The Russian approach in Bashkiria was similar to that in the Middle Volga; the
goal was to displace the native landed elite and import taxpaying farmers loyal to
Russia. Bashkiria was both strategic and productive. Metallurgy boomed: between
1699 and 1725 eighteen major metallurgical works were founded in the Urals, with
more than 5,000 serfs forcibly moved to work them. In 1721 Peter allowed non-
noble entrepreneurs to buy serfs to be used in these enterprises. Such workers went
with their families, boosting non-native settlement in Bashkiria. Bashkiria also
offered important trade depots on the caravan trade from Central Asia and fertile
farming lands in northern and western Bashkiria. Southern Bashkiria, while also a
target of in-migration, remained primarily nomadic grazing lands.
Fortification efforts in Bashkiria continued with many purposes: to pacify the
trade route from Central and East Asia, to protect from nomad attack (Kazakh and
Kalmyk), to preventflight of Russian taxpayers to the steppe, and to undermine
Bashkir political cohesion. The existing Trans-Kama line, constructed in the 1650s,
had served its purpose and already around 1730 a parallel line had been constructed
south of it, running southwest-to-northeast from Krasnyi Iar near Samara on the
Volga to Menzelinsk near the Middle Kama River, cutting across northern Bashkir
lands. At the same time the construction of a huge defensive arc across the Kalmyk-
Kazakh steppe was initiated: a defensive line from the mouth of the Iaik River to
Orenburg was built in the 1730s along the lands of the Iaik Cossacks, as well as the
“Samara”line south along the Samara River from Krasnyi Iar on the Volga to
Orenburg on the Iaik. The Samara line joined at Orenburg lines stretching to
western Siberia. By the 1750s approximately 3,500 km of defensive fortifications
extended from the mouth of the Iaik River to the Altais, an immense effort. The
whole project was paid for by the newly imposed poll tax on the Mordva and Tatars
of the Middle Volga.
Russia capitalized on divisions among the Bashkirs in essence to surround them in
their own homeland. As a rule, the more settled northern Bashkirs, including many
in Russian service, were less likely to spark revolts than the more nomadic Bashkirs
of the southern Urals, but all were capable of uniting in response to common
grievances, such as extraordinary levies and land grabs. Bashkirs revolted, for
example, in 1705–11 in response to Russia’s raising theiasakand the quotas of
horses they were asked to provide for the Great Northern War; such higher exactions
also sparked revolts in Astrakhan and among the Don Cossacks at this same time.
The Orenburg Expedition in 1734 on the surface looks like a scientific and
cartographic mission, but it proved to be a powerful arm of political suppression.
Led by cartographer Ivan Kirillov (1689–1737), it included scientists to map, study
flora and fauna, prepare for more settlers, and, most significantly, to found fortress
towns and fortified lines discussed herein, in the process encircling Bashkir lands.
The Expedition founded Orenburg on the Iaik in 1735 in the heart of Bashkir
grazing lands (it was moved downriver in 1741 and 1743) and commenced
fortification work. Aggressive land seizures and a policy of cutting the number of
Muslim elders and putting Islam under more direct Russian supervision prompted
a Bashkir uprising (1735–7) that Kirillov put down with extraordinary brutality.
Over 700 Bashkir villages were razed and about 30,000 Bashkir men, women, and
90 The Russian Empire 1450– 1801