Editing Tomsk (section)

==History==
[[File:FoundingSpotTomsk.jpg|160px|thumb|left|The "Where Tomsk was Founded" marker at the Tomsk History Museum.]]

[[File: Siberian State Medical University.jpg |thumb|[[Siberian State Medical University]]]]

Tomsk originated with a decree by [[Tsar]] [[Boris Godunov]] in 1604 after {{Interlanguage link multi|Toian|ru|3=Тоян}}, the [[Siberian Tatars|Tatar]] duke of {{Interlanguage link multi|Eushta (village)|lt=Eushta|ru|3=Эушта}}, asked for the Tsar's protection against [[Yenisei Kirghiz|Kyrgyz]].<ref name="hrono1600">{{cite web|url=http://www.hrono.ru/1600tomsk.html |title=Томская Хроника XVII—XVIII вв. |publisher=Хронос. Всемирная история в Интернете |author=Хахалкин А.А. |access-date=2015-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015203348/http://hrono.ru/1600tomsk.html |archive-date=October 15, 2011 |quote=1603.12. - 1604.01. Поездка Тояна в Москву. Тоян подал челобитную царю Борису Годунову с просьбой принять его со всеми 'томскими людьми под высокую государеву руку'. [December 1603 to January 1604: Toyan's visit to Moscow. Toyan swore homage to Tsar Boris Godunov, requesting him to take himself and all 'the people of the Tom under his Lordship's protection'.] |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Tsar sent 200 [[Cossacks]] under the command of {{Interlanguage link multi|Vasily Fomich Tyrkov|ru|3=Тырков, Василий Фомич}} and [[Gavriil Ivanovich Pisemsky]] to construct a fortress on the bank of the [[Tom River]], overlooking what would become the city of Tomsk. Toian ceded the land for the fortress to the Tsar.<ref name="gen_commersant">[http://www.kommersant.com/t-72/r_5/n_416/Tomsk_Region/ General Information about Tomsk, Kommersant Daily] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207013219/http://www.kommersant.com/t-72/r_5/n_416/Tomsk_Region/ |date=February 7, 2007 }}</ref>

In 1804, the [[Imperial Russian government]] selected Tomsk as the seat of the new [[Tomsk Governorate]], which would include the modern cities of [[Novosibirsk]], [[Kemerovo]], and [[Krasnoyarsk]], as well as the territories now in Eastern [[Kazakhstan]]. The new status brought development and the city grew quickly.<ref name="gen_commersant" />

The discovery of [[gold]] in 1830 brought further development to Tomsk in the 19th century; however, when in the 1890s the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]] bypassed the city in favor of the village of Novonikolayevsk (Novosibirsk), development began to move south to connect with the railway. In time, [[Novosibirsk]] would surpass Tomsk in importance.

In the mid-19th century one fifth of the city's residents were [[exile]]s. However, within a few years, the city reinvented itself as the educational center of Siberia with the establishment of [[Tomsk State University]], founded in 1880, and [[Tomsk Polytechnic University]], founded in 1896. By [[World War II]], every twelfth resident of the city was a student,<ref name="gen_commersant" /> giving rise to the city's nickname, the ''Siberian [[Athens]]''.

After the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, the city became a notable center of the [[White movement]], led by [[Anatoly Pepelyayev]] and [[Maria Bochkareva]], among others. After the victory of the [[Red Army]] in the 1920s, Soviet authorities incorporated Tomsk into the [[West Siberian Krai]] and later into [[Novosibirsk Oblast]].

Like many Siberian cities, Tomsk became the new home for many factories relocated out of the war zone from 1941. The resulting growth of the city led the Soviet government to establish the new Tomsk Oblast, with Tomsk serving as the administrative center.<ref name="gen_commersant" />

During the [[Cold War]], Tomsk became one of many designated [[closed city|closed cities]],{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} which outsiders and, in particular, foreigners, could not visit. In 1949 matters went a stage further with the establishment of a secret city, known as "Tomsk-7<ref>{{Cite web |title=Village of Georgiyevka - Tomsk-7 Victims Documentation (Russia: 2005) |url=https://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Village-of-Georgiyevka---Tomsk-7-Victims-Documentation--Russia--2005--27MZIFLLW8YV.html |access-date=7 October 2024 |website=Greenpeace Media}}</ref>" (or sometimes simply as "Postbox 5") {{convert|15|km|0|abbr=off}} north-west of Tomsk; the new settlement became the home of the [[Sibirskaya Nuclear Power Plant|Tomsk Nuclear Plant]] (subsequently renamed the Sibirskaya Nuclear Power Plant), the [[Soviet Union]]'s first industrial-scale nuclear-power station. Tomsk-7 received municipal status in 1956 and was renamed [[Seversk]] in 1992.