Excerpt from A Short Outline of the History of Russia, Vol. 1 of 2 The eastern half of Europe presents the appearance of vast level regions, whose boundaries are comprised within the White, the Baltic, the Black, and the Caspian Seas, and three chains of mountains - the Ural, the Caucasian, and the Carpathian. This peculiar aspect, uninterrupted by any natural obstacles, has in no small degree aided in forming one immense Empire; only towards the central parts of these wide plains the soil becomes hilly, and has been designated as the Alavon Heights. That locality is the source of the chief Russian streams, with their countless tributaries, which flow into the seas above mentioned. This abundance of river water has had an important influence on the history of the country; for, along the current of these streams, tribes of various races settled and spread civilisation - in fact, rivers served as the principal means of communi cation. A thousand years ago the whole Northern half of Russia, remarkable for its cold and rigorous climate, was covered with dense forests, as well as numerous lakes and marshes. In the Southern half were boundless Steppes, partly over grown with tall grass, and partly covered with sand and salt. Towards the East, between the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea, the Russian Steppes join the vast plains of Central Asia, whence there constantly issued unhindered roving Asiatic races. Till the reign of Peter the Great (1682-17 25) the territory within these boundaries formed the chief theatre of Russian history. That history had a shadowy traditional commencement at the ancient town of Novgorod. N ext the scene of action was removed southwards to Kiev, surnamed the baptismal-font of Russia, for there Christianity was first introduced. Then the chief centre of Russian life was transferred to the north-eastern capital of vladimir-souzded, and, last of all, supreme power was concentrated around Moscow. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.