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History

And upon the establishment of the Neviansk works followed the rise of many other metallurgical establishments, both Government and private, until all the region had become devoted to an industry which had its directorate centred in Ekaterinburg-on-the-Iset, a township named by General Henning, Peters chief inspector of foundries and gunnery expert, after Catherine I.

In time, too, this township came to be considered so important as to be allotted a special peasant guard of 25,000, for its protection against raids by Khirgizes and Bashkirs, and, before Peters reign came to a close, to be comprising within its boundaries nine Government iron and copper foundries, and twelve private concerns of the same sort, with five of them belonging to Demidov.

All of which factors brought it about that by the year 17 18 the total annual output from Government and private smelting works was an output exceeding 6,500,000 pudt of iron, and 20,000 of copper, and that Peter now could furnish his field forces and fleet with muskets exclusively of Russian manufacture and Russian material, and that on his death he left behind him over 16,000 heavy guns.

But Peter did more than stimulate industry of production: he also devoted much thought to industry of disposal, and to internal trade, and, above all, to overseas commerce, a department in which Russia hitherto had been dependent upon Western shipping alone.

Indeed, his prime motive in going to war with Sweden was to win for his country a trading harbour on the Baltic.