<P> During the 8th and 9th centuries, Kiev was an outpost of the Khazar empire . However, being located on the historical trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks and starting in the late 9th century or early 10th century, Kiev was ruled by the Varangian nobility and became the nucleus of the Rus' polity, whose' Golden Age' (11th to early 12th centuries) has from the 19th century become referred to as Kievan Rus' . In 968, the nomadic Pechenegs attacked and then besieged the city . In 1000 AD the city had a population of 45,000 . During 1169, Grand Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky sacked Kiev taking many pieces of religious artwork including the Theotokos of Vladimir icon from Vyshhorod . In 1203 Kiev was captured and burned by Prince Rurik Rostislavich and his Kipchak allies . In the 1230s the city was besieged and ravaged by different Rus' princes several times . In 1240 the Mongol invasion of Rus' led by Batu Khan completely destroyed Kiev, an event that had a profound effect on the future of the city and the East Slavic civilization . At the time of the Mongol destruction, Kiev was reputed as one of the largest cities in the world, with a population exceeding 100,000 in the beginning of the early 12th century . </P> <P> In the early 1320s, a Lithuanian army led by Gediminas defeated a Slavic army led by Stanislav of Kiev at the Battle on the Irpen' River, and conquered the city . The Tatars, who also claimed Kiev, retaliated in 1324--1325, so while Kiev was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay a tribute to the Golden Horde . Finally, as a result of the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Kiev and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania . In 1482, the Crimean Tatars sacked and burned much of Kiev . In 1569 (Union of Lublin), when the Polish--Lithuanian Commonwealth was established, the Lithuanian - controlled lands of the Kiev region, Podolia, Volhynia, and Podlachia, were transferred from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and Kiev became the capital of Kiev Voivodeship . In 1658 (Treaty of Hadiach), Kiev was supposed to become the capital of the Duchy of Rus' within the Polish--Lithuanian--Ruthenian Commonwealth, but the treaty was never ratified to this extent . Kept by the Russian troops since 1654 (Treaty of Pereyaslav), it became a part of the Tsardom of Russia from 1667 on (Truce of Andrusovo) and enjoyed a degree of autonomy . None of the Polish - Russian treaties concerning Kiev have ever been ratified . In the Russian Empire Kiev was a primary Christian centre, attracting pilgrims, and the cradle of many of the empire's most important religious figures, but until the 19th century the city's commercial importance remained marginal . </P> <P> In 1834, the Saint Vladimir University was established; it is now called the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev after the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko . Shevchenko was a field researcher and editor for the geography department. The medical faculty of the Saint Vladimir University has been separated into an independent institution during the Soviet period and is called now Bogomolets National Medical University . </P> <P> During the 18th and 19th centuries city life was dominated by the Russian military and ecclesiastical authorities; the Russian Orthodox Church formed a significant part of Kiev's infrastructure and business activity . In the late 1840s, the historian, Mykola Kostomarov (Russian: Nikolay Kostomarov), founded a secret political society, the Brotherhood of Saint Cyril and Methodius, whose members put forward the idea of a federation of free Slavic people with Ukrainians as a distinct and separate group rather than a subordinate part of the Russian nation; the society was quickly suppressed by the authorities . </P>

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