asants' army to unseat the Poles from the Moscow Kremlin, little was accomplished and their seemed no end in sight for the occupation of the Russian tsardom. One year later however Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky founded yet another peasants' army in Nizhny Novgorod, that on the way to Moscow, found itself stationed in Yaroslavl for many months. In this time from April to June 1612 Yaroslavl became the de facto capital of the Russian state, since in this place the most important matters of state were settled until the eventual lieration of Moscow came. After its time in Yaroslavl the peasants' army moved on towards Moscow, and with thanks to the rest and help they had received voluntarily from the people of Yaroslavl, the army was able to liberate Moscow and finally put an end to the Polish-Lithuanian 'intervention' in the affairs of the Russian state.
Yaroslavl as a trading post and government center
Yaroslavl's Volkov Square as it would have appeared before the reconstruction of the Volkov Theater in the early 1900s
With the general economic revival of the Russian state's economy after the end of the Troubles, Yaroslavl continued to be an important trading post and retained its place on the route of numerous traditional trading routes from the West to East and vice versa. By way of theVolga trade was carried out with the lands of the Orient, and it was not unheard of to see ships from India and China bringing goods to Europe by way of Yaroslavl. The northern trade route through the city ran to the port of Arkhangelsk in Russia's far north, whilst other Eastern trade lines ran East over the Urals to Siberia. The town benefited very much from its geographical location over the years and the wealth which business produced for the town helped ensure its prosperous future. In fact, in the 17th century a number of early industrial concerns were set up in the city, including a number of leather-working shops, in which around 700 people
