You Make the Read – Ch. 1 Sec. 2-3 p.

37-43

1. What common geographic feature made it possible for Kiev to become such a
popular and prosperous center for trade?

2. Is this a correct statement? When the Christian church split in A.D. 1054, the
Kievans chose to follow the Roman Catholic Church.

3. Kievan Russia included two major agricultural regions, the steppe and the
taiga. Which one proved to be better for growing crops?

4. Was Kiev the original capital of what is now known as Russia?

5. Is this a correct statement? Under the leadership of Yaroslav the Wise, the
Pravda Russkia, Russia’s first law code, was introduced.

6. Once the Mongols controlled Russia, they sought to gain wealth from the
region, and taxed the Slavs heavily. As long as the Slavs continued to pay
these taxes, were they still forced to follow the Mongolian customs?

7. In the past, religious differences often defined whether neighboring kingdoms

were allies or enemies. Did the Slavs share the same religion as the Polish or
the Mongols?
 8. Is this a correct statement? Ivan the terrible, Russia’s leader from A.D. 1533-
1584, renewed trade with Western Europe and expanded the Russian empire
from Siberia to the Caspian Sea.

9. Was Ivan III the first monarch of the independent state of Russia?

10. After the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in A.D. 1453, what did the Russians
proclaim Moscow to be?