Route from the Varangians to the Greeks
river trade route · 850 AD–1199 AD
The river road from the Baltic to Constantinople, by the Volkhov, Lake Ilmen and the Lovat, a portage to the Dnieper, and down the Dnieper and its rapids to the Black Sea. Kyivan Rus' grew up along it. The Primary Chronicle describes it, and Constantine VII the voyage down the Dnieper.
View Route from the Varangians to the Greeks on the map →
At a glance
- Goods
- furs, wax, honey, enslaved people, silver, silk
- Carried by
- sea, river
- Hubs
- Staraya Ladoga → Novgorod → Gnezdovo → Kyiv → Constantinople
Recorded boundaries
| Period | Control | Confidence | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 850 AD–1199 AD | — | low confidence | no observation date recorded | Trading through Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod, Gnezdovo, Kyiv and Constantinople. |
Each row is a snapshot the source recorded, not a continuous history. The period between two observations is an inference this atlas shows rather than hides.
Sources
- Translated by S. H. Cross and O. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor, The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text, (1953)