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The Russian Federation is an enormous country with a fascinating history. At some point early in the Christian era the Slavs emerged as a recognizable people dominated by Viking leaders. In the tenth century A.D. Kiev adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire and the Russian Orthodox Church was born. During the succeeding centuries the emerging Russian state warred with and paid tribute to the Mongol Horde until the Princes of Moscow unified Russian resistance and defeated them in the 14th century. As unification took hold, the Russian Empire expanded across two continents and eleven time zones and was a major European state by the 18th century. Following the Revolution of 1917 it became the core of the Soviet Union and emerged as a Superpower by the middle of the 20th century. In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became the Russian Federation. During our brief stay in Russia we would see evidence of all of these momentous events and better appreciate the rich history of which we, living in America, know so little.
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