early Òpre-Rus / RussianÓ centers of civilization
1) Central Asia
2) Transcaucasia
3) around Black Sea littoral regions (Hellenic settlements)
First Russian State - around current location of Kiev
8th Century
A.D. Slavic speaking, migrated from Dnieper, Volkhov and upper Volga
basins, eastward and northward
from the Carpathian regions.
Early 9th Century, invading Norse traders, or Varangians
began settling among the Slavs along Volkhov-Dnieper axis
both groups
interested in trade and needed protection from marauding steppe
nomads
Rus (or Russia) with origin capital of Novgorod, replaced by
Kiev in 882.