Siberia: Conquest and Exploration(1500-1800)

How was Russia built? How did she become so enormous? The answer would be the acquisition of Siberia led to the expansion of territory for Russia. How was Siberia conquered? In what stages did the expansion across Asia take place? Did the Russians encounter opposition from China? This books addresses these questions which rise in the mind on seeing a map of the world. The stages by which Russia shook of the Mongol yoke and proceeded to expand her domains are traced. How in the first stage she unified and then conquered the Muslim khanates of Kazan and Sibir, and then proceeded to expand across Asia are examined. The pull of the fur trade drew trappers and with them Russian dominion right across Asia. How a conflict with China led to Russian exploration in the northeast and the eventual discovery of Alaska is also dealt with. The names of unknown Russian adventurers and explorers emerge whose conquests and discoveries led to vast new territories being opened out. We all know how the west was won but few know how the east was won. The conquistadors of the east were no better than those of the west. If America was populated by Red Indians who were the native inhabitants of Siberia? The book addresses these questions too. The Great Northern Expedition an enterprise in scientific research and cartography undertaken by the government of Tsarist Russia in the eighteenth century is also traced. So too are the voyages of Vitus Bering leading to the discovery of Russian America.