title: Russell Wilson

text: The Seahawks began the 2013 season with the first 4–0 start in franchise history, before losing to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5. The Seahawks then went on a 7-game winning streak, including a 41–20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings where he posted a career-high 151.4 passer rating and culminating in a 34–7 victory over the Saints in Week 13 in which Wilson threw three touchdown passes and earned his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Over the next three weeks, the Seahawks suffered divisional losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals (the loss to the Cardinals was Wilson's first home loss), but defeated the Rams in Week 17 to finish the season with a 13–3 record, the NFC West title, and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Wilson finished the season with 26 touchdown passes, 9 interceptions, and a 101.2 passer rating, becoming the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to post a 100+ passer rating in each of his first two seasons. Wilson was named to his second Pro Bowl on December 27, 2013. In the , the Seahawks defeated the New Orleans Saints by a score of 23–15. On January 19, 2014, Wilson and the Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the by a score of 23–17, advancing to Super Bowl XLVIII. Wilson threw for 206 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions for a 123.1 passer rating in a 43–8 rout of the Denver Broncos. With the victory, Wilson became just the second black starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl, joining Super Bowl XXII winner Doug Williams. At 5'11", he also became the shortest quarterback to win a Super Bowl, shorter than Len Dawson, Joe Theismann, and Drew Brees (all 6'0").


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson earned a bonus of $169,141.73 for the 2013 season through the NFL's Performance-Based Pay program.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On September 21, 2014, Wilson led the Seahawks on an 80-yard touchdown drive in overtime to defeat the Denver Broncos, 26–20, in a Week 3 rematch of the previous season's Super Bowl. On October 6, 2014, against the Washington Redskins, Wilson set a new "Monday Night Football" record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game with 122. The Seahawks clinched a playoff spot in Week 16 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Indianapolis Colts by a score of 42–7, eliminating the Philadelphia Eagles from postseason contention and allowing the Seahawks to clinch their spot before their "Sunday Night Football" matchup. On December 21, 2014, Wilson went 20-of-31 and threw for a then-career-high 339 yards with two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals in a primetime matchup on "Sunday Night Football". Wilson also led the offense in gaining 596 yards, setting a franchise record for most yards gained in a game. The Cardinals had the third-best scoring defense heading into Week 16. The Seahawks won 35–6 as they snapped the Cardinals' seven-game home winning streak and regained first place in the NFC West as well as the NFC's #1 seed. The Seahawks defeated the St. Louis Rams 20–6 in Week 17 to clinch the NFC West and the #1 seed for the second consecutive season, securing homefield advantage for the entirety of the NFC playoffs.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson led the Seahawks to a 31–17 home win over the Carolina Panthers in the , making the Seahawks the first defending Super Bowl Champion to win a playoff game since the 2005 Patriots. The Seahawks hosted the Green Bay Packers in their second consecutive . Wilson threw three first-half interceptions while completing only two passes to his own team as the Seahawks fell behind 16–0 at halftime. With the Packers leading 19–7 and five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Wilson threw his fourth interception. Then Wilson led the Seahawks on an improbable comeback. On the Seahawks' next drive, Wilson ran the ball in for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 19–14. After a successful onside kick recovery, Wilson led the Seahawks down the field, and Lynch scored to give the Seahawks a 20–19 lead. Wilson completed a 15-yard, two-point conversion pass to Luke Willson to make it 22–19. The Packers tied it up with a field goal at the end of regulation and forced overtime. The Seahawks won the coin toss, and the offense took the field. Wilson led the Seahawks on an 80-yard drive that was capped by a 35-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Kearse. The Seahawks completed their largest postseason comeback in franchise history and clinched a Super Bowl berth.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson would have been selected as an alternate to the Pro Bowl, but did not play because the Seahawks advanced to the Super Bowl; as Wilson did not have a chance to decline the invitation, the NFL recognizes this as a Pro Bowl berth for him.


title: Russell Wilson

text: The Seahawks became the first defending champion to return to the Super Bowl since the 2004 Patriots. They faced the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, where they were defeated by a final score of 28–24. Although the Seahawks led 24–14 heading into the fourth quarter, the Patriots scored two consecutive touchdowns to take a four-point lead with 2:02 remaining. Wilson led the Seahawks to the Patriots' one-yard line with 25 seconds remaining, but Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass intended for Ricardo Lockette, sealing the victory for the Patriots.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On July 31, 2015, the Seahawks and Wilson agreed to a 4-year, $87.6 million contract extension, making him, at the time, the second-highest-paid player in the NFL. In the first nine games of the season, Wilson threw 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. Over the next five games, Wilson threw 19 touchdowns and no interceptions, becoming the only quarterback in NFL history to throw 3+ touchdown passes and no interceptions in five consecutive games. After a 2–4 start to the season, Wilson led the Seahawks to win seven of their next eight games and clinch a fourth consecutive playoff appearance in their Week 15 win over the Cleveland Browns. His strong performance over the second half of the season, even after losing star running back Marshawn Lynch and tight end Jimmy Graham, led many analysts to consider Wilson an MVP candidate.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson broke numerous Seahawks single season passing records in 2015, including most passing yards (4,024), most passing touchdowns (34), and highest passer rating (110.1). He became the first Seahawks quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards in a season, and finished the year with the highest passer rating in the NFL. Wilson's 51.7% deep ball completion percentage was the highest among NFL quarterbacks. On December 22, 2015, Wilson was named to his third Pro Bowl. He was ranked 17th on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.


title: Russell Wilson

text: The Seahawks traveled to Minnesota to face the Minnesota Vikings in the . The temperature at kickoff was −6°F (−25°F wind chill), making it the third coldest game in NFL history. Wilson struggled in the sub-zero temperatures, throwing for 142 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The Vikings missed a short field goal in the last minute, allowing the Seahawks to advance to the to face the 15–1 Carolina Panthers. Down 31–0 at the half, Wilson helped lead a furious comeback attempt, but the Panthers won 31–24, denying Wilson and the Seahawks their third consecutive in the NFC Championship and a shot at a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance. In that game, Wilson threw for 366 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson was drafted first overall by Team Irvin in the 2016 Pro Bowl draft, and in the game threw eight completions on 12 attempts for 164 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions for a 149.3 rating. He was named the Pro Bowl offensive MVP.


title: Russell Wilson

text: The Seahawks had a solid 2016 season with Wilson at the helm. However, Wilson drew two minor injuries: his ankle during Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins after getting stepped on by defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, and his left knee against the San Francisco 49ers during Week 3 after a takedown by linebacker Eli Harold. The injuries hampered Wilson's trademark mobility, and many speculated that he would be rested in order to properly recover.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Regardless, Wilson started all 16 games in the season. On November 20, against the Philadelphia Eagles, he had a 15-yard touchdown reception on a pass from Doug Baldwin on a trick play. Wilson also played the worst game of his career in 2016, throwing 5 interceptions in a 38–10 loss to the Green Bay Packers during Week 14. The team finished with a 10–5–1 record and won the NFC West. Wilson put together a season where he recorded a career-high 4,219 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, 259 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown. The Seahawks made the playoffs, where they defeated the Detroit Lions in the . The win gave Wilson his eighth playoff victory. However, they fell to the eventual NFC champion Atlanta Falcons in the at the Georgia Dome. As of 2022, this is the only season where Wilson did not earn a Pro Bowl selection. He was ranked 24th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On September 5, 2017, Wilson was voted Seahawks offensive captain for the fifth consecutive season. In Week 3, in a 33–27 loss to the Tennessee Titans, he was 29 of 49 for 373 passing yards and four passing touchdowns. In Week 8 against the Houston Texans, Wilson posted an astounding performance, going 26 of 41 for a career-high 452 passing yards and four touchdowns in a matchup where both he and Deshaun Watson each threw over 400 yards. Wilson also rushed for 30 yards, totaling 482 yards of offense in the 41–38 victory. With his strong performance, Wilson earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week. On December 21, 2017, the Seahawks were fined $100,000 for failure to properly apply the concussion protocol on a hit Wilson sustained during the Week 10 win over the Arizona Cardinals.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 12, with the win over San Francisco, Wilson became the winningest quarterback in a player's first six seasons with 63 wins, surpassing Joe Flacco. Next week, with his 15-yard touchdown throw to running back J. D. McKissic, the third of his game, Wilson tied Eli Manning in 2011 for the most fourth quarter touchdowns in a single season with 15. He went 20 for 31 for 227 yards and three touchdowns in that game, earning him NFC Offensive Player of the Week. On December 19, 2017, Wilson was named to his fourth Pro Bowl.


title: Russell Wilson

text: The Seahawks ended the season with nine wins, ending Wilson's streak of five consecutive seasons with double-digit wins and a playoff appearance. He threw for 34 touchdown passes, finishing the season as the league's leader in touchdowns thrown. With 586 rushing yards and three touchdowns, he also finished the season as the team's leading rusher in both categories. Wilson was ranked 11th by his peers on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2018.


