Breaking the ‘Baltic barrier’: St. Petersburg as a new export outlet

Abstract

The founding of St. Petersburg demonstrates the redistribution of power brought about by the Great Northern War. This new order also had an economic dimension: the city and port aimed to displace the old outlets of Russia's foreign trade. The change, however, was much slower than the traditional historical narrative suggests. Riga's shipping volumes exceeded those of St. Petersburg until the 1780s. In theory, St. Petersburg had huge hinterlands covering the old economic realms of Novgorod and Pskov, as well as Muscovy lands stretching to the Urals and beyond. However, St. Petersburg's transport connections beyond the Valdai Hills were arduous: they relied on a riverine route that could only be navigated with shallow-draft barges. Moreover, most of the route's transport potential was needed to carry grain for the population of St. Petersburg. This left rather small margins for the transit of export goods to the port.