The history of Kyiv (Kiev), officially begins when it was founded in 482, but the city may date back at least 2,000 years. Archaeologists have dated the oldest known settlement in the area to 25,000 BC. Initially a 6th … See more

Kyiv became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the Battle at Blue Waters in 1362, when Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, … See more

On 31 January 1667 the Truce of Andrusovo was concluded, in which the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ceded Smolensk, Severia and Chernigov, and, on paper only for a period of two years, the city of Kyiv to the Tsardom of Russia. The Eternal Peace of 1686 See more

After the "January Uprising" on 29 January 1918 was extinguished, Bolshevik Red Guards took the city in the Battle of Kyiv, forcing the Central Rada to flee to Zhytomyr. The Bolsheviks established Kharkiv as the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic See more

In the period between 1241 and 1362, the princes of Kyiv were forced to accept Mongol/Tatar overlordship. In 1245, Peter Akerovich, … See more

In 1569, under the Union of Lublin that formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Kyiv was transferred to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, remaining the capital of the Kijów Voivodeship. Its role of Orthodox center strengthened due … See more

In 1917, the Central Rada (Tsentralnaya Rada), a Ukrainian self-governing body headed by the historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky, was established in the city. Later that year, Ukrainian autonomy was declared. During the period of dual power this body competed … See more