THE STRUCTURE OF THE PUBLIC ROAD NETWORK OF THE GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA IN THE 16TH–17TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The article reconstructs the public road network of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereafter referred to as the GDL) in the 16th–17th centuries, and discusses its structure. In the historical sources, special terms describe public roads (highways), which are also called “big”, “great” or “eternal” roads. These were long-distance routes that connected urban, economic, and political centres. Roads and local pathways led towards them. The structure of the public road network in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was based on the distribution of settlements and towns in the country. The densest public road network as in the western and southwestern parts of the GDL; meanwhile in the east of the country it was rather sparse. It depended on geographical features, as the eastern part of the country was marshier and woodier. Besides, the population of the eastern part of the GLD was affected by wars with Moscow. Active development of internal colonization could be observed in the western and southwestern part of the GDL. Intensive life was also affected by the concentration of the sovereign’s estates. All this encouraged the mobility of the population. The cities in the west and southwest of the GDL were enlaced in the network of public roads and were actively involved in the system of land transport and communication. Part of them attracted population not only locally but also from the entire region. During this research, a special scheme map featuring all public roads in the GDL in the 16th–17th centuries, as described in historical sources, was drawn. A separate list of sources, which is the scientific apparatus of the scheme map, is vailable.