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capital and largest city of Ukraine
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Kyiv, also spelt Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both banks of the Dnieper River. As of January 2022, the population of Kyiv was 2,952,301, making it the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural center. It is home to high-tech industries, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The city has an extensive public transport system, which includes the Kyiv Metro.
The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, one of its four legendary founders. One of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, during its history, it has passed through several stages of prominence and obscurity. It probably existed as a commercial center as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the great trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, it was a tributary of the Khazars, until its capture by the Varangians (Vikings) in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state. During the Siege of Kiev (1240), Kyiv was left in ruins; it lost most of its influence for the centuries to come.
Kyiv grew into a centre of Eastern Orthodox learning during the 16th century. It prospered during the Russian Empire's Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, becoming a centre of industry, commerce, and administration. In 1918, the Ukrainian People's Republic declared independence from the Russian Republic after the October Revolution, and Kyiv became the new republic's capital. Following the Ukrainian-Soviet and Polish-Soviet wars, Kyiv became part of the Ukrainian SSR, of which it became the capital in 1934. The city suffered significant destruction during World War II, but recovered after the war as the Soviet Union's third-largest city.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991, during the country's transformation into a market economy and electoral democracy, Kyiv has continued to be Ukraine's largest and wealthiest city. It has lost its dependence on the armaments industry, which has adversely affected the city's science and technology sectors, but the growth of the services and finance sectors has facilitated funding for the development of housing and urban infrastructure.
The traditional etymology, stemming from the Primary Chronicle, is that the name is a derivation of Kyi (Ukrainian: Кий, Russian: Кий, rom.: Ky or Kiy), the legendary eponymous founder of the city. According to Oleg Trubachyov's etymological dictionary, the name derives from the Old East Slavic *Kyjevŭ gordŭ (literally, "Kyi's castle", "Kyi's gord"), from Proto-Slavic *kyjevъ. This etymology has been questioned, for instance by Mykhailo Hrushevsky, who called it an "etymological myth", and meant that the names of the legendary founders are in turn based on place names. According to the Ukrainian-Canadian linguist Jaroslav Rudnyckyj, the name can be connected to the Proto-Slavic root *kyjь, but should be interpreted as meaning "stick, pole" as in its modern Ukrainian equivalent Кий. The name should in that case be interpreted as "palisaded settlement".
Kyiv is the official romanized Ukrainian name for the city, and it is used for legislative and official acts. Kiev is the traditional English name for the city, but because of its historical derivation from the Russian name, Kiev lost favor with many Western media outlets after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014 in conjunction with the KyivNotKiev campaign launched by Ukraine to change the way that international media were spelling the city's name.
The first known humans in the region of Kyiv lived there in the late Paleolithic period (Stone Age). The population around Kyiv during the Bronze Age formed part of the so-called Trypillian culture, as evidenced by artifacts from that culture found in the area. During the early Iron Age certain tribes settled around Kyiv that practiced land cultivation, husbandry and trading with the Scythians and ancient states of the northern Black Sea coast. Findings of Roman coins of the 2nd to the 4th centuries suggest trade relations with the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
Scholars continue to debate when the city was founded. The traditional founding date is 482 CE, so the city celebrated its 1,500th anniversary in 1982. Archaeological data indicates a founding in the sixth or seventh centuries, with some researchers dating the founding as late as the late 9th century.
There are several legendary accounts of the origin of the city. One tells of members of a Slavic tribe (Eastern Polans), brothers Kyi (the eldest, after whom the city was named), Shchek, Khoryv, and their sister Lybid, who founded the city (See the Primary Chronicle). Another legend states that Saint Andrew passed through the area in the 1st century. Where the city is now he erected a cross, where a church later was built. Since the Middle Ages an image of Saint Michael has represented the city as well as the duchy.
There is little historical evidence pertaining to the period when the city was founded. Scattered Slavic settlements existed in the area from the 6th century, but it is unclear whether any of them later developed into the city. On the Ptolemy world map there are several settlements indicated along the mid-stream of Borysthenes, among which is Azagarium, which some historians believe to be the predecessor to Kyiv.
However, according to the 1773 Dictionary of Ancient Geography of Alexander Macbean, that settlement corresponds to the modern city of Chernobyl. Just south of Azagarium, there is another settlement, Amadoca, believed to be the capital of the Amadoci people living in an area between the marshes of Amadoca in the west and the Amadoca mountains in the east.
Another name for Kyiv mentioned in history, the origin of which is not completely clear, is Sambat, which apparently has something to do with the Khazar Empire. The Primary Chronicle says the residents of Kyiv told Askold "there were three brothers Kyi, Shchek, and Khoriv. They founded this town and died, and now we are staying and paying taxes to their relatives the Khazars". In De Administrando Imperio, Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions a caravan of small cargo boats which assembled annually, and writes, "They come down the river Dnieper and assemble at the strong-point of Kyiv (Kioava), also called Sambatas".
At least three Arabic-speaking 10th century geographers who traveled the area mention the city of Zānbat as the chief city of the Russes. Among them are ibn Rustah, Abu Sa'id Gardezi, and an author of the Hudud al-'Alam. The texts of those authors were discovered by Russian orientalist Alexander Tumansky. The etymology of Sambat has been argued by many historians, including Grigoriy Ilyinsky, Nikolay Karamzin, Jan Potocki, Nikolay Lambin, Joachim Lelewel, and Guðbrandur Vigfússon.
