Awaiting a miracle -- The double-edged sword -- Determined to diversify -- Reaping the demographic dividend -- Greasing the wheels of exchange -- Build it and they will come -- All together now? -- The imperative of change -- Navigating choppy waters -- Charting the way forward.

This work is the first comprehensive assessment of Russia's foreign trade flows and economic growth in the seventeenth century. By demonstrating the growing openness of the economy, it reveals a key element in Russia's rise to great power status