Age of Discovery

===Siberian river routes===
In the early 17th century, the eastward movement of Russians was slowed by the internal problems in the country during the [[Time of Troubles]]. Very soon, exploration and colonization of the huge territories of Siberia resumed, led mostly by [[Cossacks]] hunting for valuable [[fur]]s and [[ivory]]. While Cossacks came from the Southern Urals, another wave of Russians came by the Arctic Ocean. These were [[Pomors]] from the [[Northwest Russia|Russian North]], who already had been making fur trade with [[Mangazeya]] in the north of the Western Siberia for quite a long time. In 1607, the settlement of [[Turukhansk]] was founded on the northern [[Yenisey|Yenisey River]], near the mouth of [[Nizhnyaya Tunguska|Lower Tunguska]]. In 1619, [[Yeniseysk]] [[Ostrog (fortress)|ostrog]] was founded on the mid-Yenisey at the mouth of the [[Angara|Upper Tunguska]].

Between 1620 and 1624, a group of fur hunters led by [[Demid Pyanda]] left Turukhansk and explored some {{convert|1430|mi|0|abbr=off}} of the Lower Tunguska, wintering in the proximity of the [[Vilyuy]] and [[Lena (river)|Lena Rivers]]. According to later legendary accounts (folktales collected a century after the fact), Pyanda discovered the Lena. He allegedly explored some {{convert|1500|mi|0|abbr=off}} of its length, reaching as far as central [[Sakha Republic|Yakutia]]. He returned up the Lena until it became too rocky and shallow, and portaged to the Angara River. In this way, Pyanda may have become the first Russian to meet [[Yakuts]] and [[Buryats]]. He built new boats and explored some {{convert|870|mi|0|abbr=off}} of the Angara, finally reaching Yeniseysk and discovering that the Angara (a [[Buryat language|Buryat]] name) and Upper Tunguska (Verkhnyaya Tunguska, as initially known by Russians) are one and the same river.

In 1627, [[Pyotr Beketov]] was appointed Yenisei [[Voivode|voevoda]] in [[Siberia]]. He successfully carried out the voyage to collect taxes from the [[Transbaikal|Zabaykalye]] Buryats, becoming the first Russian to step in [[Buryatia]]. He founded the first Russian settlement there, Rybinsky ostrog. Beketov was sent to the Lena River in 1631, where in 1632 he founded [[Yakutsk]] and sent his Cossacks to explore the [[Aldan (river)|Aldan River]] and farther down the Lena, to found new fortresses, and to collect taxes.<ref>[[#Lincoln 1994|Lincoln 1994]], p. 62</ref>

Yakutsk soon turned into a major starting point for further Russian expeditions eastward, southward and northward. [[Maksim Perfilyev]], who earlier had been one of the founders of Yeniseysk, founded [[Bratsk]] ostrog on the Angara in 1631. In 1638, Perfilyev became the first Russian to step into Transbaikalia, travelling there from Yakutsk.<ref>[[#The Perfilyevs|The Perfilyevs]], web {{in lang|ru}}</ref><ref>[[#Sbaikal|Sbaikal]], web {{in lang|ru}}</ref>

[[File:Baikal sea.gif|thumb|right|upright=1.35|A map of [[Irkutsk]] and [[Lake Baikal]] in its neighbourhood, as depicted in the late-17th-century [[Remezov Chronicle]]]]
In 1643, [[Kurbat Ivanov]] led a group of Cossacks from Yakutsk to the south of the [[Baikal Mountains]] and discovered [[Lake Baikal]], visiting its [[Olkhon Island]]. Ivanov later made the first chart and description of Baikal.<ref>[[#Lincoln 1994|Lincoln 1994]], p. 247</ref>