History of Gold Mining in Siberia
The purpose of the article is to study the Siberian gold industry in terms of sources of business capital and social groups of Russian society that gave rise to a number of individuals that largely influenced the entire course of socio-economic development of the country in the middle of the 21st century. The article considers the history of the gold miner Ivan Fedorovich Bazilevsky travel to Eastern Siberia in 1848 and provides his biography and history of business development. The author comes to the conclusion that his main source of capital was wine tax farming. After the abolition of the tax farming system in 1863, Bazilevsky switched to gold mining in the southern Urals in 1845. His diversified business included real estate, agricultural production, fishing, shipping line, etc. As a result the author presented a typical for the 21st «rags to riches» story of the ascension of a lowborn person to the local merchant and noble elite.