THE TENTH CENTURY

The Rus’ were major participants in Bulgar's fur trade network. They provided the Bulgar market with fur supplies as well as an exotic aura that attracted the attention of Oriental merchants and consumers. But the Rus’ trade was not confined to Bulgar. On the contrary, viewed from the perspective of Aldeigjuborg, the earliest Scandinavian settlement in northwestern Russia, or its successor Novgorod, the Bulgar trade constituted only one branch of an entirely different commercial network, through which the Rus’ traded not only with Bulgar, but also with Khazaria, Byzantium, and Scandinavia.

The Rus’ began to develop this trade network as soon as they arrived in eastern Europe, where they also became pivotal figures in the formation of a new state that became known as Kievan Rus’. The legend in the Russian Primary Chronicle, telling of native tribes calling upon a certain Riurik and his brothers to rule them and bring order to their land and explaining how Riurik's descendants took power in Kiev, emphasizes their role in this political development. Although that version of the arrival of the Rus’ in eastern Europe is controversial, it does, nevertheless, reflect the fact of their arrival and their political function in that part of Europe which was ultimately named after them. But other sources, which amplify that account, indicate that the Rus’, having reached eastern Europe, made contacts with the states lying on its borders: Bulgar, Khazaria, and the Byzantine Empire. They made those contacts as traders.