The book was first published in Warsaw in 1873. St. Petersburg University awarded N.P. Barsov a master's degree in Russian history for an extremely valuable contribution to science. He received the Uvarov Prize for this work. The book is replete with rich factual material. Barsov took the Initial Chronicle as a basis as a geographical source. He describes the world that was known to the chronicler. Considers real geographical objects from the Varangian Sea to the Black Sea basin, from the East European Plain to the Ural Range. Pays attention to the importance of rivers and seas for the residence and movement of people.