Age of Discovery

===Conquest of the Khanate of Sibir===
Around 1577, [[Semyon Stroganov]] and other sons of Anikey Stroganov hired a [[Cossack]] leader called [[Yermak Timofeyevich|Yermak]] to protect their lands from the attacks of Khan [[Kuchum]]. By 1580, Stroganovs and Yermak came up with the idea of a military expedition to [[Siberia]], in order to fight Kuchum in his own land. In 1581, Yermak began his voyage into the depths of Siberia. After a few victories over the khan's army, Yermak's people defeated the main forces of Kuchum on [[Irtysh River]] in a 3-day [[Battle of Chuvash Cape]] in 1582. The remains of the khan's army retreated to the [[steppe]]s, and thus Yermak captured the [[Khanate of Sibir]], including its capital [[Qashliq]] near modern [[Tobolsk]]. Kuchum still was strong and suddenly attacked Yermak in 1585 in the dead of night, killing most of his people. Yermak was wounded and tried to swim across the Wagay River ([[Irtysh]]'s tributary), but drowned under the weight of his own [[chain mail]]. The Cossacks had to withdraw from Siberia completely, but thanks to Yermak's having explored all the main river routes in West Siberia, Russians successfully reclaimed all his conquests just several years later.
[[File:Yermak Timofeyevich and his band of adventurers crossing the Ural Mountains at Tagil, entering Asia from Europe.jpg|thumb|left|[[Yermak Timofeyevich]] and his band of adventurers crossing the [[Ural Mountains]] at Tagil, entering Asia from Europe]]