This volume provides an account of the cultural history of Russia and the Soviet Union from 860 AD to modern times. It begins by describing the location of Russia in the world and its lack of natural frontiers or an obvious heartland, and then discusses the early people and their language. The atlas includes a discussion of early Russia, the rise and decline of Kiev as a political and cultural centre, the early development of the modern cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg, and the two revolutions of 1917. The volume concludes with a survey of the modern USSR.