NOVGOROD IN HER GLORY. 



199 



the northern autocrat. At that time " Great Novgorod " was the emporium of 

 European trade with East Russia, and even with Asia. Through Lake Ilmen, the 

 river Lovat, and the portages she communicated with the Volga, Dniester, and 

 Dnieper basins ; by the river Volkkov and Lake Ladoga she commanded the 

 highways of the Euxine and Gulf of Finland. Her commercial and colonising 

 settlements stretched from Lapland to the Urals. But while well situated for 



Via; 97.— Kiev: The Goldkn Gate. 



defensive purposes, her distance from the sea protecting her from sudden inroads, 

 Novgorod did not enjoy equal advantages for aggressive warfare. Most of her 

 territory was unproductive and almost uninhabited, and intercepted caravans 

 might reduce her to a state of famine. The city was torn by the dissensions of 

 the powerful families and trade rivalries, and this internecine strife encouraged 

 the great princes of Moscow to extend their power from the Kremlin to Novgorod. 