title: Russell Wilson

text: With the Seahawks having lost many Pro Bowl starters in the offseason such as Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor, Jimmy Graham, and Richard Sherman, and having star safety Earl Thomas injured in the beginning of the regular season, many considered the team a long shot to return to the playoffs. In addition to dealing with a re-tooled roster, Wilson also had a new offensive coordinator in Brian Schottenheimer, who replaced Darrell Bevell.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson was once again named as a captain for the Seahawks going into the 2018 season. He started the season with 298 passing yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions in a 27–24 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 1. In Week 3, against the Dallas Cowboys, he helped lead the Seahawks to their first victory of the season with 192 passing yards and two touchdowns. In Weeks 5–8, against the Los Angeles Rams, Oakland Raiders, and Detroit Lions, he had three consecutive games with three passing touchdowns. In Week 13, against the San Francisco 49ers, he had 185 passing yards and four touchdowns in the 43–16 victory.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 16, the Seahawks faced off against the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs on "NBC Sunday Night Football". Wilson out-dueled the season's eventual MVP Patrick Mahomes to lead the team to a 38–31 victory. This not only ensured another winning season for the Seahawks, but also defied early-season expectations by returning to the post-season after a one-year absence. Wilson finished the season with 35 touchdowns and a 110.9 passer rating, both personal and franchise bests. He also set career franchise records with most quarterback regular-season wins (75) and most touchdowns (196). As the No. 5-seed in the NFC, the Seahawks faced off against the Dallas Cowboys in the . Wilson passed for 233 yards and one passing touchdown to go along with a rushing touchdown as the Seahawks fell 24–22.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On April 16, 2019, Wilson signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension to remain with the Seahawks through the 2023 season, making him the highest paid player in the NFL. In Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Wilson threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns as the Seahawks won 28–26, earning him NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints, Wilson completed 32 passes for 406 yards and two passing touchdowns. In addition, he rushed seven times for 51 yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 33–27 loss. In Week 5 against the Los Angeles Rams, Wilson threw for 268 yards and four touchdowns in the 30–29 win on "Thursday Night Football". The next week, in a 32–28 victory over the Cleveland Browns, he had 295 passing yards and two passing touchdowns. In Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Wilson threw for 378 yards and five touchdowns in the 40–34 overtime win, taking over the league lead in touchdowns and quarterback rating. He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. In Week 10 against the then-undefeated San Francisco 49ers on "Monday Night Football", Wilson threw for 232 yards, one touchdown, one interception and led the Seahawks to a 27–24 overtime win.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson finished the 2019 season with 4,110 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns, and five interceptions to go along with 75 carries for 342 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns as the Seahawks finished with an 11–5 record and made the playoffs as the NFC's #5 seed. He was once again named to the Pro Bowl, but also made his first appearance on the AP All-Pro team, being named second-team quarterback after Lamar Jackson.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In the against the Philadelphia Eagles, Wilson completed 18 of 30 passes for 325 yards and a touchdown. In addition, he rushed nine times for 45 yards. He accounted for 95 percent of the Seahawks total offense and led them to a 17–9 victory over the Eagles. In the against the Green Bay Packers, Wilson threw for 277 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 64 yards during the 28–23 loss.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson was ranked 2nd on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2020, the highest of his career, and beat out the likes of renowned quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson started off the 2020 season going 31 of 35 for 322 passing yards and four passing touchdowns in the 38–25 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. He was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 1. In Week 2, against the New England Patriots on "NBC Sunday Night Football", he had 288 passing yards, five passing touchdowns, and one interception in the 35–30 victory. Wilson continued his great start to the season with 315 passing yards and five touchdowns in the 38–31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Wilson set an NFL record most passing touchdowns through three games with 14. He was again named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in Week 3. On October 1, 2020, Wilson was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for his performance in September. In Week 4, Wilson passed for 360 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in the 31–23 victory over the Miami Dolphins.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 5 against the Minnesota Vikings on "Sunday Night Football", Wilson threw for 217 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning six-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf with 14 seconds left in the game, during the 27–26 win. This win was his 100th win in 148 total games as starting quarterback for the Seahawks. In Week 7 against the Arizona Cardinals, Wilson completed 33 of 50 passes for 388 yards and three touchdowns, plus rushed 6 times for 48 yards, but threw three interceptions including a costly one to Isaiah Simmons with one minute left in overtime as the Seahawks lost 37–34. In Week 8 against the San Francisco 49ers, he threw for 261 yards and four passing touchdowns in the 37–27 victory. In Week 9, against the Buffalo Bills, he had 390 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and two interceptions to go along with a rushing touchdown in the 44–34 loss, with the 44 points the Buffalo Bills scored becoming the highest number of points allowed in the Pete Carroll era.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 14 against the New York Jets, Wilson threw for 206 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception during the 40–3 win. In the Week 17 season finale against the San Francisco 49ers, Wilson threw for 20 of 36 for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns and also rushed for 29 yards in the 26–23 victory. Overall, Wilson finished the 2020 season with 4,212 passing yards, 40 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. Wilson broke his own franchise record for passing touchdowns in a single season with his efforts in 2020. In the Wild Card Round, Wilson could not recreate his success from the regular season, only completing 11 of 27 passes for 174 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception that was returned for a touchdown by Darious Williams in a 30–20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. A few days later on February 6, Wilson was named Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year for his consistent and outgoing community service throughout the entirety of his career.


title: Russell Wilson

text: During the Seahawks Week 5 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Wilson left the game after suffering a broken finger in the third quarter. He had surgery to repair the injury on October 8, 2021. On October 15, 2021, he was ruled out for the Seahawks' Week 6 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was the first game he missed in his career, which ended a streak of 149 consecutive games started by an NFL quarterback, which is sixth all-time. He was placed on injured reserved later that same day, ensuring he would miss the next three games at minimum. He was activated off injured reserve November 12. Wilson finished the season with 3,113 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, six interceptions, and an additional two rushing touchdowns as the Seahawks finished with a 7–10 record.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On March 16, 2022, the Seahawks traded Wilson and a fourth-round pick to the Denver Broncos in exchange for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, and tight end Noah Fant.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Teammates said the trade was unavoidable, as Wilson broke with the team and "checked out" mid-season. Seahawks chairman Jody Allen released a statement indicating that the trade was initiated by Wilson. The Seahawks said that Wilson did not approve of the team firing offensive line coach Mike Solari and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. Wilson said that while he did not initiate the trade, the decision was mutual.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In the season opener of the 2022 season, against the Seahawks, Wilson completed 29 of 42 passes for 340 yards and one touchdown in a 17–16 loss to his former team.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 2 against the Houston Texans, Wilson went 14 of 31 for 219 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 16–9 win, his first as a Bronco. Despite an 11–10 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in week 3, Wilson threw no touchdowns and only 126 yards.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 4 against the Las Vegas Raiders, Wilson completed 17 of 25 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns, and also had 29 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, but lost 32–23. Against the Indianapolis Colts, Wilson went 21 of 39 for 274 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions in a 12–9 overtime loss. After the game, Wilson underwent a procedure on his right shoulder.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 6 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Wilson completed 10 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown for a 148.3 passer rating in the first quarter, but lost 19–16 in overtime. During the game, Wilson suffered a partially torn hamstring, making him miss the next week against the New York Jets.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, Wilson went 18 of 30 for 252 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 21–17 win, despite trailing 10–0 early in the game.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 10 against the Tennessee Titans, Wilson went 21 of 42 for 286 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 17–10 loss.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In a Week 11 rematch against the Las Vegas Raiders, Wilson went 24 of 31 for 247 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 22–16 overtime loss. Against the Carolina Panthers in week 12, Wilson went 19 of 35 for 142 yards and a touchdown in a 23–10 loss.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 13 against the Baltimore Ravens, Wilson went 17 of 22 for 189 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions in a 10–9 loss.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In Week 14 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Wilson went 23 of 36 for 247 yards, three touchdowns, and an interceptions in a 34–28 loss, but left the game after sustaining a concussion during the fourth quarter.


title: Russell Wilson

text: After graduating from high school, Wilson was selected by the Baltimore Orioles as the fifth pick in the 41st round (1,222nd overall) of the 2007 MLB draft. The Orioles considered Wilson a talent worthy of the first ten rounds and offered him a $350,000 signing bonus, the third-largest they offered a draftee that year after Matt Wieters ($6 million) and Jake Arrieta ($1.1 million). Wilson instead chose to attend NC State that fall. In a 2008 interview, Wilson said, "I was leaning towards [entering the draft], but a college education is something you'll always have."


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson was a member of the NC State Wolfpack baseball team from 2008 to 2010, and in the summer of 2009 played for the Gastonia Grizzlies, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Coastal Plain League. He hit .282/.384/.415 with five home runs and 30 runs batted in (RBIs) during his collegiate career.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On June 8, 2010, Wilson was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the fourth round (140th pick overall) of the 2010 MLB draft. That summer he played 32 games as a second baseman for the Tri-City Dust Devils, the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Rockies in the Northwest League. He finished the season with two home runs, 11 RBIs, and a .230 batting average.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In the summer of 2011, Wilson played 61 games for the Asheville Tourists, the Class A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies in the South Atlantic League. He hit three home runs with 15 RBIs and a .228 batting average. In January 2012, Wilson informed the Rockies that he would be pursuing a career in the NFL and would not report to spring training for the 2012 season.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On December 12, 2013, Wilson was acquired from the Rockies by the Texas Rangers in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft. Wilson attended Rangers spring training in Surprise, Arizona in 2014 and 2015.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On February 7, 2018, Wilson was traded from the Rangers to the New York Yankees and assigned to the Yankees' Double-A affiliate, the Trenton Thunder. Wilson grew up as a Yankees fan and promised his late father that he would one day wear the Yankees uniform. On March 2, Wilson pinch-hit for Aaron Judge in the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves, his first appearance in a professional baseball game since 2011. He struck out on five pitches from Braves pitcher Max Fried.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On April 26, 2012, Wilson announced he had chosen French/West/Vaughan as his marketing, public relations, and endorsements agency. Since being named the starting quarterback of the Seahawks in August 2012, Wilson has appeared in advertisements for Levi's, American Family Insurance, Pepsi, Nike, Alaska Airlines, Microsoft, Duracell, Braun, Bose, United Way, and Larson Automotive Group.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In 2014, Wilson became part-owner and endorser of Eat the Ball, a European bread company. In 2015, he began endorsing Luvo, a frozen food company, and Reliant Recovery Water. On February 29, 2016, Wilson launched Good Man Brand, a clothing line which he co-founded. In August 2016, it was announced that Wilson had partnered with Juice Press to open the company's first Seattle franchise.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On November 14, 2016, Wilson announced he had joined Chris Hansen, Wally Walker, and Erik and Pete Nordstrom as partners in the investment group working to bring a new sports arena to Seattle's SoDo neighborhood for potential NBA and NHL teams.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In 2017, Wilson founded a fan network platform to connect fans with celebrities called TraceMe. TraceMe launched its public beta on September 8, 2017, and announced $9 million in Series A funding with investors including Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions, Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.


