Trade followed the same general route. No one attempts to estimate when the trading caravans on their way from western China and central Asia to the early trading centers of Europe first passed across the territory for purposes of peace as did the military groups for war and plunder. Thus, at an early date, Ukraine was at the crossroads of the world. The Scandinavian Vikings were but following in the path of many peoples who sought to emphasize the route from north to south, exactly as others travelled from east to west. Kiev as the central point in these crossroads had a trading importance that was unequalled by any place except perhaps Constantinople, where sea-borne traffic added to the wealth of the population and offered a simpler outlet to the rest of the world. It is small wonder then that Kiev as a trading center can trace its origin before the dawn of history and that the area around it was inhabited from the earliest days of man in Europe. It is small wonder that Ukraine developed into a powerful and independent state long before the countries to the west and that it was one of the richest daughters of the Byzantine Empire. It is small wonder that for centuries the wishes of the rulers of Kiev were to be considered throughout all of eastern Europe. Yet the very accessibility of the country and the lack of definite boundaries to the north and to a lesser degree to the east cast upon the rulers of the land gigantic problems of self-defence. They had to be constantly alert, lest armed raiders harry their country and plunder the population and the rich grainfields. Geographically Ukraine occupies one of the most important portant locations in Europe. It is a position well adapted for the organization of a powerful state which is vitally interested in the development of communications with the outside world. A Ukraine developed for the benefit of her own people and playing her part in world organization would have been a stabilizing factor for much of Europe. It would have ended many of the most violent disputes that arose as one neighbor after another claimed her territory, and sought to build their own greatness and permanence on her ruins. Besides that, the country is rich. Its fertile soil is an almost inexhaustible resource. For millenia her fields have yielded wheat and the black earth, often several feet in depth, is still not exhausted. There is hardly a staple crop, with the exception of cotton, that is not adapted to the climate. Her soil is richer than that of any of her neighbors. It yields copious returns for the labor of her inhabitants. In the past centuries wheat, sugar beets and many other crops including fruits, have been produced and exported for the welfare of her neighbors and little or no attention has been paid to the welfare of the inhabitants of the country.