Kievan Rus was founded c.860 by Riurik, a Scandinavian Varangian. He founded the Riurikovich dynasty that would rule Russia for the next 800 years. Riurik's capital was the northern city of Novgorod, his successor Oleg relocated the capital to Kiev. While the early rulers of Rus were Scandinavians they were soon absorbed by the local population and became Russians. The unity of Kievan Rus gradually declined, and was all but gone by 1132. After that period Kievan Rus shattered into a number of smaller states all of which contested for the throne of Kiev. Kievan Rus was finally destroyed by the Mongols in 1240, but the Riurikovich line persisted and ruled Moscow until the early seventeenth century. For later Riurikovich rulers see Rulers of Moscow.
