In the beginning of the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Stroganov received the right to control the trade rules prescribed for English merchants, traveling from Arkhangelsk to Moscow.

On 4 April 1558, Ivan the Terrible granted Grigory and his successors large estates along the Kama and Chusovaya rivers, including tax income and other privileges for 20 years.

On 16 August 1566, Anikey Stroganov received a new privilege; at his own request their lands were included in the oprichnina.

Seizing lands from the local population by conquest and colonizing them with incoming Russian peasants, the Stroganovs developed farming, hunting, saltworks, fishing, and ore mining in these areas.

They built towns and fortresses and, at the same time, suppressed local unrest with the help of their druzhinas and annexed new lands in the Urals and Siberia in favor of Russia.