HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 72

ALEXANDER III formally received the Ethiopians
after some delay—a reception that triggered the
formation of a national fund-raising campaign to
finance an “Orthodox mission” to Ethiopia and
“reunite” the two churches. An expedition of
about 200 Cossacks, their families, and a few
priests set sail in December 1888, recovered
Ashinov's guns, and occupied the Egyptian fort
of Sagallo, claiming sovereign rights. After the
embarrassed Russian government disavowed the
expedition, the French colonial authorities bom-
barded the Russians, dislodged them from
Sagallo, and dispatched them home. Alexander
III exiled Ashinov for three years to Saratov
Province, but he escaped to Paris in November
1890, where he tried unsuccessfully to press
claims from the Sagallo affair. Expelled by the
French, he traveled to London and sent a per-
sonal appeal to the czar. Ashinov returned to
Russia in 1891 on the czar's orders. He was sen-
tenced to ten years' exile in Chernigov, where he
was living prosperously as late as 1906, after
which time his trail vanishes.

Astrakhan was overshadowed by the emergence
of Baku as a major oil-producing center and port.
Nevertheless, in Soviet times Astrakhan retained
some importance as a center of shipbuilding and
fish processing, most notably of caviar. By the
1990s its population was around 650,000. With
the dissolution of the Soviet Union, BAKU became
the capital of the newly independent Republic of
Azerbaijan and Astrakhan regained some of its
previous importance to Russia.

Atlasov, Vladimir Vasilievich
(1635-1711)
explorer
Born to a peasant family in the northern town
of Velikii Ustiug, Atlasov was a COSSACK whose
efforts in opening up the large Kamchatka
peninsula on the Pacific Ocean to Russian con-
quest and colonization later earned him the
name “Yermak of Kamchatka” by the poet
Alexander PUSHKIN , in reference to the reputed
first Russian explorer and conqueror of Siberia.
Atlasov's family moved to Siberia when he was a
boy. He later entered government service. His
first major appointment came in 1695, when he
was named commander in chief of the fort at
Anadyrsk, the base for Russian activities on the
shores of what is now the Bering Sea. Hearing
rumors of a great peninsula to the south, in 1697
Atlasov organized an expedition of 120 men—
Russians and Yukagir allies—to explore the ter-
ritory and claim it for Russia. Despite fierce
resistance from the indigenous Kamchadals and
Koryaks fighting on skis and dogsleds, the Rus-
sian expedition marched down the western side
of Kamchatka, crisscrossed the peninsula to the
Pacific Ocean, and—more important for Russian
colonizing activities in Siberia—imposed tribute
on the native population. Near the southern tip
of the peninsula, Atlasov's party learned of the
existence of several islands (now known as the
Kuriles) inhabited by the Ainu people, believed
to be the original inhabitants of Japan, and of
the existence of even larger islands to the south
of the Kurils (Japan). There was also a prisoner
named Denbei, a mysterious survivor of a ship-

Astrakhan
Located on the VOLGA RIVER , near the Caspian
Sea, Astrakhan has long been a major port and
trading center. First probably settled by the Mon-
gols in the 13th century, Astrakhan became the
center of the Khanate of Astrakhan, one of the
successor khanates to the GOLDEN HORDE when it
fragmented in the late 14th century. In 1395,
Tamerlane's invading army destroyed the city.
Later rebuilt, Astrakhan was conquered again by
the troops of IVAN IV “the Terrible” in 1556 and
permanently annexed to Russia. The conquest of
Astrakhan opened the entire Volga River to Rus-
sian traffic and gave Russia access to the Caspian
Sea. In the 1580s a fortress, or kremlin, was built
that dominates the old city to this day. In 1705-6,
in the first part of the reign of PETER I the Great,
Astrakhan was the site of a blood revolt by the
streltsy (musketeers) who had also opposed
Peter in MOSCOW . Later in his reign, Astrakhan
served as the base for his campaign of 1722-23
against Persia. In the 19th and 20th centuries,