title: Russell Wilson

text: On November 20, 2017, football helmet manufacturer VICIS announced a $7 million investment round which included Wilson as an investor.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In June 2018, Wilson and his wife Ciara announced they were joining an effort to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Portland, Oregon. In July 2018, Wilson became an investor and endorser for Molecule, a mattress company.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In September 2018, Wilson was announced as the next athlete to appear on the cover of the Wheaties cereal box.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In August 2019, Wilson and Ciara announced that they had joined the ownership group of Seattle Sounders FC, the local Major League Soccer club. The Sounders went on to win the 2019 MLS Cup, giving Wilson an MLS Cup to his credit as part owner.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In January 2020, Wilson was named Chairman of NFL FLAG. The global partnership will focus on strengthening NFL FLAG domestically and expanding the league internationally. He has worked with the flag football organizations in China, Brazil, Canada, and the United Kingdom to help spread awareness of the sport and get athletes engaged in the game at a young age. More recently, both Wilson and Ciara struck first look deal with Amazon Studios.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson has appeared on the cover of several magazines including "Sports Illustrated", "Sports Illustrated Kids", "Rolling Stone", "ESPN The Magazine", "Men's Fitness", and "Men's Health".


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson has appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman", "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", "Late Night with Seth Meyers", "Charlie Rose", and in the 2015 film "Entourage". He also hosted the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Kids' Choice Sports on Nickelodeon.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson was the keynote speaker for the commencement address at both of his alma maters in 2016 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and in 2021 at North Carolina State University.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson graduated from NC State with a bachelor's degree in broadcast/communications in 2010 after three years of study. After transferring to the University of Wisconsin, he earned a master's degree in educational leadership and policy analysis.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson met his first wife, Ashton Meem, while they were both high school students. They married in January 2012 and divorced in April 2014.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson is married to American R&B singer Ciara. They began dating in early 2015 and announced their engagement on March 11, 2016. They were married on July 6, 2016, at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, England. He has a stepson from her relationship with Future. Their daughter was born on April 28, 2017. On January 30, 2020, they announced that they were expecting their second child together. Their son was born on July 23, 2020. In 2022, the couple purchased a home in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado for $25 million, setting the record for the most expensive residential property purchase in the Denver metropolitan area.


title: Russell Wilson

text: While Wilson was playing for the Seahawks, he and Ciara lived in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington until selling their home in April 2022 for $36 million. Wilson also has a house in San Diego.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson is a devout Christian. He frequently speaks about his Christian faith on his social media accounts. Wilson and Ciara made a vow to be celibate until they got married.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In September 2021, Wilson and Ciara announced that they were writing a children's book called "Why Not You?" to help kids pursue their dreams. The book was released on March 1, 2022.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson was an active volunteer in the Seattle community. During the NFL season, Wilson made weekly visits on his days off to the Seattle Children's Hospital, and has also visited soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In the offseason, Wilson hosts the Russell Wilson Passing Academy, a youth football camp, in several cities. In 2012, proceeds from the camp went to the Charles Ray III Diabetes Association, for which Wilson is the National Ambassador. In 2013 and 2014, Wilson partnered with Russell Investments for its "Invested with Russell" program, which donated $3,000 to Wilson's charitable foundation for every touchdown he scored.


title: Russell Wilson

text: Wilson co-hosts an annual charity golf event along with NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne at Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Washington to support various organizations including Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Seattle Children's Hospital. In August 2016, Wilson's Why Not You Foundation raised $1,060,005 for the Seattle Children's Hospital's Strong Against Cancer initiative.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In March 2020, Wilson and Ciara partnered with Food Lifeline to donate one million meals to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Russell Wilson

text: In May 2022, Wilson and Ciara received the Paul G. Allen Humanitarian Award for their philanthropic contributions to Seattle.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ (, or , , ; Old Norse: "Garðaríki"), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rusʹ as their cultural ancestor, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rusʹ stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: According to the "Primary Chronicle", the first ruler to start uniting East Slavic lands into what would become Kievan Rusʹ was Prince Oleg (879–912). He extended his control from Novgorod south along the Dnieper river valley to protect trade from Khazar incursions from the east, and took control of the city of Kiev. Sviatoslav I (943–972) achieved the first major territorial expansion of the state, fighting a war of conquest against the Khazars. Vladimir the Great (980–1015) introduced Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rusʹ reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054); his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the "Russkaya Pravda", shortly after his death.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The state began to decline in the late 11th century, gradually disintegrating into various rival regional powers throughout the 12th century. It was further weakened by external factors, such as the decline of the Byzantine Empire, its major economic partner, and the accompanying diminution of trade routes through its territory. It finally fell to the Mongol invasion in the mid-13th century, though the Rurik dynasty would continue to rule until the death of Feodor I of Russia in 1598.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: During its existence, Kievan Rusʹ was known as the "land of the Rus" (, from the ethnonym ; Greek: ; Arabic: ""), in Greek as , in Old French as , in Latin as or (with local German spelling variants "Ruscia" and "Ruzzia"), and from the 12th century also as or . Various etymologies have been proposed, including , the Finnish designation for Sweden or "Ros", a tribe from the middle Dnieper valley region.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: According to the prevalent theory, the name "Rusʹ", like the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden ("*rootsi"), is derived from an Old Norse term for 'men who row' ("rods-") because rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe, and could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen ("Rus-law") or "Roden", as it was known in earlier times. The name "Rusʹ" would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden: "Ruotsi" and "Rootsi".


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The term "Kievan Rusʹ" () was coined in the 19th century in Russian historiography to refer to the period when the centre was in Kiev. In the 19th century it also appeared in . In English, the term was introduced in the early 20th century, when it was found in the 1913 English translation of Vasily Klyuchevsky's "A History of Russia", to distinguish the early polity from successor states, which were also named "Rusʹ". The variant "Kyivan Rusʹ" appeared in English-language scholarship by the 1950s. Later, the Russian term was rendered into or and .


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The historically accurate but rare spelling "Kyevan Rusʹ", based on Old East Slavic () 'Kyiv', is also occasionally seen.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Prior to the emergence of Kievan Rusʹ in the 9th century, most of the area north of the Black Sea, which roughly overlaps with modern-day Ukraine and Belarus, was primarily populated by eastern Slavic tribes. In the northern region around Novgorod were the Ilmen Slavs and neighboring Krivichi, who occupied territories surrounding the headwaters of the West Dvina, Dnieper and Volga rivers. To their north, in the Ladoga and Karelia regions, were the Finnic Chud tribe. In the south, in the area around Kiev, were the Poliane, a group of Slavicized tribes with Iranian origins, the Drevliane to the west of the Dnieper, and the Severiane to the east. To their north and east were the Vyatichi, and to their south was forested land settled by Slav farmers, giving way to steppelands populated by nomadic herdsmen.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: There was once controversy over whether the Rusʹ were Varangians or Slavs, however, more recently scholarly attention has focused more on debating how quickly an ancestrally Norse people assimilated into Slavic culture. This uncertainty is due largely to a paucity of contemporary sources. Attempts to address this question instead rely on archaeological evidence, the accounts of foreign observers, and legends and literature from centuries later. To some extent the controversy is related to the foundation myths of modern states in the region. This often unfruitful debate over origins has periodically devolved into competing nationalist narratives of dubious scholarly value being promoted directly by various government bodies, in a number of states. This was seen in the Stalinist period, when Soviet historiography sought to distance the Rusʹ from any connection to Germanic tribes, in an effort to dispel Nazi propaganda claiming the Russian state owed its existence and origins to the supposedly racially superior Norse tribes. More recently, in the context of resurgent nationalism in post-Soviet states, Anglophone scholarship has analyzed renewed efforts to use this debate to create ethno-nationalist foundation stories, with governments sometimes directly involved in the project. Conferences and publications questioning the Norse origins of the Rusʹ have been supported directly by state policy in some cases, and the resultant foundation myths have been included in some school textbooks in Russia.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: While Varangians were Norse traders and Vikings, some Russian and Ukrainian nationalist historians argue that the Rusʹ were themselves Slavs (see Anti-Normanism). Normanist theories focus on the earliest written source for the East Slavs, the "Primary Chronicle", which was produced in the 12th century. Nationalist accounts on the other hand have suggested that the Rusʹ were present before the arrival of the Varangians, noting that only a handful of Scandinavian words can be found in Russian and that Scandinavian names in the early chronicles were soon replaced by Slavic names.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Nevertheless, the close connection between the Rusʹ and the Norse is confirmed both by extensive Scandinavian settlement in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine and by Slavic influences in the Swedish language. Though the debate over the origin of the Rusʹ remains politically charged, there is broad agreement that if the proto-Rusʹ were indeed originally Norse, they were quickly nativized, adopting Slavic languages and other cultural practices. This position, roughly representing a scholarly consensus (at least outside of nationalist historiography), was summarized by the historian, F. Donald Logan, "in 839, the Rus were Swedes; in 1043 the Rus were Slavs". Recent scholarship has attempted to move past the narrow and politicized debate on origins, to focus on how and why assimilation took place so quickly. Some modern DNA testing also points to Viking origins, not only of some of the early Rusʹ princely family and/or their retinues, but also links to possible brethren from neighboring countries like Sviatopolk I of Kiev.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Ahmad ibn Fadlan, an Arab traveler during the 10th century, provided one of the earliest written descriptions of the Rusʹ: "They are as tall as a date palm, blond and ruddy, so that they do not need to wear a tunic nor a cloak; rather the men among them wear garments that only cover half of his body and leaves one of his hands free." Liutprand of Cremona, who was twice an envoy to the Byzantine court (949 and 968), identifies the "Russi" with the Norse ("the Russi, whom we call Norsemen by another name") but explains the name as a Greek term referring to their physical traits ("A certain people made up of a part of the Norse, whom the Greeks call [...] the Russi on account of their physical features, we designate as Norsemen because of the location of their origin."). Leo the Deacon, a 10th-century Byzantine historian and chronicler, refers to the Rusʹ as "Scythians" and notes that they tended to adopt Greek rituals and customs. But 'Scythians' in Greek parlance is used predominantly as a generic term for nomads.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: According to the "Primary Chronicle", the territories of the East Slavs in the 9th century were divided between the Varangians and the Khazars. The Varangians are first mentioned imposing tribute from Slavic and Finnic tribes in 859. In 862, the Finnic and Slavic tribes in the area of Novgorod rebelled against the Varangians, driving them "back beyond the sea and, refusing them further tribute, set out to govern themselves." The tribes had no laws, however, and soon began to make war with one another, prompting them to invite the Varangians back to rule them and bring peace to the region:


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The three brothers—Rurik, Sineus and Truvor—established themselves in Novgorod, Beloozero and Izborsk, respectively. Two of the brothers died, and Rurik became the sole ruler of the territory and progenitor of the Rurik dynasty. A short time later, two of Rurik's men, Askold and Dir, asked him for permission to go to Tsargrad (Constantinople). On their way south, they discovered "a small city on a hill," Kiev, captured it and the surrounding country from the Khazars, populated the region with more Varangians, and "established their dominion over the country of the Polyanians."


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The Chronicle reports that Askold and Dir continued to Constantinople with a navy to attack the city in 863–66, catching the Byzantines by surprise and ravaging the surrounding area, though other accounts date the attack in 860. Patriarch Photius vividly describes the "universal" devastation of the suburbs and nearby islands, and another account further details the destruction and slaughter of the invasion. The Rusʹ turned back before attacking the city itself, due either to a storm dispersing their boats, the return of the Emperor, or in a later account, due to a miracle after a ceremonial appeal by the Patriarch and the Emperor to the Virgin. The attack was the first encounter between the Rusʹ and Byzantines and led the Patriarch to send missionaries north to engage and attempt to convert the Rusʹ and the Slavs.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Rurik led the Rusʹ until his death in about 879, bequeathing his kingdom to his kinsman, Prince Oleg, as regent for his young son, Igor. In 880–82, Oleg led a military force south along the Dnieper river, capturing Smolensk and Lyubech before reaching Kiev, where he deposed and killed Askold and Dir, proclaimed himself prince, and declared Kiev the "mother of Rusʹ cities." Oleg set about consolidating his power over the surrounding region and the riverways north to Novgorod, imposing tribute on the East Slav tribes.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In 883, he conquered the Drevlians, imposing a fur tribute on them. By 885 he had subjugated the Poliane, Severiane, Vyatichi, and Radimichs, forbidding them to pay further tribute to the Khazars. Oleg continued to develop and expand a network of Rusʹ forts in Slav lands, begun by Rurik in the north.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The new Kievan state prospered due to its abundant supply of furs, beeswax, honey and slaves for export, and because it controlled three main trade routes of Eastern Europe. In the north, Novgorod served as a commercial link between the Baltic Sea and the Volga trade route to the lands of the Volga Bulgars, the Khazars, and across the Caspian Sea as far as Baghdad, providing access to markets and products from Central Asia and the Middle East. Trade from the Baltic also moved south on a network of rivers and short portages along the Dnieper known as the "route from the Varangians to the Greeks," continuing to the Black Sea and on to Constantinople.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Kiev was a central outpost along the Dnieper route and a hub with the east–west overland trade route between the Khazars and the Germanic lands of Central Europe. and may have been a staging post for Radhanite Jewish traders between Western Europe, Itil and China. These commercial connections enriched Rusʹ merchants and princes, funding military forces and the construction of churches, palaces, fortifications, and further towns. Demand for luxury goods fostered production of expensive jewelry and religious wares, allowing their export, and an advanced credit and money-lending system may have also been in place.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The rapid expansion of the Rusʹ to the south led to conflict and volatile relationships with the Khazars and other neighbors on the Pontic steppe. The Khazars dominated trade from the Volga-Don steppes to the eastern Crimea and the northern Caucasus during the 8th century during an era historians call the 'Pax Khazarica', trading and frequently allying with the Byzantine Empire against Persians and Arabs. In the late 8th century, the collapse of the Göktürk Khaganate led the Magyars and the Pechenegs, Ugrians and Turkic peoples from Central Asia, to migrate west into the steppe region, leading to military conflict, disruption of trade, and instability within the Khazar Khaganate. The Rusʹ and Slavs had earlier allied with the Khazars against Arab raids on the Caucasus, but they increasingly worked against them to secure control of the trade routes.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The Byzantine Empire was able to take advantage of the turmoil to expand its political influence and commercial relationships, first with the Khazars and later with the Rusʹ and other steppe groups. The Byzantines established the Theme of Cherson, formally known as Klimata, in the Crimea in the 830s to defend against raids by the Rusʹ and to protect vital grain shipments supplying Constantinople. Cherson also served as a key diplomatic link with the Khazars and others on the steppe, and it became the centre of Black Sea commerce. The Byzantines also helped the Khazars build a fortress at Sarkel on the Don river to protect their northwest frontier against incursions by the Turkic migrants and the Rusʹ, and to control caravan trade routes and the portage between the Don and Volga rivers.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The expansion of the Rusʹ put further military and economic pressure on the Khazars, depriving them of territory, tributaries and trade. In around 890, Oleg waged an indecisive war in the lands of the lower Dniester and Dnieper rivers with the Tivertsi and the Ulichs, who were likely acting as vassals of the Magyars, blocking Rusʹ access to the Black Sea. In 894, the Magyars and Pechenegs were drawn into the wars between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire. The Byzantines arranged for the Magyars to attack Bulgarian territory from the north, and Bulgaria in turn persuaded the Pechenegs to attack the Magyars from their rear.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Boxed in, the Magyars were forced to migrate further west across the Carpathian Mountains into the Hungarian plain, depriving the Khazars of an important ally and a buffer from the Rusʹ. The migration of the Magyars allowed Rusʹ access to the Black Sea, and they soon launched excursions into Khazar territory along the sea coast, up the Don river, and into the lower Volga region. The Rusʹ were raiding and plundering into the Caspian Sea region from 864, with the first large-scale expedition in 913, when they extensively raided Baku, Gilan, Mazandaran and penetrated into the Caucasus.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: As the 10th century progressed, the Khazars were no longer able to command tribute from the Volga Bulgars, and their relationship with the Byzantines deteriorated, as Byzantium increasingly allied with the Pechenegs against them. The Pechenegs were thus secure to raid the lands of the Khazars from their base between the Volga and Don rivers, allowing them to expand to the west. Rusʹ relations with the Pechenegs were complex, as the groups alternately formed alliances with and against one another. The Pechenegs were nomads roaming the steppe raising livestock which they traded with the Rusʹ for agricultural goods and other products.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The lucrative Rusʹ trade with the Byzantine Empire had to pass through Pecheneg-controlled territory, so the need for generally peaceful relations was essential. Nevertheless, while the Primary Chronicle reports the Pechenegs entering Rusʹ territory in 915 and then making peace, they were waging war with one another again in 920. Pechenegs are reported assisting the Rusʹ in later campaigns against the Byzantines, yet allied with the Byzantines against the Rusʹ at other times.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: After the Rusʹ attack on Constantinople in 860, the Byzantine Patriarch Photius sent missionaries north to convert the Rusʹ and the Slavs to Christianity. Prince Rastislav of Moravia had requested the Emperor to provide teachers to interpret the holy scriptures, so in 863 the brothers Cyril and Methodius were sent as missionaries, due to their knowledge of the Slavonic language. The Slavs had no written language, so the brothers devised the Glagolitic alphabet, later replaced by Cyrillic (developed in the First Bulgarian Empire) and standardized the language of the Slavs, later known as Old Church Slavonic. They translated portions of the Bible and drafted the first Slavic civil code and other documents, and the language and texts spread throughout Slavic territories, including Kievan Rusʹ. The mission of Cyril and Methodius served both evangelical and diplomatic purposes, spreading Byzantine cultural influence in support of imperial foreign policy. In 867 the Patriarch announced that the Rusʹ had accepted a bishop, and in 874 he speaks of an "Archbishop of the Rusʹ."


