Presentation Type
Research Study
Release Option
Open Access
Description
Vladimir Putin claims that Ukraine is not a real country and that Ukrainians are in fact Russians. His reasoning is based on the long-held Soviet contention that the medieval principality of Kiev, or Kievan Rus’, was founded by Slavic peoples. Kievan Rus’ was an eighth to eleventh century kingdom that existed in today’s Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. The polemic over its origins dates back to 1749 when a debate began between the Normanists, who argued that Kiev was founded by Scandinavians and the Anti-Normanists, who firmly rejected that idea. By exploring archeological evidence from the town of Staraya Ladoga, this paper argues in favor of the Normanist school. It concludes that Staraya Ladoga and Kiev were founded by Scandinavians, but also incorporated a large population of non-Scandinavians.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Faculty Mentor
James Todesca
Department of Primary Presenter's Major
Department of History
Symposium Year
2024
Identity in Kievan Rus’: An Inquiry into Staraya Ladoga’s Ethnic Composition
