HISTORY OF UKRAINE

Early Times Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene Periods

During the Miocene geological period, some 15 million years ago, most of Ukraine was covered by sea. Toward the end of this period, about ten million years ago, the seas receded to the approximately present day coasts of Black, Azov and Caspian seas to form one big sea. The climate was warm and humid. Lush vegetation covered the ground and large animals roamed the land.

Then some 5 million years ago, during the Pliocene geological period, the climate began to cool. Many plants and animals disappeared and only those, which could adapt to lower temperatures, such as fury animals, remained. As the climate cooled further about 1 million years ago during the Pleistocene Period, commonly known as the Ice Age, the ground froze up and ice sheets covered most of the northern parts of Ukraine.

When the ice retreated, life started to reappear. Traces of human habitation in Ukraine, dating back at least 30 thousand years, became evident as a result of geological excavations. Primitive stone tools, carvings from mammoth tusks, arrowheads made from flint stone, earthenware, bronze tools and gold jewelry found in different layers of earth enabled geologists to reconstruct the way of life of early Ukrainian man. The evidence indicates that they at first relied mostly on hunting and fishing for existence. Then gradually, they began to make utensils, kept domestic animals, constructed dwellings and cultivated the soil.

3000 BC - 200 BC Period

The first known inhabitants of southern and central Ukraine were a pastoral and agricultural people, part of a culture that inhabited the area east and north of the Black Sea around 3000 BC. Most settlements were in the regions of the wooded steppe along the Dnieper, Bug and Dniester Rivers. Some of the larger villages contained as many as one to two hundred huts arranged in concentric circles with walls made of wattle and clay supported by close-set timbers. A middle-sized hut contained two separate rooms. Clay ovens were used for cooking and warming the huts in the winter. Agriculture was based on cultivation of wheat, barley and corn. These early farmers also bred cattle, horses, goats and pigs. Starting around 1000 BC, the southern and central Ukrainian steppe was successively invaded for the next 800 years by related tribes who came from Central Asia and spoke different dialects of the Indo-Iranian language. Unlike their predecessors who were agricultural people, these tribes were nomadic, generally moving over long periods from east to west. In many instances a stronger tribe ruled over other tribes in a feudal fashion. The movement of these tribes call to mind a billiard table on which one ball strikes another and stops, as it puts the other in motion. Some of the better known tribes were the Cimmerians [circa 900 BC], the Scythians [from about 800 BC] and Sarmatians [circa 300 BC].

The first to infiltrate the Ukrainian steppe were mounted nomads known as Cimmerians who came from northern Iran. These mounted horsemen eventually became dominant on the steppe and subjugated the ancient pastoral people.

Sometime around 800 BC, another horse-back riding nomadic tribe, related to the Cimmerians and known as Scythians, moved westward from Central Asia and pushed the Cimmerians out. The Scythians, a savage, warlike tribe with tattooed bodies depicting real and imaginary beasts, were skilled horsemen and archers. They also used horse drawn covered wagons and maintained well traveled routes that connected their settlements. At their height around 500 BC, the Scythians controlled most of the area of modern Ukraine. They spoke the Indo-Iranian language, but had no system of writing. They rode horses with no stirrups or saddles [only saddle cloths] and their garments were of padded and quilted leather with trousers tucked into short boots, open tonics and pointed hoods. Scythian women dressed in much the same fashion as the men and at times fought alongside of them in battle. The burial of the tribe's chief was an elaborate mourning ceremony. The corpse, embalmed in wax and aromatic herbs and laid on a horse-drawn bier, would be taken on a solemn procession through the dead chief 's territory. The Scythians dominated the Ukrainian steppe north of the Black Sea until about 300 BC, when a kindred tribe, the Sarmatians, moved in from Central Asia and started to push the Scythians from the steppe.

By 200 BC, the Sarmatians gained control over most of the area. The impact of the Scythians and the Sarmatians on the Slavonic people living in adjacent areas to the north was important and lasting, and the vocabulary of the Slavonic languages comprises many words of the Scythian/ Sarmatian origin.

200 BC - 850 AD Period

At about the same time as the Sarmatians controlled the southern areas of Ukraine [circa 200 BC], the Slavs started to become prominent in the marshes bordering today's Belarus. The Slavs, a sedentary, agricultural people who spoke a branch of the Indo-European language occupied a large area in northern Europe stretching from the Dnieper to the Vistula Rivers. There they were exposed to various cultural influences from the Baltic tribes in the north, the Scythians/Sarmatians from the south and the Goths from the west. From about 150 AD, the Slavic tribes began to expand in all directions. Some set out to the west reaching the Elbe River and became ancestors of the Czechs, Slovaks and Poles. Others moved south and became known as Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Macedonians and Montenegrins. Others moved northwest and became Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. The last group, the East Slavs, remained in generally the same area what is now Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia. Over time many ethnically diverse nomadic peoples migrated into this region or occupied it for long periods [Goths circa 100 AD], [Huns circa 370 AD], [Avers circa 600 AD], Khazars [circa 700 AD]. However, the East Slavs remained and eventually became dominant.

Kievan Rus Period [850-1360]

By the 9th century, Scandinavian people known as Varangians began to penetrate through the Baltic regions into Eastern Europe. Rurik, the leader of the Varangians, some of whom were also known as Rus, established himself in Novgorod [currently northwest Russia] around 860. In the 870's, Oleg succeeded Rurik as leader of the Varangians at Novgorod. Under Oleg the Varangians made their way south along the Dnieper River and around 879 settled in Kiev, thus establishing the State of Kievan Rus. Oleg made Kiev his capital and set out to unite the Slavic tribes along the Dnieper waterway, freeing...