Gouvernement Tobolsk
Pyotr Yershov was born in the village of Bezrukovo, Tobolsk Governorate (currently Ishimsky District, Tyumen Oblast). During his childhood he lived in the town of Beryozov. From 1827 to 1831, he studied in Tobolsk gymnasium, where he reportedly created a society for the Ethnographic study of Siberia and even planned to publish their own scientific journal. From 1831 to 1836, Yershov studied philosophy at Saint Petersburg University, which was where, at the age of 19, he wrote his masterpiece, the fairy-tale poem "The Little Humpbacked Horse".