RUSSIA

The fur trade involved exploiting a finite resource (fur-bearing animals) and cultivating new populations when supplies were depleted below sustainable numbers. Russians served as middlemen between fur-producing northern boreal zones and the main markets for furs, which were situated along the rim of Eurasia (Europe and the Middle East). Novgorod played a critical role in the medieval fur trade, but by the fifteenth century Moscow began to displace Novgorod and competed with Kazan' for trade routes and supplies of furs.

The heyday of the fur trade began in the sixteenth century with the conquest of Siberia. The Stroganov family established trading posts across the Ural Mountains and sent their agents into Siberia to purchase furs with European wares and iron goods. The Stroganovs marketed their furs to English and Dutch merchants and also acted as purchasing agents for the Russian court. In 1574 they were granted a charter to develop the Tura and Tobol river basins extending into Siberia and were authorized to build forts, use cannons, and outfit a private army. As a result of increasing friction with the native peoples and the Khanate of Siberia, the Stroganovs hired a band of Cossacks from the Don to defend and expand their holdings. Yermak Timofeyevich and his men set out in 1582 and soon conquered Sibir' (or Isker), the capital of the Khanate. Word of Yermak's conquest reached Moscow, and reinforcements were sent to complete the conquest.

After establishing a garrison and provisioning system at Tobol'sk, small bands of Russians with firearms and small artillery advanced across the river systems of Siberia in lightweight boats to set up forts at portages and other strategic points. Much of the subsequent conquest of Siberia was carried out by private entrepreneurs and small armed bands who took oaths from natives, imposed tribute, and sent reports and furs back to forts and administrative centers. Rivalries among indigenous populations also facilitated conquest, as native peoples under Russian jurisdiction expanded control over more distant groups. In only a few decades almost all of Siberia came under Russian control.

The fur trade was linked to the yasak system of tribute collected from native tribes of Siberia. Although the Russian government preferred to extract tribute in furs, it also accepted reindeer skins, grain, walrus ivory, etc. Native populations (termed inozemtsy) were divided into districts and assigned annual tribute quotas, usually five to ten sables (or an equivalent in other goods) per male. In order to keep natives from simply picking up and leaving, the Russians procured hostages from native chieftains. While sedentary groups were recorded in meticulous tribute books according to households or tribal units, tribute was only collected irregularly from mobile, non-settled groups. Native elites were coopted into Russian service through regular gifts and supplies of liquor.

The Russian government espoused paternalistic policies in order to maintain the ability of natives to pay tribute. Russian hunters and trappers were ordered not to enter native hunting grounds. The forced baptism of natives, sale of alcohol to them, and the buying and selling of native women and children were prohibited. Officials were admonished not to extort more furs than established by the quotas, and they were banned from engaging in private trade. In reality none of these policies was strictly enforced. Degradation of native social structures and endemic corruption resulted from the trade.

To secure for itself the lion's share of the profits from the trade in luxury furs, the Russian government set up a purchasing system to acquire the best furs for the state coffers. In addition to a generous markup on high-quality furs destined for export, the government also made money on the differential between fur prices in Siberia and Moscow. While European merchants were generally shut out of Siberia, Tatar and Bukharan traders were allowed to participate in the trade. In order to tax and monitor the flow of goods between Siberia and central provinces, the government set up checkpoints along main routes to examine cargo and travel documents.

In the seventeenth century well over a thousand Russian entrepreneurs and trappers journeyed to Siberia annually. Many of them settled permanently, and their numbers were supplemented by soldiers, exiles, and forced migrants sent by the government. In the late seventeenth century there were over 25,000 Russian households in Siberia. By the early eighteenth century settlements in Siberia began to produce enough grain for subsistence and in many areas mining and manufacturing surpassed the fur trade in economic importance.

Market demand and local greed fueled intensive hunting, which resulted in the exhaustion of animal breeding populations. Russian innovations in traps, nets, and hunting dogs also contributed to a rapid depletion of fur supplies. In a good year Russian and native hunters harvested more than half a million squirrels, 100,000 sables, and more than tens of thousands of black foxes. Government income from the fur trade peaked in the 1640s and amounted to over 100,000 rubles, about 10 percent of state revenue. By the early eighteenth century revenues had declined to less than half of their peak. As supplies became rare in the vicinity of the major river basins of Siberia, hunters and trappers began exploiting more distant sources of furs, eventually reaching Alaska and the North American coast.

RUSSIA

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