Factors Shaping the Appearance of Russian Roads in the 10th – Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

The article discusses factors that influenced the shaping of Russian land transportation communica-tions in the 10th – early 20th centuries. The author points to the preponderance of the bias in favor of natural factors in scholarly literature, and argues that their impact on the development of roads was mediated by cultural factors. Among the important sociocultural factors that shaped the appearance of Russian roads were the level of productive forces in the society, the specificity of its economic makeup, and the particularities of the state’s needs and economic (including trade) relationships. Of considerable importance was also a low, relative to Western Europe’s, population density; although that factor was compensated by larger labor expenditures per worker.