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Kyiv, a scenic city of close to 3 million people
situated on the Dnipro River, is the bustling capital of Ukraine.
Ancient Kievan Rus, which reached its greatest period of ascendancy
during the 11th and 12th centuries, was a center of trade routes
between the Baltic and the Mediterranean. The city of Kyiv and the
power of Kievan Rus were destroyed in 1240 by Mongol invaders and
the lands of Kievan Rus were divided into principalities located to
the west and north: Galicia, Volynia, Muscovy and later, Poland,
Lithuania, and Russia. Once a powerful force on the European scene,
Ukraine's fate in modern times has been decided in far-off capitals.
As a result, modern Ukrainian history, for the most part, has been
defined by foreign occupation. But after gaining the independence by
Ukraine in 1991 it significantly restored it's political and
economic weight. |
