Roads of the Russian-Belarusian Borderland in the 15th — 17th Centuries: the Experience of European Travelers

Abstract

The trans-regional road network served as a territorial framework, determined the level of mobility of people and influenced the development of territories. In the course of our study, nine roads of Russian-Belarussian borderland of the 15th — 17th centuries were reconstructed. The state of road structural elements was analyzed, presence and quality of the existing artificial road structures and infrastructural elements were determined, the actual length of the road sections between the settlements was established. Conclusions about travel speed and comfort along the borderlands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Russian state were made. Twenty diary entries, messages and reports of foreign travelers were selected as the source for communication quality study. The main criteria for the data selection were the route fixation by the author and personal traveler experience description. For every informant, the Russian-Belarussian borderland was a transit region on a long journey from the starting point to that of destination.