The peninsula, located in the northeastern part of the Russian Federation, for many residents of the country is a kind of mystery. It is connected to the mainland by a rather narrow isthmus called Parapolsky Dol. And the history of Kamchatka consists of two equal and important periods - before the arrival of Russian explorers and after.
First visits
If we talk about the history of Kamchatka briefly, then before the arrival of Russian guests, many nationalities lived in these territories. The most famous at the moment are the Koryaks, Itelmens, Chukchi, the Ainu tribe is slightly less known.
The first Russian traveler who was lucky enough to see the Kamchatka shores was Mikhail Stadukhin. A detachment under his leadership in February 1651 was looking for the Penzhina River. And the first Russian guests on the peninsula were a company of two. These are Sava Anisimov Seroglaz and Leonty Fedotov's son, these are the names that the history of Kamchatka has preserved, as well as the memory of their not very good deeds. These two "entrepreneurs" began to illegally collect yasak (tax) from the local Koryak tribe.
Research and finds
The end of the 17th century was marked by the intensification of scientific and fishing teams that rushed to Kamchatka. Preserved information about the following expeditions and their goals:
- 1697 - a team led by Vladimir Atlasov examines the eastern coast of the peninsula;
- 1729 - Vitus Bering discovers new geographical points, including Avacha Bay and Kamchatka Bay, stands at the origins of the founding of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky;
- 1740s - the peninsula is visited by the traveler Steller.
Travelers from the East and West arrived here not only for peaceful purposes. In the middle of the 19th century, there was an attempt to seize Kamchatka, it was undertaken by the French together with the British. The Russian garrison managed to defend the territory; this is one of the brightest and most heroic pages in the history of the region.
History of the peninsula in the twentieth century
The second half of the 19th century in Europe and Russia was stormy, while in Kamchatka, on the contrary, life calms down. This is due to the fact that the main Russian port was transferred to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, and later, in 1871, to Vladivostok. Kamchatka has lost the status of an independent region and has become a part of the Primorsky region.
The tsarist government's new interest in Kamchatka arose only with the beginning of the infamous Russo-Japanese War, in which the Japanese won. But Kamchatka had its own small victory - at this time it regained independence. And in April 1913, the center of the region, the city of Petropavlovsk, even received its own heraldic symbol.
