To end current year Iran intends to begin construction of a shipping canal with a length of approximately 600 km, Majid Namjo, the Minister of Energy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said recently. This waterway will connect the Caspian Sea with the Persian Gulf. As a result, it will be possible to exit from the Arctic seas and the Baltic region via the Russian water transport system to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
For the first time, Russia and many countries of Eastern Europe will have the opportunity to choose an alternative route to the current one through the Bosphorus - Dardanelles - Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
For the first time, the project of a canal from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf would have been developed in the early 60s of the last century, and the then Iranian authorities planned to implement it with the help of the USSR. But under pressure from the United States, which had the greatest influence in Iran at that time, this plan was thwarted.
IN beginning of XXI century, Iranian delegations visited Russia and became closely acquainted with the experience of creating and operating the Volga-Don Canal and the Volga-Baltic Waterway. Therefore, the Iranian side is counting on Russia’s assistance in implementing the project, at least technologically.
According to the existing project, up to half the length of the canal will run along the beds of the Kyzyluzen and Kerhe rivers, flowing into the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, respectively. The investment cost of the project in current prices reaches $7 billion. The canal will be used mainly for ships mixed type"river - sea". Its creation is scheduled to be completed in 2016.
The Iranian side has not yet reported the participation of foreign investors in the implementation of such a project. But according to some sources, companies from Japan, China, Pakistan, India, and Scandinavia are showing interest in it. In economic and geographical terms, this project is also beneficial for Russia, since for the first time there will be a real opportunity to sharply weaken the transit dependence of the Russian Federation on Turkey and at the same time reduce the distance of transportation with the countries of the Middle East by a third and with the countries of South and Southeast Asia by a quarter.
According to a recent assessment by the Deputy Minister of Industry, Transport and natural resources Astrakhan region Stanislav Fedulov, the development of the port of Olya at the confluence of the Volga into the Caspian Sea is of particular importance in the light of plans for the construction of the Caspian-Persian Gulf shipping canal.
Alexey Chichkin.
The news of plans to build a new shipping canal is commented on by historian-orientalist Sergei Nebrenchin.
– Since the times of Ancient Rus', it has been known about the existence of a geostrategic water communication from north to south along the great Slavic river Ra, now the Volga. Along this route, our distant ancestors traded not only with Persia, but also reached the Persian Gulf. This was how Rus' exercised its trade, cultural and military-political influence on the development of events in the Caspian Sea, in Iran and other countries in this region. Cultural and economic interaction enriched the Russian people, ensured development and prosperity.
With the beginning of the spread of Islam, the center of the Khazar state settled at the mouth of the Volga, which long years deprived Rus' of the opportunity to directly trade and interact with southern countries and peoples. The famous victory of Svyatoslav over the “unreasonable” Khazars in the 10th century helped Rus' to return to the Caspian Sea.
The revival of the ancient route through the construction of an extended canal in the current conditions will have a positive impact not only on the trade and economic sphere, but will also help ensure security in Eurasia. This will also make it possible to radically change global cargo flows in Eurasia, and for Russia to significantly strengthen its political and economic impact in the southern strategic directions, increase the level of national security, the survival of the state in an era of global challenges and threats.
At the beginning of August, a landmark summit of the heads of Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran was held in Baku, at which Vladimir Putin, Ilham Aliyev and Hassan Rouhani discussed specific cooperation projects in the region. special attention was paid to projects in the Caspian Sea. In particular, the joint use of pipeline infrastructure for transporting Caspian hydrocarbons, the creation of an international energy corridor and a North-South transport corridor designed to connect Northern Europe with South Asia... In this regard, it is also worth recalling the global project of the Trans-Iranian Canal, conceived more than 100 years ago.
The construction of the shortest waterway to the Indian Ocean basin from the North Atlantic along the Volga-Baltic route will radically change the transport logistics of Eurasia
IT'S A BIG GAME AND THE STAKES ARE HIGH
The ocean spaces, long ago divided and reclaimed, are once again storming under geopolitical and economic winds. The disputes between the powers, even on the main sea trade routes, are still not over. The new Panama Canal has just opened, connecting, like the old one, the Gulf of Panama of the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea of the Atlantic. It is symbolic that the first to pass through it was a giant container ship flying the Hong Kong flag...
This “honor” cost him 829 thousand dollars. Expensiveness does not scare anyone - time is more valuable than money. In the coming months, about 200 more large merchant ships have registered the passage.
The Suez Canal also got its modern “double” in August last year. This will double throughput from 300 to 600 million tons of cargo per year. The Suez and Panama ocean connections, whose contribution to the development of the world economy is simply invaluable, have always had no alternative and have not known competition. However, it is quite possible that they will find out soon. A competitor to Panama - Nicaraguan (to be precise, the Great Nicaraguan Interoceanic Canal - BMK) is already visible on the horizon. But its fate is being decided in invisible geopolitical battles on land.
