Novgorod the Great — a Center of International Cooperation and Trade

Center of Located at the north-western frontiers of the Russian lands and at the crossroads of trade routes, Novgorod the Great has been exciting steady interest of Europeans since the early days of its history. Merchants, diplomats, travelers and scientists stopped off at the city on their journeys and got to know a far and mysterious Muskovy starting with the lands of Novgorod. The significance of Novgorod for contacts with Europe was so impressively great that some north-western map makers had thought it to be the center of the Russian state until the early 16th century. For Europeans it was a part of the national symbol, the national myth, a part of the poetic image of Russia, and in this perspective it was attractive and persists to be attractive for tourists, businessmen, scholars and politicians.

In the 14th to the 15th centuries, Novgorod became a member of the largest trade union in Europe – the Hansa, composed of trading guilds from North European countries. Along with trading posts in London, Brugge and Antwerp, the Hansa had a German post and a Gothic post in Novgorod. They were called Nemetsky Dvor and Gotsky Dvor and acted as foreign trade representative offices. Novgorodian merchants had special trade agreements (skry) with Nemetsky Dvor, the most ancient of them dates back to the second quarter of the 13th century. German merchants traded West European merchandise (textiles, jewelry, wine) and exported the works of Novgorod’s craftsmen, fir, beeswax and hemp.

Until 1478, Novgorod had acted as a state entity in its relations with European countries. At the end of the 15th century, its status changed to that of one of the cities of the Russian state, a city with its own history and traditions. Annexing Novgorod, Moscow inherited its former system of political relations with neighbors. As a legacy of that independence period, the established diplomatic practice remained unchanged. According to this practice, the north-western neighbors of Novgorod including Sweden, Livonia and the Hansa maintained diplomatic relations with Moscow through Novgorodian namestniks of Grand Prince.

In 1993, Novgorod became the first Russian city which had entered the Hanseatic League of the New Times. Since then it is considered an official representative of the Russian side in the New Hansa.