Vikings and the origins of Russia

The Varangians who ran the trade along the big rivers of eastern Europe came to be known as the Rus. From the 8th century they spread across what is now Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. The similarity to the ethnonym of the Russian nation of today is not coincidental. This Scandinavian diaspora was the seed that through the nourishment of intercultural exchange, diplomacy and violence would sprout the Russian Empire.

The lucrative trade routes between Scandinavia and Greece went through the rivers of Garðaríki, the Norse name for the land east of the Baltic Sea, and North of the Black Sea. In developing their trading operation, it became necessary for the Scandinavian emigrants to establish ports, trading posts and Strongholds along the river systems of Dniepr, Dniestr and Volga, with the latter taking the northerners as far as the Caspian Sea. This resulted in a large-scale colonization of river-near areas.

They settled and founded cities like Ladoga (Adeigjuborg) and Novgorod (Hólmgardr). Other cities like Kiev (Kænugardr), Rostov (Rostofa) or Smolensk (Smaleskja), they acquired through diplomacy, subterfuge or through violence.

The control and taxation of the river-trade made the colonist rulers prosperous, and from their prosperity the Rus people rose into dominance of their region, taxing and ruling over the neighboring native populations, be it Finns of Slavs. In regional centers of commerce and power, a Scandinavian ruling class became the norm.

The formation of such proto-states would happen semi-independently, however with the emergence of a man named Hrørikr this would change. He became the Ruler of Novgorod, after the squabbling tribes of Finns and Slavs invited him to rule, as they struggled to keep the peace amongst themselves.

Known in Slavic as Rurik, his family, the Rurikovich dynasty, would lead the ascension of the Kievan Rus, and later the Tsardom of Russia, keeping the imperial power until 1598.