CIVILIZATION: Russia (600-1450) Time Period: 600-1450CE Geographic Description: -Dneiper River flows North to South into the Black Sea which provided interaction with Constantinople; Kiev (early center of Russia- now Ukraine)developed along the river to the north as a major trading city -lands surrounding Dneiper and Kiev are a bread basket -tundra to the north -Ural Mountains (old and not very high serve as the East divide between Europe and Asia -Russia?s topography is relatively flat because it is located along the Eurasian Plain P -Early Russia borrowed heavily from Constantinople (Byzantine Empire) -the Cyrillic Alphabet was made when the Bible was translated into Slavic Languages; adopted from the Greek alphabet that the Byzantine Empire used