Stroganov

a family of Russian merchants, industrialists, major landowners, and government figures of the 16th to early 20th centuries. The Stroganovs were descendants of a family of Po-mor’e peasants that had become wealthy.

Fedor Lukich Stroganov settled in Sol”-Vychegodsk. Here his son, Anikei (Anika) Stroganov (1497–1570), established a saltworks in 1515. Under his management the commercial holdings of the Stroganovs expanded greatly. In 1558, Ivan IV the Terrible granted to Anikei Stroganov and his descendants the vast domains on the Kama and Chusovaia rivers known as the Perm” domains. In 1566, at the Stroganovs” request, their lands became part of the oprichnina (the tsar’s domain).

The Stroganovs seized the lands of the indigenous population. Settling these lands with newly arrived Russian peasants, they established saltworks and developed agriculture, fishing, hunting, and mining. They built cities and fortresses, and with their military detachments suppressed the uprisings of the indigenous nationalities and annexed to Russia new territories in the Cis-urals, the Urals, and Siberia.

Semen Anikeevich Stroganov (died 1609) and Anikei’s grandsons Maksim Iakovlevich Stroganov (died in the 1620’s) and Ni-kita Grigor’evich Stroganov (died 1620) helped organize Ermak’s campaign of 1581. During the foreign intervention of the early 17th century, the Stroganovs contributed large quantities of supplies and extensive financial and military aid to the government; the funds contributed amounted to approximately 842,000 rubles. For their services, the Stroganovs were granted the title of imenitye liudi (distinguished men) in 1610.

In the 17th century, the Stroganovs developed the salt-making industry extensively in the Sol”-Kama region. In the 1680’s, Gri-gorii Dmitrievich Stroganov (1656–1715) consolidated the domains that had been divided up among the heirs of Anikei Stro-ganov’s children. He also seized the saltworks of the Shustov and Filat’ev merchant families.

During the Northern War (1700–21), the Stroganovs rendered great financial aid to Peter I’s government. In the 18th century, they established several ironworks and copper smelteries in the Urals. In 1722, Aleksandr, Nikolai, and Sergei Stroganov, the sons of Grigorii Dmitrievich Stroganov, became barons, and later counts. The Stroganovs became members of the Russian aristocracy and began occupying major governmental posts.

Sergei Grigor’evich Stroganov (1707–56) was an important figure during the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna. His son, Aleksandr Sergeevich Stroganov (1733–1811), served on the commission that drafted a new code of laws under Catherine II. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he was president of the Academy of Arts, director of the Public Library, and a member of the State Council.

Pavel Aleksandrovich Stroganov (see) was a member of the Unofficial Committee of Alexander I and deputy minister of internal affairs. Sergei Grigor’evich Stroganov (seeSTROGANOV. SERGEI GRIGOR’EVICH) was governor-general of Moscow in 1859 and 1860. Aleksandr Grigor’evich Stroganov was minister of internal affairs from 1839 to 1841 and a member of the State Council beginning in 1849.

Many of the Stroganovs were renowned for their interest in art, literature, history, and archaeology. The Stroganovs owned vast libraries and collections of paintings, coins, prints, and medals.