Published: 2025-09-30

Both on Water and on Land: The Structure of River Ports and Harbours in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries

Rimantas Bedulskis
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM73.2025.2.001

Abstract

Based on historical sources, historiography, and archaeological evidence, this article examines the structure of river ports and harbours in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
between the 16th and 18th centuries. Sources referred to riverside settlements as „port” (in Polish and Ruthenian) and „przystań” (or „pristanʹ” in Ruthenian). A “port” was
usually located in larger urban centres, while smaller towns and landed estates had “harbours.” The main distinction was based on quantitative and qualitative differences,
with ports featuring wharves, warehouses, and shipyards, while harbours relied on natural sites for loading and unloading. The conducted study shows how people used
the natural conditions for navigation.

Keywords:

river ports, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, history of connection, early modern period, inland navigation, historical geography

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Citation rules

Bedulskis, R. (2025). Both on Water and on Land: The Structure of River Ports and Harbours in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 73(2), 159–180. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM73.2025.2.001

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