St. Petersburg

Yaminah Agosto

Founder: Peter the Great

• Life Span: 1672-1725• Reign: Was Tsar of Russia 7 May,

1682 to 8 February 1725 (Ruled Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire)

• Expanded Tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European Power

• Led a cultural revolution by adopting Western European ways

• 12 May 1703, Captured Nyenskens and replaced fortress

Creation of St. Petersburg• Founded on 16 May 1703 (May 27

modern calendar)

• Recaptured island from Swedish during war

• Long established trading route to Europe

• Tsar Peter I, wanted a “fortress.” Named it the Peter and Paul Fortress

• Peter the Great built his own (house) log cabin in three days, which was the start to the city

• The city was built by conscripted peasants and a few imprisoned swedes

• Very difficult to build

• Few tools were given to workers; used hands to shovel dirt

• Sunk wooden piles into ground for support• Plenty of serfs died while building the city• The original walls and bastions of the

fortress were completed by the end of summer in 1703

• Land wasn’t really good for a city; it was very damp, bad housing, short supply of food.

• Flooding was a huge problem• By 1712, grew from a small little town to

the new Russian Capital• Made to prevent Swedish attacks, but

didn’t participate in any fights

Location• On the Neva River• At the head of the

Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea

• Also named Petrograd (1914), Leningrad (1924) and Back to St. Petersburg (1991 until present)

Sources• http://www.saint-petersburg.com/histor

y/foundation.asp

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg

• http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa021201a.htm

• http://www.saint-petersburg.com/history/first-years.asp