Ladoga Canal major canals constructed in Russia. It was one of the projects of Peter the Great, who ordered its construction in 1718. Rapid economic development in Russia required a significant expansion of routes, especially waterways. One part of the Vyshny Volochek waterway (1709) linking the Volga river to the Baltic Sea, passed through Lake Ladoga. The Ladoga section of the route was one of the most difficult and dangerous because the lake is prone to winds and storms which destroyed hundreds of cargo ships. Peter the Great decided to avoid the navigation in the huge and stormy lake by building a
Staraya Ladoga river"), was rendered as "Aldeigja" in Old Norse and later as "Ladoga" in Old East Slavic. "Staraya" is Russian for "Old". According to the Hypatian Codex that was created at the end of the 13th century, the legendary Varangian leader Rurik arrived at Ladoga in 862 and made it his capital. Rurik later moved to Novgorod and his successors then to Kiev where foundations for the powerful state of Kievan Rus' were laid. There are several huge kurgans, or royal funerary barrows, at the outskirts of Ladoga. One of them is said to be Rurik's grave, and another one—that of