278 kilometers length of the future Great Nicaraguan Interoceanic Canal
The very idea of the Nicaraguan Canal has always been an alternative to the Panama Canal. But history turned out the way it did, and the final word was with the United States. They have been controlling the movement of ships between the two oceans for almost 100 years and do not intend to give it up. A strengthened China decided to challenge the world hegemon. A little-known Chinese investment company, HKND, headquartered in Hong Kong, received a concession to build and operate the BMK. The canal, 278 kilometers long, 300 to 500 meters wide and up to 30 meters deep, will pass through Nicaragua. This will be the most ambitious and modern hydraulic structure in the world, ahead of even New Panama. It is planned to begin operation in 2019 and complete all work in 2029. The cost of the project is more than 40 billion dollars. Over the course of a year, 5,000 ships will pass through the BMK.
Foreign media write about the BMK as a trilateral (China - Nicaragua - Russia) structure. It is perceived as a direct challenge to the United States - and they are ready to respond to it. The main front of the struggle so far is environmental. The American and European press are already expressing their concern to the whole world: “The invasion of Russia and China in Latin America will lead to environmental disaster in Nicaragua." The tension is rising. The US Ambassador to the Republic demanded the disclosure of all economic and financial information, methodology of calculations, holding competitions, making decisions on the selection of owners, and environmental monitoring data.
The Trans-Iranian Canal is also being considered in line with the “Great Game”. Russia and Iran intended to build it to connect the Caspian Sea with the Persian Gulf more than 100 years ago. He could have been a contemporary of Panama and made no less a contribution to the world economy. But geopolitics - the strategic interests of the West - prevailed. The channel was and remains their hostage and victim. Until recently, no one except specialists remembered him. Therefore, the words of the Iranian ambassador sounded sensational Mehdi Sanai at a meeting with students in St. Petersburg: “Moscow and Tehran are discussing the possibility of laying a canal from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf through Iranian territory.”
It would seem that this is quite verified information - even with a strong desire there is nothing to cling to in it. But the Russian and Arab media were overwhelmed by publications that in one way or another affected the channel and everything connected with it. The “ripples” caused by this “storm” also reached the Western press. The diplomat’s words were linked to the Syrian events, Russia’s relations with Turkey, and Russian “aggression” in all directions.
120 YEARS OF DISCUSSION
It became clear that the ambassador had touched some hidden chords at the wrong time. He even hastened to either refute himself or clarify: “they are not going to build the canal.” But discussing does not at all mean building. And why not discuss it, given that in 1999 the Iranian government officially approved the feasibility study for this project. Moreover, as the Armenian news agency reported, a year ago the President of Iran Hassan Rouhani in a conversation with the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stressed: “We must spare no effort to connect the Persian Gulf with the Black Sea.”
The Caspian is the most convenient and most profitable connection. True, the North-South ITC project (international transport corridor) for container transportation from Northern Europe and the Baltic states to India through Russia and Iran is being partially implemented. Its Russian railway line is 2513 kilometers long: St. Petersburg - Moscow - Ryazan - Saratov - Volgograd - Astrakhan. But it also ends up in the Caspian Sea, bypassing the Black Sea, and includes ship, rail or road transportation on the way to the Iranian port and from it to the Indian Mumbai, which is rightly called the “Gateway of India”.
2513 kilometers Russian railway arm of the North-South transport corridor project
The transfer method is always more expensive and more complex than the direct method. The same European containers (Baltic, German, Scandinavian and others) will travel faster, cheaper, more hassle-free (and more safely) through the White Sea-Baltic and Volga-Don canals to the Caspian Sea. And further to the Persian Gulf via the Trans-Iranian Canal - if it ever appears.
Why is the ambassador of a country extremely interested in this shipping international transport corridor from Northern Europe to India - and not only to India - refuting himself? In 1999, when Tehran approved the feasibility study for the Trans-Iranian Canal, Iran was under American sanctions for allegedly violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This meant that America would punish any country, company, or organization for participating in construction and for providing assistance to it. The United States, as is known, does not forgive violations of its prohibitions in such cases. Perhaps to avoid sanctions, Indian, Iranian and Russian firms signed an agreement to transport export-import cargo along the route Sri Lanka, India - Iran - Caspian Sea - Russia.
However, if future events go well, the Trans-Iranian Channel will significantly strengthen the potential of the MTK, to which Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Oman and Syria have also joined. So far, however, only the Iran-Russia shoulder is working...
