A Study Of The Russian Fur Trade In Siberia In The17th Century

The fur trade has a long history in Russia and has been continued since Kiev Rose.People exchange fur for other commodities.During the period from Kiev Rose to Moscow Principality,Russia's fur trade center kept shifting.The 17 th century was a period of development for Russia's centralization of authority.Russia's ambition to expand abroad was constantly expanding.Siberia has thus become an important target for Russia's eastward expansion,and fur resources have become an inducement for Russia's conquest.Russia covets Siberia's rich fur resources and hopes to obtain attractive wealth from them.With the conquest of Siberia,the local fur trade was gradually launched.The management of fur trade had an important impact on the economic and social development of Russia at that time.This article is divided into four chapters to discuss in detail: The first chapter mainly introduces Russia's fur trade activities in various historical stages before the17 th century and Russia's conquest and occupation of Siberia in the 17 th century.From the 9th to the 13 th century,the Russian fur trade center was located in Ross,Kiev.At that time,Russian fur was mainly exported to northern European countries.Later,with the gradual decline of the Vashi Trade Road and the rise of the Hanseatic League,the fur trade center gradually shifted to Novgorod.In the 13 th century,the main consumer group of Russian fur was the Hanseatic League countries.After a century of fur export activities,changes in the consumption patterns of the fur market and the loss of the independent status of the principality of Novgorod,the status of the fur trade center of Novgorod was transferred to the principality of Moscow.The fur trade in Moscow is very extensive and is sold to Crimean khanate and European countries.With the increase of fur export quantity,the quantity of fur in Moscow decreased sharply.In order to maintain the fur export trade,Russia had to look for fur resources,thus looking to Siberia.After a series of military actions,Russia basically occupied the entire Siberian region.The second chapter mainly discusses the export of Siberian fur in the 17 thcentury.In the 17 th century,there were two major fur consumption markets in Siberia,namely Europe and China.In the first half of the 17 th century,European countries were the main markets for fur consumption.Fur is continuously transported to Europe and Russia by inland river transportation.Traders from various countries in Europe go to fur trade centers in Europe and Russia to buy fur.In the second half of the 17 th century,with the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar between Russia and China and the attraction of China's huge consumption capacity,the commercial ties between the two countries became closer and fur was continuously exported to China.China replaced Europe as Russia's largest fur consumer.The third chapter mainly discusses the Russian government's management of the17 th century Siberian fur trade and the problems and dilemmas exposed by the fur trade.Russia set up a Siberian yamen to take over all Siberian affairs and set up special agencies to manage fur affairs.The government levied fur taxes and fur business taxes on local people to plunder local fur resources.Due to the uncontrolled development of fur resources,the increase of various taxes and the impact of North American fur,Siberian fur trade has encountered development difficulties.Russia has to find new fur producing areas to stabilize its fur supply.The fourth chapter discusses the positive and negative effects of Siberian fur trade in the 17 th century.On the other hand,by comparing the 17 th century Siberian fur trade with Russia's fur trade before and after the 17 th century,it shows its distinctive historical characteristics.The Siberian fur trade not only changed the government's financial difficulties,but also objectively promoted the Siberian economic development and the Russian primitive accumulation of capital process,providing strong support for consolidating centralized power and foreign expansion.However,Russian conquerors' predatory exploitation of Siberian fur resources destroyed the local ecological environment and brought great suffering to the indigenous people.At the same time,comparing with Russia's fur trade around the17 th century,Siberian fur trade is different in fur types,markets,trade subjects and nature.