Geography of Russia's Foreign Trade in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries

The article deals with the features and traditions that have developed in the history of Russia's foreign trade relations. The purpose of the paper is to reveal and examine the role of the international trade for the Russian Empire in the XVIII and early XIX centuries, to analyze the special features and traditions of the state's trade relations. The authors discuss the historiography of Russian foreign trade problems, view the formation of the trade features and traditions specific for a given time period, identify the priority areas of Russian foreign trade and determine the reasons for particular directions of Russian trade. The geography of international trade relations is highlighted; the impact of foreign trade on the economic and political status of Russia in a given historic period is emphasized. The priority areas of international trade are identified, and the reasons and features of the selected areas are analyzed. The novelty of the research is emphasized by the necessity to consider the emergence of Russian new economic opportunities associated with the trade contacts and new trade agreements that led to the development of new diplomatic and cultural relations and the tremendous interest for the voyages of geographic discoveries in a given period. The political and economic background of Russia and its trade partners is discussed. The opportunities for economic relations, the existing peculiarities and their significance for the political and economic status of Russia in the historical process are examined. The analysis of works devoted to the international trade geography of the 18th-19th centuries is carried out.