However, the ambassador’s behavior is to some extent understandable. After Tehran and the West agreed on the nuclear issue (and Russia contributed to this with its consistent policy), sanctions began to be lifted from Iran and the republic began revising old projects frozen due to lack of funds. A significant part of them (total value of more than $150 billion) is being reanimated. Among them is the Trans-Iranian Canal project.
But the trouble is that it remains under sanctions and close control of the United States. The threat of punishment “for interest” in him also remained. It turns out that Iran’s transit ambitions, its desire to ensure its free transport route for America, are more dangerous than nuclear ambitions. Therefore, both Tehran and Moscow do not want to attract attention to the channel. Iran and Russia are already under Western pressure - so they have to be careful.
Why does Moscow go against US interests in Nicaragua, but here it prefers to avoid confrontation? First of all, in Nicaragua the main initiator (and beneficiary) is China. Neither the threat of sanctions nor the sanctions themselves will move him from the intended path. Beijing does not need other people's money - it is capable of doing everything it needs and paying for everything it needs. Attempts to influence him with the “world public opinion"are also useless. Most likely, the United States will hit the “weak link” - the Nicaraguan government with environmental maidans, in order to force it to postpone the project for careful study...
In 1943, during the Tehran Conference, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin met with Shah Mohammad Reza-Pahlavi. They assessed the Caspian-Persian Gulf canal project as “mutually beneficial and therefore promising”
Photo from www.dianliwenmi.com
In the protracted Persian transit history, Moscow has no strong allies. There are plenty of opponents even without the United States - Turkey, Saudi Arabia with its surroundings, NATO. Iran, too, was constantly hesitating, adapting to powerful of the world this. But neither Moscow nor Tehran are genetically capable of giving up their old dream. So we have to discuss, discuss and discuss in anticipation of better times.
Let's look into bygone times. The idea of Russia's access to the South Indian Ocean from the Caspian Sea was realized and expressed more than three hundred years ago Peter I. The fabulous riches of India then attracted all of Europe. Peter I saw how the mistresses of the seas and trade grew with them. He also knew about the route of the Varangians through Rus' to the Greeks and Persians and understood that this route should be revived as a ship route. Therefore, he established a power on the shores of the Baltic, Azov, Caspian and Black Seas, opening “windows” to both Northern Europe and South Asia.
It is clear that the emperor did not dream of sailing from the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean. Such a channel is a unique task for today’s technical civilization. They started talking about him seriously and for a long time only 270 years later. And Turkey, with which the empire never had good relations, forced it to do this. Ankara owns the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits - the passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean - controls the southern sea passage to and from Russia and is capable of blocking it at any time. Alexander III invited Europe to place Russian military garrisons on the shores of the strait to ensure freedom of navigation for all. England, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France unanimously rejected the initiative. The West, and these countries then constituted its weight and strength, benefited from Russia’s eternal dependence on the Bosporus and Dardanelles.
3 billion dollarsannual income from the commissioning of the Trans-Iranian Canal
The only way left to get out of the geopolitical trap was to build a shipping lane around it. Then they remembered the idea of Peter the Great - a direct route to the Indian Ocean. In 1889-1892, Russian military engineers carried out all necessary calculations and the rationale for a canal from the Caspian Sea through Persia (the "indigenous" name of Iran) to the Persian Gulf. In 1904, a joint Russian-Iranian commission began discussing specific legal and financial issues and project status. It was not possible to reach an agreement. Russia insisted on the concession option, extraterritoriality (both the Panama and Suez Canals were created using this formula), since it had to finance and carry out the main work. Iran (at that time Persia) assumed joint - 50/50 - ownership of the huge hydraulic structure. He was supported by his near and distant “friends”-advisers, accusing Moscow of imperialism and colonialism.
Thus the first attempt to start construction failed. Then the fate of the canal was discussed many times and to no avail - something always happened at the last moment... In 1943, during the Tehran Conference Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin met with the Shah Mohammad Reza-Pahlavi. They rated the channel as “mutually beneficial and therefore promising.” The war and the elimination of its catastrophic consequences again pushed the problem to a later date. It came in July 1956. There is a well-known protocol entry about the meeting between the USSR Pre-Minister N. Bulganin and Shah M. Pahlavi: “Both sides attach importance to the study of the project for the construction of the Caspian-Persian Gulf shipping canal.”
Six years later (they left for Iran to think about it), another Russian-Iranian commission took up construction issues. A year later, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, who visited Tehran, was acquainted with its first conclusions Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. During a visit in 1963, he signed two agreements that formed the legal basis of the project: “On the joint use of water resources of border rivers” and “On the development of the transit of Iranian goods through the territory of the USSR, and Soviet goods through the territory of Iran.” In April 1968, the USSR Council of Ministers arrived in Tehran Alexey Kosygin discussed and approved the preliminary draft of the channel.
