The commerce of Denmark, besides its common origin with that of the rest of Scandinavia, seems, in the middle ages, to have been chiefly nourished by two circumstances:--The trade which Iceland carried on, and the establishment of Bergen, first as the staple of the German merchants, and afterwards as the chief factory of the Hanse merchants. In 1429, it was also established by the king of Denmark, as the sole staple for the fish trade. In 1553, its trade began to decline, in consequence, it is said, of its being deserted by the Hanseatics. The historian of the Hanseatic League adds, that "whereas the ancient toll of the Sound had been only a golden rose-noble on every sail, which was always understood to be meant on every ship; the court of Denmark had for some time past put a new and arbitrary construction on the word sail, by obliging all ships to pay a rose-noble for every sail on, or belonging to each ship". In consequence of this, the Vandalic-Hanse Towns, or those on the south shores of the Baltic, deserted the Bergen trade.
The same sovereign, however, who increased the tolls of the Sound, counterpoised the bad effects of this measure, by the encouragement he gave to manufactures and commerce; in this he was seconded by the Danish gentry, who began to carry on merchandize and factorage themselves, and also established manufactories. Copenhagen at this time was the staple for all Danish merchandize, especially corn, butter, fish, &c.
The commercial history of this country, towards the close of the sixteenth century, is remarkable for having given rise to the earliest dispute, of which we have any notice, respecting, the carrying of naval stores, of contraband of war, in neutral bottoms, to any enemy. It seems that the English merchants endeavoured to evade the custom duties in the Danish ports, particularly on their skins, woollen goods, and tin; on which they were siezed. On a remonstrance however from Elizabeth, they were restored, when the king of Denmark, on his part, complained that the English committed piracies on his subjects; for now, says Camden, there began to grow controversies about such matters, that is, the carrying naval stores, &c. to the Spaniards.
The commercial history of Denmark, during the period to which we are at present confined, presents no other circumstance sufficiently striking or interesting to detain us; for the establishments of this country in the East Indies are too trifling to deserve or require notice in a work whose limits and objects equally confine it to those points which are of primary importance.
The locality of Russia, cut off from the sea till a comparatively late period, except the almost inaccessible sea on which Archangel stands; the ignorance and barbarism of its inhabitants, and its wars with the Tartars, necessarily prevented and incapacitated this immense empire from engaging in any commercial intercourse with the rest of Europe till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when it became independent, and began to be powerful. Novogorod, indeed, which was in fact a republic under the jurisdiction of a nominal sovereign, enjoyed in the fifteenth century, a great trade, being then the mart between Russia and the Hanseatic cities. On its conquest by the Russians in the beginning of the next century, the Hanseatic merchants deserted it, though it continued for a considerable period afterward the largest and most commercial city in Russia. In 1509, Basilicus IV. conquered the city and territory of Pleskow and Smolensko, and consolidated the Russian empire, by reducing all the petty principalities into which it had been previously divided. Pleskow, situated near the head of the lake Czudskoc, soon became a celebrated emporium, and before the end of this century was frequented by merchants from Persia, Tartary, Sarmatia, Livonia, Germany, Britain, and other countries.
The accidental discovery of the White Sea by the English, in 1553, has been already narrated: this led to the first intercourse by sea between Russia and the rest of Europe, for previously, whatever of their produce was exported, was carried in Livonian ships. In the following year, the facilities of Russia with Asia were encreased by the conquest of the city and kingdom of Astracan: by this conquest the entire navigation of the Wolga became theirs, and by crossing the Caspian, they carried their commercial transactions into Persia. The spirit of conquest was now alive among them, and exerting itself both to the east and west; for in 1558 they conquered Narva, in Livonia, and by means of it formed a communication with the rest of Europe by the Baltic sea. To this city the Hanseatic merchants removed their mart from Revel. The conquest of Samoieda and Siberia near the close of the sixteenth century, contributed to encrease the exportable commodities of Russia by their furs, salmon, sturgeon, &c.
In the mean time the Russian commerce in the Caspian was increasing: the Persian vessels brought into Astracan dyed silks, calicoes, and Persian stuffs, and returned with cloth, sables, martens, red leather, and old Russia money. The trade from Archangel also increased in a still more rapid manner, principally, as we have already seen, with the English and Dutch. In the year 1655, the exports were valued at the 660,000 rubles, two rubles at that period being equal to one pound sterling. The principal articles were potash, caviare, tallow, hides, sables, and cable yarn; the other articles of less importance, and in smaller quantities, were coarse linen, feathers for beds, tar, linen yarn, beet, rhubarb, Persian silk, cork, bacon, cordage, skins of squirrels, and cats; bees' wax, hogs' birstles, mice and goats' skins, swan and geese down, candles, &c.
Peter the Great became emperor in 1689; he soon unfolded and began to execute his vast plans of conquest, naval power, and commerce. He gained for his country a passage into the Black Sea, by reducing Asoph, at the mouth of the Don, and he soon established a navy on this sea. His personal exertions in Holland and England, to make himself acquainted with ship-building, are well known. The event of his reign, however, which most completely changed the relative situation of Russia, and established her as a commercial nation, was the conquest from Sweden of Livonia, Ingria, and Carelia. Scarcely were these provinces secured to him, when he built, first Cronstadt, and then St. Petersburgh. The erection of this city, and the canals he constructed in the interior for the purpose of facilitating the transportation of merchandize from the more southerly and fertile districts of his empire to the new capital, soon drew to it the greater portion of Russian commerce. Archangel, to which there had previously resorted annually upwards of one hundred ships from England, Holland, Hamburgh, &c. declined; and early in the eighteenth century Petersburgh, then scarcely ten years old, beheld itself a commercial city of great importance.
Having now brought the historical sketch of the progress of discovery and of commercial enterprise down to the commencement of the eighteenth century, it will be necessary, as well as proper, to contract the scale on which the remainder of this volume is to be constructed. For, during nearly the whole of the period which intervenes between the commencement of the eighteenth century and the present time, the materials are either so abundant or so minute, that to insert them all without discrimination and selection, would be to give bulk, without corresponding interest and value, to the work.
So far as discovery is concerned, it is evident, from the sketch of it already given, that nearly the entire outline of the globe had been traced before the period at which we are arrived: what remained was to fill up this outline. In Asia, to gain a more complete knowledge of Hither and Farther India, of China, of the countries to the north of Hindostan, of the north and north-east of Asia, and of some of the Asiatic islands. In Africa, little besides the shores were known; but the nature of the interior, with its burning sands and climate, uninhabitable, or inhabited by inhospitable and barbarous tribes, held out little expectation that another century would add much to our knowledge of that quarter of the world; and though the perseverance and enterprise of the eighteenth century, and what has passed of the nineteenth, have done more than might reasonably have been anticipated, yet, comparatively speaking, how little do we yet know of Africa! America held out the most promising as well as extensive views to future discovery; the form and direction of her north-west coast was to be traced. In South America, the Spaniards had already gained a considerable knowledge of the countries lying between the Atlantic and the Pacific, but in North America, the British colonists had penetrated to a very short distance from the shores on which they were first settled; and from their most western habitations to the Pacific, the country was almost entirely unknown.