Birka: The Viking Market Where Furs Bought Baghdad’s Silver
On a green island in a lake west of modern Stockholm, sheep now graze among grassy mounds where, more than a thousand years ago, one of the busiest marketplaces of
Bolgar: The Volga Metropolis Where the North First Met Islam
On the Volga in medieval Tatarstan, Bolgar was the capital of the Volga Bulgars, where the Islamic world met the northern forests through fur, silver, and faith.
Gnyozdovo: Where Vikings and Slavs Met on the Road to Byzantium
On the Dnieper near Smolensk, Gnyozdovo was a key hub on the Viking trade route to Byzantium, where Scandinavian and Slavic worlds fused at the dawn of early Rus.
Old Ryazan: The Rus Capital the Mongols Destroyed in a Winter
On the Oka River, Old Ryazan was a wealthy Kievan Rus capital of churches and treasures, until the Mongol invasion of 1237 destroyed it in one of Russia’s great tragedies.
Sarkel: The Khazar Fortress Now Lost Beneath a Reservoir
On the Don, the Khazars built Sarkel with Byzantine engineers, a brick fortress guarding steppe trade routes, now submerged beneath a reservoir but saved by archaeology.