Turkey and NATO opposed it resolutely and actively. US leaders openly stated that it was contrary to American national interests. The canal really destroyed the existing system of control over the actions of the USSR in the World Ocean (using the Bosporus, Dardanelles, and Gibraltar straits). At the same time, he strengthened the role of the Soviet Union in the Middle East and southern regions of Asia. Washington then managed to torpedo the Soviet-Iranian agreements.
The Shah turned out to be a weak negotiator; M. Reza-Pahlavi could not help but retreat. The United States purchased 70 percent of Iranian oil, and over 40 percent of foreign investments in the republic were American. With such dependence, obedience is inevitable. However, it did not save either the Shah or his regime. According to experts, America pushed both his overthrow and the Iran-Iraq war, which radicalized the country, its elite, and its power. Therefore, the channel had another chance - in 1999, the government approved its feasibility study, prepared by Russian-Iranian experts. The United States (just in case) took preventive measures - introduced sanctions against the project and everyone involved in it. Thus, the second attempt at constructing a canal failed before it even began. And not only because American sanctions. They helped brighten up their own weakness, their dependence on the West. We still had to live to see Crimea and Syria.
Now we have to survive them, avoiding new aggravation points.
WHY DOES RUSSIA CHANNEL?
If we believe our ministers and economists, who promise medium-term development of 1.5-2 percent per year, we will have to be careful for a long time. They say: so what, the emperor’s idea has waited 300 years for its time - it will wait a little longer and nothing will happen to it. What about us? The country needs breakthrough growth areas. The path from the Varangians to the Persians is one of them. Over the course of three centuries, the Caspian Sea, the largest salt lake on the planet, managed to reach the northern seas and the Arctic through the Volga-Don and White Sea-Baltic canals. A dagger-like shipping channel has formed, vertically cutting through Russian spaces from north to south. There is absolutely nothing left to extend the sea route to the Persian Gulf, to the Indian Ocean. It will be half as long, which means it will be much cheaper than the traditional Turkish route with its straits.
The entire transport scheme of Eurasia will fundamentally change. Russia will gain another southern outlet to the World Ocean and will get rid of the watchful eye of Turkey and NATO, which control the Black Sea straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. As a result, Turkey's role in the region will decrease and the influence of Russia and Iran will increase. Ankara will lose its main instrument of pressure on us and will be forced to become more cautious and friendly. Of course, all Caspian countries will benefit. This is geopolitics.
Not everything is clear about the economy - the main provisions of the feasibility study approved by Tehran have not yet been disclosed. According to Iranian experts, the length of the canal is 700 kilometers, of which 450 will pass along navigable rivers. You will have to dig “only” 250 kilometers. And these will be difficult mountain kilometers. The Caspian Sea is 27-29 meters below the level of the World Ocean - a system of locks will be required. There will be many technical difficulties. Environmental ones - even more so. There is time to carefully sort it out in advance in order to avoid negative consequences - not to repeat the fate and misfortune of the Aral.
700 kilometers design length of the Trans-Iranian Canal
The cost of all work, according to Iranian estimates, is $10 billion (according to a more conservative estimate, $15 billion).
Annual income will exceed 3 billion. That is, the channel will in any case pay for itself in five years. But its, as they say, cumulative effect is much higher. The Trans-Iranian Canal will stimulate the development of internal regions - both Russia and especially Iran. For Dagestan, for example, it can become a fabulous blue bird. The main shipping passage (if it starts working) will be overgrown with “tributaries” from the North Atlantic, Baltic, Black Sea-Azov, Danube, Volga-Caspian basins. The canal will connect them directly to the Indian Ocean. The question is: who will pay for the undoubted overall gain? And the money seems to be small (10 or 15 billion dollars), but who would risk investing it during the intensifying economic and political crisis. Perhaps only China, if it needs a maritime “Silk Road”!
Russia could cope with such costs. Moreover, for her, the construction of the Trans-Iranian Canal means huge industrial and construction orders and thousands of new jobs. But it has its own problem: river navigation, canals, and locks are on the verge of collapse. Over the past quarter of a century, they have become shallow, dilapidated, and rusted. I spoke about these problems Vladimir Putin at the State Council. And if the water sector is not put in order and its former potential is not restored, then without cargo the long-awaited independent southern transport outlet to the World Ocean will turn into a water supply channel for the extremely arid territories of Iran.
