Kiev

Kiev, also Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper river. In 2005 Kiev had 2,660,401 inhabitants, and this figure continues to grow.

Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural center of Eastern Europe. It is home to many high-tech industries, higher education institutions, world-famous historical landmarks. The city has an extensive infrastructure and highly developed system of public transport, including the Kiev Metro.

The name of Kiev comes from the name of Kyi, one of four legendary founders of the city (brothers Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and sister Lybid'). During its history, Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of great prominence and relative obscurity. The city is believed to have been founded in the 5th century as a trading post in the land of Early East Slavs. It gradually acquired eminence as the center of the East Slavic civilization, becoming in the tenth to twelfth centuries a political and cultural capital of Rus', a medieval East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a provincial capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbors: first the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, followed by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and, finally, Russia. The city prospered again during the Russian industrial revolution in the late 19th century. After the turbulent period following the Russian Revolution of 1917, from 1921 onwards Kiev was an important city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and, since 1934, its capital. During World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years becoming the third most important city of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Kiev remains the capital of Ukraine, independent since 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

History

Kiev is one of the oldest and most important cities of Eastern Europe with a pivotal role in the development of the medieval East Slavic civilization as well as in the modern Ukrainian nation.

People have lived on the site of Kiev since ancient times. The village that became the modern city may have been founded as early as the 6th century AD. In about 882 it became the center of Kievan Rus, the first state ever established by the East Slavs.

Many historical and architectural landmarks are preserved or reconstructed in the city, which is thought to have existed as early as the 5th century. With the exact time of city foundation being hard to determine, May 1982 was chosen to celebrate the city's 1,500th anniversary. During the eighth and ninth centuries, Kiev was an outpost of the Khazar empire. Starting from some point during the late ninth or early tenth century, Kiev was ruled by the Varangian nobility and became the nucleus of the Rus' polity, which became known as Kievan Rus' during the Golden age of Kiev (eleventh to early twelfth centuries). In 1240 the Mongol invasion of Rus led by Batu Khan completely destroyed Kiev, an event that had a profound effect on the future of the city and the East Slavic civilization. At the time of the Mongol destruction, Kiev was reputed as one of the largest cities in the world, with a population exceeding one hundred thousand.

From 1362, the area, with a largely diminished city, was conquered by Gediminas for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569 the city was controlled by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as a capital of Kijów Voivodeship, transferred by then to the Polish Crown. In the 17th century, was Kiev was transferred under rule of Russia. In the Russian Empire it remained a provincial town of marginal importance until the 19th century.

Kiev, as seen during World War II.

Kiev prospered again during the Russian industrial revolution in the late nineteenth century when it became the third most important city of the Russian Empire, the major center of commerce of the Empire's southwest. In the turbulent period following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Kiev became the capital of several short-lived Ukrainian states and was caught in the middle of several conflicts: the Great War, the Russian Civil War, and the Polish-Soviet War. From 1921 the city was part of the Soviet Union, and since 1934, the capital of Soviet Ukraine. The city boomed again during the years of the Soviet industrialization as it population grew rapidly and many industrial giants were built that exist to this day.

In World War II, the city again suffered significant damage, but quickly recovered in the post-war years, becoming the third most important city of the Soviet Union. The catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located only some 100 km to the north from the city affected the multimillion city, but to a lesser extent than it was feared as the northward wind blew the most substantial radioactive debris away from the city.

In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was proclaimed in the city by the Ukrainian parliament on August 24, 1991. Kiev now remains the capital of independent Ukraine.