Kievan Rus was founded c.860 by
Riurik, a Scandinavian
Varangian. He founded the
Riurikovich dynasty[?] that would rule Russia for the next 800 years. Riurik's capital was the northern city of
Novgorod, his successor Oleg relocated the capital to Kiev. While the early rulers of Rus were Scandinavians they were soon absorbed by the local population and became Russians. The unity of Kievan Rus graudually declined, and was all but gone by 1132. After that period Kievan Rus shattered into a number of smaller states all of which contested for the throne of Kiev. Kievan Rus was finally destroyed by the
Mongols in
1240, but the Riurikovich line persisted and ruled Moscow until the early seventeenth century. For later Riurikovich rulers see
Rulers of Moscow.
Princes of Novgorod
Rulers of Kievan Rus
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