In the 17th century, foreign trade was the most profitable and prestigious industry. Thanks to her, the most scarce goods were delivered from the Middle East: jewelry, incense, spices, silk and so on. The desire to have it all and at home stimulated the formation and further strengthening of our own production. This served as the first impetus to the development of domestic trade in Europe.
Introduction
Throughout the Middle Ages, there was a gradual increase in foreign trade. Towards the end of the 15th century, as a result of a number of geographical discoveries, there was a noticeable leap. European trade became world, and the Middle Ages smoothly passed into the period of the initial accumulation of capital. During the 16-18th centuries, there was a strengthening of economic interaction between a number of areas and the formation of national trading floors. Along with this, the formation of national states of absolute centralized monarchies is noted. The entire economic policy of these countries was aimed at the formation of a national market, the formation of foreign and domestic trade. Great importance was also attached to the strengthening of industry, agriculture, and means of communication.
The beginning of the folding of the all-Russian market
By the 18th century, new regions gradually began to join the sphere of general trade relations of Russia. So, for example, products and some industrial goods (nitrate, gunpowder, glass) began to arrive in the center of the country from the Left Bank of Ukraine. At the same time, Russia was a platform for the sale of products of local artisans and manufactories. From the areas of the Don began to come fish, meat, bread. Returning from the central and Volga counties were dishes, shoes, fabrics. Livestock came from Kazakhstan, in exchange for which the neighboring territories supplied bread and some manufactured goods.
Trade fairs
Great influence on the formation of the all-Russian market had fairs. The largest and nationally important was Makaryevskaya. Goods from various regions of the country were brought here: Vologda, the west and the northwest of Smolensk, Petersburg, Riga, Yaroslavl and Moscow, Astrakhan and Kazan. Among the most popular are precious metals, iron, furs, bread, leather, various fabrics and animal products (meat, lard), salt, fish.
What was acquired at the fair then diverged throughout the country: fish and furs - to Moscow, bread and soap - to St. Petersburg, metal products - to Astrakhan. For a century, the trade turnover of the fair increased significantly. So, in 1720, it was 280 thousand rubles, and after 21 years - already 489 thousand.
Along with Makaryevskaya, other fairs also acquired all-Russian significance: Trinity, Orenburg, Blagoveshchensk and Arkhangelsk. Irbitskaya, for example, had connections with sixty Russian cities in 17 provinces, and interaction was established with Persia and Central Asia. Svenska fair was associated with 37 cities and 21 provinces. Together with Moscow, all these fairs were of great importance in uniting both regional and district and local trading floors into an all-Russian market.
The economic situation in a developing country
After his complete legal enslavement, the Russian peasant was, in the first place, still obliged to pay the state, as well as the master, a quitrent (in kind or in cash). But if, for example, comparing the economic situation of Russia and Poland, then for the Polish peasants, conscription in the form of corvee labor more and more intensified. So, for them, it was ultimately 5-6 days a week. For the Russian peasant, it was equal to 3 days.
Payment of duties in cash implied a market. The peasant was supposed to have access to this trading platform. The formation of the all-Russian market encouraged landowners to conduct their own households and sell products, as well as (and to no lesser extent) the state, to receive fiscal cash receipts.
The development of the economy in Russia from the 2nd half of the 16th century
During this period, large regional trading floors began to form. By the 17th century, business ties were strengthened nationwide. As a result of the expansion of interactions between separate regions, a new concept appears - the “all-Russian market”. Although its strengthening was largely hindered by Russian chronic impassability.
By the middle of the 17th century, there were some prerequisites due to which the All-Russian market arose. His education, in particular, was facilitated by the deepening social division of labor, industrial territorial specialization, as well as the necessary political situation that arose due to the transformations that were aimed at creating a single state.
The main trading floors of the country
Since the 2nd half of the 16th century, such main regional markets have been formed and strengthened as the Volga region (Vologda, Kazan, Yaroslavl - livestock products), the North (Vologda - the main bread market, Irbit, Solvychegodsk - furs), North-West (Novgorod - sale of hemp and linen products), Center (Tikhvin, Tula - purchase and sale of metal products). The main universal trading platform of that time was Moscow. It consisted of about one hundred and twenty specialized rows, where it was possible to purchase wool and cloth, silk and fur, lard and bread, wine, metal products of both domestic and foreign production.
The influence of state power
The all-Russian market, which arose as a result of reforms, contributed to the increase of entrepreneurial initiative. As for the public consciousness itself, ideas of individual rights and freedoms arose at its level. Gradually, the economic situation in the era of the initial accumulation of capital led to free enterprise, both in trade and in other industries.
In the agricultural field, feudal lords' measures are gradually replacing state decrees to amend the rules of land use and agriculture. The government promotes the formation of national industry, which, in turn, influenced the development of the all-Russian market. In addition, the state patronized the introduction of agriculture, more perfect than it was before.
In foreign trade, the government seeks to acquire colonies and pursue a protectionist policy. Thus, everything that was previously characteristic of individual trading cities is now becoming the political and economic direction of the entire state as a whole.
