Editing Neva (section)

=== Before 1700 ===
Many sites of ancient people, up to nine thousand years old, were found within the territory of the Neva basin. It is believed that around twelve thousand years BC, [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finnic people]] ([[Votians|Votes]] and [[Izhorians]]) moved to this area from the [[Ural Mountains]].<ref name="Predystoriya Sankt-Peterburga">Sharymov, Alexander [https://books.google.com/books?id=NaXFAQAACAAJ '' History of St. Petersburg. 1703. Book studies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074031/https://books.google.com/books?id=NaXFAQAACAAJ |date=10 April 2023 }}. Journal Neva, 2004; {{ISBN|5-87516-044-6}}</ref>

In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the area was inhabited by the [[East Slavs]] who were mainly engaged in [[slash and burn]] agriculture, hunting and fishing. From the 8th to 13th centuries, Neva provided a waterway from Scandinavia to the [[Byzantine Empire]]. In the 9th century, the area belonged to [[Veliky Novgorod]].<ref name=hist1>Ezhov, V. A. (1986) [https://books.google.com/books?id=7GQdAAAAMAAJ ''Ленинградская область: исторический очерк''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074014/https://books.google.com/books?id=7GQdAAAAMAAJ |date=10 April 2023 }}. (Leningrad Oblast: a historical sketch, in Russian), Lenizdat.</ref> The Neva was already mentioned in the ''[[Life of Alexander Nevsky]]'' (13th century).<ref name="Pushkinsky dom">[http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4962 Electronic publication of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), RAS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201120023/http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4962 |date=1 February 2019 }}. Lib.pushkinskijdom.ru. Retrieved 13 July 2013.</ref> At that time, Veliky Novgorod was engaged in nearly constant wars with Sweden. A major battle occurred on 15 July 1240 at the confluence of the Izhora and Neva Rivers. The Russian army, led by the 20-year-old Prince [[Alexander Nevsky|Alexander Yaroslavich]], aimed to stop the planned Swedish invasion. The Swedish army was defeated; the prince showed personal courage in combat and received the honorary name of "Nevsky".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASVlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA855|page=855|title=The biographical dictionary of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, Volume 1|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans|year=1842|access-date=3 December 2021|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074041/https://books.google.com/books?id=ASVlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA855|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00davi_0|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00davi_0/page/8 8]|title=A concise history of Finland|author=Kirby, D. G. |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-521-83225-X}}</ref>

As a result of the Russian defeat in the [[Ingrian War]] of 1610–17 and the concomitant [[Treaty of Stolbovo]], the area of the Neva River became part of [[Swedish Ingria]]. Beginning in 1642, the capital of Ingria was Nyen, a city near the [[Nyenschantz]] fortress. Because of financial and religious oppression, much of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] population left the Neva region, emptying 60&nbsp;percent of the villages by 1620. The abandoned areas became populated by people from the [[Karelian Isthmus]] and [[Savonia (historical province)|Savonia]].<ref>[http://www.sablino.ru/lomon/kop_76_5.htm В "ПЛЕНУ" У ШВЕДОВ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227150843/http://www.sablino.ru/lomon/kop_76_5.htm |date=27 February 2018 }}. (In "captivity" of the Swedes, in Russian). Sablino.ru.</ref>
{| Class = "wikitable" style = "text-align: center"
|+
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Chorikov.jpg|center|140px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Siege of Nöteborg (1702).jpg|center|240px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Ladogacanal.jpg|center|225px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Map of Saint-Petersburg in 1720 (Homann).jpg|center|185px]]
|-
|''Victory of [[Alexander Nevsky]] over the Swedes'' by B. Chorikov
| ''Assault on the [[Shlisselburg|Oreshek]] fortress on 11 October 1702'' by [[Alexander Kotzebue]]
|Map of the Peter the Great Canal (1742)
|Map of St. Petersburg (1720)
 |}