Saint Petersburg

History

Tsar Peter the Great founded the city on May 27 (May 16, Old Style), 1703 after reconquering the Ingrian land from Sweden. He named it after his patron saint, the apostle Saint Peter. The original name of SanktPiterburh was actually Dutch; Peter had lived and studied in that country for some time. The Swedish fortress of Nyen and later Nöteborg had formerly occupied the site, in the marshlands where the river Neva drains into the Gulf of Finland.

Related Topics:
May 27 - May 16 - Old Style - 1703 - Ingria - Sweden - Saint Peter - Nyen - Nöteborg - Marsh - Neva - Gulf of Finland

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Since construction began during a time of war, the new city's first building was a fortification. Known today as the Peter and Paul Fortress, it originally also bore the name of SanktPiterburh. It was laid down on Zaiachiy (Hare's) Island, just off the right bank of the Neva, a couple of miles inland from the Gulf. The marshland was drained and the city spread outward from the fortress under the supervision of German engineers whom Peter had invited to Russia. Peter forbade the construction of stone buildings in all of Russia outside of St. Petersburg, so that all stonemasons would come to help build the new city. Serfs provided most of the labor for the project. According to one estimate, 30,000 died.

Related Topics:
Peter and Paul Fortress - German - Engineer - Serf

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St. Petersburg was founded to become the new capital of Russia. By virtue of its position on an arm of the Baltic Sea, it was called by Pushkin a "window on the West". Russia would be a major British trading partner for years to come. It was also a base for Peter's navy, protected by the island fortress of Kronstadt, built soon after the city.

Related Topics:
Capital - Baltic Sea - Pushkin - The West - British - Kronstadt

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In the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, Russia's elite built lavishly in the city, leaving many palaces that survive to this day. But the city also suffered from terrible floods, one of which was described by Pushkin in his Bronze Horseman.

Related Topics:
Pushkin - Bronze Horseman

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Alexander II's emancipation of the serfs (1861) caused the influx of large numbers of poor into the city. Tenements were erected on the outskirts, and nascent industry sprang up. By the end of the century, St Petersburg had grown up into one of the largest industrial hubs in Europe.

Related Topics:
Alexander II - Emancipation of the serfs - 1861 - Industry

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With the growth of industry, radical movements were also astir. Socialist organizations were responsible for the assassinations of many royal officials, including that of Alexander II in 1881. The Revolution of 1905 began here and spread rapidly into the provinces. During World War I, the name Sankt Peterburg was seen to be too German and, on the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II, the city was renamed Petrograd on August 31 (August 18, Old Style), 1914.

Related Topics:
Socialist - Alexander II - 1881 - Revolution of 1905 - World War I - Nicholas II - August 31 - August 18 - Old Style - 1914

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1917 saw the beginnings of the Russian Revolution. The first step (the February Revolution) was the removal of the Tsarist government and the establishment of two centers of political power, the Provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet. The Provisional government was overthrown in the October Revolution, and the Russian Civil War broke out. The city's proximity to anti-revolutionary armies, and generally unstable political climate, forced Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin to flee to Russia's historic former capital at Moscow on March 5, 1918. The move may have been intended as temporary (it was certainly portrayed as such), but Moscow has remained the capital ever since. On January 24, 1924, three days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor. The central committee's reason for renaming the city again was that Lenin had led the October revolution. Deeper reasons existed at the level of political symbolism: Saint Petersburg had stood as the head of the Tsarist empire. After Moscow it was the largest city and the change gave great prestige to Lenin. The renaming to Leningrad emphatically symbolised the upheaval that had occurred to the social and political system.

Related Topics:
1917 - Russian Revolution - February Revolution - Provisional government - Petrograd Soviet - October Revolution - Russian Civil War - Bolshevik - Vladimir Lenin - Moscow - March 5 - 1918 - January 24 - 1924

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The government's removal to Moscow caused a reversal of the mass immigration of the latter 19th century. The benefits of capital status had left the city. Petrograd's population in 1920 was a third of what it had been in 1915 (see table below).

