{{Short description|Road in Russia}} thumb [[File:Колокольня г. Соликамск.jpg|thumb|The Solikamsk Belltower was the starting point of the Babinov Road]] The '''Babinov Road''' (Бабиновская дорога) was for a long time the shortest path across the Urals. It led from Solikamsk to Verkhoturye and thence to Tobolsk in Siberia. It was discovered by Artemy Babinov in 1597 and hacked out of the forests several years later, replacing a complicated river route that had been used in the 16th century.<ref>[http://slovari.yandex.ru/%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F/%D0%91%D0%A1%D0%AD/%D0%91%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F%20%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B0/ Great Soviet Encyclopaedia]</ref>
It was the construction of the Babinov Road that made possible the Russian colonization of Siberia and the enormous territorial growth of the Tsardom of Russia in the 17th century. The route was apparently based on an existing trail used by Khanty and Mansi hunters.
In the 17th century, Russian travellers to Siberia passed through a chain of small forts protecting the road from raids by native tribes.<ref>:s:ru:ЭСБЕ/Бабиновская дорога</ref> Verkhoturye, the first of these forts, was built at its eastern end in 1598.<ref>{{cite web|author=Редакция журнала Наука и жизнь |url=https://www.nkj.ru/archive/articles/9105/ |title=Первая Сухопутная Дорога В Сибирь | Наука И Жизнь |publisher=Nkj.ru |date=2004-12-14 |accessdate=2014-04-14}}</ref>
Babinov's Road remained the only practicable route from Europe to Siberia until the construction of the Great Siberian Road in 1735.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ikz.ru/siberianway/siberianway.html |title=ПУТЬ В СИБИРЬ - Дорога, создавшая Россию |publisher=Ikz.ru |accessdate=2014-04-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128033908/http://www.ikz.ru/siberianway/siberianway.html |archivedate=2014-01-28 }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.uraltravel.com/babinovskaja_doroga_karta.jpg The map of Babinov Road]
{{Russia-hist-stub}} Category:Roads in Russia Category:Roads in Siberia Category:History of Siberia