Russia and the Medical Drug Trade in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

This article investigates the medical drug trade in seventeenth-century Russia, detailing grits of previously unexplored archival sources from the Moscow court’s Apothecary Chancery. It reveals the global scope of drug imports—from East Asia and the Americas to local produce—and challenges prevailing narratives of Russian medicine as overwhelmingly western‑derived. Griffin demonstrates significant diversity in the provisioned substances and highlights how state policy shaped access and usage of medicinal goods