state of the Altyn Khans and the lands of the Kirghiz and Teleuts. He also contributed to the economic development of the Middle Tom River region. In 1653, under his leadership, the Sosnovsky Ostrog was founded, which became the centre of a new agricultural district. The ataman was not implicated in malfeasance and enjoyed authority and trust within the Tomsk "host." During the unrest of 1648-1649, his household - unlike those of other senior officials, including his sons - was not plundered by the rebellious residents of Tomsk. The ataman's sons, Nicephorus, Pyotr, Grigory, and Timothy, continued his military service as boyar's children; they too left their mark on the early history of Tomsk and Siberia as a whole. The figure of Dmitry Kopylov - ataman, explorer, and diplomat - is in many ways typical and significant for studying and compiling historical portraits of other participants in the pioneering development of Siberia, whose personalities and activities remain subjects of considerable controversy among contemporary researchers and their predecessors. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Keywords

Authors

References