Rus' People
The Rus' (Slavic: Русь; Greek: Ῥῶς) were a group of Varangians (according to the so-called Normanist theory, these were Vikings, predominantly from the present-day Sweden). According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus' had relocated from the Baltic region ("from over the sea"), first to northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik. Later, Rurik's relative Oleg captured Kiev, founding Kievan Rus. The descendants of Rurik were the ruling dynasty of Rus (after 862), the successor principalities of Galicia-Volhynia (after 1199), Chernigov, Vladimir-Suzdal, Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the founders of the Tsardom of Russia.
Their name survives in the designation Rospigg, a person from the coastal area of Uppland, Sweden, called Roslagen, literally "the land of rowing", and the cognates Russians, Rusyns and Ruthenians, giving their name to the land of Rus', as well as the ethnonym of its majority East Slavic population. Today, the Swedes are still designated in Finnish and Estonian as ruotsalaiset and rootslased, respectively.
Read more about Rus' People: Etymology, History, Academic History
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