Lake Ladoga

Lake Ladoga carried commerce between Karelia and the Neva, alongside the competing claims of Sweden and Russia. After the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617, its northern and western shores belonged to Sweden. Kexholm's inhabitants received the right to build and buy ships. Ladoga vessels carried tar and butter southward and brought back salt and tobacco; voyages extended beyond Nyen to Stockholm and Germany. Both states also maintained inland fleets.

The lake's islands supported Orthodox monastic communities at Valaam and Konevets. Their earliest foundation dates remain disputed, although historical research places their development in the late medieval consolidation of Novgorod's power. War disrupted their existence, and Swedish rule prompted Orthodox migration. Russian expansion during the Great Northern War changed the balance again. With St Petersburg's foundation in 1703, Ladoga became an important supplying hinterland for the new capital. Shipyards on its southern shores added another use for these inland waters during the eighteenth century.