GEOG101: World Regional Geography

Russia covered much less area when it first appeared as a state. The East Slavs, a subgroup of Slavic tribes that emerged in northeastern Europe about 1,500 years ago, were the ancestors of today's Russians. The East Slavs moved toward the area we call European or Western Russia. In Figure 3.4, the arrows that point to the northeast (north of the Dnieper River toward the Don River) represent the East Slavic migration. These immigrants settled in the Grand Duchy of Moscow, a territory centered in present-day Moscow.