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Relations between the Rusʹ and Byzantines became more complex after Oleg took control over Kiev, reflecting commercial, cultural, and military concerns. The wealth and income of the Rusʹ depended heavily upon trade with Byzantium. Constantine Porphyrogenitus described the annual course of the princes of Kiev, collecting tribute from client tribes, assembling the product into a flotilla of hundreds of boats, conducting them down the Dnieper to the Black Sea, and sailing to the estuary of the Dniester, the Danube delta, and on to Constantinople. On their return trip they would carry silk fabrics, spices, wine, and fruit.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The importance of this trade relationship led to military action when disputes arose. The Primary Chronicle reports that the Rusʹ attacked Constantinople again in 907, probably to secure trade access. The Chronicle glorifies the military prowess and shrewdness of Oleg, an account imbued with legendary detail. Byzantine sources do not mention the attack, but a pair of treaties in 907 and 911 set forth a trade agreement with the Rusʹ, the terms suggesting pressure on the Byzantines, who granted the Rusʹ quarters and supplies for their merchants and tax-free trading privileges in Constantinople.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The Chronicle provides a mythic tale of Oleg's death. A sorcerer prophesies that the death of the Grand Prince would be associated with a certain horse. Oleg has the horse sequestered, and it later dies. Oleg goes to visit the horse and stands over the carcass, gloating that he had outlived the threat, when a snake strikes him from among the bones, and he soon becomes ill and dies. The Chronicle reports that Prince Igor succeeded Oleg in 913, and after some brief conflicts with the Drevlians and the Pechenegs, a period of peace ensued for over twenty years.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In 941, Igor led another major Rusʹ attack on Constantinople, probably over trading rights again. A navy of 10,000 vessels, including Pecheneg allies, landed on the Bithynian coast and devastated the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus. The attack was well timed, perhaps due to intelligence, as the Byzantine fleet was occupied with the Arabs in the Mediterranean, and the bulk of its army was stationed in the east. The Rusʹ burned towns, churches and monasteries, butchering the people and amassing booty. The emperor arranged for a small group of retired ships to be outfitted with Greek fire throwers and sent them out to meet the Rusʹ, luring them into surrounding the contingent before unleashing the Greek fire.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Liutprand of Cremona wrote that "the Rusʹ, seeing the flames, jumped overboard, preferring water to fire. Some sank, weighed down by the weight of their breastplates and helmets; others caught fire." Those captured were beheaded. The ploy dispelled the Rusʹ fleet, but their attacks continued into the hinterland as far as Nicomedia, with many atrocities reported as victims were crucified and set up for use as targets. At last a Byzantine army arrived from the Balkans to drive the Rusʹ back, and a naval contingent reportedly destroyed much of the Rusʹ fleet on its return voyage (possibly an exaggeration since the Rusʹ soon mounted another attack). The outcome indicates increased military might by Byzantium since 911, suggesting a shift in the balance of power.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Igor returned to Kiev keen for revenge. He assembled a large force of warriors from among neighboring Slavs and Pecheneg allies, and sent for reinforcements of Varangians from "beyond the sea." In 944 the Rusʹ force advanced again on the Greeks, by land and sea, and a Byzantine force from Cherson responded. The Emperor sent gifts and offered tribute in lieu of war, and the Rusʹ accepted. Envoys were sent between the Rusʹ, the Byzantines, and the Bulgarians in 945, and a peace treaty was completed. The agreement again focused on trade, but this time with terms less favorable to the Rusʹ, including stringent regulations on the conduct of Rusʹ merchants in Cherson and Constantinople and specific punishments for violations of the law. The Byzantines may have been motivated to enter the treaty out of concern of a prolonged alliance of the Rusʹ, Pechenegs, and Bulgarians against them, though the more favorable terms further suggest a shift in power.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Following the death of Grand Prince Igor in 945, his wife Olga ruled as regent in Kiev until their son Sviatoslav reached maturity (c. 963). His decade-long reign over Rusʹ was marked by rapid expansion through the conquest of the Khazars of the Pontic steppe and the invasion of the Balkans. By the end of his short life, Sviatoslav carved out for himself the largest state in Europe, eventually moving his capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets on the Danube in 969.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In contrast with his mother's conversion to Christianity, Sviatoslav, like his druzhina, remained a staunch pagan. Due to his abrupt death in an ambush in 972, Sviatoslav's conquests, for the most part, were not consolidated into a functioning empire, while his failure to establish a stable succession led to a fratricidal feud among his sons, which resulted in two of his three sons being killed.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: It is not clearly documented when the title of the Grand Duke was first introduced, but the importance of the Kiev principality was recognized after the death of Sviatoslav I in 972 and the ensuing struggle between Vladimir the Great and Yaropolk I. The region of Kiev dominated the state of Kievan Rusʹ for the next two centuries. The grand prince or grand duke ( or , , , ) of Kiev controlled the lands around the city, and his formally subordinate relatives ruled the other cities and paid him tribute. The zenith of the state's power came during the reigns of Vladimir the Great (980–1015) and Prince Yaroslav I the Wise (1019–1054). Both rulers continued the steady expansion of Kievan Rusʹ that had begun under Oleg.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Vladimir had been prince of Novgorod when his father Sviatoslav I died in 972. He was forced to flee to Scandinavia in 976 after his half-brother Yaropolk had murdered his other brother Oleg and taken control of Rus. In Scandinavia, with the help of his relative Earl Håkon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway, Vladimir assembled a Viking army and reconquered Novgorod and Kiev from Yaropolk.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: As Prince of Kiev, Vladimir's most notable achievement was the Christianization of Kievan Rusʹ, a process that began in 988. The Primary Chronicle states that when Vladimir had decided to accept a new faith instead of the traditional idol-worship (paganism) of the Slavs, he sent out some of his most valued advisors and warriors as emissaries to different parts of Europe. They visited the Christians of the Latin Rite, the Jews, and the Muslims before finally arriving in Constantinople. They rejected Islam because, among other things, it prohibited the consumption of alcohol, and Judaism because the god of the Jews had permitted his chosen people to be deprived of their country.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: They found the ceremonies in the Roman church to be dull. But at Constantinople, they were so astounded by the beauty of the cathedral of Hagia Sophia and the liturgical service held there that they made up their minds there and then about the faith they would like to follow. Upon their arrival home, they convinced Vladimir that the faith of the Byzantine Rite was the best choice of all, upon which Vladimir made a journey to Constantinople and arranged to marry Princess Anna, the sister of Byzantine emperor Basil II.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Vladimir's choice of Eastern Christianity may also have reflected his close personal ties with Constantinople, which dominated the Black Sea and hence trade on Kiev's most vital commercial route, the Dnieper River. Adherence to the Eastern Church had long-range political, cultural, and religious consequences. The church had a liturgy written in Cyrillic and a corpus of translations from Greek that had been produced for the Slavic peoples. This literature facilitated the conversion to Christianity of the Eastern Slavs and introduced them to rudimentary Greek philosophy, science, and historiography without the necessity of learning Greek (there were some merchants who did business with Greeks and likely had an understanding of contemporary business Greek).


