Editing Neva (section)

== History ==

=== Before 1700 ===
Many sites of ancient people, up to nine thousand years old, were found within the territory of the Neva basin. It is believed that around twelve thousand years BC, [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finnic people]] ([[Votians|Votes]] and [[Izhorians]]) moved to this area from the [[Ural Mountains]].<ref name="Predystoriya Sankt-Peterburga">Sharymov, Alexander [https://books.google.com/books?id=NaXFAQAACAAJ '' History of St. Petersburg. 1703. Book studies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074031/https://books.google.com/books?id=NaXFAQAACAAJ |date=10 April 2023 }}. Journal Neva, 2004; {{ISBN|5-87516-044-6}}</ref>

In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, the area was inhabited by the [[East Slavs]] who were mainly engaged in [[slash and burn]] agriculture, hunting and fishing. From the 8th to 13th centuries, Neva provided a waterway from Scandinavia to the [[Byzantine Empire]]. In the 9th century, the area belonged to [[Veliky Novgorod]].<ref name=hist1>Ezhov, V. A. (1986) [https://books.google.com/books?id=7GQdAAAAMAAJ ''Ленинградская область: исторический очерк''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074014/https://books.google.com/books?id=7GQdAAAAMAAJ |date=10 April 2023 }}. (Leningrad Oblast: a historical sketch, in Russian), Lenizdat.</ref> The Neva was already mentioned in the ''[[Life of Alexander Nevsky]]'' (13th century).<ref name="Pushkinsky dom">[http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4962 Electronic publication of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), RAS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201120023/http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=4962 |date=1 February 2019 }}. Lib.pushkinskijdom.ru. Retrieved 13 July 2013.</ref> At that time, Veliky Novgorod was engaged in nearly constant wars with Sweden. A major battle occurred on 15 July 1240 at the confluence of the Izhora and Neva Rivers. The Russian army, led by the 20-year-old Prince [[Alexander Nevsky|Alexander Yaroslavich]], aimed to stop the planned Swedish invasion. The Swedish army was defeated; the prince showed personal courage in combat and received the honorary name of "Nevsky".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASVlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA855|page=855|title=The biographical dictionary of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, Volume 1|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans|year=1842|access-date=3 December 2021|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074041/https://books.google.com/books?id=ASVlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA855|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00davi_0|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00davi_0/page/8 8]|title=A concise history of Finland|author=Kirby, D. G. |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-521-83225-X}}</ref>

As a result of the Russian defeat in the [[Ingrian War]] of 1610–17 and the concomitant [[Treaty of Stolbovo]], the area of the Neva River became part of [[Swedish Ingria]]. Beginning in 1642, the capital of Ingria was Nyen, a city near the [[Nyenschantz]] fortress. Because of financial and religious oppression, much of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] population left the Neva region, emptying 60&nbsp;percent of the villages by 1620. The abandoned areas became populated by people from the [[Karelian Isthmus]] and [[Savonia (historical province)|Savonia]].<ref>[http://www.sablino.ru/lomon/kop_76_5.htm В "ПЛЕНУ" У ШВЕДОВ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227150843/http://www.sablino.ru/lomon/kop_76_5.htm |date=27 February 2018 }}. (In "captivity" of the Swedes, in Russian). Sablino.ru.</ref>
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| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Chorikov.jpg|center|140px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Siege of Nöteborg (1702).jpg|center|240px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Ladogacanal.jpg|center|225px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Map of Saint-Petersburg in 1720 (Homann).jpg|center|185px]]
|-
|''Victory of [[Alexander Nevsky]] over the Swedes'' by B. Chorikov
| ''Assault on the [[Shlisselburg|Oreshek]] fortress on 11 October 1702'' by [[Alexander Kotzebue]]
|Map of the Peter the Great Canal (1742)
|Map of St. Petersburg (1720)
 |}

===Russian period===
{{main|History of Saint Petersburg}}
As a result of the [[Great Northern War]] of 1700–21, the valley of Neva River became part of [[Russian Empire]]. On 16 May 1703, the city of St. Petersburg was founded in the mouth of Neva and became capital of Russia in 1712.<ref name=hist1 /> Neva became the central part of the city. It was cleaned, intersected with canals and enclosed with embankments. In 1715, construction began of the first wooden embankment between the [[Admiralty building, Saint Petersburg|Admiralty building]] and the [[Summer Garden]]. In the early 1760s works started to cover it in [[granite]] and to build bridges across Neva and its canals and tributaries, such as the [[Hermitage Bridge]].<ref name=SPBe />

