Flo's History

Out of all the cultures in our history, the Cushites are one of the most mysterious that existed. They only make an appearance in the Hebrew Bible, and it says very little about them. So, who were they? They are said to be the southern neighbours of the ancient Egyptians. Across the centuries, the relation between the two nations greatly varied. From allies and trade partners to bitter rivals, it happened more than once that Cushites and Egyptians conquered one another. This means that it wasn’t uncommon for both people to heavily mix with one another, especially for military matters. Indeed, the Cushites people were a militaristic culture, meaning that their warriors were quite formidable and many saw services in the Egyptian Military force. After all, they weren’t called the "nation mighty and conquering" for nothing. It also happened on few occasions that the Egyptian Pharaoh was of Cushite origin. Yeah, people back then were far less picky on nationality. Pharaoh Taharquo...

  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...