Archangel
Archangel names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Archangel or ST. MICHAEL
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or ST. MICHAEL, capital of the province of the same name, and the principal city and seaport of northern Russia, lies on the Dwina, about 34 miles from its fall into the White Sea. During the European War (1914-1918) it became the chief port of Russia. There is a government dockyard, and numerous private shipbuilding The entrance to the ing concerns. Dwina, on which Archangel was subse quently built, was discovered by Richard Chancellour, an Englishman, in 1554. Pop. about 36,000. An American force was landed in this city in the latter part of 1918, in conjunction with British, Japanese, and French forces. They were maintained there for many months for the ostensible purpose of guarding supplies which had been placed there for the former Russian Government. Important military operations were carried on around Archangel in the early months of 1919. The Bolshevist forces attacked the city, and the Russian troops under Admiral Kolchak were obliged to withdraw. American forces took no active part in these operations and they were withdrawn in June, 1919. For an account of the military operations in and around Archangel, see RUSSIA.
Archangel a Russia in Europe
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Russia in Europe, occupying the entire country from the Ural Mountains on the to Finland on the W., and from the Vologda and Olonetz on the S. to the Arctic Ocean and White Sea on the N. Nova Zembla, and some large islands of the Arctic Sea are also included within it; area 331,640 square miles. The largest part of this great territory is bleak, sandy, and perpetually sterile. The principal source of wealth lies in the forests, which are almost inexhaustible. Hunting and fishing are the principal occupations of the inhabitants. The reindeer, among the Laps in the N. W., and the Samoyedes in the N. E., is domesthe are hay, ticated. Chief productions hemp, cordage, mats, tallow, tar, turpentine, potash, etc. The natives, though of Finnish ish origin, have now become essentially Russian. The Samoyedes, who are in the lowest scale of civilization, and spread over a vast tract of country, do not exceed in number 7,000; the Laps, not more than 2,000. The chief towns are Archangel, the capital, Onega, and Dwina. Pop. about 510,000.
Archangel an ancient seaport on the Arctic coast of Russia
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an ancient seaport on the Arctic coast of Russia. Latitude 64 degree 32' N., longitude 40 degree 33' E. Archangel is situated on the east bank of the Dwina, twenty miles from the White Sea. It is connected with Moscow by railway, and is noted, not only as the most northerly railroad terminus in Russia, but as the most ancient, and for several centuries the only, seaport of that country. From western Europe it is approached only by a long voyage around the north of Norway and Finland, a trip three or four times as long as that to Iceland. During the winter season the port is sealed for eight months by arctic ice. During a short summer, ships are loaded with tar, timber, fish oil, tallow, flax, hemp, and oats, in exchange for groceries, tools, and clothing. Large saw-mills have sprung up in the vicinity. Population, 21,930. See Hammerfest ; Arctic Regions ; Spitzbergen
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 the American troops had just gone home and the town held "about 36,000" people; today Arkhangelsk is a city of roughly 300,000 and its port is kept working through the winter by icebreakers rather than being "sealed for eight months by arctic ice" as Aiton's put it in 1910. Its greatest moment came in 1941-45, when it and Murmansk received the Arctic convoys carrying Allied lend-lease supplies past U-boats and pack ice to the Soviet Union. The province Collier's described as "bleak, sandy, and perpetually sterile" acquired two of the Soviet Union's most secret installations: Novaya Zemlya, listed here simply as "Nova Zembla," became the nuclear test range where the 50-megaton Tsar Bomba was detonated in 1961, and the Plesetsk cosmodrome south of the city became for years the world's busiest space launch site. The Samoyedes of the old account are now called Nenets and have their own autonomous district on the Arctic coast.
Written for this edition, 2026.