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In contrast, educated people in medieval Western and Central Europe learned Latin. Enjoying independence from the Roman authority and free from tenets of Latin learning, the East Slavs developed their own literature and fine arts, quite distinct from those of other Eastern Orthodox countries. (See Old East Slavic language and Architecture of Kievan Rus for details). Following the Great Schism of 1054, the Rusʹ church maintained communion with both Rome and Constantinople for some time, but along with most of the Eastern churches it eventually split to follow the Eastern Orthodox. That being said, unlike other parts of the Greek world, Kievan Rusʹ did not have a strong hostility to the Western world.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Yaroslav, known as "the Wise", struggled for power with his brothers. A son of Vladimir the Great, he was prince of Novgorod at the time of his father's death in 1015. Subsequently, his eldest surviving brother, Svyatopolk the Accursed, according to domestic but not foreign sources, killed three of his other brothers and seized power in Kiev. Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of Viking mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the grand prince of Kiev in 1019.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Although he first established his rule over Kiev in 1019, he did not have uncontested rule of all of Kievan Rusʹ until 1036. Like Vladimir, Yaroslav was eager to improve relations with the rest of Europe, especially the Byzantine Empire. Yaroslav's granddaughter, Eupraxia, the daughter of his son Vsevolod I, Prince of Kiev, was married to Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Yaroslav also arranged marriages for his sister and three daughters to the kings of Poland, France, Hungary and Norway.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Yaroslav promulgated the first East Slavic law code, "Russkaya Pravda"; built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod; patronized local clergy and monasticism; and is said to have founded a school system. Yaroslav's sons developed the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra (monastery), which functioned in Kievan Rusʹ as an ecclesiastical academy.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In the centuries that followed the state's foundation, Rurik's descendants shared power over Kievan Rusʹ. Princely succession moved from elder to younger brother and from uncle to nephew, as well as from father to son. Junior members of the dynasty usually began their official careers as rulers of a minor district, progressed to more lucrative principalities, and then competed for the coveted throne of Kiev.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The gradual disintegration of the Kievan Rusʹ began in the 11th century, after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. The position of the Grand Prince of Kiev was weakened by the growing influence of regional clans.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: An unconventional power succession system was established (rota system) whereby power was transferred to the eldest member of the ruling dynasty rather than from father to son, i.e. in most cases to the eldest brother of the ruler, fomenting constant hatred and rivalry within the royal family. Familicide was frequently deployed to obtain power and can be traced particularly during the time of the Yaroslavichi (sons of Yaroslav), when the established system was skipped in the establishment of Vladimir II Monomakh as the Grand Prince of Kiev, in turn creating major squabbles between Olegovichi from Chernigov, Monomakhs from Pereyaslav, Izyaslavichi from Turov/Volhynia, and Polotsk Princes.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The most prominent struggle for power was the conflict that erupted after the death of Yaroslav the Wise. The rival Principality of Polotsk was contesting the power of the Grand Prince by occupying Novgorod, while Rostislav Vladimirovich was fighting for the Black Sea port of Tmutarakan belonging to Chernigov. Three of Yaroslav's sons that first allied together found themselves fighting each other especially after their defeat to the Cuman forces in 1068 at the Battle of the Alta River. At the same time, an uprising took place in Kiev, bringing to power Vseslav of Polotsk who supported the traditional Slavic paganism.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The ruling Grand Prince Iziaslav fled to Poland asking for support and in couple of years returned to establish the order. The affairs became even more complicated by the end of the 11th century driving the state into chaos and constant warfare. On the initiative of Vladimir II Monomakh in 1097 the first federal council of Kievan Rusʹ took place near Chernigov in the city of Liubech with the main intention to find an understanding among the fighting sides. However, even though that did not really stop the fighting, it certainly cooled things off.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: By 1130, all descendants of Vseslav the Seer had been exiled to the Byzantine Empire by Mstislav the Great. The most fierce resistance to the Monomakhs was posed by the Olegovichi when the izgoi Vsevolod II managed to become the Grand Prince of Kiev. The Rostislavichi who had initially established in Halych lands by 1189 were defeated by the Monomakh-Piast descendant Roman the Great.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The decline of Constantinople—a main trading partner of Kievan Rusʹ—played a significant role in the decline of the Kievan Rusʹ. The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, along which the goods were moving from the Black Sea (mainly Byzantine) through eastern Europe to the Baltic, was a cornerstone of Kievan wealth and prosperity. These trading routes became less important as the Byzantine Empire declined in power and Western Europe created new trade routes to Asia and the Near East. As people relied less on passing through Kievan Rusʹ territories for trade, the Kievan Rusʹ economy suffered.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The last ruler to maintain a united state was Mstislav the Great. After his death in 1132, the Kievan Rusʹ fell into recession and a rapid decline, and Mstislav's successor Yaropolk II of Kiev, instead of focusing on the external threat of the Cumans, was embroiled in conflicts with the growing power of the Novgorod Republic. In March 1169, a coalition of native princes led by Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir sacked Kiev. This changed the perception of Kiev and was evidence of the fragmentation of the Kievan Rusʹ. By the end of the 12th century, the Kievan state fragmented even further, into roughly twelve different principalities.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The Crusades brought a shift in European trade routes that accelerated the decline of Kievan Rusʹ. In 1204, the forces of the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, making the Dnieper trade route marginal. At the same time, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (of the Northern Crusades) were conquering the Baltic region and threatening the Lands of Novgorod. Concurrently with it, the Ruthenian Federation of Kievan Rusʹ started to disintegrate into smaller principalities as the Rurik dynasty grew. The local Orthodox Christianity of Kievan Rusʹ, while struggling to establish itself in the predominantly pagan state and losing its main base in Constantinople, was on the brink of extinction. Some of the main regional centres that developed later were Novgorod, Chernigov, Halych, Kiev, Ryazan, Vladimir-upon-Klyazma, Volodimer-Volyn and Polotsk.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In the north, the Republic of Novgorod prospered because it controlled trade routes from the River Volga to the Baltic Sea. As Kievan Rusʹ declined, Novgorod became more independent. A local oligarchy ruled Novgorod; major government decisions were made by a town assembly, which also elected a prince as the city's military leader. In 1136, Novgorod revolted against Kiev, and became independent.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Now an independent city republic, and referred to as "Lord Novgorod the Great" it would spread its "mercantile interest" to the west and the north; to the Baltic Sea and the low-populated forest regions, respectively. In 1169, Novgorod acquired its own archbishop, named Ilya, a sign of further increased importance and political independence. Novgorod enjoyed a wide degree of autonomy although being closely associated with the Kievan Rus.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In the northeast, Slavs from the Kievan region colonized the territory that later would become the Grand Duchy of Moscow by subjugating and merging with the Finnic tribes already occupying the area. The city of Rostov, the oldest centre of the northeast, was supplanted first by Suzdal and then by the city of Vladimir, which become the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal. The combined principality of Vladimir-Suzdal asserted itself as a major power in Kievan Rusʹ in the late 12th century.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In 1169, Prince Andrey Bogolyubskiy of Vladimir-Suzdal sacked the city of Kiev and took over the title of the grand prince to claim primacy in Rusʹ. Prince Andrey then installed his younger brother, who ruled briefly in Kiev while Andrey continued to rule his realm from Suzdal. In 1299, in the wake of the Mongol invasion, the metropolitan moved from Kiev to the city of Vladimir and Vladimir-Suzdal.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: To the southwest, the principality of Halych had developed trade relations with its Polish, Hungarian and Lithuanian neighbours and emerged as the local successor to Kievan Rusʹ. In 1199, Prince Roman Mstislavych united the two previously separate principalities of Halych and Volyn. In 1202 he conquered Kiev, and assumed the title of Knyaz of Kievan Rusʹ, which was held by the rulers of Vladimir-Suzdal since 1169.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: His son, Prince Daniel (r. 1238–1264) looked for support from the West. He accepted a crown as a "Rex Rusiae" ("King of Rus") from the Roman papacy, apparently doing so without breaking with Constantinople. In 1370, the patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople granted the King of Poland a metropolitan for his Ruthenian subjects.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Lithuanian rulers also requested and received a metropolitan for Novagrudok shortly afterwards. Cyprian, a candidate pushed by the Lithuanian rulers, became Metropolitan of Kiev in 1375 and metropolitan of Moscow in 1382; this way the church in the territory of former Kievan Rusʹ was reunited for some time. In 1439, Kiev became the seat of a separate "Metropolitan of Kiev, Halych and all Rusʹ" for all Greek Orthodox Christians under Polish-Lithuanian rule.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: However, a long and unsuccessful struggle against the Mongols combined with internal opposition to the prince and foreign intervention weakened Galicia-Volhynia. With the end of the Mstislavich branch of the Rurikids in the mid-14th century, Galicia-Volhynia ceased to exist; Poland conquered Halych; Lithuania took Volhynia, including Kiev, conquered by Gediminas in 1321 ending the rule of Rurikids in the city. Lithuanian rulers then assumed the title over Ruthenia.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Following the Mongol invasion of Cumania (or the Kipchaks), in which case many Cuman rulers fled to Rusʹ, such as Köten, the state finally disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of Rusʹ, fragmenting it into successor principalities who paid tribute to the Golden Horde (the so-called Tatar Yoke). In the late 15th century, the Muscovite Grand Dukes began taking over former Kievan territories and proclaimed themselves the sole legal successors of the Kievan principality according to the protocols of the medieval theory of translatio imperii.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: On the western periphery, Kievan Rusʹ was succeeded by the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Later, as these territories, now part of modern central Ukraine and Belarus, fell to the Gediminids, the powerful, largely Ruthenized Grand Duchy of Lithuania drew heavily on Rusʹ cultural and legal traditions. From 1398 until the Union of Lublin in 1569 its full name was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia. Due to the fact of the economic and cultural core of Rusʹ being located on the territory of modern Ukraine, Ukrainian historians and scholars consider Kievan Rusʹ to be a founding Ukrainian state. After the Union of Lublin, the southern parts of the Grand Duchy were joined to the remnants of Galicia-Volhynia, forming a split of Ruthenia in the Lesser Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. This would almost be the modern borders between northern and southern Ruthenia, or modern Ukraine and Belarus, which have historically been influenced by Poland and Lithuania respectively.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: On the north-eastern periphery of Kievan Rusʹ, traditions were adapted in the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality that gradually gravitated towards Moscow. To the very north, the Novgorod and Pskov Feudal Republics were less autocratic than Vladimir-Suzdal-Moscow until they were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Russian historians consider Kievan Rusʹ the first period of Russian history.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: During the Kievan era, trade and transport depended largely on networks of rivers and portages. By this period, trade networks had expanded to cater to more than just local demand. This is evidenced by a survey of glassware found in over 30 sites ranging from Suzdal, Drutsk and Belozeroo, which found that a substantial majority was manufactured in Kiev. Kiev was the main depot and transit point for trade between itself, Byzantium and the Black Sea region. Even though this trade network had already been existent, the volume of which had expanded rapidly in the 11th century. Kiev was also dominant in internal trade between the Rus towns; it held a monopoly on glassware products (glass vessels, glazed pottery and window glass) up until the early- to mid-12th century until which it lost its monopoly to the other Rus towns. Inlaid enamel production techniques was borrowed from Byzantine. Byzantine amphorae, wine and olive oil have been found along the middle Dnieper, suggesting trade between Kiev, along trade towns to Byzantium.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The peoples of Rusʹ experienced a period of great economic expansion, opening trade routes with the Vikings to the north and west and with the Byzantine Greeks to the south and west; traders also began to travel south and east, eventually making contact with Persia and the peoples of Central Asia.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In winter, the ruler of Kiev went out on rounds, visiting Dregovichs, Krivichs, Drevlians, Severians, and other subordinated tribes. Some paid tribute in money, some in furs or other commodities, and some in slaves. This system was called poliudie.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Due to the expansion of trade and its geographical proximity, Kiev became the most important trade centre and chief among the communes; therefore the leader of Kiev gained political "control" over the surrounding areas. This princedom emerged from a coalition of traditional patriarchic family communes banded together in an effort to increase the applicable workforce and expand the productivity of the land. This union developed the first major cities in the Rusʹ and was the first notable form of self-government. As these communes became larger, the emphasis was taken off the family holdings and placed on the territory that surrounded. This shift in ideology became known as the "vervʹ".


