Staraya Ladoga Staraya Ladoga Staraya Ladoga (); ; ) is a rural locality (a "selo") in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga, north of the town of Volkhov, the administrative center of the district. It used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries. A multi-ethnic settlement, it was dominated by Scandinavians who were called by the name of Rus'. For that reason, it is sometimes called the first capital of Russia. Dendrochronology suggests that Ladoga was founded in 753. Until 950, it was one of the most important trading
Lake Komsomolskoye the Lake Ladoga depression, a graben and syncline structure of Proterozoic age (Precambrian). Deglaciation following the Weichsel glaciation took place in the Lake Ladoga basin between 12,500 and 11,500 radiocarbon years BP. During the existence of Lake Komsomolskoye there have been three sharp drops in the water level, so that the shore consists of small but distinctive terraces formed on the banks. The shores of the lake are indented with several bays and inlets, overgrown with sedges and reeds. On the south-eastern shore of the lake is the village of . At the northern extremity of the lake are the