6. Social and economic conditions in Russia about 1700. [W. R. Morfill, Story of Russia, N. Y., Putnam, 1900, $1.50, chap. 13; H. M. Thompson, Russian politics, N. Y., 1896, chap. 2.] 7. History of Russia in the eighteenth century. [Manuals of European history; Thompson, chap. 3.] BIBLIOGRAPHY Aside from fragmentary sections in the current manuals the reader of English will find little literature available on the history of commerce in the minor states. Such suggestions for collateral reading as are given above will probably satisfy the needs of students who are not sufficiently advanced to use foreign languages. TOPICS FOR REVIEW After covering the history of commerce in different countries the student will find it profitable to review certain general topics, piecing together what he has learned of their local history and endeavoring to get a clear conception of the general development. The following are suggested for study in the modern period (1500-1800): (_a_) shipping; (_b_) transportation on roads and rivers; (_c_) production and exchange of foodstuffs; (_d_) production and exchange of textile materials (flax, wool, cotton, silk); (_e_) production and exchange of finished textiles (linen, woolen, cotton, silk); (_f_) production and exchange of iron; (_g_) development of the system of manufactures (gild, domestic and factory systems); (_h_) development of banking; (_i_) effect of wars on the commerce of different countries; (_j_) European colonial systems; (_k_) commercial policy; (_l_) trade of Europe with Asia; (_m_) trade of Europe with North and South America. PART IV.—RECENT COMMERCE CHAPTER XXVIII COMMERCE AND COAL =315. Statistical survey of development since 1800.=—In entering the nineteenth century the student approaches the period in which commerce has achieved the most notable progress. Great as former advances may have seemed to the people in whose time they occurred, these sink almost to insignificance when compared with the growth of commerce since 1800. A recent estimate by a German author pictures the progress of the export and import trade of the commercial countries of the world as follows, in milliards of marks (roughly, units of 250 million dollars): 1700, 0.5; 1750, 1.0; 1800, 6; 1850, 17; 1899, 76. Some of the striking features of recent growth are shown in the following table. It is necessary, however, to warn the student that these figures, especially those for the earlier part of the century, can be regarded only as approximations to the truth. It may not be out of place, further, to advise the student to turn to the end of the chapter for suggestions as to the best way of studying the figures.