Kiev

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Revision as of 11:58, 16 September 2007 by imported>Bohdan Leonid Shmorhay (→‎History: minor copyedit)
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Kiev redirects here. For other uses, see Kiev (disambiguation).

Kyiv (formerly spelled Kiev) is the capital city of Ukraine, is located in the north-central part of the country along the banks of the river Dnipro (Dnieper River), and has a population of about three million.

The Kyiv (Kiev) oblast is the province surrounding the city of Kyiv.

History

Following are some historical milestones of Kyivan history:

  • Legend has it that Kyiv was founded about 500 CE by three brothers -- Ky, Khoriv, and Shchek -- along with their sister Lybid.
  • Around 900 CE, King Oleh from Scandanavia seized power over the city, starting the Kyivan Rus' dynasty. (The term rus' means red-haired.)
  • For 100 years the region expanded as a riverine trade route, sending fur, honey, and slaves south to Constantinople, and receiving luxury goods in return.
  • Around 1000 CE, King Volodymyr married into Constantinople royalty and forcibly converted the people of Kyiv from paganism to Orthodox Christianity. Subsequently Yaroslav the Wise (Volodymyr's son) expanded Kyiv into a major sociopolitical and economic center.
  • Mongol raiders sacked Kyiv in 1240, and the city languished and shrank.
  • About 1800, czarist policies encouraged an influx of Russian immigration, boosting the population considerably.
  • In the early 1900s, the Bolshevik Revolution resulted in many Red versus White battles in and around Kyiv, and subsequent Stalinist famines killed many.
  • Early in the 1940s, the German invasion of World War II also destroyed many lives, both military and civilian.
  • Around 1990, as the Soviet Union crumbled, Ukrainians agitated for independence, ultimately leading to the peaceful democratic Orange Revolution in the first decade of the 21st Century.

Websites

Following are government-related Kyiv websites:

Following are media-related Kyiv websites:

Following are travel-related Kyiv websites