Treasure of the Land of Darkness: The Fur Trade and Its Significance for Medieval Russia

by Janet Martin

Book Overview

Treasure of the Land of Darkness traces the traffic in fur from the lands of the north, through the major trade centres of medieval Russia to the consumer markets of the world, stretching from western Europe to China. Professor Martin reconstructs the fur-trade network of each centre (including Kiev, Novgorod and Moscow) and examines the changes they experienced. She shows how aggressive principalities enhanced their political authority through manipulation...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052154811X
• ISBN13: 9780521548113
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent survey of Northern Russia before 1600

Dwspite its seemingly limited subject, this is an excellent survey of the economic, and therefore political, history and geography of northern Russia before 1600. The author claims that Bolgar blocked Rus trade in the lower and middle Volga, a 'fact' that does not seen to have reached the standard Viking historians. There is no adequate discussion of the relation between the fur trade and other branches of trade, especially the slave trade, which many authors consider more inportant. What we need now is a similar study of the area south of Moscow. I have not seen this cited in other books, which is odd, since it appears to be an excellent survey.