The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

ETEV. 803Severanes, and contains a cathedral dating from the eleventh century. At presentit does a considerable trade in agricultural produce, but is a less populous placethan Ncjin, on the Oster and the Moscow and Kiev railway. Here was settled aflourishing Greek colony in the seventeenth century, which carried on a large silktrade with Austria, Italy, and Turkey. Since 1820 it has possessed a high school,converted in 1875 into a philological institute, and it is the centre of the tobaccoindustry in this district.Kiev, the " holy city," the Kuyaba of the Arabs, and Man-Kcrnian of theTatars, is one of the great historical cities of Europe. Situated about the middleFig. 155.Bransk.Scale 1 : 220,000.51'SO-E.ofG.of the Dnieper basin, where all its great tributaries converge, and midwaybetween its source and the Black Sea, it naturally acquired importance as soon asByzantium and the coast lands began to establish commercial relations withCentral Russia. It certainly existed long before its name appears in thechronicles, and the epoch of its foundation by the three legendary brothers"or peoples is lost in the darkness preceding authentic Russian history. Titmarspeaks in the eleventh century of its four hundred churches, and the fire of 1124was reported to have destroyed as many as six hundred. Through Kiev Christianitywas introduced into Russia, but its very importance soon attracted