Topic 1

EARLY UKRAINIAN HISTORY AND KIEVAN RUS

Introduction

Why do students in Ukrainian universities study their native history? Why is our government interested in that? There are several reasons. First, history is a necessary precondition for the development of national consciousness. Without national consciousness Ukraine will not have the future. As an old proverb says, “those who do not know their past will not have their future.” When Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire the teaching of Ukrainian history was strictly forbidden, along with the Ukrainian language. When the Nazi army invaded the Soviet Union, Hitler also spoke out against teaching native histories in schools in the occupied areas. He argued, that knowing their native histories would urge the subjugated peoples to fight for independence.

Secondly, history is a vitae magistra (teacher of life). Knowing history is important for avoiding mistakes in the future.

Thirdly, learning history helps people understand their nation better, since roots of the present can be found in the past. The famous Russian writer and philosopher P. Chaadaev (19^th century) once said, “History is the key to understanding a nation.”

History is often used in politics for manipulation of the masses (during wars, revolutions, election campaigns, etc). To avoid that, a historical interpretation and a fact must be separated. Students should know that each fact or a historical phenomenon can have several interpretations. For example, such a phenomenon as Ukrainian Cossackdom is interpreted differently in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and Turkey (from heroes to bandits). The activity of Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa is also interpreted very differently in Ukrainian and Russian school textbooks. To find the truth a student must learn to think critically, to check everything, to compare different interpretations, and to find out what is behind each interpretation (that is what the aim of a particular historical interpretation is).

History is very closely connected with politics. Hence the famous saying: history is past politics and politics is present history. Without knowing history one cannot understand politics.

The Trypillians

The first humans on Ukrainian territory appeared several hundred thousand years ago. Their life was rather primitive and their major occupations were hunting and gathering, since they did not know how to grow food. The first civilization on Ukrainian territory appeared about 4000 BC with the development of agriculture. The best known of the early agrarian peoples on Ukrainian territory belonged to the so-called Trypillian culture, which originated along the Dnister, Dnieper, Buh, and Prut rivers. The name is derived from a small Ukrainian village (Trypillya) where the remnants of this culture were first discovered by archeologists.¹ Trypillians lived in large villages with as many as 600-700 inhabitants. Some settlements even had as many as 15,000-20,000 (Maidanetske in Cherkasy region). Archeologists have found numerous artifacts of this culture: figures of women with enlarged genitals (apparently symbolizing fertility), various tools, and remains of pottery with ornamentation.

Since the Trypillians did not have a written language scholars cannot tell much about that culture. It remains mysterious. The Trypillians lived not only on the territory of present-day Ukraine but also on the territory of present-day Moldova and Romania.

The Trypillians disappeared enigmatically about 2000 BC. They may have been assimilated by newcomers, pushed into other lands or killed.