Russia

History

Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, spanning eleven time zones and sharing land borders with fourteen countries. With a population of over 140 million, Russia is the most populous country in Europe and the ninth-most populous in the world. It is a highly urbanised country, with sixteen of its urban areas having more than 1 million inhabitants. Moscow, the most populous metropolitan area in Europe, is the capital and largest city of Russia, while Saint Petersburg is its second-largest city and a major cultural centre. Human settlement on modern Russian territory dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. The emergence of the East Slavs as a prominent group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD led to the creation of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. Rus' adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988. Following its disintegration, the Grand Principality of Moscow began the process of unifying Russian lands in the late 13th century, leading to the formation of the Tsardom of Russia in 1547.