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Post of Ingermanland

On the territory of Ingermanland regular public state post appeared as early as in the XVIIth century. After Ingermanland merged in the Russian Empire in 1724, the laws of the Russian post began to function there. During the years of the Civil War there was an attempt to create its own postage stamp on the territories lying on the banks of the Neva River.

Postage stamp of Ingria with a church in Toksovo. 1919. Settlement Kirjasalo

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On the territory of Ingermanland that was part of the grounds belonging to Great Noovgorod under the title of Vod▓skaya pyatina before it was conquered by the troops of the Moscow tsar Ivan the Terrible there was a practice of transmitting non-regular messages for long distances on the birch bark manuscripts when there was an unexpected turn. Rich Novogorodian boyars and merchants sent their servants with messages to remote baronies.

With the intrusion of the Moscow troops equestrian ⌠coachmen racing■ taken from Tartars began to function. The services of the ⌠racing■ were meant only for the tsar and his servitors; with small changes this medieval ⌠feldyeger service■ exists in Russia even up to now.

On the territory of Ingermanland, once belonging to the Kingdom of Sweden, regular public state post appeared much earlier that in Russia. The first record about the post in Ingria dates from the 1630. Due to the proper royal politics new territories harmoniously merged in the Kingdom of Sweden. Regular royal post of Sweden functioned from 1636 and as early as in 1638 regular postal connection was organized on the territory of Finland and Ingermanland. The idea to organize the post belonged to the King Gustav the II Adolf and the king▓s advisor Aksel Okseshtern, who joint all the parts of the kingdom under the power of central administration.

On the 2nd of July 1638 Bernhard Stern von Shternhausen, king▓s bailiff and postmaster of Finland reported to government to Stockholm about the creation of the post network of the Baltic provinces. By the end of the summer the route Stocholm ≈ Abo (Turku) ≈ Helsingfors (Helsinki) ≈ Porvo ≈ Vyborg ≈ Nien (today▓s Petersburg) ≈ Yam (Kingisepp) ≈ Narva ≈ Riga and further to Europe was opened up. Post was delivered to all the ends of the kingdom by slightly armed equestrian or pedestrian postmen and from Tallinn, Abo and Danzig by sea with one-masted packet-ship. On the territory of Ingermanland there were two functioning post routes: one on the coast of the Finnish Gulf, along the Royal Road, guarded by the naval armed watchmen through Terioki (Zelenogorsk) ≈ Lahta ≈ Nien ≈ Krasny Kabachok ≈ Strelna ≈ Tjure (Lomonosov) ≈ Uhimjaki (Krasnaya Gorka) ≈ Kaprio (Koporje) ≈ Soikola (Soikino) ≈ Kupkula ≈ Hakaja ≈ Kaivere ≈ Narva. Second, the longer one, went along the ancient trade route from Valkesari (Beloostrov) ≈ Nien ≈ settlement Spasskoe ≈ Ropsha ≈ Kipen▓ ≈ Begunitsy ≈ Jam ≈ Ivangorod ≈ Narva (now it▓s the route of theTallinn highway). On the territory of Ingermanland the post operation was entrusted by royal officials to the local people; they worked as postmen, took care of the road condition, bridges and post stations that were at the distance of 5 Swedish leagues (50 km). Post offices, where the correspondence was gathered and sorted, were situated in the kingdom towns. The first postal tariff was asserted on the 6th of September 1638.

Post card of Northern Ingria. 1999. 150 Years of publishing ⌠Kalevala■

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After Ingermanland became part of the Russian Empire in 1724 the tariffs and laws of the Russian post became valid on its territory. Changes occurred during the end of the First World War. On the ruins of the former Russian Empire new independent states were born: Finland, Poland, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Each country strived for independence from the former empire and aspired not only to edit its own national currency but also its own postage stamps. This not only stabilizes economics but also has political objective ≈ to declare to the world the existence of a new political subject. The idea of editing of postage stamps of Ingria on the territory of the former Petrograd Guberniya was heartily discussed as early as in 1919 by the captain of Ingermanlandian regiment E.Haapkockb, the author of Ingermanlandian flag. During the time of the invasion of Ingermanlandian regiment from Estonian direction the territories of Jamburg (Kingisepp) and Oranienbaum countries populated mainly by Finno-Ugric population, were freed from the Bolsheviks and the work of the remains of the Russian post on this vast territory was interrupted.

Provisional Ingermanlandian Committee (government) on this territory, containing Finnish autonomous authorities, along with the everyday problems, judicial and administrative problems was to solve the problems of the local post. But because of the hard defensive battles and endless quarrels with the command of the Russian North-Western army emission of the postage stamps was stopped.

Emission of the postage stamps of Ingermanland was realized in 1920 in a settlement Kir▓asalo on the border with Finland at Karelian Isthmus. The idea of the subjects of the stamps belongs to a former colonel of the tsarist army Jury Elfengren, a commander of the Ingermanlandian regiment. During the years of existence of the Republic of Ingermanland 14 stamps were edited, one standard series with a coat of arms of Ingria (reminding of the standard issue of stamps of Finland in 1918) with the nominal value from 10 pennies to 10 marks. On a standard monochrome series there was a coat of arms of Ingria of 1600 with an inscription in Finnish: ⌠Nothern Ingria■. The author of both series was Franz Kamara. The postage stamps were printed in a printing-office of the settlement Kir▓asalo by the craftsman Linshtedt.

Block of stamps. Finland 1985. Postal map of Sweden in 1638 with the territory of Ingermanland

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The commemorative two-colour series of stamps of Ingria opens a stamp with a nominal value of 10 pennies with a coat of arms of Ingria; on a stamp with the nominal value of 30 pennies there is a blacksmith, on a stamp of 50 pennies ≈ a ploughman, on 80 pennies ≈ a shepherd. A stamp with a nominal value of 1 Finnish mark is decorated with the reapers in the field, with the nominal value of 5 marks ≈ a church in Toksovo, with the nominal value of 10 marks ≈ a Lembolovo landscape with an episode from the finish epos ⌠Kalevala■.

The number of the copies of stamps was not big, the sendings were mainly to Finland; nowadays they cannot be come across in Russia, especially in St. Petersburg. We know only a few envelopes with a postage-due-stamp of Kirjasalo.

After the disintegration of the USSR in 1992 the work of the former Ministry of Communications was interrupted. The postal tariffs were changed very quickly; there wasn▓t enough quantity of postage stamps of various nominal values. In these conditions many former regions of the USSR have organized the emission of the local independent ⌠provisional stamps■ that were valid on the whole territory of the former USSR.

There was an issue of 100 sheets of stamps with a black overprint ⌠IJORA INKERI INGERMANLAND■ for the needs of the Ingermanlandian society. As an example was taken a stamp from the XIIIth standard issue of the USSR, with the nominal value of 1 kopek: 10 rubles for the region of the former USSR and 100 rubles for sending abroad.

Further on postal envelopes without stamps were printed and post cards related to Ingermanland.