Although there have been settlements at the site of modern-day Kyiv for over 15,000 years, historians traditionally date its founding to 482 C.E. The city celebrated its 1500th anniversary in 1982. According to an llth century chronicle, when Prince Oleh ascended the throne, he asserted his dominion over all the Kyivan principalities by calling Kyiv the seat of great princes and saying "This will be the mother to all the Rus' cities." The word "Rus" is thought to be of Scandinavian origin and was an ancient term for Ukraine and actually a term for much of Eastern Europe.

Its site on the Dnipro River gave Kyiv access to the Black Sea. It developed into a regional trade center and a gateway for economic relations with countries of Western Europe, the Baltics, Asia Minor, and Byzantium. This crossroads of the East and West grew in wealth, power, and influence. By the time Volodymyr came to rule in 980, Kyiv-Rus was the leading power in Europe. It occupied the territory from the Baltics and the Carpathians to the Black Sea and the Volga. Volodymyr's search for a religion for his people and his choice of Byzantine Christianity is legendary.

Under the reign of his son Yaroslav the Wise (1017-1054), the city continued to flourish. It became a great cultural center, with development of a written language, literature, and art. Magnificent structures were built, and by the 12th century the city had approximately 400 churches.

During the last half of 12th century, Kyiv's strength was weakened by internal conflicts among members of the ruling family. The final blow was the invasion of the Tatars (Mongols) in 1240. They held the city for 80 years, then it passed into Lithuanian and Polish rule-Kyiv experienced a revival in the early 17th century and became a great political, religious, and cultural center of Ukraine, but was ravaged by the polish-Lithuanian army in 1651.

In order to free Kyiv and Ukraine from the Polish, the Kozak leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky turned to Tsar Aleksei of Russia (then known as Muscovy) for help. While it's not clear whether the 1654 agreement was a simple military alliance or a submission, this desperate act placed Kyiv under Moscow's control. Russia subverted the Kozak leaders and war between Russia and Poland devastated Ukrainian lands.

After the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Poland retreated from Right-Bank Ukraine. All of Kyiv (as well as much Ukrainian territory to the east) passed to Russian rule. Kyiv grew in importance as the capitol of Ukrainian Russia, but tsarist policies suppressed Ukrainian culture and language and promoted Russification, including the encouragement of Russian settlement in Kyiv.

Reconstruction after a great fire in 1811 ushered in a policy of urban planning. The city grew rapidly in the second half of the 19th century. A new railroad line linked Kyiv to Odesa and Moscow, strengthening its role as a center of industry, commerce, and administration. Communication and transportation were modernized and the population grew. By the eve of the First World War, Kyiv's population was 626,000, almost ten times greater than it was before the railroad.

The Revolution of 1905 was followed by a period of liberalization. Kyiv became the focal point of Ukrainian cultural, scholarly, publishing, and political activity. After the tsarist empire was overthrown in 1917, forces promoting Ukrainian autonomy - always ready to surface - proclaimed an independent Ukrainian National Republic on January 22, 1918. It was a period of great chaos, however, and Ukrainians were not able to maintain firm control. The next few years saw a continual straggle between Ukrainian, White, and Red forces. Frequent battles for control of the city caused much destruction. In a single year the population dropped by almost 200,000 residents; many died, others fled because of hunger and terror.

Kyiv became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920, but because of its Ukrainian activists, the capital was temporarily moved to Kharkiv. In the twenties and thirties the Kyiv intelligentsia was persecuted and Ukrainianization stamped out. In 1934, the capital was returned to Kyiv and the city was again built up; new machine tool, electrical, and chemical industries were established. The intensive industrialization was fueled by impoverished peasants who flocked to the city from the countryside.

The German invasion of 1941 and its two-year occupation brought severe suffering and devastation. Forty percent of Kyiv's buildings and three-quarters of its industrial enterprises were destroyed; hundreds of thousands lost their lives and 80 percent were homeless by the time the Red Army entered the city on November 6, 1943. The post-war period saw an industrial boom and growth of the suburbs. The Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group was founded in Kyiv in 1976. In the late 1980s the democratic movement culminated in the establishment of Rukh the Popular Movement in Ukraine for Restructuring. Independence was declared in Kyiv on August 24, 1991.