Ancient paths of the eastern Moscow region
For the first time, a drag on the Nerskaya (Merskaya) River was reported in the Resurrection Chronicle in connection with the events of 1209. Then two Ryazan princes Izyaslav Vladimirovich and Kur Mikhail Vsevolodovich, hearing that the Vladimir regiments had gone to Tver, decided to attack Moscow. But near Tver, the people of Vladimir and the people of Novgorod settled the matter peacefully and returned to Vladimir. Grand Duke Vsevolod sent his son George to Izyaslav and Kur Mikhail. “George went through the night opposite to Merska, who was ahead of him, and being on Volochyok and from there, he organized the Guard Regiment across the Klyazma River, and he himself went after them, and in the early dawn met their guards, and drove Yuriev’s guards Izyaslavlikh and Gnasha I cut them through the forest” (4).
Thanks to Volochok Zuev, they left the Klyazma along the Drozna River to the south, then carried the boats overland and ended up in the tributaries of the Nerskaya, and along them to the Moscow River and Oka. Thus, through Volochek Zuev, the shortest route was made from Vladimir to Ryazan, the center of the Murom-Ryazan principality. Thanks to this portage, the road between Vladimir and Ryazan was reduced almost twice as much as the road through the Yauzsky portage.
Since the 13th century, the trade route connecting Klyazma and the upper Volga passed along the Vora River. The ships ascended along the left tributary of the Klyazma - the Vora River, then along the Vori tributary - the Torgosha River. In the upper reaches of Torgoshi, near the village of Naugolnoye, there was a portage to the Kunya River, a tributary of the Dubna, and further to the Volga.
The trade importance of the Klyazma River in the 12th-13th centuries and in the 15th-16th centuries is proven by treasures discovered along the river. Thus, in 1924, on the left bank of the Klyazma River near the city of Shchelkovo, a treasure of silver ingots of the 12th century was discovered (6). In 1901, near the village of Mizinovo, located on the Vore River, a pot with small silver coins of Ivan III was found. In 1948, in the village of Uspensky, Noginsk region, located on the Klyazma River, a jar with coins of Ivan IV was found (7).
Sources:
- M.N. Tikhomirov. Medieval Moscow. M., 1997. P. 172.
- M.P. Pogdin. Russian historical collection. T.1. M., 1837. P. 33.
- M.V. Gorbanevsky. Names of the land of Moscow. M., 1985. P. 44.
- PSRL, T. VII. P. 116.
- A.G. Veksler, A.S. Melnikova. Russian history in Moscow treasures. M. 1999. P. 193.
- A.G. Veksler, A.S. Melnikova. P. 204.
From the most distant times, people settled along the banks of rivers, where they could fish, and build a dwelling on stilts, which provided better protection from predators than a hut in the depths of the forest. While swimming in the river, he often sat down on a tree floating along the river, probably uprooted in a thunderstorm, and discovered that two trees linked by branches are more stable in the water than one.
This is how the idea of creating a raft came about. No one knows exactly when man launched the first raft or roughly hollowed-out tree trunk. But from that time on, man acquired a means of relatively easy movement over long distances.
Already 2 thousand years BC, the Babylonians floated on rafts supported by waterskins inflated with air, and in ancient Egypt sailed on boats made of reeds.
The most surprising thing is that when in the middle of the 19th century a famous researcher ancient Babylon, the English Colonel Layard needed to send the oxen he had bought for Europe down the Tigris River, he was forced to hire the same primitive ships, the designs of which date back tens of thousands of years, to transport the cattle. Layard describes it this way: “The skins of adult sheep and goats, skinned whole, are dried and cooked, leaving one hole into which air is blown into the mouth directly from the lungs. After which the waterskins are tied to the raft with willow twigs.”
The Greek historian Herodotus, describing the places where the southern regions of the European part of Russia are now located, said: “Their most extraordinary feature is the majestic and numerous rivers.”
For traders, the river was a ready-made summer and even winter ice road, with no threat of storms or pitfalls. Nature itself showed the ancient Slavs routes of communication along the seas, rivers and lakes.
The Slavic word “path” is related to the Greek “pont” and the Latin “pontus”, indicating that in the most ancient ways messages of the Slavs were waterways.
One of the oldest waterways was the trade route connecting the Baltic with the Black, which was called “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” It arose at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, and received its real development in the 10th - beginning of the 11th century.
From the Baltic (Varangian) Sea they walked along the Neva to Ladoga lake, then along the Volkhov to Lake Ilmen, then along the Lovat to the Dnieper. Along the Dnieper there was a direct route to the Black Sea, the western coast of which reached Constantinople.
Ancient Rus' had three northern waterways:
- Dnieper - Western Dvina - Lovat - Ilmen - Neva. The route from the Dnieper to the Western Dvina went from the Smolensk region along the Kasima River.
- Dnieper - Western Dvina - Gulf of Riga.
