Medieval Latin East Slavs Kievan Rus' Rus' people Norse Baltic Sea Novgorod Ruthenia
The name Russia comes from a Medieval Latin name for Rus', a medieval state populated primarily by the East Slavs. In modern historiography, this state is usually denoted as Kievan Rus' after its capital city. The name Rus' itself comes from the early medieval Rus' people, who were originally a group of Norse merchants and warriors who relocated from across the Baltic Sea and first settled in the northern region of Novgorod, and later founded a state centred on Kiev. Another Medieval Latin name for Rus' was Ruthenia.
