Archangel, really pronounced Arkhangelsk, lies on both banks of the Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea, in the northwest of European Russia. The city extends for over 25 miles along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the chief seaport of medieval Russia, until 1703 and is located at the northern end of the 704 mile long railway, connecting it to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl. It has a population of just under 349,000 (2010), which has fallen from 415,921 in 1989, mainly due to the decline in the sawmill and paper making industries which were predominant In this region until comparatively recently.
The area where Arkhangelsk is situated was known to the Vikings and in the 12th century, the Novgorodians established the Archangel Michael Monastery in the estuary of the Dvina River and the area of Arkhangelsk came to be important in the rivalry between Norwegian and Russian interests in the northern areas.
In 1553 three English ships, led by Richard Chancellor, set out to find the Northwest passage to China; two disappeared, but one captained by Chancellor ended up in the White Sea, eventually coming across the area of Arkhangelsk. Ivan the Terrible found out about this, and brokered a trade agreement with Richard Chancellor. Trade privileges were officially granted to English merchants in 1555, leading to the founding of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, which began sending ships annually into the estuary of the Northern Dvina. Dutch merchants were quick to follow and by the 17th century this trade was mainly controlled by the Dutch.
In 1584, Ivan ordered the founding of New Kholmogory that would later be renamed after the nearby Archangel (Arkhangelsk) Michael Monastery.
In 1693, Peter the Great (See photo of statue that stands on the Northern Embankment of the Dvina River) ordered the creation of a state shipyard – shipbuilding and repair is still in evidence today - in Arkhangelsk but he also realised that Arkhangelsk would always be limited as a port due to its five months of ice cover, and after a successful campaign against Swedish armies in the Baltic area, he founded St. Petersburg in 1704.
Arkhangelsk declined in the 18th century as the Baltic trade became ever more important but its economy revived at the end of the 19th century when a railway to Moscow was completed and timber became a major export. The city resisted Bolshevik rule from 1918 to 1920 and was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army supported by the military intervention of British-led Entente forces as part of an Allied expedition, including a North American contingent known as the Polar Bear Expedition.
During World War II, the city was one of the two main destinations (along with Murmansk) of the Arctic Convoys bringing supplies to assist the Russians. During Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Archangelsk was one of two cities (the other being Astrakhan) selected to mark the envisaged eastern limit of Nazi control. This military operation was to be halted at this A-A line but never reached it since German forces failed to capture either of the two cities and also failed to capture Moscow.
Today, Arkhangelsk remains a major seaport, now open year-round due to improvements in icebreakers. The city is primarily a centre for the timber and fishing industries and as I mentioned earlier some ship repair.
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