Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - History

History

The territory's historical name was Yugra. The first written mention of the people inhabiting the "northern lands" was recorded in the Tale of Bygone Years in 1096. The chronicle tells of an unknown people called the Yugra (Ostyaks or Khanty) and Voguls (Mansi) encountered by Russian explorers. The narrative also makes the first mention of the Yugra's neighbors, the Samoyad (Nenets). Chronicles of the 12th and 13th century record frequent expeditions of Novgorodians to Yugra to collect tribute in sable, ermine, Arctic fox, and squirrel furs. There was an inexhaustible demand for luxury furs in Russia.

Siberia was finally annexed to the Muscovite state after Yermak Timofeyevich's legendary campaign. After defeating Khan Kuchum in fall 1582 and occupying Isker, the capital of the Siberian Khanate, Yermak sent a small Cossack detachment down the Irtysh in winter 1583. The detachment led by Bogdan Bryazga (according to other information, Cossack chieftain Nikita Pan) passed through the lands of the Konda-Pelym Voguls and reached the "walls" of the town of Samarovo. Taken by surprise by the Cossack attack, the Ostyaks surrendered. Samar, prince of the Belgorod Princedom was also killed.

In fall 1585, shortly after Yermak's death, Cossacks led by voyevoda (army commander) Ivan Mansurov founded the first Russian fortified town, Obskoi, at the mouth of the Irtysh on the right bank of the Ob. The Mansi and Khanty lands thus became part of the Russian state, which was finally secured by the founding of the cities of Pelym and Berezov in 1592 and Surgut in 1594.

The towns that arose on the Northern Ob became trading centers. Special staging posts for changing horses (yamy) appeared on the busiest trade routes. Two of these posts, Demyansky and Samarovsky (now Khanty-Mansiysk), were built in 1637.

In 1708, Peter the Great issued a decree founding the province of Siberia (which included the cities of Berezov and Surgut) with the aim of establishing the new regime and developing the economy of the resource-rich territory. In 1775, Catherine the Great issued a decree establishing Tobolsk Province.

The territory gained notoriety as a place of exile for prisoners of State. Prince Dmitry Romodanovsky served his sentence in Berezovsky District; Count Andrei Osterman was exiled here in 1742; and the large family of the princes Dolgorukov, in 1798. Prince Menshikov and his daughter Mariya are buried in these lands where they were exiled. Decembrists were exiled here after the Decembrist uprising in Senate Square (St. Petersburg).

The people of the north carried out administrative and judicial functions on the basis of Speransky's charter "On the Administration of Non-Russians in Siberia" confirmed in 1822.

The okrug was established on December 10, 1930, as Ostyak–Vogul National Okrug (Остя́ко-Вогу́льский национа́льный о́круг). In October 1940, it was renamed Khanty-Mansi National Okrug. In 1977, along with other national okrugs of the Russian SFSR, it became an autonomous okrug (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug). The administrative center is Khanty-Mansiysk. In 2003, the word "Yugra" was appended to the official name.