Northern Dvina River - History

History

The area was originally populated by Finno-Ugric peoples and then colonized by the Novgorod Republic. The only exception was Veliky Ustyug, which was part of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. The rest of the Northern Dvina basin was controlled by Novgorod. Veliky Ustyug has been first mentioned in the chronicles in 1207, Shenkursk — in 1315, Solvychegodsk was founded in 14th century. In the 13th century the Novgorod merchants already reached the White Sea. The area was attractive in the first instance because of the fur trading. The main waterway from Novgorod into the Northern Dvina was along the Volga and its tributary, the Sheksna, along the Slavyanka River into Lake Nikolskoye, then the boats were taken by land to Lake Blagoveshchenskoye, from there downstream along the Porozovitsa River into Lake Kubenskoye and further to the Sukhona and the Northern Dvina.

From the Northern Dvina, there were a number of ways into the basin of the Mezen (from where the merchants could get to the basin of the Pechora and the Ob). One was upstream the Vychegda and the Yarenga, and by land into the Vashka. Another one was upstream the Vychegda, the Vym, the Yelva, then by land to the Irva and to the Mezen. Two further options included going upstream the Pinega, and then by land to the Kuloy and to the Mezen, or using the Pukshenga and the Pokshenga Rivers to get to the Pinega, and then from the Yezhuga taking boats by land to the Zyryanskaya Yezhuga and the Vashka. From the Vychegda, the merchants also could get directly to the river basin of the Pechora via either the Cherya and the Izhma, or the Mylva.

From 14th century, Kholmogory was the main trading harbor on the Northern Dvina, but in 17th century it lost this distinction to Arkhangelsk (even though the seat of the Kholmogory and Vaga Eparchy, from 1732 known as Kholmogory and Archangelogorod Eparchy, which had jurisdiction over all Northern Russia including the Solovetsky Monastery, was located in Kholmogory until 1762. Until 1700s, Arkhangelsk was the main trading harbour for the sea trade of Russia and Western Europe, and the Northern Dvina was the main trading route connecting the central Russia with Arkhangelsk. Peter the Great drastically changed the situation, by founding Saint-Petersburg in 1703, thus opening the way for the Baltic Sea trade, and by constructing the highway between Saint-Petersburg and Arkhangelsk via Kargopol. The river quickly lost its role as the leading trading route, which was accelerated by the construction of the railway between Vologda and Arkhangelsk between 1894 and 1897.

The Northern Dvina was scene of several battles during the Russian Civil War, many involving the Entente interventionist army as part of their North Russia Campaign. A special Northern Dvina Flotilla existed during the Civil War.

From 1950s, the Northern Dvina was heavily used for timber rafting. The passenger navigation has been largely disappeared. Only local passenger lines remain. The passenger line connecting Kotlas and Arkhangelsk has been out of operation since 2005.