The First Years of “Friendship and Brotherhood” in the Ukrainian-Muscovy Trade of the Mid-Seventeenth Century

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to characterize the difficult relations between the authorities of Ukraine and Muscovy in the field of trade in the middle of the 17th century.

The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and determinism. The author used both general scientific (system analysis, synthesis, analogy, abstraction, generalization) and special-historical (critical work with sources, comparability, problemchronological) methods.

Scientific novelty. For the first time, the question of the existence of an all-Russian single market and the inclusion of the national market of Ukrainians is raised based on contemporary sources.

Conclusions. In the first years of the National revolution of the 17th century, the withdrawal from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of a large part of the Ukrainian lands significantly restricted the foreign trade of their inhabitants in the direction of Western Europe, and encouraged it to intensify in the direction of the northern neighbour and eastern states. At this stage of economic development, hetman B.Khmelnytskyi managed to maintain some independence and relatively democratic nature of trade with foreign countries, and to focus the policy on favourable relations with foreign merchants, including Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Greek, partly Turkish and the Crimean Khanate’s ones.