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Definition of arkhangelsk in English English dictionary
- a city in northwestern Russia on the White Sea
- or Archangel City (pop, 1999 est.: 366,200), northwestern Russia. Located at the head of the Dvina Gulf, it has a large harbour kept open in winter by icebreakers. The area was settled by Norsemen in the 10th century AD. In 1553 it was visited by the English who were looking for the Northeast Passage. Founded in 1584 as a monastery of Michael the archangel, it became a trading station of the Muscovy Co. Opened to European trade by Tsar Boris Godunov, it flourished as the sole Russian seaport until St. Petersburg was built in 1703. It was the scene of British, French, and U.S. support of the northern Russian government against the Bolsheviks in 1918-19. In World War II it received convoys of lend-lease goods from Britain and the U.S. (1941-45). It is a major timber-exporting port and has extensive shipbuilding facilities