Principality of Kiev

State · 1056–1240 CE · at its largest around 1111 CE

Principality centred on Kiev, the senior seat of Kievan Rus' fought over by rival princes; its power waned in the twelfth century and the Mongols sacked Kiev in 1240.

On its lands while it lasted

Varangians to the Greeks (c. 800–1100 CE): Scandinavian traders and warriors travelled from the Baltic up the Neva and Volkhov past Novgorod, portaged to the Dnieper and sailed down past Kiev to the Black Sea and Constantinople.
Chernihiv (c. 1056 CE): Capital of Principality of Chernigov (1056–1240).
Pereiaslav (c. 1056 CE): Capital of Principality of Pereyaslavl (1056–1239).
Primary Chronicle (c. 1113 CE): History of Kievan Rus' compiled in Kyiv around 1113, the main source for the early history of the East Slavs.
Turov (c. 1188 CE): Capital of Principality of Turov and Pinsk (1188–1240), Principality of Pinsk (1294–1325), Principality of Turov (1294–1325).
Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' (1237–1242 CE): Mongol armies under Batu Khan destroyed Ryazan, Vladimir and Kyiv, subjecting the Rus' principalities to Mongol overlordship for over two centuries.