CH. 10 SECTION 2. THE RISE OF RUSSIA

THE GEOGRAPHY OF RUSSIA

• Russia is on a plain up to Europe toward the borders of China.
• Map makers used the "Ural Mountains" as a boundary to mark between Europe/
• and Asia.
• The Ural Mountains acted as a challenge for migrating people.

THREE ZONES

• There were three zones with certain resources and climates that shaped early-
• Russian life.
• Northern forests helped for building, fuel and lumber.
• Woolly animals attracted hunters.

RESOURCES

• Poor soil and cold snowy temperatures resulted in no farming.
• Fertile land brought early farmers in the south.
• Country of "Ukraine" was home to Russia's earliest civilization.

STEPPES

• Steppe: is an open, treeless grassland.
• Was the third region in the south.
• Provided open meadows for herders and horses for nomadic people.
• The steppes were used as a highway along streams, where nomadic
• people migrated from Asia and into Europe.

RIVERS

• Rivers provided people with networks of transportation routes for
• their goods.
• The "Dnieper and the Volga Rivers" became important trade
• routes which ran from the North and South and linked Russia to the
• Byzantine world.

GROWTH OF KIEV

• In southern Russia, the "Slavs" increased.
• Like the Germanic People, the Slavs constructed a simple political system.
• They were grouped into clans.
• Lived in tiny villages. Traded along the rivers between the Baltic and the
• Black Sea.

THE VARANGIANS

• The Vikings in the 700s - 800s were skilled sailors, who lived along Russian
• rivers.
• Also known as the "Varangians", worked along rivers and constructed and
• traded tribute to the Slavs.
• Traded with Constantinople.

OLGA AND VLADIMIR

• The city of Kiev was the center of a trading network.
• It would become a center of the very first Russian state in time.
• In a few generations, the Varangians settled with the Slavs in local culture.
• Olga and Vladimir, which were Viking names, became Slavic names.

BYZANTINE INFLUENCES

• Kiev and Byzantine were brought together by trade.
• Cyril and Methodius, two Greek monks, took the Greek alphabet.
• Therefore, they translated the bible into Slavic languages.
• The Cyrillic alphabet would later become used in Russia/Ukraine.

BYZANTINE CHRISTIANITY

• Princess Olga converted to Byzantine Christianity in 957.
• Byzantine Christianity spread during the reign of her grandson, Vladimir.
• Greek priests presided over mass baptisms that were ran by the prince
• in Kiev.

BYZANTINE EMPIRE

• Princes saw they were heirs to cultural and political rules of the Byzantine
• Empire.
• Byzantine Christianity grew in Russia.
• Written language/class of educated priests were developed by the Russians.

BYZANTINE ARTS

• Russians acquired religious Byzantine arts, music and architecture.
• Byzantine domes were constructed of colorful and carved helmets
• which became the double layer or onion of Russian church domes.

RUSSIAN RULERS

• Byzantine Christianity set a pattern between the church and the state.
• Like Byzantine emperors, Russian rulers managed to control the church
• making it more dependent for themselves and there support.
• The Russian Orthodox Church would remain a pillar of the state's power.

YAROSLAV

• Kiev enjoyed a golden age under "Yaroslav the Wise", who ruled from 1019-
• 1054.
• Yaroslav issued a written law code that would improve justice.
• He translated Greek works into his own language.
• Arranged marriages for his children/royal Western European families.

RIVALING BATTLES

• As rival families battled for the throne, Kiev declined.
• As Byzantine prosperity disappeared, Russian trading cities declined.
• As a result, Russian princes fought among themselves , Mongol invaders
• of Central Asia overran Russia.