The Primary Chronicle states that at some point during the late 9th or early 10th century Askold and Dir, who may have been of Viking or Varangian descent, ruled in Kyiv. They were murdered by Oleg of Novgorod in 882, but some historians, such as Omeljan Pritsak and Constantine Zuckerman, dispute that, arguing that Khazar rule continued as late as the 920s, leaving historical documents such as the Kievan Letter and Schechter Letter.
Other historians suggest that Magyar tribes ruled the city between 840 and 878, before migrating with some Khazar tribes to the Carpathian Basin. The Primary Chronicle mentions Hungarians passing near Kyiv. Askold's Grave was previously known as "Uhorske urochyshche" (Hungarian place).
According to the aforementioned scholars the building of the fortress of Kyiv was finished in 840 under the leadership of Keő (Keve), Csák, and Geréb, three brothers, possibly members of the Tarján tribe. The three names appear in the Kyiv Chronicle as Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv and may be not of Slavic origin, as Russian historians have always struggled to account for their meanings and origins. According to Hungarian historian Viktor Padányi, their names were inserted into the Kyiv Chronicle in the 12th century, and they were identified as old-Russian mythological heroes.
The city of Kyiv stood on the trade route between the Varangians and the Greeks. In 968 the nomadic Pechenegs attacked and then besieged the city. By 1000 CE the city had a population of 45,000. According to Thietmar of Merseburg, who described Kyiv in his chronicle from 1017, during that time the city had over 400 churches and 8 markets. Its significance as the capital of Rus' was underlined by large-scale construction projects, such as the erection of St. Sophia Cathedral by Yaroslav the Wise.
During the period of feudal divisions in Rus', Kyiv retained its special meaning and became an object of numerous campaigns by various princes. Between 1146 and 1246 the city changed hands 47 times, being ruled by 24 princes, and in 35 cases their tenure lasted less than a year. In March 1169, Grand Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal sacked Kyiv, leaving the old town and the prince's hall in ruins. He took many pieces of religious artwork – including the Theotokos of Vladimir icon – from Vyshhorod. In 1203, Prince Rurik Rostislavich and his Kipchak allies captured and burned Kyiv. In the 1230s, the city was besieged and ravaged several times by different Rus princes. The city had not recovered from these attacks when, in 1240, the Mongol invasion of Rus', led by Batu Khan, completed the destruction of Kyiv.
The Mongol conquest had a profound effect on the future of the city and on the culture of Kyivan Rus'. Kyiv had had a reputation as one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of about 35,000–40,000 inhabitants "before the Mongol invasion" (according to Orest Subtelny), or 36,000–50,000 "at the end of the twelfth century" (according to Janet L. B. Martin). Deprived of its own dynasty, under the Golden Horde Kyiv was ruled according to yarlyks issued by Mongol rulers, but its princes only nominally controlled the city, barely appearing there.
In the early 1320s, a Lithuanian army led by Grand Duke Gediminas defeated a Slavic army led by Stanislav of Kyiv at the Battle on the Irpen' River and conquered the city. The Tatars, who also claimed Kyiv, retaliated in 1324–1325, so while Kyiv was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Finally, as a result of the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, incorporated Kyiv and surrounding areas into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At the time of the Lithuanian rule, the core of the city was located in Podil and there was a Lithuanian Kyiv Castle with 18 towers on the Zamkova Hora which served as a residence of Vladimir Olgerdovich, Grand Prince of Kyiv, and subsequently of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (e.g. Vytautas).
In 1482, Crimean Tatars sacked and burned much of Kyiv.
With the 1569 Union of Lublin, when the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was established, the Lithuanian-controlled lands of the Kyiv region (Podolia, Volhynia, and Podlachia) were transferred from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and Kyiv became the capital of Kyiv Voivodeship. The 1658 Treaty of Hadiach envisaged Kyiv becoming the capital of the Grand Duchy of Rus' within the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth, but this provision of the treaty never went into operation.
During the early 17th century, the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, founded by Anthony of Kiev in the 11th century, became a centre of an Orthodox cultural revival, leading to the foundation of a brotherhood school, later known as Mohyla Collegium. During that period administration of Cossack hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi was moved to Kyiv, once again making it a political centre of Ukrainian lands.
In 1649, following the success of Khmelnytsky Uprising, Kyiv was entered by the victorious Cossack army of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Local clergy supported the rebellion and provided its ideological foundations, encouraging Khmelnytsky to depict himself as a protector of Orthodox faith and defender of Ruthenian people. Occupied by Russian troops since the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, Kyiv became a part of the Tsardom of Russia from 1667 with the Truce of Andrusovo and enjoyed self-government inside of an autonomous Cossack Hetmanate. None of the Polish-Russian treaties concerning Kyiv have ever been ratified.
In the Russian Empire, Kyiv was a primary Christian centre, attracting pilgrims, and the cradle of many of the empire's most important religious figures, but until the 19th century, the city's commercial importance remained marginal. In 1834, the Russian government established Saint Vladimir University, now known as the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in honour of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861), who worked as a field researcher and editor for its geography department. The medical faculty of Saint Vladimir University, separated into an independent institution in 1919–1921 during the Soviet period, became the Bogomolets National Medical University in 1995.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Imperial Russian Army and ecclesiastical authorities dominated the city life; the Russian Orthodox Church had involvement in a significant part of Kyiv's infrastructure and commercial activity. In the late 1840s the historian, Mykola Kostomarov (Russian: Nikolai Kostomarov), founded a secret political society, the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius, whose members put forward the idea of a federation of free Slavic peoples with Ukrainians as a distinct and separate group rather than a subordinate part of the Russian nation; the Russian authorities quickly suppressed the society.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Kyiv”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.