The blue ribbon of the Dnieper, the

earliest steps of our land and our

region

INNA YEFANOVA
P U P I L O F T H E 9 TH F O R M , L Y C E U M 1 0 0

 If you look at the map of

the Ukraine, the blue

ribbon of the Dnieper
River, cutting the
Dnepropetrovsk region
in two, will catch your
eye first. Strung together
upon it, like pearls, are
tens of towns and
villages, old and new,
which constitute the
Dnieper necklace a
thousand kilometres
long.

 People settled here very long ago, good climate, vast

fertile grasslands, the mighty broad Dnieper with its

picturesque islands and peaceful backwaters, lush
flood-meadows and shadowy oak woods stretching
along river valleys and ravines, abundant game and
fish in local forests and waters all this attracted
hunters, fishers.

 Located in the southern periphery of the East Slav area and,

later, of the ancient Russian state, the stretch of rapids

occupied a key strategic position on the Dnieper section of
the so called trade route From the Varangians to the
Greeks, and often became a scene of bloody clashes
between the Ruses and bellicose nomads.

 The progress of that

rich land was

detained for long by
Turkish-Tatar and
Polish-Lithuanian
conquests, by
numerous Orda tatar
raids. The economic
development of
those parts was
resumed at the turn
of the 16th century, It
was then that
Zaporozhskaya Sech.

Zaporozhye Cossacks engaged in hunting,

fishing, grain farming and trade, set up
numerous ukhods and, later, built
permanent farm-steads and villages,
Gradually, the Dnieper area became rather
densely populated.

Thank you for your attention!