602 ' ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910, 



How the term " Rusi " arose is still doubtful, but whatever may 

 have been its origin, it is certain that the term was applied foremost 

 to the Kiev center of the population. It was in Kiev, also, that the 

 first Russian state was founded. The name extended thence over 

 broader territory and eventually covered even some tribes that were 

 of a different ethnic origin. 



The eastern part of the Russian territory at this time, however, is 

 not one of the parts originally occupied by the Russian people, but 

 is a territory that was colonized by them after other settlers. Similar 

 colonization also progressed from an early period toward the north- 

 west among the Baltic tribes and toward the north and northeast 

 among the Finns. 



In the west and southwest, Russian spread was restricted by the 

 presence of the solid body of the Poles; and in the south it was 

 interfered with from early periods of our era by various invasions 

 and migrations of foreign peoples. Into this region, bordering on 

 the Black Sea, came in the third to fourth century the Goths and 

 Heruls ; in 37G it was traversed by the Hunns ; in 482 by the Volga 

 Bulgarians; before the year 557 by the Avars; in about the middle 

 of the seventh century by the Chazars ; and during the ninth cen- 

 tury it was occupied for a time by the Uralian Magyars, on their way 

 from the Volga to the Donau. 



These invasions, however, only interrupted and delayed the Rus- 

 sian colonization of these more southern regions. Toward the end 

 of the tenth century the tendency southward of the Rusi is more 

 marked than ever, but it becomes again interrupted by the advent of 

 farther eastern hordes, principally Turkish, resulting in long years 

 of wars. During the thirteenth century follows the Tatar invasion, 

 and the victory of the Tatars in 1224 results in a devastation and de- 

 population of a large part of southern Russia. 



The effect of these attacks on the Russian people was deep and 

 lasting. On one hand they detained for a long time their advance 

 southward and westward, and on the other hand they resulted in a 

 counter pressure of the ever increasing Russians against the non- 

 Russian tribes of the northwest and north, with a gradual occupa- 

 tion of piece after piece of territory formerly belonging to peoples of 

 different origin. 



During this period also an important political transfomiation took 

 place within the Russian nation itself. The old tribal system gradu- 

 ally disappeared, giving place to fewer territorial political units, 

 from which eventually arose the three great divisions of the Russians, 

 differing somewhat in tongue, in habits, and occasionally in politics. 



These branches were the Velkorusi, the Malorusi, and Bielorusi. 

 Corresponding to these divisions, there arose also during this period 

 the territorial names of Mala Rus (Small Russia), Bila Rus (White 



