At the end of the 17th century, Tambov became one of the strongholds of the Russian regiments that took part in the Azov campaigns. The failure of the first Azov campaign forced Peter I to take measures for the rapid construction of Russian Navy. This required labor of Tambov peasants for felling forests. Tambov wood became the foundation of the first Russian fleet.Since the mid-18th century, Tambov began to develop as a commercial and economic center of a large agricultural district. In 1781, the coat of arms of Tambov was adopted depicting a golden beehive and three bees on a blue-green background.The town received a boost in its development at the end of the 18th century, when G.R.Derzhavin was a vice-gerent. Thanks to him the streets of present Tambov are geometrically straight. Besides, he founded a theater, a printing house, the first in Russia provincial newspaper “Tambovskiye izvestia” and a school.In the beginning of the 19th century, Tambov province became one of the main granaries of the Russian Empire; a significant amount of grain was exported abroad. In 1824, the first gymnasium appeared in Tambov; in December 1833, a public library was opened. The town also received a math school, a spiritual school, a noble ladies’ Alexandrinsky Institute, a museum of history and ethnography.