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In the 11th and the 12th centuries, the princes and their retinues, which were a mixture of Slavic and Scandinavian elites, dominated the society of Kievan Rusʹ. Leading soldiers and officials received income and land from the princes in return for their political and military services. Kievan society lacked the class institutions and autonomous towns that were typical of Western European feudalism. Nevertheless, urban merchants, artisans and labourers sometimes exercised political influence through a city assembly, the "veche" (council), which included all the adult males in the population.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In some cases, the veche either made agreements with their rulers or expelled them and invited others to take their place. At the bottom of society was a stratum of slaves. More important was a class of tribute-paying peasants, who owed labour duty to the princes. The widespread personal serfdom characteristic of Western Europe did not exist in Kievan Rusʹ.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The change in political structure led to the inevitable development of the peasant class or "smerds". The smerdy were free un-landed people that found work by labouring for wages on the manors that began to develop around 1031 as the "vervʹ" began to dominate socio-political structure. The smerdy were initially given equality in the Kievian law code; they were theoretically equal to the prince; so they enjoyed as much freedom as can be expected of manual labourers. However, in the 13th century, they slowly began to lose their rights and became less equal in the eyes of the law.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Kievan Rusʹ, although sparsely populated compared to Western Europe, was not only the largest contemporary European state in terms of area but also culturally advanced. Literacy in Kiev, Novgorod and other large cities was high; as birch bark documents attest, inhabitants exchanged love letters and prepared cheat sheets for schools. Novgorod had a sewage system and wood pavement not often found in other cities at the time. The Russkaya Pravda confined punishments to fines and generally did not use capital punishment. Certain rights were accorded to women, such as property and inheritance rights.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The economic development of Kievan Rus may be reflected in its demographics. Around 1200, Kiev had a population of 50,000, followed by Novgorod and Chernigov, which each had around 30,000; Constantinople, then one of the largest cities in the world, had a population of about 400,000 around 1180. Soviet scholar Mikhail Tikhomirov calculated that Kievan Rusʹ had around 300 urban centres on the eve of the Mongol invasion.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Kievan Rusʹ also played an important genealogical role in European politics. Yaroslav the Wise, whose stepmother belonged to the Macedonian dynasty that ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, married the only legitimate daughter of the king who Christianized Sweden. His daughters became queens of Hungary, France and Norway; his sons married the daughters of a Polish king and Byzantine emperor, and a niece of the Pope; and his granddaughters were a German empress and (according to one theory) the queen of Scotland. A grandson married the only daughter of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. Thus the Rurikids were a well-connected royal family of the time.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: From the 9th century, the Pecheneg nomads began an uneasy relationship with Kievan Rusʹ. For over two centuries they launched sporadic raids into the lands of Rusʹ, which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars (such as the 920 war on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev reported in the "Primary Chronicle"), but there were also temporary military alliances (e.g., the 943 Byzantine campaign by Igor). In 968, the Pechenegs attacked and besieged the city of Kiev. Some speculation exists that the Pechenegs drove off the Tivertsi and the Ulichs to the regions of the upper Dniester river in Bukovina. The Byzantine Empire was known to support the Pechenegs in their military campaigns against the Eastern Slavic states.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Boniak was a Cuman khan who led a series of invasions on Kievan Rusʹ. In 1096, Boniak attacked Kiev, plundered the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, and burned down the prince's palace in Berestovo. He was defeated in 1107 by Vladimir Monomakh, Oleg, Sviatopolk and other Rusʹ princes.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The Mongol Empire invaded Kievan Rusʹ in the 13th century, destroying numerous cities, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir and Kiev. Giovanni de Plano Carpini, the Pope's envoy to the Mongol Great Khan, traveled through Kiev in February 1246 and wrote:


title: Kievan Rus'

text: When this was done, they [the Mongols, ""Tartari"")] marched against Rusʹ, and made great havoc in it, destroyed cities and forts, and killed people. They besieged Kyiv, the metropolis of Rusʹ, for a long time, and finally took it and killed its citizens. From there, while passing through that land, we found innumerable skulls and bones of dead men, lying on the ground. For the city had been very large and populous, but now it seems reduced to nothing: for hardly more than two hundred houses remain, whose inhabitants are also held in absolute servitude.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Byzantium quickly became the main trading and cultural partner for Kiev, but relations were not always friendly. The most serious conflict between the two powers was the war of 968–971 in Bulgaria, but several Rusʹ raiding expeditions against the Byzantine cities of the Black Sea coast and Constantinople itself are also recorded. Although most were repulsed, they were concluded by trade treaties that were generally favourable to the Rusʹ.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: Rusʹ-Byzantine relations became closer following the marriage of the "porphyrogenita" Anna to Vladimir the Great, and the subsequent Christianization of the Rusʹ: Byzantine priests, architects and artists were invited to work on numerous cathedrals and churches around Rusʹ, expanding Byzantine cultural influence even further. Numerous Rusʹ served in the Byzantine army as mercenaries, most notably as the famous Varangian Guard.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: In 988, the Christian Church in Rusʹ territorially fell under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople after it was officially adopted as the state religion. According to several chronicles after that date the predominant cult of Slavic paganism was persecuted.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The exact date of creation of the Kiev Metropolis is uncertain, as well as its first church leader. It is generally considered that the first head was Michael I of Kiev; however, some sources claim it to be Leontiy, who is often placed after Michael or Anastas Chersonesos, who became the first bishop of the Church of the Tithes. The first metropolitan to be confirmed by historical sources is Theopemp, who was appointed by Patriarch Alexius of Constantinople in 1038. Before 1015 there were five dioceses: Kiev, Chernihiv, Bilhorod, Volodymyr, Novgorod, and soon thereafter Yuriy-upon-Ros. The Kiev Metropolitan sent his own delegation to the Council of Bari in 1098.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: After the sacking of Kiev in 1169, part of the Kiev metropolis started to move to Vladimir-upon-Klyazma, concluding the move sometime after 1240 when Kiev was taken by Batu Khan. Metropolitan Maxim was the first metropolitan who chose Vladimir-upon-Klyazma as his official residence in 1299. As a result, in 1303, Lev I of Galicia petitioned Patriarch Athanasius I of Constantinople for the creation of a new Halych metropolis; however, it only existed until 1347.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: The Church of the Tithes was chosen as the first Cathedral Temple. In 1037, the cathedral was transferred to the newly built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. Upon the transferring of the metropolitan seat in 1299, the Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir was chosen as the new cathedral.


title: Kievan Rus'

text: By the mid-13th century, the dioceses of Kiev Metropolis (988) were as follows: Kiev (988), Pereyaslav, Chernihiv (991), Volodymyr-Volynsky (992), Turov (1005), Polotsk (1104), Novgorod (~990s), Smolensk (1137), Murom (1198), Peremyshl (1120), Halych (1134), Vladimir-upon-Klyazma (1215), Rostov (991), Bilhorod, Yuriy (1032), Chełm (1235) and Tver (1271). There also were dioceses in Zakarpattia and Tmutarakan. In 1261 the Sarai-Batu diocese was established.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database. Nakamoto was active in the development of bitcoin up until December 2010.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: There has been widespread speculation about Satoshi Nakamoto's true identity, with a variety of people posited as the person or persons behind the name. Though Nakamoto's name is Japanese, and he stated in 2012 that he was a man living in Japan, most of the speculation has involved software and cryptography experts in the United States or Europe.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Nakamoto stated that work on the writing of the code for Bitcoin began in 2007. On 18 August 2008, he or a colleague registered the domain name bitcoin.org, and created a web site at that address. On 31 October, Nakamoto published a white paper on the cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com describing a digital cryptocurrency, titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: On 9 January 2009, Nakamoto released version 0.1 of the Bitcoin software on SourceForge, and launched the network by defining the "genesis block of bitcoin" (block number 0), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins. Embedded in the coinbase transaction of this block is the text: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks", citing a headline in the UK newspaper "The Times" published on that date. This note has been interpreted as both a timestamp and a derisive comment on the alleged instability caused by fractional-reserve banking.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Nakamoto continued to collaborate with other developers on the bitcoin software until mid-2010, making all modifications to the source code himself. He then gave control of the source code repository and network alert key to Gavin Andresen, transferred several related domains to various prominent members of the bitcoin community, and stopped his recognized involvement in the project.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Nakamoto owns between 750,000 and 1,100,000 bitcoin. In November 2021, when Bitcoin hit its still-highest value of over US$68,000, that would have made his net worth up to US$73 billion, which would have made him the 15th-richest person in the world at the time.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Nakamoto has never revealed personal information when discussing technical matters, though has at times provided commentary on banking and fractional-reserve banking. On his P2P Foundation profile as of 2012, Nakamoto claimed to be a 37-year-old male who lived in Japan; however, some speculated he was unlikely to be Japanese due to his native-level use of English.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Some have considered that Nakamoto might be a team of people: Dan Kaminsky, a security researcher who read the bitcoin code, said that Nakamoto could either be a "team of people" or a "genius"; Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer who had emailed Nakamoto, had the feeling the code was too well designed for one person; Gavin Andresen has said of Nakamoto's code: "He was a brilliant coder, but it was quirky."


