ABSTRACT
This chapter explores concrete examples of the impact made by Novgorod's maritime trade with its western partners on the functioning of Novgorod's 'republican' political institutions as well as the influence exerted by Novgorod-Western contacts on the attitudes in the West towards Novgorod and its political system in the West. Novgorod arose in the Ilmen lowland area, on the elevated territories along the Volkhov river not far from its source on Lake Ilmen. The policy of Novgorod towards its periphery may be labelled as a 'carrot-and-stick' approach. It apparently went beyond military campaigns, annexations and imposing tributes. The natural and geographical conditions of the Novgorod Land are notable for their ambiguity. Novgorod chronicles give indications that Pskov belonged to Novgorod's volost'. Novgorodians even had the notion of Pskovites as their 'younger brothers' and tried to exploit this idea for political purposes.
