History of Kiev
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.
Many historical and architectural landmarks are preserved or reconstructed in the city, which is thought to have existed as early as the fifth 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 Kijo'w 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 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.
