In his exciting book, Dietmar Dahlman, one of the best experts in the past and present of Siberia, tells a dramatic story. It begins more than 400 years ago with the Cossacks Yermak, who, in the service of Russian merchants, advanced as conquerors into the unexplored expanses on the other side of the Urals and continues with the story of the colonization, exploration and development of the country, which made a diverse impression, to the present, when Siberia arouses more and more interest - and not only with its huge mineral resources.