Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk lies on the Northern Dvina near its White Sea delta, where river routes from the northern forest meet Atlantic shipping. The river connects Vologda, the Urals and Siberia with a sea that remains open longer than other northern ports, although winter ice still closes navigation for part of the year.

The Michailo-Arkhangel Monastery stood at Pur-Navolok by 1419, when Norwegian raiders attacked it. Pomor sailors from the White Sea coast traded along the northern rivers and reached the sea islands and Siberia. English ships entered the White Sea in 1553, and the trading route through the Dvina soon brought Dutch and English merchants to Kholmogory.

Ivan IV ordered a fortress and trading town at the monastery in 1584. New Kholmogory quickly became Russia’s principal outlet to western Europe, exporting furs, timber, grain and naval stores in exchange for metals, cloth and weapons. Peter the Great later diverted trade toward the Baltic, but the northern port remained a shipbuilding and Arctic exploration base. Its warehouses held both local forest products and goods carried from Siberia over the river system.