KIEV, key'el, a city in Little Russia, capital of the government of the same name. It has long been a fortified place but the fortifications are now of little or no use against modern artillery. The city, which lies amidst hills, is on the Dnieper which annually overflows the lower parts of the place. Kiev is a curious and interesting mingling of the past and the present, of ancient feudal and modern progres sive Russia. The main part of the city, which consists of the low-lying sections and numerous suburbs which have been, from time to time, taken into the incorporated part of the town, are overlooked by the castle-crowned heights with their walls and ancient fortifications, which still preserve an air of the past. Kiev may be said to be divided into three parts or sections, Old Kiev, the upper town and the lower town. The fortified part is known as Ptscherslc, and the business part as Podol. Kiev is one of the oldest cities in Russia and it figures in its history for many centuries so prominently that it is known in Russia as °the mother of cities.° It was already a town in the 5th century; and during the following four centuries it continued to grow in import ance and wealth until it finally became the capital and chief city of a principality of the same name. This principality figures in nearly every war in which Little Russia was interested, and for centuries the history of : ussia may be said to have been nothing else but one almost continuous war carried on by the am bitious princes of the.various independent or semi-independent sections of what is now mod ern Russia. It has the distinction of being one of the first principalities in Russia to adopt Christianity. This brought it into close con nection with Rome and Western civilization and led it to adopt more of Western ways than the other political factions of Russia. Under the famous Vladimir I in the 10th century it became Christian in a characteristic Russian way. The prince had become convinced that connection with Rome would be very much to his advan tage; and he decided to become a Christian. But he would not beg for baptism. He would get it the Russian way. He would conquer it by force of arms. So he set out with a large force against the Byzantine Empire, forced the Emperor Basil to give him his sister Anna in marriage and scared the Pope into baptizing him. On his return to Kiev he sent forth a proclamation that all who did not come to the river to he baptized should be looked upon as rebels. The people came together to the Dnie per, bringing their idols with them, as they had been ordered to do; and they were there bap tized and their idols broken into pieces by order of Vladimir. who is said to have himself helped in the destruction. Not satisfied with this work in his capital, Vladimir sent word to all the villages, cities and districts of his king dom that the inhabitants, without exception, should follow the example of Kiev and be come Christians. Riots broke out in many parts of the country, but Vladimir carried through his plan of making Kiev Christian, to all outward appearance, though for many years afterward the peasants continued to worship their ancient gods in the depths of the forest and to be married, baptized and blessed by the ancient heathen rites. (See VLADIMiR). From
the time of Vladimir Kiev continued to grow and prosper and to attract great attention as the religious centre of Russia and its richest and most famous city. Accumulating great wealth and containing famous palaces and pri vate edifices, it attracted the attention of the conquering Mongols of the 13th century, who descended upon it as they did upon other wealthy centres of Russia. The struggle was long and bitter; but finally, the wealth, .power and glory of Kiev passed away temporarily be fore the ravages of the Mongol hordes.
In 1320, however, Kiev, coming under the rule of Lithuania, became a place of some con siderable importance and retrieved a part of its past prestige and glory as a commercial and industrial city and the religious centre of west ern Russia. When Lithuania became a part of Poland in 1569 Kiev formed still a part of Lithuanian territory. It remained united with Poland until 1668 when it became Russian ter ritory. Peter the Great, remembering its past glorious history, paid considerable attention to Kiev, restored its fortifications and made it one of the strongest fortresses in Russia in his day. Naturally, with so much interesting and momentous history, Kiev has many relics of her past greatness m the • shape of buildings. Among these are numerous churches dating to the time when she was the °city of churches?' Of these ecclesiastical remains the monastery of Caves (Petcherskaya Lavre) is one of the most noteworthy, forming as it does in itself a walled town dedicated to monastic life, with its schools and inns for the entertainment of pilgrims and its many rows of cells and numer ous streets, all overlooking the Dnieper and surrounding the great central church of the monastery, one of the richest ecclesiastical edi fices in Russia and the tomb of many persons of note, ecclesiastical and non-ecclesiastical, among them the remains of various saints. These too are found in the cave-like cells of the monks. All this makes Kiev one of the places most frequented in Russia by pilgrims who make journeys to it from all over the country wherever the Greek Church has ad herents. Among the other noteworthy ecclesi astical edifices of Kiev are the monastery and church of Saint Vladimir, the cathedral of Saint Sophia, the church of the Three Saints and that of Saint Cyril, the cathedral of Saint Andrew, the new cathedral of Saint Vladimir, the Imperial Palace, the University of Saint Vladimir and the city hall. The university, which has been steadily growing in importance and usefulness, has a library of over 200,000 books and full arts and other departments usu ally found in such an institution. Kiev, which is a city of over 300,000, is a place of consid erable industrial and commercial importance, its activities finding vent in the sugar beet trade, grain, live stock, timber, fruits, chemi cals, machinery, hardware, paper, tobacco, sugar and extensive shipping, comprising ex ports and imports. The city was the scene of massacres of Jews in 1905. in which the offi cials were accused of taking part in a clan destine manner. For an account of the part played by Kiev in the many wars and other struggles of Russia consult any good history of the country.