The city of Moscow gradually grew up gradually around the Moscow Kremlin, beginning in the 14th century. It was the capital of Great Russia, also known as Muscovy, from 1340 to 1712, the capital of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991, and since 1991 of the Russian Federation.
Situated on either bank of the eponymous Moskva River, the city during the 16th to 17th centuries grew up in five concentric divisions, formerly separated from one another by walls: the Kremlin ("fortress"), Kitaigorod ("walled town", but interpreted as "Chinatown" by folk etymology), Bielygorod ("white town"), Zemlianoigorod (earthworks town), and Miestchanskygorod ("bourgeois town") outside the city walls. After the fire of 1812, the city ramparts were replaced with the Boulevard Ring and Garden Ring roads, replacing the walls around Bielygorod and Zemlianoigorod, respectively. The city's population grew from 250,000 to above a million in the 19th century, and from one to ten million in the 20th century, putting it among the top twenty of the world's most populous cities today.
Rate and comment
