Kievan Rus’

Kievan Rus’ was a medieval polity centred on Kyiv and ruled by branches of the Rurikid dynasty. Conventionally dated from the late ninth century, it developed through a network of princely centres and trade routes connecting the Baltic, the steppe and the Byzantine world.

Its rulers adopted Christianity from Byzantium in the late tenth century and participated in a wide web of dynastic marriages across Europe. Political fragmentation increased during the twelfth century, and the Mongol conquest culminating in the fall of Kyiv in 1240 ended the period usually described as Kievan Rus’.