On 26 June 1579, King Stefan Batory declared a victorious – as it turned out – war on Moscow, which ended with the signing of the Truce of Jam Zapolski in 1582. Four years later, the city of Tyumen was founded in Tobolsk, Siberia; a year later, in 1594, the fortress of Tara was founded at the mouth of the Tara River on the Irtysh River. What do these facts have in common?

The first Siberian fortresses were built by Polish prisoners of war who had been taken captive by Moscow authorities during the war initiated by Stefan Batory. At that time, Moscow was short of people not only to build and man the fortresses but also to collect tribute and customs duties, not to mention conquering new territories. For this reason, the crews of the first Siberian settlements were largely made up of war captives and prisoners, some of whom went on over time to voluntary Moscow service.

Photo: Plan of the city of Tyumen and its environs from the Sketchbook of Siberia compiled by Tobol boyar Semyon Remezov in 1701, late 17th-century, source: Wikimedia Commons