| On the iniative of Peter I.
a shipyard and an admirality were founded on the island of Solombala in
1693. Through Peter I.'s proclamation that all sea-trade was now to take
to place out of the newly founded St. Petersburg in 1722, Arkhangelsk partially
lost its importance but still remained the most important center of trade
in Northern Russia. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Arkhangelsk was
the center of the Russian timber-trade. In 1914, there were 26 saw-mills
with 11,000 workers in Arkhangelsk. The Moscow-Arkhangelsk railroad was
opened in 1898. During the civil war after the October revolution, Arkhangelsk
was occupied by British, French and American interventionist troops who
supported their troops fighting against the Red Army. In 1920, the town
was liberated by sections of the Red Army. Today, Arkhangelsk has 372,000
inhabitants (1996).
In the early 18th century,
appr. 100,000 people lived in the Arkhangelsk region. In the mid-19th
century, this figure had risen to 282,000. In 1897, more than 97% of the
population was Russian. Minorities included Samoyeds, Karelis and others.
In 1913, there were 3,900 enterprises (salt refinery, tar works, forges,
shipyards and fisheries). In 1913, there were more than 500 churches and
12 monasteries in the area. Today, the island Novaja Semlya as well as
the Autonomous Region of the Nenzes (Nenezki avtonomny okrug) also belong
to the region of Arkhangelsk.
Boris Heithecker |
