Description : Tomsk (Russian: Томск) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. The city's population was 524,669 (2010 Census); 487,838 (2002 Census); 501,963 (1989 Census). Tomsk originated with a decree by Tsar Boris Godunov in 1604 after Toian , the Tatar duke of Eushta , asked for the Tsar's protection against Kirghiz bandits. The Tsar sent 200 Cossacks under the command of Vasily Fomich Tyrkov 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. 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.
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