Related Topics:
19th century - 1920 - 1915

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During World War II, Leningrad was surrounded and besieged by the German Wehrmacht in the Siege of Leningrad from September 8, 1941, until January 27, 1944, a total of twenty-nine months. A "Road of Life" was established over Lake Ladoga (frozen for a large part of the year), but it was open to airstrikes; only one out of three supply trucks that embarked on the journey reached its destination. Another route was opened on January 18, 1943 after the Red Army had succeeded in securing a narrow break-through of the Wehrmacht encirclement of the city. Some 800,000 of the city's 3,000,000 inhabitants are estimated to have perished. For the heroic tenacity of the city's population, Leningrad became the first Soviet city to be awarded the title Hero City.

Related Topics:
World War II - Wehrmacht - Siege of Leningrad - September 8 - 1941 - January 27 - 1944 - Road of Life - Lake Ladoga - January 18 - 1943 - Red Army - Hero City

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According to some historians, Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin delayed the breaking of the siege and stymied the evacuation of the city with the intention of letting its intelligentsia perish at the hands of the Germans. Many of those Leningraders who were evacuated to distant corners of the Soviet Union never returned to their home city.

Related Topics:
Soviet - Joseph Stalin - Intelligentsia

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The war damaged the city and killed off many of those old Petersburgers who had not fled after the revolution and did not perish in the mass purges before the war. Nonetheless, Leningrad and many of its suburbs were rebuilt over the following decades to the old drawings. Though changes in the social fabric were more permanent, the city remained an intellectual and arts centre.

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union on September 6, 1991, a bare majority (54%) of the population agreed to restore "the original name, Saint Petersburg"(see above). As well as the city, 39 streets, six bridges, three Saint Petersburg Metro stations and six parks were renamed. Nevertheless, some, especially older people, still use the old names and, for example, use the old addresses on letters. The name releases positive associations particularly in connection with the siege - so that on holidays even authorities call places connected with World War 2 "Hero city Leningrad". Among young people the name Leningrad seems to be a vague protest against the new society. One of the most successful bands in Russia, a Ska punk band from Saint Petersburg, called themselves Leningrad (not to be confused with ' ' Leningrad Cowboys from Finland).

Related Topics:
September 6 - 1991 - Saint Petersburg Metro - Ska punk - Leningrad Cowboys

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After a popular vote the name of the Oblast (administrative province) of which the city is the capital remained Leningrad Oblast.

Related Topics:
Oblast - Leningrad Oblast

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Population

According to results of the last census (October 9, 2002), St. Petersburg has 4,159,635 inhabitants. That amounts to roughly 3 per cent of the populations of Russia as a whole. The average monthly salary 2003 was 6179 rubles (about 176 euros).

Related Topics:
Census - October 9 - 2002 - 2003 - Rubles - Euro

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Since it was founded, the city has seen strong social contrasts, the situation of many people hardened after the Perestroika. Beggars and old women selling what they brought from the countryside now can be seen frequently. About 15 per cent of the population lives in kommunalkas.

Related Topics:
Perestroika - Kommunalka

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People can only move to St. Petersburg if they can show they have a room and a job or if they are married to an inhabitant of St. Petersburg. Probably many people don't have this registration and are living thus on an illegal or semi-legal status (and they are not included in the census). The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates there are up to 16,000 children living on the street (as of 2000).

Related Topics:
International Labour Organization - 2000

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Officially the city is inhabited to 89.1 per cent by Russians. 2.1 per cent Jews, 1.9 per cent Ukrainians, 1.9 per cent Belarusians follow up, as well as substantial numbers of Tatars, Uzbeks, Vepsians, Finns, and peoples from Caucasus (with many illegal immigrants).

Related Topics:
Jews - Ukrainians - Belarusians - Tatars - Uzbeks - Vepsians - Finns - Caucasus

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As for religions most are Russian Orthodox, while many others are atheist etc.

Related Topics:
Russian Orthodox - Atheist

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Population development

The following charts show the numbers of inhabitants. Until 1944 these were mostly estimates, but the figures for 1959 to 2002 come from census returns, and the figure for 2005 is an estimate.

Related Topics:
1944 - 1959 - 2002 - Census - 2005

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