KIEV. 



303 



Severancs, and contains a cathedral dating- from the eleventh centurj'. At present 

 it does a considerable trade in agricultural produce, but is a less populous place 

 than Nejin, on the Oster and the Moscow and Kiev railwa}'. Here was settled a 

 flourishing- Greek colony in the seventeenth century, which carried on a large silk 

 trade with Austria, Italy, and Turkey. Since 1820 it has possessed a high school, 

 converted in 1875 into a philological institute, and it is the centre of the tobacco 

 industry in this district. 



Kiev, the " holy city," the KuyaLa of the Arabs, and Man-Kerman of the 

 Tatars, is one of the great historical cities of Europe. Situated about the middle 



Fig. 155. — Bransk. 

 Scale 1 : 220,000. 



E.ofG. 



5 Miles. 



of the Dnieper basin, where all its great tributaries converge, and midway 

 between its source and the Black Sea, it naturally acquired importance as soon as 

 Byzantium and the coast lands began to establish commercial relations with 

 Central Russia. It certainly existed long before its name appears in the 

 chronicles, and the epoch of its foundation by the three legendary brothers 

 or peoples is lost in the darkness preceding authentic Russian history. Titmar 

 speaks in the eleventh century of its lour hundred churches, and the fire of 1124 

 was reported to have destroyed as many as six hundred. Through Kiev Chris- 

 tianity was introduced into Russia, but its very importance soon attracted 



