O a Artikel Veluwenkamp [Artikel]
Jan Willem Veluwenkamp DUTCH MERCHANTS IN ST PETERSBURG IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY In the seventeenth century, the main stream of Russia's foreign trade was conducted by way of the long northern route via the White Sea and Archangel, the country's only seaport, situated on the bank of the North Dvina river.1 Russia exported mainly products of its forests (such as masts, tar and potash) and farms (such as leather, tallow, hemp and flax). It imported, besides gold and silver money, mainly military stores and luxuries: arms, expensive textiles, pearls and precious stones, wine, spices and other exotic foodstuffs.2 Russia had no direct access to the Baltic, but a substantial part of its commercial traffic flowed through the Swedish-held ports of Riga, Reval and Narva, too, lining Swedish coffers with the tolls it yielded. When Peter the Great declared war on Sweden in 1700 and, thus, started the Great Northern War (1700-1721), one of his goals was to gain an opening to the Baltic.3 He gained this object by conquering the ports of Riga, Narva, Reval, Viborg, Frederikshamn and some lesser Baltic ports. In addition, he founded St Petersburg as early as 1703 as a fort to guard the mouth of the river Neva, as a naval base, and as a new port for Russia's trade with Western Europe. The new town became the capital of Russia in 1712, when the tsar moved the government there.4 Subsequently, Peter 1J.V.Th.Knoppers, Dutch trade with Russia, 1976, I, p. 220. 2P. de Buck, 'De Russische uitvoer uit Archangel', 1988, p.
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