Editing Arkhangelsk (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2024}}

===Early history===
[[Vikings]] knew the area around Arkhangelsk as [[Bjarmaland]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mythical Lands of Russia, Part 2: Bjarmia |url=http://russia-ic.com/culture_art/history/2572/ |access-date=April 9, 2023 |website=Russia-InfoCentre (russia-ic.com) |archive-date=April 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410151451/http://www.russia-ic.com/culture_art/history/2572/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ohthere of Hålogaland]] told circa 890 of his travels in an area by a river and the White Sea with many buildings. This was probably the place later known as Arkhangelsk. According to [[Snorri Sturluson]], Vikings led by [[Thorir Hund]] raided this area in 1027.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1989, an unusually impressive silver treasure was found by local farm workers by the mouth of Dvina, right next to present-day Arkhangelsk.<ref name="Nosov hoard">{{Cite web |url=http://www.sarks.fi/fa/PDF/FA9_3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421014718/http://www.sarks.fi/fa/PDF/FA9_3.pdf |archive-date=April 21, 2017 |url-status=live |title=THE ARKHANGELSK HOARD |last=Nosov |first=E.N |date=1992 |website=sarks.fi}}</ref>

Most of the findings comprised a total of {{convert|1.6|kg}} of silver, largely in the form of coins. Jewelry and pieces of jewelry come from Russia or neighboring areas. The majority of the coins were German, but the hoard also included a smaller number of [[Kufa]]n, English, [[Bohemia]]n, Hungarian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian coins. It is hard to place this find historically until further research is completed. There are at least two possible interpretations. It may be a treasure belonging to the society outlined by the Norse source material. Generally such finds, whether from [[Scandinavia]], the [[Baltic region|Baltic]] area, or Russia, are closely tied to well-established agricultural societies with considerable trade activity.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Alternatively, like the Russian scientists who published the find in 1992,<ref name="Nosov hoard" /> one may see it as evidence of a stronger case of Russian colonization than previously thought.

===Novgorodian arrival===
In the 12th century, the [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorodians]] established a [[monastery]] dedicated to [[Michael (archangel)|Archangel Michael]] in the estuary of the [[Northern Dvina]]. The main trade center of the area at that time was [[Kholmogory, Arkhangelsk Oblast|Kholmogory]], located {{convert|75|km|sp=us}} southeast of Arkhangelsk, up the Dvina River, about {{convert|10|km|sp=us}} downstream from where the Pinega River flows into the Dvina. Written sources indicate that Kholmogory existed early in the 12th century, but there is no archeological material of this period. It is not known whether the origin of this settlement was Russian, or if it goes back to pre-Russian times. In the center of the small town (or Gorodok) that is there today is a large mound of building remains and river sand, but it has not been archeologically excavated.

===Norwegian–Russian conflict===
[[File:Map of St. Petersburg.png|thumb|Location of Arkhangelsk in northwestern Russia]]

The area of Arkhangelsk came to be important in the rivalry between Norwegian and Russian interests in the northern areas. From Novgorod, the spectrum of Russian interest was extended far north to the [[Kola Peninsula]] in the 12th century. However, here Norway enforced taxes and rights to the fur trade. A compromise agreement entered in 1251 which was soon broken.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1411, Yakov Stepanovich from Novgorod went to attack northern Norway. This was the beginning of a series of clashes. In 1419, Norwegian ships with five hundred soldiers entered the [[White Sea]]. The "Murmaners", as the Norwegians were called (cf. [[Murmansk]]), plundered many Russian settlements along the coast, among them the Archangel Michael Monastery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kolamap.ru/library/1919_zhilinskiy/2_1.htm |script-title=ru:Крайний север Европейской России |last=Жилинский |first=К. А. |year=1919 |publisher=Кольские карты |language=ru |access-date=January 24, 2013}}</ref>

Novgorod managed to drive the Norwegians back. However, in 1478 the area was taken over by [[Ivan III of Russia|Ivan&nbsp;III]] and passed to the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]] with the rest of the [[Novgorod Republic]].

===Trade with England, Scotland, and the Netherlands===
Three English ships the ''[[Hugh Willoughby|Bona Esperanza]]'', ''[[Edward Bonaventure]]'', and ''Bona Confidentia'' set out to find the [[Northeast Passage|Northeast passage to China]] in 1553; two disappeared, and one, the ''Edward Bonaventure'' ended up in the White Sea at [[Nyonoksa]], eventually coming across the area of Arkhangelsk at the mouth of the Dvina River where the St. Nicolas Monastery stood. Subsequently, the English gave the name ''St. Nicolas Bay'' to the sea now known as the White Sea. [[Ivan the Terrible]] found out about this, and brokered a trade agreement with the ship's captain, [[Richard Chancellor]].

