10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



means, shortly afterward, the entire nation became united under 

 Rurik. But in the opinion of some modern Russian historians the 

 real facts were that the Slav and Tchoud tribes, suffering from 

 repeated incursions of the much better armed and trained Scandi- 

 navians, hired other " Variags " for their protection and these ended 

 by usurping the ruling power over the tribes. Such was the birth 

 of Russia. The term "Rus" appears at about the same time. It 

 is probably derived from " rusij," fair-haired, blond, and was applied 

 at first to blond non-Slavic elements, but after a time came to be used 

 by foreigners and then by natives for the whole new nation. The 

 Variags played a prolonged but subordinate and steadily diminishing 

 role in the Russian annals until they eventually disappeared, leaving 

 little behind except some of their given names such as Oleg, Olga, 

 etc., which are in frequent use among the Russians to this day. 



After Rurik the bulk of Russian history consists of internal accom- 

 modations, not seldom violent; of defensive or retaliatory external 

 wars ; of endless, fluctuating life-and-death struggle in the south and 

 southeast with the Asiatic hordes ; and of unceasing extension of the 

 prolific Slav element in all directions where resistance was not in- 

 surmountable. This was particularly toward the northeast and north- 

 west, where gradually the Meria, Mordva and other primitive Finnic 

 tribes were replaced or in a large measure absorbed. 



Notwithstanding the many internal and external vicissitudes of 

 the country, its elementary spread continued until 1226, when all 

 southern Russia fell under the greatest plight that has yet afflicted 

 it, through the final and overwhelming Tartar or " Mongol " inva- 

 sion. This invasion covered all present Ukraina and beyond, and 

 thence extended over parts of Poland, Galicia, and Hungary. The 

 southern Russians were slaughtered in large numbers and subjected 

 to the Tartar yoke, or forced to flee. The southern and south- 

 western parts of Russia became seriously depopulated and were 

 occupied by the roaming Tartars of the " Golden Horde " ; and 

 Russia as a whole suffered from the effects of the invasion for over 

 two centuries. The invaders established themselves over much of the 

 southern part of the country, particularly in Crimea, where they 

 became a fixed element and developed a political unity of their own, 

 which remained ruled by their Khans until 1783, the year of their 

 final submission to the Russians. To this day, however, a large 

 part of the population of Crimea is more or less Tartar. 



