 Like many other parts of Siberia, the Berd lands became a safe haven for political dissents, fugitive serfs and religious sects from all across Russia.For the most parts of its history, the Novosibirsk Oblast belonged to the Tomsk administration, initially as a part of the Tomsk uyezd of the Tobolsk Governorate and later, starting with 1804, the separate Tomsk Governorate.The turning point in history of the region was the construction of the Trans-Siberian and the Turkestan–Siberian railways.