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.