There they could trade for products from distant lands. From Kiev, the Vikings could sail by river and sea to Constantinople. Around 880, a nobleman from Novgorod named Oleg moved south to Kiev, a city on the Dnieper River. That account is given in The Primary Chronicle, a history of Russia written by monks in the early 1100s. So in 862, he founded Novgorod, Russia’s first important city. Russian legends say the Slavs invited the Viking chief Rurik to be their king. (The name “Russia” is taken from this group.) Eventually, these Vikings built forts along the rivers and settled among the Slavs. These Varangians, or Rus as they were also called, Sometime in the 800s, small bands of adventurers came down among them from the north. They spoke similar languages but had no political unity. In the early days of the Byzantine Empire, these forests were inhabited by tribes of Slavic farmers and traders. Three great rivers, the Dnieper, the Don, and the Volga, run from the heart of the forests to the Black Sea or the Caspian Sea. Slow-moving, interconnecting rivers allow boat travel across these The north, however, is densely forested, flat, and swampy. Hilly grasslands are found in the extreme south of that area. Russia’s first unified territory originated west of the Ural Mountains in the region that runs from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. It was this blending of Slavic and Greek traditions that eventually produced Russian culture. Because of this increased interaction, the Slavs began absorbing many Greek Byzantine ways. In addition to sending its missionaries to the land of the Slavs during the ninth century, Byzantium actively traded with its neighbors to the north. Photo courtesy RosDesign, Wikimedia CommonsĪ blending of Slavic and Greek traditions eventually produced Russian culture.

Invitation of the Varangians, by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (before 1913).

Russian prince named moneybag