Chumaki: How did the steppe "truckers" live?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Just some 3 centuries ago, the profession of a chumak gave its owner material prosperity, respect and prestige in society, as well as liberation from feudal dependence - panshchina. However, along with this, it was also deadly: the fault was the steppe robbers and various diseases.

To survive in the deserted wild steppe, the Chumaks had to adhere to certain internal regulations, unspoken laws and rather strict rules that existed in their "professional environment".

Difficult Chumak work

Despite the fact that the delivery of salt from Crimea is a long-standing industry, Chumaks appeared in Russia only at the end of the XIV century. This was largely accompanied by the decline of the Golden Horde, as well as new geographical openings of trade routes from Europe to Asia. The latter contributed to the fact that the prices for exotic and previously expensive spices and spices dropped significantly.

The loss of its power and authority by the Golden Horde turned the Black Sea steppes into a no man's land - the Wild Field. This made the "salt trade routes" that passed through these lands very dangerous. The Crimean Khan became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, and trade with Christian Europe almost completely stopped.

However, this state of affairs was not beneficial to either the Europeans or the Crimeans. Realizing this, the khan concluded an agreement with the king of Poland, according to which merchants from Kiev, Chernigov, Lutsk, Starokonstantinov and other cities, at that time under the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, were invited to Crimea. Convoys were drawn from Russia to Kafa, Perekop and Khadzhibey.

To stimulate trade relations, the Crimean Khan provided Russian merchants with protection, the so-called "Tatar watchman". In addition, the Krymchaks took upon themselves the costs of compensating for any losses that local attackers often inflicted on traders.

At the same time, the Zaporozhian Sich, one of the most inconvenient military opponents of the nomads, was gaining strength in the steppe. Thus, trade and transport links with the Crimean Peninsula became relatively safe for the Chumak caravans. This was the middle of the 16th century.

Chumatsky rolls

Going across the steppes to the Crimea alone was a real madness. Moreover, it was completely unprofitable. That is why the Chumaks were organized into trade caravans called rolls. The number of wagons owned by one Chumak indicated the degree of his prosperity: beginners had from 3 to 5, wealthy - 30-40, and very rich - up to a hundred.

The roll was divided into 6-8 "batts", each of which had 5 carts. Thus, the Chumak caravans consisted of 30-40 carts. Sometimes, however, their number could reach up to one and a half hundred, but such large "freight trains" were unprofitable for long distances.

The thing is that there were restrictions on fresh water in the steppe. The wells were located at a distance of about 25-30 kilometers from each other, and at one time a maximum of 70-80 oxen could be drunk from it.

As for the internal hierarchy among the Chumaks in the roll, each "batovoy" had its own person in charge, who rode in front of it. The most important thing in the caravan was the chieftain, whom the Chumaks chose among themselves annually. It was the chieftain who was responsible for the road, financial issues and discipline among the Valka Chumaks.

Discipline First

Despite the fact that the safety of the Chumaks on the way was guaranteed by both the Tatars and the Cossacks, there were many robbers in the steppe. Therefore, the guards and shifts in the roll were carried by everyone and according to a clearly distributed schedule. The front baton, playing the leading role, changed every other day, rebuilding itself into the "tail" of the caravan. Every day there was a change of night guards and shepherds of oxen.

For spending the night, the whole roll formed a ring with carts. Oxen and people were inside this fortification in case robbers or nomads decided to attack the caravan at night. Drunkenness and gambling at leisure during the trip were strictly prohibited among the Chumaks.

Take care of the ox - your transport

Chumak oxen cost 2 times more than the usual host animals. Moreover, the standard was oxen with horns at least a meter long, spread apart. The color of animals also played an important role. The wagons were harnessed either gray or black with a white "star" on their foreheads. The Chumaks attributed magical properties to the latter - it was believed that a black ox with a white mark was able to protect other animals from the evil eye and diseases.

The oxen were carefully looked after daily. They were washed, combed out (for this each chumak had a special wooden comb), the sides of the oxen were rubbed with straw. The horns of the animals were scraped and cleaned with glass. Sometimes they were gilded for even greater entourage and beauty.

For the winter, the Chumaks went south, to the steppe, where there were pastures with watering holes. The local landowners bought a huge stack of hay for the oxen, each of which ate up to 30 kg of it a day. Chumaks settled in specially built kurens - winter quarters, where they stayed all winter until the beginning of the next season.

Retiring "on retirement" the Chumak always kept at least a couple of oxen for himself. On them he went to fairs, bazaars, or just to visit a godfather in a neighboring village. Despite the fact that oxen were 20 times inferior in speed to horses, the Chumaks preferred horned ones until the end of their lives. The ox was, as it were, an indicator of the status and wealth of the owner. Often these animals were even trained to guard yards from strangers.

Be a real man

The plague was an exclusively male profession. To see a woman on the way was considered a bad omen - this supposedly foreshadowed the illness of people or the death of oxen. The fair sex knew this, and, having seen the roll from afar, tried to hide from the eyes of the Chumaks.

But to fellow villagers or women from neighboring settlements "steppe truckers" were more supportive. After returning from Crimea, each of them received from the Chumaks a good handful of incense, spices or pepper.

Each Chumak cart could hold up to one and a half tons of salt, which was loaded onto it by the owner of this "transport". After the roll arrived in Crimea, several Chumaks took the oxen to graze, and the rest lined up for salt. It should have been smashed with wooden hammers and shovels, and then loaded onto the "boards". Each of the Chumaks broke, weighed them on the scales, and then loaded 5 carts.

Don't be mean, but cripple a villain or a thief

For the whole village, the return from the Chumaks campaign was a real holiday. The villagers could celebrate the arrival of the felling for a whole week. After all, each courtyard received rich gifts from the Chumaks: fish, raisins, cloves, as well as a good handful of pepper and salt. They loved the Chumakovs, since they very rarely kept account of their money, lending them without interest. Or simply giving to those in need.

On the way, all the Chumaks' money was kept by the Valka chieftain. However, attackers could often covet not them, but goods, or oxen. Thefts from the Chumaks were rare, since the best thing that awaited a thief after his capture was serious injury. The attacker was crippled or killed on the spot. In those days, travelers, if they met a corpse smeared with tar in the steppe, knew that this was the work of angry Chumaks.

End of the era of "steppe truckers"

At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, the plague became the main freight and commercial transport in Eastern Europe. Crimea had already been conquered by the Russian Empire, and on the European continent, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the demand for Ukrainian grain increased significantly. Thousands of Chumak rolls carried him to the ports of Mariupol, Odessa, Nikolaev and Kherson. In addition to bread, the Russian Empire also exported timber, linseed oil and wool. During the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Chumaks delivered cargo for the Russian army to the peninsula, taking back the wounded and trophies.

However, the appearance of railways in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century marked the beginning of the end of the Chumak era. After all, many railway lines were laid along the routes of the "steppe truckers". And Chumak rolls could not compete with steam locomotives in terms of carrying capacity and speed.