Kiev
- Read
- Edit
- View History
- Feedback
Economy
Kiev, as the capital of Ukraine, has major administrative functions, with considerable employment in the offices of ministries responsible for the economy. The city is also an important industrial centre, possessing a wide range of manufactures. Factories are found in all quarters of the city, with major concentrations to the west of the city centre and on the left bank of the Dnieper.
Manufacturing
Engineering industries, based on metal from the iron and steel plants of the Dnieper Bend region and the Donets Basin (Donbas) coalfield, take pride of place and include the production of complex machinery and precision tools and instruments. Plants in Kiev make equipment for chemical works, such as conveyor lines for vulcanized rubber, linoleum, and fertilizer factories, and also produce metal-cutting machines. Other engineering products are aircraft, hydraulic elevators, electrical instruments, armatures, river- and seacraft, motorcycles, and cinematography apparatus.
Another important sector is the chemical industry, making resin products, fertilizers, plastics, and chemical fibres, the last at the Darnytsya viscose rayon plant on the left bank. Lumber milling and the making of bricks and reinforced concrete items also are well developed. Consumer goods manufactured include cameras, thermos flasks, knitwear, footwear, a range of foodstuffs, and watches. Kiev is also a large publishing centre.
Power for the many enterprises is supplied by natural gas, piped from Dashava in western Ukraine, and by electricity from the Kiev hydroelectric station on the Dnieper. This station, completed in 1968, is at Vyshhorod, just upstream of the city. Southeast of Kiev is the still more powerful Trypillya thermal electric station.
Transportation
Transportation for the industries and for the city as a whole is provided by a good network. Trunk railways and all-weather roads link Kiev to Moscow in Russia, to Kharkiv and the Donets Basin in eastern Ukraine, to southern Ukraine and the port of Odessa, and to western Ukraine and Poland. The navigability of the Dnieper has been improved by a series of barrages and reservoirs. Boryspil International Airport operates direct flights to many Ukrainian towns and international service to major cities throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. Within Kiev itself there is efficient subway and rail, bus, streetcar, and trolleybus service.
Society and culture
Health and education
The city is well provided with health facilities, including general and specialized hospitals and local polyclinics, the latter serving residential neighbourhoods. A number of nursery schools and day-care centres care for children below school age. In addition to numerous primary schools, there are a large number of general secondary schools, evening schools for adults, and specialist technical schools. The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv University) heads an array of institutions of higher education. A range of research establishments are run by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which also maintains a large library. Kiev is noted for medical and cybernetic research. The emphasis on applied research is illustrated by the academy’s renowned Ye. O. Paton Institute of Electrical Welding.
Cultural life
Kiev’s ancient tradition as a cultural centre is still vigorously alive. There are several theatres, notably the Taras Shevchenko National Opera of Ukraine. Plays are presented at the Lesia Ukrainka and Ivan Franko theatres, among other venues. In addition, there are youth, open-air, and musical comedy theatres. Kiev has numerous cinemas; films are produced in a local studio. Concerts are regularly given at the National Music Academy of Ukraine (Tchaikovsky Conservatory). Some of the most prominent of the city’s many museums are the National Historical Museum, the Museum of Russian Art, and the National Art Museum of Ukraine.
Kiev has good facilities for sports and recreation. Among the largest of its several stadiums are the Central Stadium and the Palace of Sports. Aquatic sports take place on the reservoir of the dam at Vyshhorod and also on Trukhaniv Island in the Dnieper opposite the city centre, where there is a beach and water sports centre. Around the outskirts of the city are health resorts, sanatoriums, and children’s holiday camps.
History
The early period
Origins and foundation
Kiev has a long, rich, and often stormy history. Its beginnings are lost in antiquity. Archaeological findings of stone and bone implements, the remains of primitive dwellings built of wood and skins, and large accumulations of mammoths’ bones indicate that the first settlements in the vicinity date from the Upper Paleolithic Period (some 15,000 to 40,000 years ago). As early as 3000 bc, Neolithic tribes engaging in agriculture and animal husbandry—notably the Trypillya culture of the mid-5th to 3rd millennium bc—lived on the site of modern Kiev. Excavations continue to uncover many artifacts from settlements dating from the Copper, Bronze, and Iron ages. The tribes of the area traded with the nomadic peoples of the steppes to the south—the Scythians, the Sarmatians, and, later, the Khazars—and also with the ancient Greek colonies that were located on the Black Sea coast.
The traditionally recognized year of Kiev’s establishment is ad 482, and in 1982 the city celebrated its 1,500th anniversary. However, archaeological evidence suggests that the city was founded in the 6th or 7th century. According to the 12th-century chronicle Povest vremennykh let (“Tale of Bygone Years,” also known as The Russian Primary Chronicle), Kiev was founded by three brothers, Kyi (Kiy), Shchek, and Khoryv (Khoriv), leaders of the Polyanian tribe of the East Slavs. Each established his own settlement on a hill, and these settlements became the town of Kiev, named for the eldest brother, Kyi; a small stream nearby was named for their sister Lybed (Lebid). Although the chronicle account is legendary, there are contemporary references to Kiev in the writings of Byzantine, German, and Arab historians and geographers.
Do you know anything more about this topic that you’d like to share?