Trade privileges were granted to English merchants in 1555, leading to the founding of the [[Muscovy Company|Company of Merchant Adventurers]], which began sending ships annually into the estuary of the Northern Dvina. Dutch merchants also started bringing their ships into the White Sea from the 1560s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ван Салинген |first=Симон (Van Salingen, Seemon) |url=https://www.kolamap.ru/library/1901_filippov.html |title=Сообщение о Земле Лопий: Русские в Лапландии в XVI веке. |trans-title=Message about Lapland: Russian in Lapland in the 16th century. |language=ru |work=kolamap.ru website |date=1591 |access-date=February 18, 2021 |quote=A Dutch letter about Russian interests in Lapland from 1562 to 1583. It includes Vardo's fortress Vardegus, the [[Pechenga Monastery]], Malmus (aka [[Kola, Russia]]), and the St. Nicolas Monastery near the mouth of the [[Northern Dvina|Dvina River]] at what is now Arkhangelsk. [[County of Flanders|Flemish]] pirates robbed the ''[[Edward Bonaventure]]'' in 1554 as ''Edward Bonaventure'' was returning from [[Nyonoksa]], Russia. |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115202913/https://www.kolamap.ru/library/1901_filippov.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 
[[Scotland|Scottish]] and English merchants also traded in the 16th century; however, by the 17th century it was mainly the Dutch that sailed to the White Sea area.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===Founding and further development===
[[File:Newdvina.jpg|thumb|Plan of New Dvina Fort in Arkhangelsk]]
In 1584, Ivan ordered the founding of '''New Kholmogory''' (which would later be renamed after the nearby Archangel Michael Monastery). At the time access to the [[Baltic Sea]] was still mostly controlled by Sweden, so while Arkhangelsk was icebound in winter, it remained Moscow's almost sole link to the sea-trade. Local inhabitants, called [[Pomors]], were the first to explore trade routes to Northern [[Siberia]] as far as the trans-[[Ural Mountains|Urals]] city of [[Mangazeya]] and beyond. In December 1613, during the [[Time of Troubles]], Arkhangelsk was besieged by Polish-Lithuanian marauders commanded by Stanislaw Jasinski ([[Lisowczyks]]), who failed to capture the fortified town. In 1619, and again in 1637, fires broke out, and the entire city burned down.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1693, [[Peter the Great]] ordered the creation of a state [[shipyard]] in Arkhangelsk. A year later the ships ''Svyatoye Prorochestvo'' (Holy Prophecy), ''Apostol Pavel'' (Apostle Paul), and the yacht ''Svyatoy Pyotr'' (Saint Peter) were sailing in the White Sea. However, he also realized that Arkhangelsk would always be limited as a port due to the five months of ice cover, and after a [[Great Northern War|successful campaign]] against Swedish armies in the Baltic area, he founded [[Saint Petersburg]] in May 1703. Nonetheless, Arkhangelsk continued to be an important naval base and maritime centre in the Russian north.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Alexander |year=2007 |title=Russian and Soviet Naval Power and the Arctic from the XVI Century to the Beginning of the Great Patriotic War |journal=The Journal of Slavic Military Studies |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=359–392 |doi=10.1080/13518040701532958 |s2cid=145005700}}</ref> 
[[File:Archangel Michael and City of Archangel.jpg|thumb|[[Icon]] of [[Michael (archangel)|Archangel Michael]], shown as [[Patron saint|protector]] of Arkhangelsk]]

In 1722, Peter the Great decreed that Arkhangelsk should no longer accept goods that amounted to more than was sufficient for the town (for so-called domestic consumption). It was due to the Tsar's will to shift all international marine trade to Saint Petersburg. This factor greatly contributed to the deterioration of Arkhangelsk that continued up to 1762 when this decree was cancelled.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Arkhangelsk declined in the 18th century as the Baltic trade became ever more important. Its economy revived at the end of the 19th century when a railway to Moscow was completed and [[lumber|timber]] became a major export. The city resisted [[Bolshevik]] rule from 1918 to 1920 and was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik [[White movement|White Army]]. The White Army was supported by an [[North Russia intervention|Allied intervention]] in which British, French, Italian, and [[Polar Bear Expedition|American troops]] helped to defend against the Bolsheviks. The Allied forces, led by British Lieutenant General [[Frederick Poole]], suffered numerous set-backs and eventually withdrew from Russia. Without Allied support, the poorly disciplined White Army quickly collapsed and the Bolsheviks entered Arkhangelsk on February 21, 1920.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=178&category=life |title=Detroit's Polar Bears and their confusing war |access-date=July 12, 2007 |newspaper=The Detroit News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709074435/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=178&category=life |archive-date=July 9, 2012}}</ref> Arkhangelsk was also the scene of the Mudyug concentration camp.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ash |first=Lucy |date=October 18, 2017 |title='Death Island': Britain's 'concentration camp' in Russia |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41271418 |access-date=July 17, 2024 |work=[[BBC News]] |language= |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727205840/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41271418 |url-status=live }}</ref>

During both world wars, Arkhangelsk was a major port of entry for Allied aid. During World War II, the city became known in West Europe as one of the two main destinations (along with [[Murmansk]]) of the [[Arctic convoys of World War II|Arctic convoys]] bringing supplies in to assist the Soviet Union. During [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Arkhangelsk was one of two cities (the other being [[Astrakhan]]) selected to mark the envisioned eastern limit of German control. This military operation was to be halted at this [[A-A line]], but never reached it, as the German armies failed to capture either of these two cities and also failed to capture Moscow.

Arkhangelsk was also the site of [[List of Gulag camps#A|Arkhangelsk ITL]], or the Arkhangelsk [[Gulag|Labour Camp]], in the 1930s and 1940s.

Today, Arkhangelsk remains a [[Port of Arkhangelsk|major seaport]], now open year-round due to improvements in [[icebreaker]]s. The city is primarily a center for the timber and fishing industries.

On March 16, 2004, 58 people were killed in [[Arkhangelsk explosion of 2004|an explosion]] at an apartment building in the city.