Conquest of the Khanate of Sibir The Khanate of Sibir was a Muslim state located just east of the middle Ural Mountains . Its conquest by Ermak in 1582 was the first event in the Russian conquest of Siberia . The Players . Russia . The republic of Novgorod developed a fur - trading empire across northern Russia as far as the northern Urals and somewhat beyond . East of Novgorod the land was gradually falling under the control of Moscow . Between Moscow and the Urals was the Khanate of Kazan which broke off from the Golden Horde about 1438 . In 1478 Moscow captured Novgorod and in 1552 , Kazan . This opened up the Perm and Kama River area northeast of Kazan . In 1558 the Stroganovs were given a large fief in the area and began to develop it . There was scattered native resistance . In 1573 the Khan of Sibir sent his nephew to raid the Stroganov lands . Moscow responded with a charter that effectively authorized the Stroganovs to launch a private war against the Khan , but this was not acted on . Siberia . The middle Urals at the latitude of Perm are fairly low and easy to cross . The area was inhabited by the Voguls ( Mansi ) and , north of Tobolsk , the Ostyaks ( Khanty people ) . At some date a group of Siberian Tatars established the Khanate of Sibir and formed a military ruling class over a non - Muslim population . These ' Tatars ' were partly Turko - Mongol Muslims from further south and partly local converts to Islam . Two clans contended for power . The Shaybanids were descendents of Genghis Khan . The Taibugids were probably of local origin . In 1563 Kuchum , a Shaybanid , defeated his the Taibugid opponent and seized the throne . Before 1571 the Khanate paid limited tribute to Moscow . The Siberian Chronicles are incomplete and contradictory as are the secondary sources in English . This account follows Lantzeff which seems to be the fullest account in English . Lantzeff follows S . V . Bakhruskin . The main problems are the year the expedition started , details of the route and the location of the battle at Sibir . The Capture of Sibir . Ermak began his career as a river pirate somewhere on the Volga . About 1577 these pirates were dispersed by Muscovy . Ermak arrived at Perm some time later ( possibly 1579 ) . His purpose in invading Siberia is not clear . It seems to have been a sort of reconnaissance - in - force that evolved into a conquest when the Khanate proved weak . It is not clear whether Ermak went on his own initiative , or whether he was sent by the Stroganovs , or whether the Stroganovs encouraged him to go to get rid of a dangerous body of armed men . Ermak had 540 Cossacks . The Stroganovs provided most of the supplies and another 300 men , mostly so - called ' Litva ' or prisoners - of - war held by the Stroganovs . Ermak left Perm probably in the summer of 1581 . ( Fisher has him start in September 1579 and take Sibir in October 1581 . Lincoln has Ermak leave on September 1 , 1582 and conquer Sibir three months later . Naumov says that late twentieth century historians established 1582 as the starting date , but this leaves little time for boat - building on the Tura if Sibir was captured in 1582 , a date which Naumov accepts . ) He sailed south down the Chusovaya River . When the river grew shallow and the weather turned cold he built winter quarters in the mountains . Here he raided the local Mansi , news of which provoked native opposition later on . In the spring he crossed the Urals to the Barancha River ( according to Lantzeff , but the Barancha is somewhat north of the latitude of Perm ) . He built rafts , sailed down the river and converted them to boats when the river grew deep enough . Entering the Tura River he sailed downstream ( southeast ) and defeated a native prince named Epancha at the later site of Turinsk . ( Naumov has Ivan Koltso and 300 men , probably Stroganov ' s 300 , join Ermak at this point , but other sources do not mention this ) . Continuing down the Tura , he captured Tyumen ( according to the Remizov chronicle , but Bakhruskin thinks that the fort here had been abandoned ) . On reaching the Tobol River they defeated a native force , sailed downstream ( north ) and later won two other battles before reaching the mouth of the Tavda River . Twenty miles below the Tavda they fought another battle and then captured a native village where they rested for a month . ( this delay so close to the enemy , if it happened , seems very strange . ) The Occupation . Over the next several months various native chieftains offered their submission . Ermak , perhaps unexpectedly , found himself the ruler of a Khanate . He sent Ivan Koltso , 50 men and 5 , 200 furs to the Moscow to announce his conquest . Meanwhile the Ostyaks and Voguls had been raiding the Perm territories . Ivan thought that Ermak had provoked this and sent an angry letter to the Stroganovs demanding that Ermak be recalled to protect Perm . A few days later Ermak ' s envoys reached Moscow . The Tsar immediately changed his mind and promised to send a Voyevoda and troops . He sent Ermak gifts including the famous suit of armor . The Cossacks sent out raiding parties to collect Yasak . Bogdan Bryazga went north down the Irtysh as far as its junction with the Ob . Ermak himself explored the Tavda . Kuchum ' s whereabouts at this time is uncertain . His nephew , Mamet - Kul , attacked the Russians several times , was captured on the Vagai River and sent to Moscow where he later had an honorable career . Seid Akhmat , Kuchum ' s Taibugid rival , returned to the area and gained some supporters . ' The Karacha ' ( one of Kuchum ' s former officials ) sent a request to Ermak for help in fighting the steppe nomads . When the forty Cossacks under Ivan Koltso arrived they were murdered . A punitive expedition was defeated . This seems to have set off a general uprising and it became unsafe to leave the fort at Sibir . About this time ( November 1584 ) 500 reinforcements , including Streltsy arrived from Russia . Food was inadequate and there were many deaths over the winter . In March the Karacha besieged Sibir . Two months later it was broken by a sortie ( Naumov has the sortie in March ) . In August 1585 Ermak heard that a caravan was arriving from the south and that Kuchum was waiting to plunder it . He went up the Irtysh to capture either the caravan or Kuchum , but found that there was no caravan . Returning , he camped at the mouth of the Vagai River about 25 miles upstream from Tobolsk . The night was stormy and the watch inadequate . Kuchum ' s men attacked and most of the Russians were killed in their sleep , The story , which may be true , is that Ermak tried to flee to a river boat and was drowned by the weight of the armor that the Tsar had sent him . Siberia Abandoned . Command passed to Ivan Glukhov . With only 150 surviving men , he thought it was impossible to hold out , so he sailed down the Irtysh and Ob and crossed into Russia over the northern Urals . Ali , Kuchum ' s son , reoccupied the town , but was driven out by Seid Akhmat ( Naumov calls him Seidiak ) . Reinforcements under Mansurov arrived , but they were not strong enough to do anything . They wintered somewhere on the Ob and crossed the Urals the following spring ( 1586 ) ( Naumov has Glukhov and Mansurov meeting and returning to Russia together ) . Siberia Reoccupied . Ermak had failed , but the Khanate of Sibir had been destroyed and Seid Akhmat could not reconstitute it . The area was left to native chiefs who had few firearms . Russian policy was based on systematic fort - building , a method they were also using to expand south of Moscow . In 1586 300 Russians built an Ostrog at Tyumen . In 1587 another fort was built at Tobolsk . In 1588 Seid Akhmat and the Karacha were invited to Tobolsk and were captured and sent to Moscow . In 1594 Tara was built on the middle Irtysh to guard the caravan route . In 1591 the Konda River Mansi were annexed . Surgut at the Ob - Irtysh junction was founded in 1594 . In 1594 the Prince of Pelym was defeated . Kuchum made a number of attacks but was defea ` ted on the Barabinsk Steppe in , probably , 1598 . In 1598 Verkhoturye was built to secure the route over the Urals . In the 1590s Russians crossed the northern Urals into the lower Ob basin . Ketsk was founded in 1602 , opening the route to the Yenisei River . For the rest , see Siberian River Routes and History of Siberia .