Nachal'naia Rus':na puti iz variag v greki - Gubarev O.

The history of the original Russia is closely related to the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks." According to the "Tale of Time Years", this journey began in Scandinavia and went through the lands of Slavic and Finnish tribes to the capital of Byzantium Constantinople. On this way to the West received Arab silver, and to the East Russ-traders carried fur, honey, wax, slaves. Where the Russ occupied Slavic and Finnish fortifications, organizing their outposts, controlling this way, later there were cities Ladoga, Novgorod, Kiev. The activities of the first Rurik, Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Olga, Sviatoslav are closely connected with the way of "the Varangians to the Greeks" and geographical points along the way. Varyags-Russians played the role of a kind of catalyst in the formation of a new Slavic-Scandinavian civilization, which was named Kievan Rus. Along the way "from the Varangians to the Greeks" was a new state of Russia, which declared its appearance on the historical arena raids on Byzantium, one of the most powerful and rich empires of the early Middle Ages.