Feeling threatened by Ivan the Terrible's encroachment on his territory, Yediger, the [G 11 / khan] of Sibir, sent him a large tribute of furs and declared himself a vassal of the tsar. His son Kechum, however, was of a more aggressive nature and murdered his father. He ended the annual tribute of furs and declared himself Tsar of Siberia. Ivan did not have the resources to put Kechum in his place. So he granted the merchants, Jacob and Gregory Stroganov (the supposed originators of Beef Stroganov), a 20-year lease over lands extending from their vast estates on the Kama River. This was coincidentally in the center of Kechum's territory. He also allowed them to raise a private army and encouraged them to strike back at Kechum.
After several years, the Stroganovs managed to raise an 840-man Cossack expedition led by an ex-Volga River pirate, [L3 201 / I 008 / Yermak Timofeyevich]. Armed with [G 03 / arquebuses] and [G 13 / muskets], the Stroganov's mercenaries launched a series of attacks on Kechum's larger army (armed though with bow and arrow and swords). The [G 06 / Cossacks] eventually proved the superior force and Yermak claimed the territory for Russia. The native tribes were also no match for the superior firepower of the Cossacks. They were dealt with in the same way the South American Incas were treated by the Spanish Conquistadors. However, Russian authority over the new land was tenuous at best. Therefore, military outposts (ostrogs) were established along the way to secure possession and to collect tribute. From these outposts grew the Siberian cities of Tyumen (1586), Tomsk (1604), Krasnoyarsk (1628) and Irkutsk (1652) - major stops along today's Trans-Siberian.
Until the mid-1800s, Siberia's attraction remained wedded to furs. Millions of squirrel skins, more than 50,000 ermines, and 40,000 sables were trapped every year. However, the discovery of gold along the upper [M 014 / Lena River] in 1846 brought on a gold rush (just as frantic as those in California and the Yukon) which created a new impetus for settlement.