- Dnieper - Berezina River - Western Dvina - Gulf of Riga.
That is, Kyiv merchants, sailing along the Dnieper, could get from Kyiv to Veliky Novgorod and the Baltic states. And, going down the Dnieper in their caravan, they ended up in the southern countries. The Byzantine historian Konstantin Porphyrogenitus writes that the Russians’ path to Constantinople was painful, dangerous and difficult. Detachments of Pechenegs pursued them along the shore and did not lose hope of capturing the valuable cargo. On the Dnieper rapids, merchants pulled boats ashore and dragged them about 6,000 steps, carrying the load on their shoulders. Near the island of Berezan in the Dnieper estuary, merchants were re-equipping ships for sea passage.
IN Kiev state they knew several types of ships: river boat, ram boat, sea boat, plow, canoe. The glory of Russian sea voyages was such that the Black Sea itself was then called Russian.
Another waterway in ancient Rus' was the Volga Route. The upper reaches of the Volga through portage routes (and, as is known, a portage is a part of the land between rivers flowing in different directions, along which they dragged the ship) were connected with the Meta River, which reached Ilmen, that is, the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” In addition, the Volga route led to Volga-Kama Bulgaria and even along the Caspian Sea to Arab countries. The Volga was also connected with the Dnieper. This communication took place in several places. Firstly, from the upper reaches of the Volga you can get to Ilmen and further south to the Dnieper. Secondly, it was possible to cross from the Volga to the Don along the so-called Volga-Don portage (in the area of modern Volgograd).
These two most visible and important water routes operated in Ancient Rus'.
By the middle of the 12th century ancient Russian state sang into principalities. The development of local interests, issues of trade and the independence of each of these principalities, arouses interest in inland waterways. The previously established waterways were supplemented by new ones that met the needs of individual lands.
The routes of North-Western and North-Eastern Rus' are distinguished, formed on the basis of four water systems:
- Volkhovo-Ilmenskaya,
- West Dvinsky,
- Dneprovskaya,
- Volzhskaya.
The Volkhov-Ilmen system began in Novgorod. From here, through the Volkhov - Lake Ladoga - Neva there was access to the Gulf of Finland.
To the west they reached the Baltic by water through the Velikaya River - Pskov Lake - Lake Peipsi- Narova River.
To the south, the main waterway was Lovat, from which portages went to the Western Dvina and Dnieper. The most famous was the Kasimovsky portage. The intersection of several waterways from Vyshny Volochyok allows you to travel to various areas of the North-West.
The dominant position on the waterways connecting the Novgorod lands with Zavolochye and the Zalessk region of the Vladimir-Suzdal land belonged to Beloozero. Here the paths converged: Nevsko-Volzhsky; Beloozersko-Onega, Beloozersko-Sukhonsky. A special feature of these waterways was the portage crossing system that existed in the Beloozero area, which was called “Volok”, and the entire territory to the east from it was called “Zavolochye”.
Gradually, settlements of Volochans were formed on the portage routes, which helped drag the boats. And during the time of Yaroslav the Wise, a set of laws was issued according to which the entire settlement of Volochan was responsible for the unsuccessful transportation of a boat. To haul the ship, the Volochans had to supply a certain number of people, horses, and also bring rollers with them. In addition, rollers (logs) were also used on the boat itself, so as not to cut down new trees each time. And runners were nailed to the bottom of the boat for more convenient portage. If two ships arrived at the portage site at once, one overseas and one from another principality of Rus', then the overseas one was dragged first.
An extensive river system of routes also developed in North-Eastern Rus' - in the Volga-Oka interfluve. Here the main routes went along the Volga, Oka, and Klyazma. Two Nerls - the Volga and Klyazmenskaya - connected the Klyazma and Volga through the Suzdal and Pereyaslavl lands.
Oka through the Moscow River - Ruza - Lama - Shosha contacted the Volga top. The importance of this path is evidenced by the emergence of Volok on Lama. It was not for nothing that the Novgorod and Moscow princes kept it in their co-ownership, so as not to pay extra fees when sailing through other principalities.
The great waterways passing through the territory of several principalities lost their importance due to the enormous amount of tonnage collected by each principality. By the way, modern city Mytishchi and Mytnaya Street in Moscow still remind us that these were places where tribute was collected from merchants passing through with goods.
Wash collectors were divided into front men for collecting dry wash and rookmen for collecting water wash.
The water wash was proportional to the size of the loaded ships (no wash was taken from empty ships, and from the 14th century, from small loaded ones). The size of the collection was determined from the boards of the bottom or sides of the vessel.
