Bolsheretsk

Bolsheretsk or Bolsheretsky jail is an abandoned village on the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Over a 200-year period, Bosheretsk was a military fort, a prison, a port and a village.

Bolsheretsk was founded in 1703 as a fort on the Plotnikova River. In 1707 rebels destroyed the fort. In 1711 it was rebuilt where the Bystraya and Plotnikova rivers join to form the Bolshaya River, 55 kilometres (34 mi) from the river mouth on the Sea of Okhotsk.

Bolsheretsk had square earthworks with a side of 21.6 m on a crest. The fort had a palisade of poles. In 1715, the poles were replaced by a log fence. The fortifications lasted until the beginning of the 1770s. Bolsheretsk contained state buildings, churches and stores in the monastery and houses. In 1726 there were 17 residential yards. Starting in 1823, Bolsheretsk went into decline and only consisted of a ramshackle Church and 10 residential yards. In the early twentieth century (1909) — 19 yards. The village was situated on several Islands separated by channels.

In the 18th century the population was military: in 1727 to 40 people., 1759 — 79, 1775–152, 1799 — 24 people By 1810, they had grown to 150 people. The Main occupation of the inhabitants was fishing, hunting, gardening and cattle breeding.

In the 18th century Bolsheretsk was an important transit point on the sea route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka. Many expeditions passed through here en route to the Kuril Islands and Northern Pacific. In 1739, the Bolsheretsk shipyard built the sloop "Bolsheretsk".

Between 1740 and 1803, the years in bolsherechk the residence of the Kamchatka commanders. In 1770 convicts P. F. Khruschov, M. A. benevskaya and other organized Bolshereche rebellion. They killed the commandant, captured the galliot "Saint Peter" and sailed to France.

In the 19th century, the jail was converted into the village Bolsheretsk. In 1928 the village was abolished, the inhabitants moved to the Bayou', where the village of Kavalerskoe, and to the mouth of the Great river, village of Ust-Bolsheretsk, from 1926 which became the center of Ust-Bolsheretsky District.

References[]

Смышляев, Александр. Камчатский край. Большерецкие веси. — Петропавловск-Камчатский: Новая книга, 2011 P. 30–40.

Coordinates: 52°54′33″N 156°33′04″E / 52.9092°N 156.5511°E / 52.9092; 156.5511