| Kiev
(Kyiv in Ukrainian), a scenic city of close to
3 million people situated on the Dnieper (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 Kiev 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 Ukraine gained independence in 1991, it
significantly restored it's political and economic weight.
(Adapted from an excellent site on Ukraine, the Ukrainian Information
Project, http://www.uazone.net/).
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