Beloozero

Beloozero takes its name from the broad White Lake, at the head of the Sheksna waterway leading south to the Volga. The Primary Chronicle mentions the town under the year 862, and the lake country became a meeting place of Slavic and Finno-Ugric peoples. In the thirteenth century Beloozero was the centre of a principality, with trade and crafts sustained by its position on the northern waterways.

Epidemics struck the region in the fourteenth century, and the town was moved westward along the lake shore. Beloozero came under Moscow's authority, and in 1487 Ivan III ordered a new fortress built at Kargolom. Its high earthen ramparts carried wooden walls and towers, protecting a stronghold that could shelter the grand prince's family and treasury. In 1612, during the Time of Troubles, Polish-Lithuanian forces captured and plundered the town. The lake and the Sheksna nevertheless remained important links between the Volga and the Russian North.