And since the 15th century, a distinction has been made between “landed” cargo - determined by the length of the vessel, and “cargo” - based on the amount of luggage transported; “bow” or “halt” - for stopping the vessel near the shore. Evasion of payment was subject to a fine in the form of a fine. In addition to the toll, there was a “golovshchina”, a collection from the people accompanying the goods. All internal customs were finally abolished only under Elizaveta Petrovna in 1753.
All this led to the fact that in Rus' at that time a well-defined system of waterways was taking shape, facilitating economic and cultural connections between its individual territories.
From the mid-13th century, the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the subsequent yoke led to a complete disruption of the economic, political, and cultural development of Rus'. During this period, a certain disruption of previously established communication routes occurred. This applied, first of all, to the Volga and Dnieper routes. In general, the Volzhsky, Donskoy, and South Dnieper routes came under the control of the Tatars. The importance of these routes begins to rise only in the 14th century, and the Western Dvina Route loses its importance to some extent, as it falls under the control of the Livonian Order.
In the Х1У-Х1st centuries. There is an intensive centralization of Russian lands around Moscow. By this time, Moscow was one of the largest shopping centers in Eastern Europe; European and Asian costumes were intricately mixed on its streets.
The main waterway that contributed to the growth of the city was the Moscow River. Below the city the river reached a considerable width, and for ancient navigation it was accessible even higher, right up to the confluence of the Istra River.
But large ships that appeared in the 17th century mainly sailed only from Nizhny Novgorod, since the route along the Moscow River and Oka was replete with all kinds of shoals.
The most important directions where the Moscow River led were the Oka and Volga. So, for example, from Moscow to Kolomna (the confluence of the Moscow River and the Oka) took 4-5 days; and from Kolomna to the Don it took 9 days. From Moscow to the Volga there were two waterways: the first led along the Moscow River - Oka, the second - along the Klyazma River.
The Volga route connected Moscow with distant countries of the East, making it possible to transport fur, leather, honey, wax there, and to bring fabrics and various household items from the east. Eastern trade had a great influence on the Russian trade vocabulary: remember the words “denga”, “altyn”, “magarych”, “maklak”.
The route from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea ran through the city of Vladimir. Existed waterway from the upper reaches of the Volga to the lower Volga through the two Nerls - the Volga and Klyazmenskaya, it was fully used already in the 121st century.
The Volzhskaya Nerl flows from Lake Somnino, connected by the Vaksa River with the famous Pleshcheevo Lake; in the past, the Volzhskaya Nerl was called the Big Nerl. It flows through the modern territory of the Yaroslavl and Tver regions. The other Nerl Klyazmenskaya flows through the territory of the Yaroslavl, Ivanovo and Vladimir regions. The question arises, where was the portage from one Nerl to the other? According to scientists, the portage existed from the Volga Nerl from Lake Pleshcheevo near the village. Knyazhevo and the Mosa River, a tributary of the Nerl Klyazmenskaya. Then the ships sailed to Klyazma, Oka and went out again to the Volga near Nizhny Novgorod.
From Kyiv there was a road to Vladimir. From Kyiv they sailed up the Desna River, then near Bryansk there was a portage to the upper reaches of the Oka River, from where to the Moscow River - Yauza and a portage to the upper reaches of the Klyazma River and from there to Vladimir. The Moscow River, coming close to Klyazma, made it possible to arrange a portage 8-10 versts long, which separated Lake Losinoye in the upper reaches of the Yauza from the village of Cherkizovo on Klyazma.
The Klyazma River basin is spread over four regions - Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod. The source of the river lies in the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region.
Even before the opening of the shipping company, Klyazma was part of an important trade route. It delivered goods to the village of Mstery, to the settlement of Kholui, to the city of Gorokhovets, and to the factory town of Vyazniki. Floating shipping was carried out on a large scale. Icons, stationery and linen products were supplied to Nizhny Novgorod from Mstera and Vyazniki. Platoon navigation was also carried out along the Klyazma, that is, against the current. The ships were pulled by horses.
It has long been noted that the Klyazma remains deep and in summer time. It turned out to be suitable even for the movement of large ships during the entire navigation period.
The initiator of the shipping company on the Klyazma was the Kostroma landowner Katenin, who previously had steamships making voyages along the Unzha River. The first steamship was the Messenger, which sailed twice a week from the Kholui settlement to Nizhny Novgorod (200 versts).
global floodThe first mention of the global flood that destroyed all of humanity can be found in the oldest poetic work - the Sumerian epic, composed at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e., about Gilgamesh, considered the demigod ruler of the city of Uruk on the Euphrates River. . .
The main natural wealth of swamps is peat, an organic rock containing no more than 50% minerals, formed as a result of the death and incomplete decay of plants in conditions high humidity with a lack of oxygen. . .
