Kuznetsk

Kuznetsk arose on the upper Tom, where the Kondoma joins the river amid the hills of southern Siberia. A Russian wooden fort was established here in 1618. Initially it was manned by servicemen sent from Tomsk, but a permanent local garrison began to form in 1620. By the end of the decade it included both mounted and foot Cossacks.

The fort’s inhabitants cultivated fields near its walls. Land was set aside for servicemen in 1620 and for the sovereign’s use in 1625, linking the garrison to the farming country of the Tom valley. The defences were made of timber and earth, and the settlement was raised to the status of a town in 1689. Kuznetsk remained a frontier centre between the Siberian settlements and the mountain peoples to the south.