The present study deals with Riga's export to and imports from Denmark as well as the extent of Danish ship traffic in the port of Riga. It establishes the kind of commodities that were traded and describes the development of trade and shipping. It attempts, moreover, to clarify the conditions that influenced that development. 

The sources on which the study is based are of Russian origin. They consist of summary lists of various commodity exports from Riga to Denmark, figures on the ruble value of Riga's total export and import trade with Denmark, and statistics on the number of Danish ships engaged in Riga's trade. The source material consists of records kept by custom officials in Riga. 

As shown in Table 1, in most of the years of the period Riga's export to Denmark consisted of flax, hemp and tow, which until the mid-1790s constituted 80 to 95 per cent of all annual exports; after 1794 from one-fifth to two-thirds of it. 

Of other commodities only grain was significant, especially so after 1794, when it accounted for a large portion of the outgoing trade. During the critical years when Danish agriculture was unable to meet domestic demand, Riga, as the study shows, helped to mitigate the difficulties. There were particularly heavy imports of Russian grain in the Norwegian territory of the Danish realm. 

Riga also exported timber to Denmark (see Table la). For technical reasons it has not been possible to calculate the monetary value. 

It is widely held that the extent of Danish trade in the boom years of the second half of the eighteenth century was closely related to the political situation in Europe. In virtue of its neutrality during the numerous great wars of the period, it prospered on cargoes that in times of peace would have been carried by the ships of other nations. The phenomenon is apparent in colonial and Mediterranean trade as well as in shipping to and from the belligerent countries. 

The present study shows that Riga's export to Denmark and Danish shipping activity were most extensive during the war years at the beginning of the 1760s, around 1780 and from the 1790s to 1807. 

The fact that exports were greatest in wartime was due to an increase in deliveries to the Copenhagen transit depots (at least in the case of hemp) and to the need of meeting a rise in Danish domestic demand (presumably for use in shipbuilding and for export manufacturing). The connection can be demonstrated for the second half of the 1780s and for the 1790s, but due to the state of the sources, not for the 1760s, while for the years around 1780 it can only be demonstrated with regard to domestic consumption. 

It can be shown on the basis of figures for exports and shipping that the wars had an impact during the years prior to and including 1794 in the sense that they gave rise to a general increase in Riga's exports, including those to Denmark. During this period Denmark did not increase its share in the market at the expense of other countries during times of war. On the other hand, neither did it lose its share of the market in times of peace, despite a drop measured in absolute figures. 

It is shown, however, that during the periods of war between 1795 and 1807, Denmark did increase its share of the market, and this included both the Riga export trade and total shipping activity. 

The study also demonstrates that aggregate Danish shipping expanded at an increasing rate decade by decade. 

There was, thus, a double trend: a long-term trend based on an expansion of international trade relations; and a short-term trend contingent on opportunities created (or not created) by current political conditions. 

Denmark made a notable mark on the Riga market, especially in consideration of the fact that it was a relatively small nation. Its ships made up the third largest single group (Table 5), and it was the third largest recipient of Riga's exports (Table 3). Danish ships were greatly in evidence in the shipping lanes between Riga and southern Europe, particularly in the flax traffic. Riga was the principal Russian destination for Danish shipping. 

Unfortunately, there are no summary records on Riga's imports from Denmark, but there are figures on the ruble value of total annual imports for three different years during the period. A comparison of the ruble value of imports and exports shows that, like most other countries, Denmark's commerce with Riga resulted in a large trade deficit. Its share in deliveries to Riga was considerably smaller than its share in Riga's outgoing trade, which means that selling domestic wares on the Riga market was particularly difficult for Denmark. There were several reasons for this: the competition was cutthroat, Russian merchants demanded large credits, and Denmark was short on a number of the most important Russian imports. Danish export to Russia, Riga thus included, consisted mostly of groceries, especially sugar, but also coffee. 

Translated by Michael Wolfe