The European trade with northern Russia was not only focused on the Archangel area but also on the numerous small ports of the Kola peninsula's Murman Coast. Even though the Archangel activities could be regarded as transit trade to the interior of Russia, and Moscow, the Kola trade was more regional in nature. Kildin was the most important harbor on the Murman Coast and had been used by northerners for a long time. The 1553 British expedition can be looked upon as a rediscovery of the sea route that led to the Russian markets. And the foundation was finally laid by the British for the commercial use of a sea route which the Sami and other northern inhabitants had already exploited for several hundred years.