Sumgut-Vosh

Sumgut-Vosh was a Khanty settlement on the lower Northern Sosva, near its confluence with the Ob. Its name is associated with birches, as is the later Russian name Beryozov. This was a river country linked to the Urals by the Sosva and to the northern lowlands by the Ob. In 1593 a Russian detachment led by Nikifor Trakhaniotov and Mikhail Volkonsky established a fort near the Khanty settlement. Beryozov became a centre of Russian administration and fur tribute collection in the northern Ob region. The location connected the new stronghold to routes used by local communities and traders, while placing them under increasing pressure from the expanding state.