Flo's History

  Taking back from where we left in the last episode, Novgorod just survived the Mongol invasion by not fighting it. Now, let's turn to what must be the single most important historical section of the city, the Novgorod Republic. The republic covered much of the western-northern section of modern Russia. Technically speaking, it started in 1136, when they dismissed (read: evicted) Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich for various reasons, including screwing up a couple of times. The expulsion was seen as the end of Kievan control over its northern regions, considering upcoming Princes of Kyiv couldn't truly control the region. Then the Mongols nuked Kiev, so this issue regarding their sovereignty over Novgorov was resolved by itself. Novgorod controlled a large group of cities, including Staraya Russa, Staraya Ladoga or Oreshek (a golden star for originality to this one). The city of Pskov was initially part of the republic until they formed their government after joining the Hanseatic L...

  The Rus have a long and rather rich history, with many cities bearing significant importance in the past. One of such places is Veliky Novgorod, or more commonly called Novgorod, and it’s one of the oldest cities still standing in Russia. The city was mentioned in Rus’s history in the  Sofia First Chronicle  in 859. However, its first authentic appearance was Novgorod First Chronicle (shocking!) around the same time. It was already described as a central trade hub between the Varangians of Scandinavia and the Greek city-states. This means that the city must have been even older than that because it certainly didn’t rise to this extended power in one day. A few years later, Novgorod became the Kievan Rus’ capital for a time – thanks to its significant political, economic, and cultural impact. However, as the confederation was formally settled when Oleg of Novgorod conquered Kiev in 882, Novgorod lost its title of capital to the latter. Out of the fact that Kiev was the o...