Lake Kubenskoye
Until 1703, the Northern Dvina was the main waterway connecting Russia and Europe, and Arkhangelsk was the main Russian harbor used for foreign trade. In 1703, Saint Petersburg was founded, and Peter the Great issued a number of decrees limiting capacities of Arkhangelsk as a sea port and intended to reroute foreign trade to the Baltic Sea. Arkhangelsk was fully restored as a sea port in 1762, and thus water connections between the Northern Dvina basin and central Russia were badly needed. In 1798 research started on the best route for a canal connecting the Sheksna and Lake Kubenskoye.