Nearly the whole of Tver is watered by the upper Volga (350 miles) and its tributaries, several of which (Vazuza, Dubna, Sestra, Tvertsa, and the tributaries of the Mologa) are navigable. The Vyshnevołotsk system of canals connects the Volga (navigable some 60 miles from its source) with the Baltic, and the Tikhvin system connects the Mologa with Lake Ladoga. The Msta, which flows into Lake Ilmeñ, and its tributary the Tsna, water Tver in the north-west, and the Western Dwina rises in Ostashkoff. This network of rivers highly favours navigation: as many as 3000 boats yearly pass through the Vyshnevołotsk system, and corn, linseed, spirits, flax, hemp, timber, metals, and manufactured ware to the annual value of £1,500,000 are shipped from, or brought to, the river ports of the government. Lakes, ponds, and marshes are numerous in the west and north-west, Lake Seliger—the source of the Volga—and Lake Mstino being the most important. The forests—coniferous in the north and deciduous in the south—are rapidly disappearing, but still cover 890,000 acres. The climate is continental; the average yearly temperature at Tver (41°∙5 Fahr.) is the same as that of Orel and Tamboff (January 11°, July 67°). The population (1,646,683 in 1883, as against 1,567,300 in 1872) is unequally distributed, and in the districts of Kalyazin and Kashin attains a density not much less than that of the more highly favoured black-earth provinces of south east Russia (16 and 17 per square mile). Apart from some 100,000 Karelians and a few Poles and foreigners, the people are all Great Russians. Some traces of Finnish Ves and of Lithuanians are found in the north-east and south. The official returns give the number of Raskolniks as 25,000. Only 157,110 are urban; but agriculture is not the chief occupation. While barley and oats are exported, rye is imported. The crops for 1883-18'85 averaged 2,889,400 quarters of corn and 4,078,400 bushels of potatoes. Cattle-rearing does not prosper, and the increase shown by the returns for 1883 (351,630 horses, 583,670 cattle, and 373,780 sheep) as against those of 1872 is simply due to better registration. Cheese-making has recently, been introduced on the co-operative principle (2168 cwts. of cheddar exported to Britain in 1881). The fisheries in the lakes and rivers are productive. The peasants are principally engaged in various manufactures. The total production of the larger manufactures in 1883 was valued at £2,237,250 (tanneries £244,460, cottons £803,270, distilleries £320,010, flour-mills £263,500), and that of the petty trades carried on in combination with agriculture (preparation of pitch, tar, and turpentine, boat-building, construction of cars, sledges, wheels, boxes, tubes, and wooden vessels, and cabinet-making) was estimated in 1884 at £3,000,000, giving occupation to 101,400 persons. Certain branches of the leather industry are important, Kimry and Ostashkoff sending to the market £650,000 worth of boots annually. The small workshops of Tver and the surrounding district work some 4500 cwts. of iron into nails every year, and the Ostashkoff smiths use some 7000 cwts. of iron annually in the manufacture of hatchets, scythes, sickles, and different agricultural implements. Weaving, lace-making, leather embroidery, stocking-making, felting, and the like are also important petty trades, several of these being organized on co-operative principles by the zemstvos. The railway from St Petersburg to Moscow crosses Tver, and sends off' two branches to Rzheff and to Rybinsk, all three lines being among the busiest in Russia. The river traffic also is considerable. The chief centres of trade, besides the city of Tver, are Byezhetsk, Rzheff, Kashin, Ostashkoff, Torshok, Krasnyi Kholm, and Vesiegonsk during its fair. The provincial assembly of Tver is one of the most prominent in Russia for its efforts in the cause of education and sanitary improvement. In 1883 there were 997 primary schools with 47,680 scholars (8500 girls), 17 gymnasia and progymnasia (1697 boys and 1263 girls), and two normal schools for teachers. The government is divided into twelve districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1884, are— Tver (see below), Byezhetsk (5890), Kalyazin (5200), Kashin (5730), Kortcheva (2275), Ostashkoff (9900), Rzheff (26,480), Staritsa (2700), Torshok (12,910), Vesiegonsk (3370), Vyshniy Vototchok (11,590), and Zubtsoff (3160).

TVER, capital of the above government, lies 102 miles by rail to the north-west of Moscow, on both banks of the Volga (here crossed by a floating bridge) at its junction with the Tvertsa. The low right bank is protected from inundations by a dam. As a whole the town is but poorly built. The oldest church dates from 1564, and the cathedral from 1689. An imperial palace, the courts, and the postoffice rank among its best buildings. A public garden occupies the site of the former fortress. The population was 39,100 in 1884. The manufactures, chiefly of cotton, employ 5900 workmen (5710 at the cotton mills), and a number of nail-making workshops employ some 800 men, while more than 1000 women are engaged in the domestic manufactory of hosiery for export to Moscow and St Petersburg. The traffic of the town is considerable, Tver being an intermediate place for the trade of both capitals with the provinces of the upper Volga.

Tver dates its origin from 1180, when a fort was erected at the mouth of the Tvertsa to protect the Suzdal principality against Novgorod. In the 13th century it became the capital of an independent principality, and remained so until the end of the 15th century. Mikhail Yaroslavovitch, prince of Tver, was killed fighting against the Tatars, as also was Alexander Mikhailovitch, who boldly fought for the independence of Tver against Moscow. It long remained an open question whether Moscow or Tver would ultimately gain the supremacy in Great Russia, and it was only with the help of the Tatars that the princes of the former eventually succeeded in breaking down the independence of Tver. In 1486, when the city was almost entirely burned down by the Muscovites, the son of Ivan III. became prince of Tver; the final annexation to Moscow followed four years later. In 1570 Tver had to endure, for some reason now difficult to understand, the vengeance of Ivan the Terrible, who ordered the massacre of 90,000 inhabitants of the principality. In 1609-12 it was plundered both by the followers of the second false Demetrius and by the Poles.