Editing Portage (section)

====Russia====
{{Further|Don–Volga portage}}
[[File:Yermak Timofeyevich and his band of adventurers crossing the Ural Mountains at Tagil, entering Asia from Europe.jpg|thumb|[[Yermak Timofeyevich]] and his band of adventurers crossing the [[Ural Mountains]] over the Tagil portage, entering Asia from Europe]]

In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, [[Viking]] merchant-adventurers exploited a network of waterways in [[Eastern Europe]], with portages connecting the four most important rivers of the region: [[Volga]], [[Western Dvina]], [[Dnieper]], and [[Don River (Russia)|Don]]. The portages of what is now [[Russia]] were vital for the [[Varangian]] commerce with the [[Orient]] and [[Byzantium]].

At the most important portages (such as [[Gnezdovo]]) there were trade outposts inhabited by a mixture of Norse merchants and native population. The [[Khazars]] built the fortress of [[Sarkel]] to guard a key portage between the Volga and the Don. After Varangian and Khazar power in Eastern Europe waned, Slavic merchants continued to use the portages along the [[Volga trade route]] and the [[Dnieper trade route]].

The names of the towns [[Volokolamsk]] and [[Vyshny Volochek]] may be translated as "the portage on the [[Lama River]]" and "the little upper portage", respectively (from [[Russian language|Russian]] {{lang|ru|волок}} {{Transliteration|ru|volok}}, meaning "portage", derived from the verb {{lang|ru|волочить}} {{Transliteration|ru|voločitʹ}} "to drag").

In the 16th century, the Russians used river portages to get to [[Siberia]] (see [[Cherdyn Road]]).