The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was a monumental task, and its effect on Russia's modernization (and later the Soviet Union's industrialization) was equally significant. It opened up the vast expanse east of the Ural Mountains to exploitation of staggering reserves of resources. Subsequent colonization of this new territory can be compared to the opening of the American Wild West and its successive development with the construction of the trans-continental railroads in the United States. However, in the case of Russia the challenges were more formidable. The territory was larger, the climate almost inhospitable in many places, and financing the monumental project was difficult. Nevertheless, these challenges were met, and an empire was forged from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
Sibir, the immense 'sleeping land' beyond the Urals, was only known to medieval Russians as a distant place controlled by a Tartar [G 11 / khan]. Ivan the Terrible had pushed back the Mongol Empire from southern Russia as it disintegrated into separate khanates. With the fall of Kazan and Astrakhan to Ivan's forces, the way east was opened to adventurers, merchants and settlers. [G 06 / Cossacks] were drawn deeper into this alien land in search of the prized sable whose fur commanded a very high price: it was said the proceeds of a season's trapping in Siberia were enough to buy a large farm and stock it with cattle and sheep. However, with no established transportation route, such an undertaking was not for the faint-hearted. Of those who ventured into the dark, swampy [G 20 / taiga] forests, many did not return.
