Makovskoe

Makovskoye stands on the Ket, a tributary of the Ob, near an old portage to the Yenisei. The route linked the river systems of western and eastern Siberia: boats and goods travelled up the Ket before crossing the wooded, marshy divide towards Yeniseisk. A winter station and a Russian fort were established here in the early seventeenth century.

In 1618 servicemen led by Pyotr Albychev and Cherkas Rukin built the fort, also known as Namatsk after a local Ket prince. A year later another fort was established at Yeniseisk on the other side of the route. A 1627 account reckoned six weeks from Ket fort to Makovskoye, followed by two days across the portage to Yeniseisk. The passage became an important link for people and supplies travelling farther east.