Kyivan Rus’ was a state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern and Northern Europe from ca. 880 to 1240. The name was coined by Russian historians in the 19th century.
Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus’ as their cultural ancestor, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it, and the name Kievan Rus’ derived from what is now the capital of Ukraine. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus’ stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.
An explainer from the Kyiv Post:
Savage Sage – an informed Ukrainian person brings us the gist of historic developments how terminology evolved and why.
