Kiev or Kyiv[a] (Ukrainian: Київ, romanized: Kyiv; Russian: Киев, romanized: Kiyev) is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. Its population in July 2015 was 2,887,974[1] (though higher estimated numbers have been cited in the press),[12] making Kiev the 6th-most populous city in Europe.[13] Kiev is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural center of Eastern Europe. It is home to many high-tech industries, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The city has an extensive system of public transport and infrastructure, including the Kiev Metro. The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, one of its four legendary founders. During its history, Kiev, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of prominence and obscurity. The city probably existed as a commercial center as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the great trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, Kiev was a tributary of the Khazars,[14] until its capture by the Varangians (Vikings) in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of the Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the Mongol invasions in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a provincial capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbours, first Lithuania, then Poland and Russia.[15] The city prospered again during the Russian Empire's Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century. In 1918, after the Ukrainian National Republic declared independence from Soviet Russia, Kiev became its capital. From 1921 onwards Kiev was a city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was proclaimed by the Red Army, and, from 1934, Kiev was its capital. The city was almost completely ruined during World War II but quickly recovered in the postwar years, remaining the Soviet Union's third-largest city. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991, Kiev remained Ukraine's capital and experienced a steady influx of ethnic Ukrainian migrants from other regions of the country.[16] During the country's transformation to a market economy and electoral democracy, Kiev has continued to be Ukraine's largest and wealthiest city. Its armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science and technology, but new sectors of the economy such as services and finance facilitated Kiev's growth in salaries and investment, as well as providing continuous funding for the development of housing and urban infrastructure. Kiev emerged as the most pro-Western region of Ukraine; parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections.[17][18][19][20] Name Fragment of the New Universal Atlas by John Cary, London, 1808. The city was situated on the borderline between the former Polish (left) and Russian (right) zones of influence, with the name being Russified to Kiev. Kiev is the traditional and most commonly used English name for the city.[21] Kyiv is used officially by the city, and it is gaining in frequency in English-language sources. As a prominent city with a long history, its English name was subject to gradual evolution. The spelling Kiev was derived from the Old East Slavic form Kyjevŭ (Cyrillic: Кꙑєвъ).[22] The name is associated with that of Kyi (Кий), the legendary eponymous founder of the city. Early English sources use various names, including Kiou, Kiow, Kiew, Kiovia. On one of the oldest English maps of the region, Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae published by Ortelius (London, 1570) the name of the city is spelled Kiou. On the 1650 map by Guillaume de Beauplan, the name of the city is Kiiow, and the region was named Kÿowia. In the book Travels, by Joseph Marshall (London, 1772), the city is called Kiovia.[23] The form Kiev corresponds to Russian orthography and pronunciation [ˈkʲijɪf], during a time when Kiev was in the Russian Empire (from 1708, being the seat of a governorate).[citation needed] In English, Kiev was used in print as early as in 1804 in John Cary's "New map of Europe, from the latest authorities" in Cary's new universal atlas published in London. Mary Holderness's travelogue New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea by way of Kiev was published in 1823.[24] The Oxford English Dictionary included Kiev in a quotation by 1883, and Kyiv in 2018.[25] Kiev City State Administration official request for the Wikimedia Foundation to switch Kiev to Kyiv Kyiv is the romanized version of the name of the city used in modern Ukrainian. After Ukraine's 1991 independence, the Ukrainian government introduced the national rules for transliteration of geographic names into the Latin alphabet for legislative and official acts in October 1995,[26] according to which the Ukrainian name Київ is romanized as Kyiv. These rules are applied for place names and addresses, as well as personal names in passports, street signs, and so on. In 2018, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine launched a worldwide online campaign called #CorrectUA promoting the use of current official Ukrainian place-name spellings.[27][28] The place name Kyiv is standardized in the authoritative database of Ukraine's toponyms maintained by Ukraine's mapping agency Derzhheokadastr. The United Nations GEGN Geographical Names Database uses Kyiv.[29] The United States Board on Geographic Names (or BGN) changed its standard transliteration in October 2006[30][31][32] and updated the conventional name of the city in June 2019,[33] in its database used by the US government and influencing other international bodies. The International Air Transport Association updated its spelling to Kyiv in October 2019.[34][35] Kyiv is also used by the European Union,[36] all English-speaking foreign diplomatic missions,[37] and several international organizations.[38] Many English-language news sources have adopted Kyiv in their style guides, including media in Ukraine,[39] the Associated Press[40][41] and Canadian Press[42] news services, and the CBC (which switched twice),[42][43] The Economist,[44] The Guardian,[45] The Wall Street Journal,[46] The Globe and Mail,[47] the BBC,[48] The Washington Post,[49] and The New York Times.[50] Alternative romanizations used in English-language sources include Kyïv (according to the ALA–LC romanization used in bibliographic cataloguing), Kyjiv (scholarly transliteration used in linguistics), and Kyyiv (the 1965 BGN/PCGN transliteration standard). History Main articles: History of Kiev, Timeline of Kiev, Principality of Kiev, and Grand Prince of Kiev Kiev, one of the oldest cities of Eastern Europe, played a pivotal role in the development of the medieval East Slavic civilization as well as in the modern Ukrainian nation.[citation needed] The first known humans in the region of Kiev lived there in the late paleolithic period (Stone Age).[51] The population around Kiev during the Bronze Age formed part of so-called Tripillian culture, as witnessed by objects found in the area.[52] During the early Iron Age certain tribes settled around Kiev that practiced land cultivation, husbandry and trading with the Scythians, and with ancient states of the northern Black Sea coast.[51] Findings of Roman coins of the 2nd to the 4th centuries suggest trade relations with the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.[51] The carriers of Zarubintsy culture are considered the direct ancestors of the ancient Slavs who later established Kiev.[51] Notable archaeologists of the area around Kiev include Vikentiy Khvoyka. Scholars continue to debate about the period in which the city was founded: some date the founding to the late 9th century,[53] other historians have preferred a date of 482 AD.[54][55] In 1982, the city celebrated its 1,500th anniversary.[54] According to archaeological data, the foundation of Kiev dates to the second half of the 5th century and the first half of the 6th century.[51] There is also a claim to find reference to the city in Ptolemy's 2nd-century work as Metropolity.[56] Legendary Kyi, Shchek, Khoryv and Lybid in the Radziwiłł Chronicle Legendary accounts tell of the origin of the city; one legend features a founding family, members of a Slavic tribe (Polans): the leader Kyi, the eldest, his brothers Shchek and Khoryv, and also their sister Lybid, who allegedly founded the city (See the Primary Chronicle).[51] According to the Chronicle the name Kyiv/Kiev means "belonging to Kyi".[51] Another legend states that Saint Andrew passed through the area (1st century), and where he erected a cross, a church was built.[by whom?] Since the Middle Ages an image of Saint Michael represented the city as well as the duchy. Hungarians at Kiev in 830 during the times of Rus' Khaganate There is little historical evidence pertaining to the period when the city was founded. Scattered Slavic settlements existed in the area from the 6th century, but it is unclear whether any of them later developed into the city. The Primary Chronicle (a main source of information about the early history of the area) mentions Slavic Kievans telling Askold and Dir that they lived without a local ruler and paid a tribute to the Khazars in an entry attributed to the 9th century. At least during the 8th and 9th centuries Kiev functioned as an outpost of the Khazar empire. A hill-fortress, called Sambat (Old Turkic for "High Place") was built to defend the area. At some point during the late 9th or early 10th century Kiev fell under the rule of Varangians (see Askold and Dir, and Oleg of Novgorod) and became the nucleus of the Rus' polity.