FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2021-102 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (May 27, 2021) – In Issue 2021-102 of Steve Kovacs Fun with Maps, we visit the former Leningrad in Russia.

Link to the West

Peter the Great wanted to “modernize” his empire and wanted to help achieve that by establishing a sea access to the West.

Thus, he founded the city on the Neva River as it meets the Baltic Sea on top of an old Swedish fort in 1703 on this day.

This city has now about 5.3 million residents and is the northernmost city with over one million.  It is the cultural capital of Russia.

That city is Saint Petersburg, formerly Leningrad (1924-1991), named after Lenin.

On a side note, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the Russian revolutionary used many pseudonyms, with Lenin, after the River Lena, being the most common, and the one that stuck.  His birth last name was Ulyanov, so maybe the city should have been Ulyanovgrad for a while?

Here is an 1894 map of St. Petersburg by Schelansago.

1894 map of St. Petersburg (Credit Steve Kovacs) :

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Antique Maps & Fun Facts here on Loveland Beacon