The Great Volga Road in the Middle Ages acquired outstanding geopolitical, cultural, transport and trade, international and interstate significance in the history of the peoples of Europe and Asia. The use of this path influenced the acceleration of social and economic processes in many countries and regions and contributed to the creation of a single economic space across a large part of Eurasia. The Great Volga Route played a special role in the development of the Slavic, Finno-Ugric, Turkic and Scandinavian peoples of Europe.
2 Neva
The Volga route is the earliest of the three great river routes. Judging by the finds of dirhams, the Dnieper and Zavolotsk routes were formed earlier, but they also began to lose their international significance earlier than the others. Constant trade along the Volga formed in the 780s, with the arrival of the Scandinavians on the banks of the river.
3 Ladoga
The Great Volga Route can be imagined as consisting of several segments. The basis, naturally, was the Volga itself. The length of the Volga is 3,531 km. It flows along the Russian Plain from the Valdai Upland to the Caspian Lowland, bypassing forest, forest-steppe, and steppe zones.
4 Ilmen
The northern part of the route was located outside the Volga. The path went through the North and Baltic Seas, the Gulf of Finland, the Neva, Lake Ladoga, the Volkhov River, and Lake Ilmen. Next, the shortest and most convenient (even taking into account portages) transition to the source of the Volga was the “Seliger Way” along the Pole and Yavoni rivers to Lake Seliger and along the Selizharovka River with access to the Volga.
5 Seliger
Further movement, which can be attributed to the main part of the journey, took place along the main river right up to its mouth. The southern section of the voyage included the Caspian Sea to its southern coast (for example, to the Jurjan region). Next there was a land road to the city of Ray or further to Baghdad.
6 Exit to the Volga
The caravan movement of ships from the Baltic region (for example, from Birka) to the Caspian region (to Derbent), taking into account that the distance was about 5,500 km, could take 2 months and several months on the return journey. In other words, the sailing and oar vessels of one flotilla could make a full trip, in best case scenario, once a year.
7 Timerevo (Yaroslavl)
Most of the early medieval cities and trading settlements arose in the Volga Route system. These settlements were not necessarily located on the shores of seas, rivers and lakes; some were built in the interior of the territories for greater security and more convenient communication with the agricultural or raw material district.
8 Bulgar
Among the urban formations in the Volga Route system, some key cities stood out. As for Eastern European settlements, then we should call Ladoga in the lower reaches of the Volkhov River, the predecessor of Novgorod - the Rurik settlement at the source of the Volkhov. Further down the Volga are the archaeological complexes Timerevo, Petrovskoye and Mikhailovskoye, which gave rise to Yaroslavl. The early medieval centers of the Zalessk land are to a certain extent connected with the Volga: Sarskoye fortified settlement is the predecessor of Rostov, Kleshchin is the predecessor of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.
9 Itil
On the middle Volga there were settlements that preceded Kazan, Bulgar, also Bilyar, Suvar, Oshchel. The capital of Khazaria, Itil, was located in the Volga delta. In the Caspian zone there were Semender, Belanger, Derbent, and Baku. In the southeast of the Caspian Sea there was the region of Jurjan with the port of Abeskun. From Abeskun, overland caravan roads led to Rey - “ shopping mall peace" and further to Baghdad.
10 Derbent
From Byzantium and countries Arab Caliphate silk fabrics under the general name “pavolok” (brocade, fine linen, purple, crimson, “expensive oxalites” - fabric with a pattern of “six threads”), jewelry, fruits, incense, dyes, gems, glass, precious and non-ferrous metals.
11 Rey
The Volga Bulgars exported grain, horses, livestock, furs, leather goods, silver, and ceramics. Furs were sold in large bundles of several dozen pieces, and sometimes in thousands. Rus' exported furs, wax, honey, handicrafts - swords, chain mail, locks, flax. Wax was a valuable commodity due to the need for lighting and was exported in barrels. IN Arab countries Slavic women were highly valued and bought into harems or weaving workshops. In port cities, slaves were taken into the rowing fleet. The slave trade had a special scope in the Middle Ages, since military operations did not stop and prisoners were an obligatory trophy. Almost all traders of all nationalities carried slaves for sale and barter. Scandinavian countries exported walrus ivory and skins, furs, iron, and wen. The South Baltic states exported amber, jewelry, ceramics, grain, and furs.
12 Baghdad
The growth of trade starting from the 8th century was accompanied by the establishment of a single monetary unit - the Arab silver dirham weighing 2.97 g. Until the beginning of the 11th century, eastern coinage silver served as an international currency. The number of finds of dirhams in Eastern and Northern Europe in treasures and separately is more than 160,000 units. These finds indicate places of trade, mark merchant routes and travel routes of tribute collectors.