Yakutsk was founded as an ostrog (fort) by Pyotr Beketov in 1632. In 1639, it became the center of a voyevodstvo. The Yakutsk Voyevodstvo quickly became the most important Russian official in the region and directed expansion to the east and south. Yakutsk did not grow into a city until the discovery of large reserves of gold and other minerals in the 1880s and 1890s. These reserves were developed extensively during industrialization under Stalin. The rapid growth of forced labor camps in Siberia was also a major factor encouraging Yakutsk's development