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: The use of British English in both source code comments and forum postings, such as the expression "bloody hard", terms such as "flat" and "maths", and the spellings "grey" and "colour", led to speculation that Nakamoto, or at least one individual in a consortium claiming to be him, was of Commonwealth origin. The reference to London's "Times" newspaper in the first bitcoin block mined by Nakamoto suggested to some a particular interest in the British government.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Stefan Thomas, a Swiss software engineer and active community member, graphed the timestamps for each of Nakamoto's bitcoin forum posts (more than 500); the chart showed a steep decline to almost no posts between the hours of 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. This was between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Japan Standard Time, suggesting an unusual sleep pattern for someone supposedly living in Japan. As this pattern held true even on Saturdays and Sundays, it suggested that Nakamoto consistently was asleep at this time.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: The identity of Nakamoto is unknown, but speculations have focussed on various cryptography and computer science experts, mostly of non-Japanese descent.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Hal Finney (4 May 1956 – 28 August 2014) was a pre-bitcoin cryptographic pioneer and the first person (other than Nakamoto himself) to use the software, file bug reports, and make improvements. He also lived a few blocks from a man named 'Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto', according to "Forbes" journalist Andy Greenberg. Greenberg asked the writing analysis consultancy Juola & Associates to compare a sample of Finney's writing to Nakamoto's, and found it to be the closest resemblance they had yet come across, including when compared to candidates suggested by "Newsweek", "Fast Company", "The New Yorker", Ted Nelson, and Skye Grey. Greenberg theorized that Finney may have been a ghostwriter on behalf of Nakamoto, or that he simply used his neighbor Dorian's identity as a "drop" or "patsy whose personal information is used to hide online exploits"; however, after meeting Finney, seeing the emails between him and Nakamoto and his bitcoin wallet's history (including the very first bitcoin transaction from Nakamoto to him, which he forgot to pay back) and hearing his denial, Greenberg concluded that Finney was telling the truth. Juola & Associates also found that Nakamoto's emails to Finney more closely resemble Nakamoto's other writings than Finney's do. Finney's fellow extropian and sometimes co-blogger Robin Hanson assigned a subjective probability of "at least" 15% that "Hal was more involved than he's said", before further evidence suggested that was not the case.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In a high-profile 6 March 2014 article in the magazine "Newsweek", journalist Leah McGrath Goodman identified Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, a Japanese American man living in California, whose birth name is Satoshi Nakamoto, as the Nakamoto in question. Besides his name, Goodman pointed to a number of facts that circumstantially suggested he was the Bitcoin inventor. Trained as a physicist at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Nakamoto worked as a systems engineer on classified defense projects and computer engineer for technology and financial information services companies. Nakamoto was laid off twice in the early 1990s and turned libertarian according to his daughter, and encouraged her to start her own business "not under the government's thumb." In the article's seemingly biggest piece of evidence, Goodman wrote that when she asked him about Bitcoin during a brief in-person interview, Nakamoto seemed to confirm his identity as the Bitcoin founder by stating: "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it. It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: The article's publication led to a flurry of media interest, including reporters camping out near Dorian Nakamoto's house and subtly chasing him by car when he drove to do an interview. Later that day, the pseudonymous Nakamoto's P2P Foundation account posted its first message in five years, stating: "I am not Dorian Nakamoto." During the subsequent full-length interview, Dorian Nakamoto denied all connection to Bitcoin, saying he had never heard of the currency before, and that he had misinterpreted Goodman's question as being about his previous work for military contractors, much of which was classified. In a Reddit "ask-me-anything" interview, he claimed he had misinterpreted Goodman's question as being related to his work for Citibank. In September, the P2P Foundation account posted another message saying it had been hacked, raising questions over the authenticity of the message six months earlier.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In December 2013, blogger Skye Grey linked Nick Szabo to the Bitcoin white paper using an approach he described as stylometric analysis. Szabo is a decentralized currency enthusiast, and had published a paper on "bit gold", one of the precursors of Bitcoin. He is known to have been interested in using pseudonyms in the 1990s. In a May 2011 article, Szabo stated about the Bitcoin creator: "Myself, Wei Dai, and Hal Finney were the only people I know of who liked the idea (or in Dai's case his related idea) enough to pursue it to any significant extent until Nakamoto (assuming Nakamoto is not really Finney or Dai)."


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Financial author Dominic Frisby provides much circumstantial evidence but, as he admits, no proof that Nakamoto is Szabo. Szabo has denied being Nakamoto. In a July 2014 email to Frisby, he said: "Thanks for letting me know. I'm afraid you got it wrong doxing me as Satoshi, but I'm used to it." Nathaniel Popper wrote in "The New York Times" that "the most convincing evidence pointed to a reclusive American man of Hungarian descent named Nick Szabo."


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: On 8 December 2015, "Wired" wrote that Craig Steven Wright, an Australian academic, "either invented bitcoin or is a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did". Craig Wright took down his Twitter account and neither he nor his ex-wife responded to press inquiries. The same day, "Gizmodo" published a story with evidence supposedly obtained by a hacker who broke into Wright's email accounts, claiming that Satoshi Nakamoto was a joint pseudonym for Craig Steven Wright and computer forensics analyst David Kleiman, who died in 2013. Wright's claim was supported by Jon Matonis (former director of the Bitcoin Foundation) and bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Wright has stated that he chose the family name "Nakamoto" in honor of Japanese philosopher Tominaga Nakamoto (1715-1746), whom Wright learned about from his Japanese martial arts instructor, and the accompanying given name "Satoshi" after the "Pokémon" character Satoshi, because his name was anglicized as "Ash", and thus "Satoshi" represents the current financial system that must be burned into ash in order to make way for cryptocurrency.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: A number of prominent Bitcoin promoters remained unconvinced by the reports. Subsequent reports also raised the possibility that the evidence provided was an elaborate hoax, which "Wired" acknowledged "cast doubt" on their suggestion that Wright was Nakamoto. Bitcoin developer Peter Todd said that Wright's blog post, which appeared to contain cryptographic proof, actually contained nothing of the sort. Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik agreed that evidence publicly provided by Wright does not prove anything, and security researcher Dan Kaminsky concluded Wright's claim was "intentional scammery".


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In May 2019, Wright started using English libel law to sue people who denied he was the inventor of bitcoin, and who called him a fraud. In 2019, Wright registered US copyright for the bitcoin white paper and the code for Bitcoin 0.1. Wright's team claimed this was "government agency recognition of Craig Wright as Satoshi Nakamoto"; the United States Copyright Office issued a press release clarifying that this was not the case (as they primarily determine whether a work is eligible for copyright, and do not investigate legal ownership, which, if disputed, is determined by the courts).


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In a 2011 article in "The New Yorker", Joshua Davis claimed to have narrowed down the identity of Nakamoto to a number of possible individuals, including the Finnish economic sociologist Dr. Vili Lehdonvirta and Irish student Michael Clear, who was in 2008 an undergraduate student in cryptography at Trinity College Dublin. Clear strongly denied he was Nakamoto, as did Lehdonvirta.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In October 2011, writing for "Fast Company", investigative journalist Adam Penenberg cited circumstantial evidence suggesting Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry could be Nakamoto. They jointly filed a patent application that contained the phrase "computationally impractical to reverse" in 2008, which was also used in the Bitcoin white paper by Nakamoto. The domain name bitcoin.org was registered three days after the patent was filed. All three men denied being Nakamoto when contacted by Penenberg.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In May 2013, Ted Nelson speculated that Nakamoto was Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki. Later, an article was published in "The Age" newspaper that claimed that Mochizuki denied these speculations, but without attributing a source for the denial.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: A 2013 article in "Vice" listed Gavin Andresen, Jed McCaleb, or a government agency as possible candidates to be Nakamoto.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In 2013, two Israeli mathematicians, Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir, published a paper claiming a link between Nakamoto and Ross Ulbricht. The two based their suspicion on an analysis of the network of Bitcoin transactions, but later retracted their claim.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: In 2016, the "Financial Times" said that Nakamoto might have been a group of people, mentioning Hal Finney, Nick Szabo and Adam Back as potential members. In 2020, the YouTube channel "Barely Sociable" claimed that Adam Back, inventor of Bitcoin predecessor Hashcash, is Nakamoto. Back subsequently denied this.


title: Satoshi Nakamoto

text: Elon Musk denied he was Nakamoto in a tweet on 28 November 2017, responding to speculation the previous week in a Medium post by a former SpaceX intern.


title: Beetlejuice

text: Beetlejuice is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder, and Michael Keaton as the titular character. The plot revolves around a recently deceased couple who, as ghosts haunting their former home, contact Betelgeuse (pronounced and occasionally spelled Beetlejuice in the film), an obnoxious and devious "bio-exorcist" from the Netherworld, to scare away the house's new inhabitants.


title: Beetlejuice

text: "Beetlejuice" was a critical and commercial success, grossing US$74.2 million from a budget of US$15 million. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and three Saturn Awards: Best Horror Film, Best Makeup, and Best Supporting Actress for Sylvia Sidney. The film's success spawned an animated television series, video games, and a 2018 stage musical. A sequel is currently in development.


title: Beetlejuice

text: In Winter River, Connecticut, Barbara and Adam Maitland decide to spend their vacation decorating their idyllic country home. As they are driving home from a trip to town, Barbara swerves to avoid a dog and the car plunges into the river. After returning home, she and Adam notice they now lack reflections and find the book "Handbook for the Recently Deceased".


title: Beetlejuice

text: They begin to suspect they did not survive the car accident. When Adam attempts to leave the house, he ends up in a strange and otherworldly desert-like landscape populated by enormous sandworms. The encounter lasts only a few seconds for him but after being rescued by Barbara she claims that he was gone for two hours.


title: Beetlejuice

text: The house is sold and the new owners, the Deetz family, arrive from New York City. Charles Deetz is a former real estate developer; his second wife Delia is a self-proclaimed sculptor; and his teenage goth daughter Lydia, from his first marriage, is an aspiring photographer. Under the guidance of interior designer Otho, the family transforms the house into a pastel-toned work of modern art.


title: Beetlejuice

text: Consulting the "Handbook", the Maitlands travel to an otherworldly waiting room populated by other distressed souls where they discover the afterlife is structured according to a complex bureaucracy involving vouchers and caseworkers. The Maitlands' caseworker Juno informs them they must remain in the house for the next one hundred and twenty five years on pain of a dire fate. If they want the Deetzes out of the house, it is up to them to scare them away.


title: Beetlejuice

text: Although Adam and Barbara remain invisible to Charles and Delia, Lydia can see the ghost couple and befriends them. Against Juno's advice, the Maitlands contact the miscreant Beetlejuice, Juno's former assistant and a now freelance "bio-exorcist", to scare away the Deetzes. At first, they are unaware his name is pronounced "Beetlejuice", which is why they have such difficulty pronouncing it and thereby summoning him.