Kiev Rus

The Slavs began a few migrations, in the west the Poles, in the south the Serbs and in the east the Russians (between the Carpathians and the Dnieper). The settlements of the Eastern Slavs were in an unprotected area between what we today call Eastern Europe and central Siberia. The White Sea and the Arctic Ocean were borders in the north and northeast. In the south the Black Sea, The Caspian Sea and the Caucasian Mountains formed the boundary. It was a vast flat area and not even the Urals can be described as an important topographical borderline.

The areas of the rivers Dnieper and Volga were the first to be inhabited. Kiev was founded on the river mouth of the Dnieper. Up to the 10th century (AC) the area was sparsely inhabited (semi-permanent), because the steppes situated north of the Black Sea were unsuitable for forming of a state. The first eastern Slavs settled down in what we today call northern Ukraine. In the first middle of the 9th century Vikings from Scandinavia invaded the land. Among the Slavs they were called the Varangians. The Varangians were superior in military strength and settled down as a ruling class. They set up forts along the trading routes and some of them grew to become cities. The Varangians treated the Slavs in the same fashion as their Viking cousins treated the conquered peoples of the British Islands and France and collected taxes from them.

So Kiev was the cradle of what we today call Russia. The first state was formed during the Rurik (Rurikovich) dynasty in 862, and up to the year 1568 it was claimed that all leaders were descendants of Rurik. Saint Vladimir I (978-1015), that consolidated the central power in 977, was converted to Christianity, whereupon he Christianized Kiev Rus'. Yaroslaw the Wise (1034-1054) developed family relations with Scandinavian and West European kings. He also introduced the first Russian law the Russkaya Pravda.

Epilogue

The death of Yaroslaw was the beginning of the disintegration of Kiev Rus', since he had appointed all of his 5 sons as successors to the throne (the oldest became the grand prince). Their disagreements led to further disintegration at the same time as the Vikings were assimilated by the Slavs.