Yerofey Pavlovich Khabarov or
Svyatitsky in contemporary acounts; 1603 — after 1671), was a Russian entrepreneur and adventurer, best known for his exploring the Amur river region and his attempts to colonize the area for Russia. The major Russian city of
KhabarovskKhabarovsk is the administrative center and the largest city of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District...
, as well as the small town and railway station Yerofey Pavlovich (Ерофей Павлович) (located on the Trans-Siberian railroad in
Amur OblastAmur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...
) bear his name.
A native of the
Veliky UstyugVeliky Ustyug is a town in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug Rivers. Population: 36,000 . It is served by Velikiy Ustyug Airport....
area in the northern European Russia, Khabarov was a manager for the
StroganovsThe Stroganovs or Strogonovs , also spelled in French manner as Stroganoffs, were a family of highly successful Russian merchants, industrialists, landowners, and statesmen of the 16th - 20th centuries that eventually earned nobility.-Origins:...
at the saltworks in
SolvychegodskSolvychegodsk is a town in the southern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the right-hand bank of the Vychegda River some northeast of Kotlas. Population:...
.
Yerofey Pavlovich Khabarov or
Svyatitsky in contemporary acounts; 1603 — after 1671), was a Russian entrepreneur and adventurer, best known for his exploring the Amur river region and his attempts to colonize the area for Russia. The major Russian city of
KhabarovskKhabarovsk is the administrative center and the largest city of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District...
, as well as the small town and railway station Yerofey Pavlovich (Ерофей Павлович) (located on the Trans-Siberian railroad in
Amur OblastAmur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...
) bear his name.
Biography
A native of the
Veliky UstyugVeliky Ustyug is a town in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug Rivers. Population: 36,000 . It is served by Velikiy Ustyug Airport....
area in the northern European Russia, Khabarov was a manager for the
StroganovsThe Stroganovs or Strogonovs , also spelled in French manner as Stroganoffs, were a family of highly successful Russian merchants, industrialists, landowners, and statesmen of the 16th - 20th centuries that eventually earned nobility.-Origins:...
at the saltworks in
SolvychegodskSolvychegodsk is a town in the southern part of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the right-hand bank of the Vychegda River some northeast of Kotlas. Population:...
. In 1625, Khabarov sailed from
TobolskTobolsk is a historic capital of Siberia, now part of the Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of rivers Tobol and Irtysh...
to
MangazeyaMangazeya was a Northwest Siberian trans-Ural trade colony and later city in the 16-17th centuries. It was situated on the Taz River, between the lower courses of the Ob and Yenisei Rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean....
. Three years later, he left the town with his expedition and reached the Kheta river (eastern part of Taimyr). In 1630, Khabarov took part in a voyage from Mangazeya to Tobolsk. In 1632—1641, he reached the
Lena RiverThe Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 10th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed. It is the greatest Russian river with its watershed entirely within national ranges...
and founded a farming
settlementA town is a type of settlement ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition...
with saltworks along the Lena at the mouths of the
KutaThe Kuta River is a Siberian river north of Lake Baikal in Irkutsk Oblast that flows into the Lena River at Ust-Kut. With its right tributary, the Kupa River, it forms a ‘T’ shape with the flat head pointing west and the point at Ust-Kut....
and
KirengaKirenga River is a river in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Lena which flows north between the upper Lena and Lake Baikal. The length of the river is 746 km. The area of its basin is 46,600 km². The Kirenga River freezes up in the late October - early November and stays under...
Rivers.
In 1649 he became the second Russian to explore the Amur after
Vassili PoyarkovVassili Danilovich Poyarkov was the first Russian explorer of the Amur region.The Russian expansion into Siberia began with the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582. By 1643 they reached the Pacific at Okhotsk...
(1643-1646). In the spring of 1649 he set off at his own expense up the
Olyokma RiverThe Olyokma River is a tributary of the Lena in eastern Siberia. The river is approximately 1,320 km long.The Olyokma rises in the south of the Yablonovy Mountains, west of Mogocha. It flows north through remote terrain before joining the Lena near Olyokminsk....
, a far better route than Poyarkov's and several hundred miles to the west. Reaching the upper Amur (Dauria) in early 1650, he found the country nearly deserted, the cossacks' reputation having preceded them. Having pioneered a good route, he returned to Yakutsk in May, 1650 and gave his report. He praised the land, warned of the danger of Chinese intervention and suggested a larger expedition with professional soldiers. Given the time delays in communicating with Moscow, the Yakutsk Voivode Frantsbekov decided to act on his own and sent Khabarov back south with a larger force.
The voivode also gave Khabarov letters from His Majesty Czar Alexis to the
DaurThe Daur people are an Mongolian sub-ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized in the People's Republic of China...
ian Prince Lavkai and "Prince Bogdoi" ' onMouseout='HidePop("85318")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Qing_Dynasty">Qing
The Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
EmperorThe Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning since the founding of China, united by Fu Xi in 2852 BCE until the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title created no later than Shang Dynasty, the Emperor was recognized...
), asking those potentates to submit to the Russian Czar, and threatening to send a 6,000-strong army if they don't obey.
Khabarov crossed the mountains in the fall of 1650 and this time was met with armed resistance. After receiving reinforcements in June 1651 he set off down the Amur. By September they reached the mouth of the Sungari and built a winter fort at Achansk near present-day
KhabarovskKhabarovsk is the administrative center and the largest city of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District...
. Their demands for supplies provoked a native rebellion. After a round of fighting the local people appealed to their Manchu overlords. On March 24, 1652 a force of 2,000 Chinese armed with artillery arrived from Ninguta and attacked Achansk. Khabarov somehow managed to defeat them, but not knowing how many more Chinese were in the area, he withdrew up the Amur. At one point he encountered another force of 6,000 Chinese, but was able to slip around them under cover of fog and darkness. Further upstream he met a force of 117 cossacks who had been sent as reinforcements. These promptly mutinied and Khabarov spent the remainder of the year trying to regain control of his men. What happened in early 1653 is unclear, but in the fall of 1653, 150 reinforcements under Dimitry Zinoviev appeared. As a nobleman, Zinoviev demanded full command. When Khabarov refused, he was arrested. Unable to gain the support of Khabarov's men and having no adequate way to deal with the Chinese, Zinoviev withdrew the whole force from the Amur.
Khabarov was deprived of his rank and property and was sent on a fifteen-month journey to Moscow to be tried. After a year's delay he was acquitted. He was given a minor noble rank (
Syn boyarsky of
IlimskIlimsk was a small town in Siberia, within today's Irkutsk Oblast of Russia. The town was flooded by the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir in the mid-1970s....
) on the condition that he return to Siberia. He reappears again in the records in 1658 when the Siberian Office ordered that he be placed in irons if he refused to guide a new expedition to the Amur. After that he disappears from the records.
Khabarov charted the Amur river in his
"Draft of the Amur river" .