- Location: Russia, USA
- Variant names: Sankt Peterburg
1. Russia: the first fortress built where the River Okhta flows into the River Neva in 1300 was Swedish and called Landskrona 'Land's Crown'. Soon destroyed, a Russian settlement arose around the ruins. It came to be called Neva Town. When back in Swedish hands the fortress of Nienschants (called by the Russians Kanets or Kantsy) was built in 1611 on the site of Neva Town. The settlement around the castle grew and came to be known as Nien. In 1703 the Russians successfully stormed the fortress. The fall of Nienschants marked the founding of the modern city. It was named Sankt Piter Burkh (St Petersburg) that year by Peter I the Great† after his patron saint, St Peter (and conveniently, himself). When Russia entered the First World War in 1914 against Germany its German-sounding name was changed to the Russian-style Petrograd 'Peter's Town'. The cradle of the Russian Revolution, in 1905 and 1917, it was renamed Leningrad in 1924 after the death of Vladimir Lenin†. The name reverted to St Petersburg in 1991. The city was the capital of the Russian Empire in 1712–1917 and of the Soviet state between November 1917 and March 1918 when the capital was transferred to Moscow.
2. USA (Florida): settled in 1876, one of the settlers being Peter A. Demens. The city was named after his birthplace in Russia.
