Mangazeya

Mangazeya stood on the Taz River in the far north of western Siberia. For a few decades its wooden fort and trading settlement were a centre of the fur trade, drawing merchants and hunters into a region inhabited by Indigenous peoples. Boats reached it through the Ob and Taz estuaries, linking the northern rivers with the Russian world beyond the Urals.

Founded in 1601, the town became a base for collecting fur tribute and for journeys toward the Yenisei. Pomor sailors reached it from the White Sea, carrying boats across a portage on the Yamal Peninsula. In 1619 the Russian government prohibited this northern sea route; traders subsequently approached by the inland waterways of the Ob basin. Ships brought supplies and traded with local peoples, and their timbers could be reused in buildings and smaller boats. Fires, disputes among officials, the depletion of nearby fur resources and changing routes weakened the settlement. In 1672 its administrative functions and inhabitants were transferred to a post on the Yenisei known as New Mangazeya. The old town was abandoned, leaving traces of its fortifications and trading buildings on the Taz.