ABSTRACT
During the introduction of the state reforms of 1719–24 central offices were created to administer commerce and industry: the Mining and Manufactories College (in 1722 it was divided in two, the Mining and the Manufactories colleges), the Commerce College, and the Main Municipal Administration. Before this, Russia lacked similar institutions (the Ore-digging bureau of 1710–11, resurrected in 1715 in the form of the Ore Chancery, could not compare with the Mining College in either designation or scope or level of centralization).
