Yerofey Khabarov
Jerofei Khabarov Pavlovich (Russian Ерофей Павлович Хабаров; * 1603 in Veliky Ustjug, † 1671) was a Russian commander and colonist in the Far East. The city of Khabarovsk on the Chinese border and the urban-type settlement Jerofei Pavlovich in the Amur region are named after him.
Born as a farmer's son, he set out with his brother Nikifor to seek his fortune in Siberia. To 1628, he worked as a merchant in the fur trade of Mangaseya, but had only modest success. Then he lived briefly on the Yenisei from agriculture, then he ran on the Lena mills and salt works, and finally a transport company at Ilim Pass, an important trade route.
Since after Pojarkows company ( 1643-46 ) was the Amur region as a worthwhile goal ( furs, much needed grain ), also Khabarov hoped for fame and fortune, and prepared in the spring of 1649 a train from there. When he arrived in Transbaikalia, the locals had left their villages, and he learned of the terror Poyarkov had spread there. With an easy victory over the sedentary Dauren reckoning, he offered himself to conquer this region for Russia, but also foresaw the intervention of the Chinese.
Now with around 200 men, horses, and several small cannon he moved in the fall of 1650 again in Transbaikalia. The campaign was supported by the voivode in Yakutsk, D. Frantsbekow, partly financed from own resources and with equipment, food, guns, and 120 men and muskets. In the skirmishes with the Russians Dauren had little chance, because they had nothing equivalent to oppose the mounted cannons on sleds. Its fortifications were conquered, the people massacred and expelled the cattle. In this situation, the inhabitants of the Amurtals in Qing China turned for help, which quickly sent an army. The battles were concentrated in March 1652, and the Fort built by Khabarov Atschansk ( at today's Komsomolsk ) on the Amur, and Khabarov could oppose the 2,000 Chinese nothing, since they had artillery and firearms. He escaped with minor losses, as they initially had apparently only the order for his arrest.
On the withdrawal of its troops showed ( he got reinforcements of Cossacks ) little inclination to fight against the Chinese and plundered instead prefer the locals, so that he had to fight down deserters. Finally, he was arrested by the new commander of the Tsar, D. Zinoviev and managed to Moscow. There acquitted, he was commander of Ilimsk and disappeared into the 1660ern from history. Incidentally, the Cossacks were expelled 1655-1658 by 10,000 -strong Chinese Army from the Amur and Transbaikalia at the time was plundered so that its inhabitants were no longer to grain production in the area.