influence, of soil and climate upon the character of the inhabitants was considerable, and remains considerable to-day. Much of interest from this outlook can be gleaned from descriptions in Russian literature and from the accounts of Russia given by such nonrussian writers as Leroy-Beaulieu.[1]
iv. As early as the ninth century, commerce was active with the Teutonic north, with Byzantium, and with certain other neighbour nations. Kiev and Novgorod, situate between the developed commercial peoples on the Baltic and the Black Sea, likewise became important centres of transit trade.
In Kiev, therefore, there was a conspicuous growth of a monetary economy, though subsequently in Moscow this economy was greatly restricted.
Oldtime commerce, that of Russia at any rate, must not be thought of as sharply contrasted with militarism. Trade, or to be concrete, the traders, proceeding by land in caravans and by water in fleets of river-going or seaworthy vessels, travelled on a warlike footing, and were organised for war. The trader was also a conqueror, and on occasions a robber or a pirate. Kiev was certainly occupied by such warlike "traders" from Novgorod, and thus became the capital of the realm.
The first development of the state and of civilisation in general took place in fortified towns.[2]
v. We may say, in conclusion, that political, social, and economic conditions in Kiev were somewhat unstable, and that correspondingly the evolution of Russian law, both of public law and of civil law, displayed a certain indefiniteness.
- ↑ A closer criticism of the various theories is requisite: of the opinion, for example, that the qualities of the soil (as in the marshy flats of the primitive home) or the peculiarities of occupation (agriculture) rendered the Old Russians unwarlike, etc., whereas the Teutons and the Turco-Tatars, the latter as horse-riding nomads of the deserts and the steppes, and the former as cattle breeders and consequently milk consumers, were in respect of social and political development superior to the Slav vegetarians. Not the explanation merely, but the alleged fact, appear to lack adequate proof. It is possible, for example, in relation to Old Roman economic history, to point to the significance of the chase in the forest rich in wild animal life, and of fishery in waters well stocked with fish. It is beyond question that a notable proportion of Old Russians lived by the chase, and that this occupation must have had an influence upon character. For a considerable period the trapping of beavers was widely practised. Many men, again. procured honey and wax from the nests of wild bees. Doubtless these occupations influenced the character of those engaged in them—but how, and to what extent?
- ↑ Gorod (town) primarily signified a fenced or fortified place, fortifications in Old Russia being constructed principally of wood.
