Russians

Before there were Russians--or Ukrainians or Belarusians--there were East Slavs, the ethnic ancestors of them all. The East Slavs' first major state, Kievan Rus, emerged in the 9th century and was centered in Kiev, Ukraine's current capital.t least part of the credit for founding Kievan Rus goes to Scandinavian Vikings, whom the locals called "Varangians" or "Rus" ("Russia" means "land of the Rus"). The Vikings arrived in the area during the 9th century, apparently looking to trade, and a less-than-centralized region soon became more centralized.

In 988, Kiev's Grand Prince Vladimir converted to Orthodox Christianity and established Orthodoxy as the state religion. Vladimir's successor, Yaroslav the Wise, presided over a cultural golden age. He built the famous Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Kiev and promulgated the first East Slavic legal code, the Rus'ka Pravda ("Justice of Rus").

In 1240, Mongols under Batu Khan, Genghis Khan's grandson, destroyed Kiev--the final, fatal blow to Kievan Rus. Batu set up his own capital hundreds of miles away, at Sarai, not far from the Caspian Sea. There he founded the so-called "Golden Horde" khanate, which enjoyed near-complete autonomy within the Mongol Empire. For more than 200 years, the Golden Horde ruled Russia, often indirectly, with local princes and tax collectors paying tribute to the khans.

Over the next few centuries, a series of skilled and ambitious princes made it the center of the most powerful state in the region. First was Daniel Aleksandrovich, the youngest son of a local prince and war hero, who founded the principality of Muscovy in 1301. Following his father's lead, Daniel worked out a deal with the khans to serve as their vassal.

Daniel's son, Ivan I (a.k.a. "Ivan Money Bags"), also worked closely with the Mongols. He put Muscovy in a position of regional superiority by collecting tribute from other Russian princes on the khan's behalf. He also convinced the local head of the Orthodox church to move to Moscow in 1327.

Over the next 150 years, the principality's power expanded. Meanwhile, the Golden Horde began to weaken. Finally, in 1480, the Muscovite prince Ivan III (a.k.a. "Ivan the Great") stopped paying tribute and gained full sovereignty over most ethnically Russian lands. The Golden Horde disintegrated. As it did, Ivan III was increasingly called "czar"--though the word wasn't part of a Russian ruler's official title until Ivan IV (a.k.a. "Ivan the Terrible") adopted it in 1547.

The Russians had previously used "czar," which derives from "caesar," to describe both khans and Byzantine emperors.


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