700 BC to 861

Steppe, forest and the first Slavs

Long before Russia, the southern steppe belonged to nomads: Scythians, then Sarmatians, Huns and others. Finno-Ugric peoples lived in the northern forests. By the eighth century East Slavs had settled the river valleys, while the Khazar khaganate on the lower Volga and Volga Bulgaria further north controlled trade. Norse traders called Varangians sailed the rivers toward Byzantium.