From 1727 to 1916, the temporary [[Isaakievsky Bridge|Isaakievsky pontoon bridge]] was early constructed between the modern [[Saint Isaac's Square]] and [[Vasilievsky Island]]. A similar, but much longer Trinity pontoon bridge, which spanned {{convert|500|m|ft}}, was brought from the Summer Garden to [[Petrogradsky Island]]. The first permanent bridge across Neva, [[Blagoveshchensky Bridge]], was opened in 1850, and the second, [[Liteyny Bridge]], came into operation in 1879.<ref name=SPBe/>

In 1858, a "Joint-stock company St. Petersburg water supply" was established, which built the first water supply network in the city. A two-stage water purification station was constructed in 1911. The development of the sewerage system began only in 1920, after the [[October Revolution]], and by 1941, the sewerage network was {{convert|1130|km|mi}} long.<ref name=SPBe/>

Every winter from 1895 to 1910, electric [[tram]]ways were laid on the ice of the river, connecting the [[Senate Square (Saint Petersburg)|Senate Square]], [[Vasilievsky island]], [[Palace Embankment]] and other parts of the city. The power was supplied through the rails and a top cable supported by wooden piles frozen into the ice. The service was highly successful and ran without major accidents except for a few failures in the top electrical wires. The trams ran at the speed of {{convert|20|km/h|mph}} and could carry 20 passengers per carriage. The carriages were converted from the used [[horsecar]]s. About 900,000 passengers were transported over a regular season between 20 January and 21 March. The sparking of contacts at the top wires amused spectators in the night.<ref>[http://www.opeterburge.ru/transport_521.html Трамвай в Санкт-Петербурге] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924061603/http://www.opeterburge.ru/transport_521.html |date=24 September 2015 }}. (Tram in St. Petersburg, in Russian). www.opeterburge.ru</ref><ref>[http://babs71.livejournal.com/210247.html Через Неву по льду] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727212805/http://babs71.livejournal.com/210247.html |date=27 July 2011 }}. (Over Neva on ice, in Russian). livejournal.com</ref><ref>[http://vppress.ru/stories/za-tri-kopeyki-cherez-nevu-6469 За три копейки через Неву] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901201015/http://vppress.ru/stories/za-tri-kopeyki-cherez-nevu-6469 |date=1 September 2011 }}. (For 3 kopeks over Neva, in Russian), ''Vechernii St. Petersburg'' (5 February 2010).</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgO3AAAAIAAJ|title=From horsecar to tram: History of transport in St. Petersburg|editor=Shapilov, E.|language=ru|isbn=5-87417-002-2|year=1994|access-date=3 December 2021|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410074000/https://books.google.com/books?id=JgO3AAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
{| Class = "wikitable" style = "text-align: center"
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| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Makhayev, Kachalov - View of Neva Downstream between Winter Palace and Academy of Sciences 1753 (right).jpg|center|200px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Beggrov2.jpg|center|210px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Bogolyubov SmolnyBolshOch2.jpg|center|200px]]
| style="width:25%;"|[[File:Floods in Saint Petersburg 1900-e 011.jpg|center|220px]]
|-
|View down the Neva River between the [[Winter Palace]] and St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Engraving of 1753.
|[[Palace Embankment]] (1826)
|View on the [[Smolny Convent]] from Bolshaya Ohta (1851)
|[[Tram]]ways on the frozen Neva ([[commons:Category:Trams on ice in Saint Petersburg|more images]])
 |}

=== Soviet and modern periods ===
{{main|History of Saint Petersburg}}

The first concrete bridge across Neva, the [[Volodarsky Bridge]], was built in 1936.<ref>Antonov, B.I. "Bridges of St. petersburg", Glagol, 2002.</ref> During World War II, from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944, Leningrad was in the devastating [[Siege of Leningrad|German Siege]]. On 30 August 1941, the German army captured Mga and came to Neva. On 8 September Germans captured Shlisselburg and cut all land communications and waterways to St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). The siege was partly relieved in January 1943, and ended on 27 January 1944.<ref name=hist1 />

A river station was built above the Volodarsky Bridge in 1970 which could accept 10 large ships at a time. Wastewater treatment plants were built in Krasnoselsk in 1978, on the Belyi Island in 1979–83, and in [[Olgino]] in 1987–94. The South-West Wastewater Treatment Plant was constructed in 2003–05.<ref name = SPBe/>