[Illustration: Moscow.]
ST. PETERSBURG (with suburbs 1,267,000), the capital of Russia, is,
like most European capitals, an important trade centre as well as the
seat of government. Its manufactures are general and numerous, but the
chief ones are those concerned in making munitions of war. Until 1885
St. Petersburg was not a seaport, but in that year a canal was built
which now permits vessels drawing twenty-two feet of water to enter
its docks. Its harbour, however, is closed with ice from November to
May. Near St. Petersburg is REVAL, the chief cotton port of Russia.
The raw cotton importation of Russia averages about $60,000,000
annually, most of which comes direct from the United States. MOSCOW
(988,000), the ancient capital of Russia, is also a great
manufacturing city, but its principal importance is derived from the
fact that it is the great centre of the internal trade of Russia.
WARSAW (615,000), the capital of Polish Russia, is a great railway
centre, and the principal entrepôt of railway traffic between Russia
and the rest of Europe. LÓDZ (315,000), also in Polish Russia, is the
great cotton-manufacturing centre of the empire. ODESSA (405,000) is
the chief seaport of Russia. It has an immense export trade in grain,
tallow, iron, linseed, wood, hides, cordage, sailcloth, tar, and
beef. RIGA (283,000), the chief port of Russia on the Baltic, has a
large export trade with England in characteristic Russian produce.
KIEFF (249,000) is the centre of the Russian sugar-refining industry.
ASTRAKHAN (113,000), on the Volga delta, is noted for its sturgeon
fisheries, and its export of caviare, amounting, it is said, to
$1,500,000 yearly. TULA (111,000) is the Sheffield of Russia. Even in
1828 there were 600 cutlery establishments in Tula, but the
manufacture was then principally domestic. It is now a city of
factories, for it stands on a large coal and iron field.
NIJNI-NOVGOROD (99,000) is noted for its fair, an Asiatic institution
which modern civilisation will no doubt soon disestablish. Once a year
merchants to the number of 200,000 come to Nijni-Novgorod from all
over Russia, and even from India and China, to exchange their wares.
The value of the exchange sometimes amounts to $100,000,000. ORENBURG
(73,000), on the Ural, is the terminal depot of the caravan trade of
Asiatic Russia. ARCHANGEL (25,000), on the White Sea, is the chief
emporium of trade in the north, with exports of characteristic
northern produce. BAKU, on the Caspian Sea, is the chief seat of the
petroleum industry of Russia. All the towns and cities above named
have grown enormously during the last twenty years.