The book covers a huge period of Russian history (5 centuries) from the formation in the XI century of the Old Russian state with its capital in Kyiv to its collapse into independent principalities in the XII-XIII centuries. The global events of this period: the baptism of Russia, the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the beginning of the domestic annals, the emergence of estates, the creation of Russian truth, trade, the founding of monasteries, international relations and wars - these are just a small part of the topics raised by the author to reveal the concept " the formation of Russia ".