MAN AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: LIFE STORIES OF THE MILITARY STAFF OF THE SIBERIAN GARRISONS OF THE 17<sup>TH</sup> - EARLY 18<sup>TH</sup> CENTURIES
The real life stories of the people of the 17th - early 18th centuries who participated in the process of colonization of Siberia contained the characteristics and the mechanisms of the formation of the Siberian social environment. The paper outlined the individual life strategies and the problem of ethnic and social identity of man in the context of the frontier environment. Adaptation capacity together with the clever combination of the military service and business undertakings added to the rise of the colonists in the social hierarchy.