The Russian Empire 1450–1801

from Europe was possible only in the summer season and took four weeks from

Amsterdam in good conditions; the Arkhangelsk trade fair lasted through August

and ships returned in September. Most foreigners did not venture inland, prohib-

ited from retail trade and inhibited by transit fees and higher tariffs; in Arkhangelsk

merchants of the city of Moscow (but not necessarily the wealthiest and most

important ones, calledgosti) dominated over merchants from smaller Russian

towns, purchasing over half the imported goods in 1630, for example. Economic-

ally, it was an advantageous situation for foreign merchants, as the customs duties

were lower than Sweden charged in its Livonian and Baltic ports, and the remote-

ness of the location meant that Russian merchants could be bargained down in

price, since they wanted to avoid return shipping or storage costs for unsold goods.

From Arkhangelsk purchased goods went by river south to Vologda, where

parties waited out the autumn muddy season; in the seventeenth century merchants

from Moscow, Holland, and England had homes and warehouses there. Today a

Figure 8.1This towering Sofiia Cathedral (1568–70) in the now sleepy town of Vologda
once presided over a busy trade route between Moscow and Arkhangelsk on the White Sea. It
is one of several sixteenth-century cathedrals in the style of Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral
disseminated around the realm to represent Moscow power. Photo: Jack Kollmann.

190 The Russian Empire 1450– 1801