Central European Russia

You can surely call Central European Russia the mother of Russian Civilization. For many centuries and of course still today it has shaped the country's politics and economy. At its heart is the capital, Moscow, a city that has grown from humble beginnings over 852 years ago to beat out competing cities to hold this honor. Moscow has not always been the capital. In the very early days it was moved around to different cities until the Bolsheviks moved it back in 1918. The exact history of the first settlers in Central European Russia is not clear. The first written record is dated 500 B.C. It was found around the Pripet River marshes and it is believed that Slavic people, with many elements of Iranian culture, migrated from the south. Traveling through Central European Russia is very interesting and adventurous. It is like traveling through a time machine. Ancient cathedrals reflecting Byzantine Empire, Mosques of the Golden Horde Empire mixed with Soviet era monuments and recently built skyscrapers will make you wonder about human power of survival, curiosity and desire to create.

Mongol state comprising most of Russia, given as an appanage to Jenghiz Khan's oldest son, Juchi, and actually conquered and founded in the mid-13th cent. by Juchi's son, Batu Khan , after the Mongol or Tatar conquest of Russia. The name was derived from the Russian designation Zolotaya Orda,used by the Russians to designate the Mongol host that had set up a magnificent gleaming tent camp along the Volga River.

The empire, also called the Kipchak Khanate, had its capital first at Sarai Batu near Astrakhan on the lower Volga and later at Sarai Berke on the Volga near present-day Volgograd. Its ascendancy terminated the rise of Kievan Rus (Kiev was razed in 1240) and ultimately, although indirectly, contributed to the predominance of Muscovite Russia.

Under the Empire of the Golden Horde, the Russian principalities retained their own rulers and internal administration. However, they were tributaries of the khan, who confirmed princely succession and exacted exorbitant taxes.