lettered by Abraham Ortelius, 1570
Written source · German

The newest state of Siberia (Nuremberg, 1720)

An anonymous German compilation of 1720 on Siberia and its 'Tartar peoples', built from Swedish prisoners' reports and earlier travel books.

Full title The Very Latest State of Siberia, a great and hitherto little-known Muscovite province in Asia: its government, land, mountains, animals, rivers, towns, and the customs of the Samoyeds, Voguls, Kalmyks, Ostyaks, Tunguses, Buryats, Mongols and other Tatar peoples, with a historical report on the Swedish prisoners in this land, the school at Tobolsk and the beginning of the conversion of the heathen

Anonymous (Nuremberg compiler); includes Johann Bernhard Müller

Read the 3 passagesOpen the original book

This anonymous Nuremberg book of 1720 gathers what was then known about Siberia: its government, towns, rivers and animals, the customs of the Samoyeds, Voguls, Ostyaks, Tungus, Buryats, Mongols and Kalmyks, and the story of the Swedish prisoners of war held at Tobolsk after 1709 and their school there. Its core firsthand piece is Johann Bernhard Müller's account of the Ostyaks, written at Tobolsk in 1716, but much else is lifted from earlier travellers, especially Adam Brand and E. Ysbrants Ides, and from Marco Polo. This corpus copy is the 1720 first edition.

How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
'Tartarische Völker' is a catch-all for the non-Russian peoples of Siberia and its borders: Voguls, Ostyaks, Tungus, Buryats, Mongols and Kalmyks, as well as the Muslim Tatars around Tobolsk.
Why read it
It shows how a German reader of 1720 learned about Siberia: by stitching Marco Polo, Brand and prisoners' letters together under the heading of 'Tartar peoples'.
Watch out
Largely second-hand and often copied word for word from Brand and Ides without saying so; the OCR is uneven.

What it says: 3 passages

CitiesKrasnoyarskc. 1715

Krasnoyarsk, where twenty horses stood saddled day and night

Editorial contextThe compiler describes Krasnoyarsk as a large town heavily garrisoned with Cossacks and cavalry against raids by the Kirgiz, so that twenty saddled horses had to stand day and night on the market square before the governor's house. The garrison also guarded the western side against the Mongols and 'the Tartars under them', and the town's name is explained as 'red whirling-river town'.

Krasnoyarsk is a large town, strongly garrisoned by the tsar with Cossacks and cavalry against the incursions of the Kirgiz, on whose account twenty horses must stand saddled day and night in the market before the governor's house

Working translation

Original wording

Krasnajar ist eine grosse Stadt, von dem Czar starck mit Cosaken und Reuterei besetzet, gegen dem Einfall der Kirgisen, um deren willen auf dem Markt vor des Gouverneurs Haus Tag und Nacht 20. Pferde gesattelt stehen müssen

Anonymous compiler (Der allerneueste Staat von Siberien, Nuremberg 1720)
See the original page (p. 106)

About Kirgiz (Yenisei Kyrgyz) raiders; Mongols and their subject 'Tartars'

Keep in mind

Compiled from reports of Swedish prisoners and travellers, not seen by the compiler.

BuildingsMiddle Urals (Chusovaya valley)1720

Vogul log rooms with an ice skylight, retold

Editorial contextThe chapter on the 'Siberian Tartars' called Voguls repeats, almost word for word, Adam Brand's description of their houses, with one change: the compiler says they are square wooden rooms like those of Russian peasants rather than 'Tartar houses'. The smoke hole is still sealed with a lid of ice that lets in daylight.

Their dwellings are square wooden rooms such as the Russian peasants have. Instead of a stove they have a fireplace or hearth, on which they burn wood and cook their food. The smoke hole at the top of the roof, as soon as the [wood] has burned to coals, [is covered] with a lid of ice

Working translation

Original wording

Ihre Wohnungen sind viereckigte hölzerne Kammern, wie die Russischen Bauren haben. An statt des Ofens haben sie Camin oder Feuer-Herd, worauf sie Holz brennen und darbei ihre Speise kochen. Das Rauch-Loch, so oben im Tach ist, wird, so bald das … zu Kohlen gebrennet ist, mit einem Deckel von Eiß

Anonymous compiler (Der allerneueste Staat von Siberien, Nuremberg 1720)
See the original page (p. 135)

About Voguls (Mansi), called Siberian Tartars

Keep in mind

Copied from Adam Brand's journal (1698; see W274), with small changes.

The nameSiberia1720

Marco Polo's northern Tartars read as Siberia

Editorial contextThe compiler admits that older books say almost nothing about Siberia, and turns to Marco Polo, who 'entered Tartar service' but never crossed the land himself. He is sure Polo's northern country is what is now called Siberia, and quotes him on its Tartars: ruled by a king of the great khan's line, keeping the old Tartar customs, worshipping an earth god called Natigai, living in no towns but in the open country, and eating only milk and meat.

In the inner northern lands live many Tartars, whose king descends from the family of the great emperor of the Tartars; and they still keep the manners and customs of the old Tartars. They are all idolaters and worship a god whom they call Natigai … They live neither in towns nor in villages, but in the open country between mountains and rocks.

Working translation

Original wording

In den inwendigen mitternächtlichen Ländern wohnen viele Tartarn, deren König von dem Geschlecht des grossen Kaisers derer Tartaren abstammet; und selbige behalten noch die Sitten und Gewonheiten der alten Tartarn. Sie sind alle abgöttisch, beten einen Gott an, den sie Natigai nennen … Sie wohnen weder in Städten noch Flecken, sondern auf dem Felde zwischen Bergen und Felsen.

Marco Polo, quoted in German by the anonymous compiler
See the original page (p. 11)

About Tartars of the far north (Marco Polo's 'northern Tartars')

Keep in mind

A thirteenth-century report of the Mongol north, applied by the compiler to Siberia in 1720.

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

compilation of recent reports (Swedish captives in Tobolsk, Pietist correspondence) including Müller's firsthand description of the Ostyaks written 1716 at Tobolsk

Research notes
  • Anonymous compilation; J. B. Müller's Ostyak account is the core firsthand piece and was separately printed (Berlin 1720) and translated (Weber 1722-1723 English). Preface signals dependence on Dutch manuscript material (Witsen).
  • Catalogue gives no author; the OCR preface refers to a Dutch work preserved only in manuscript, presumably Witsen.

Why it matters

Earliest German printed ethnography of Siberian peoples, built from Swedish captives' reports; title lists the Tatar peoples of Siberia individually, a useful contemporary usage of Tartarische Völker as a collective label.

Places named

Siberia; Tobolsk; Ob basin; Irtysh; Kalmyk steppe; Mongolia frontier

Peoples named

Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the North Pacific
Western Mongols (Oirat, Dzungar, Kalmyk)
Mongols and the Mongol empire
Golden Horde and its Tatar successor khanates
European peoples and powers

Samoyeds; Voguls; Kalmyks; Ostyaks; Tunguses; Buryats; Mongols; Siberian Tatars; Swedish captives

Keep exploring

The witness before
1709 to 1722Strahlenberg's advance notice of his book on Great Tartary and SiberiaA Swedish prisoner of war's 1726 prospectus for his great description of Tartary and Siberia.Part eyewitness · 9 passages
The witness after
1712 to 1715A Qing envoy's journey to the Torghut khan on the Volga, 1712 to 1715A Manchu official sent by the Kangxi emperor records crossing Siberia and Russia to visit Ayuki Khan of the Torghut Mongols near the Caspian.Eyewitness · 12 passages
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