Outside of China, where rhubarb was first cultivated, Russia was one of the first and largest countries to trade rhubarb species. This occurred before we began cultivating the plant in Europe.
From the 1750s to the 1850s, during the Romanov Empire, Russia capitalized on the trade of this Chinese plant to support its economy.
The Romanov Empire sourced its supplies from northeast China and established a rhubarb monopoly from 1600 to 1800. To control supply and maintain this monopoly, the Empire banned the export of rhubarb seeds. Catherine the Great utilized the cultivation and sale of rhubarb to help finance her military campaigns in Finland, Poland, Ukraine, and Crimea. At one time, the price of rhubarb root was more valuable, weight for weight, than gold!
Image: Profile portrait of Catherine II by Fedor Rokotov (1763, Tretyakov gallery) (c) Creative Commons