Introduction 2

1. The Kievan Rus: facts and history 3

2. Development of towns in Kievan Rus 4

2.1 Novgorod Republic 5

2.2 Northeast 6

2.3 Southwest 6

3. Crafts and trade of Kievan Rus 8

4. Monetary system of Kievan Rus 11

Conclusion 14

References 15

The present paper is devoted to the Kievan Rus, in particular to its economic and social developments. Kievan Rus', although sparsely populated compared to Western Europe was not only the largest contemporary European state in terms of area but also one of the most culturally advanced. Kievan Rus became the base and the key for the further success and development of the present Russia.

The aim of this paper is to outline and describe the main stages of Kievan Rus' development in economic, social and cultural spheres.. In order to achieve this aim the following problems were brought up:

- to trace the history of Kievan Rus

- to analyze economic life of Kievan Rus

- to trace down the role of towns and crafts in Kievan Rus

- to analyze the monetary system of Ancient Rus

The present paper is based on the works concerned the Kievan Rus and its history of such authors as George Vernadsky Janet Martin Evans, John Franklin, Simon and Jonathon Shepard, etc.

1. Ahmed ibn Fadlan. Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghdad to the Volga River. Frye, Richard Nelson, ed. and trans. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005.

2. Christian, David. A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Blackwell, 1999.

3. Evans, John L. The Kievan Russian Principality. New-York: Associated Faculty Press, Inc., 2001.

4. Fennell, John. The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304. Longman History of Russia, general editor Harold Shukman. London: Longman, 2003.

5. Franklin, Simon and Jonathon Shepard. The Emergence of Rus, 750-1200. (Longman History of Russia, general editor Harold Shukman.) London: Longman, 1996.

6. George Vernadsky. Russian Civilization in the Kievan Period: Education Kievan Russia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.

7. Janet Martin. Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

8. Pritsak, Omeljan. The Origin of Rus'. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.

9. Pritsak, Omeljan. The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1998.

10. Pritsak, Omeljan. The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems: Two Studies in Western Eurasian Metrology and Numismatics in the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005.

Примечаний нет.