The official founding date of Novgorod is considered to be the year 859, based on the first mention of the city in the later Nikon Chronicle (16th century). In the "Tale of Bygone Years," created in the 12th century, the city is first mentioned under the year 862. However, the chronicles may have retrospectively attributed the city's existence to this time, since reliably dated archaeological layers of Novgorod date no earlier than the 930s. According to archaeologists, Novgorod appeared roughly at the turn of the 9th–10th centuries or in the early 10th century at the source of the Volkhov River from Lake Ilmen. In the second quarter of the 10th century, the first bridge over the Volkhov was built. In 1136, Novgorod became the first free republic on the territory of feudal Rus' (from this point, the powers of the Novgorod prince were sharply limited). From the 12th to the 15th centuries, Novgorod was part of the Hanseatic trading league. For the period starting from 1136 and ending in 1478, when Novgorod lost its political independence (as a result of the victory of the Moscow prince Ivan III the Great over the Novgorodians), the term "Novgorod Republic" is used in relation to the Novgorod land (the government of the latter used the designation "Lord Great Novgorod"). Novgorod was not subjected to the Mongol invasion; although it paid tribute to the Horde, it preserved unique monuments of ancient Russian pre-Mongol architecture (the most famous of which is the St. Sophia Cathedral) and was the only one among the ancient Russian cities to avoid decline and fragmentation in the 11th–12th centuries. In 1569–1570, Novgorod suffered the oprichnina massacre under Ivan the Terrible, accompanied by mass killings of townspeople. From 1611 to 1617, the city was under Swedish control. After the founding of Saint Petersburg, the city lost its economic significance, in particular remaining off the main trade routes. Since 1727, Novgorod became the center of Novgorod Governorate. Since 1927, it has been part of Leningrad Oblast. During the Great Patriotic War, the city was occupied by the Germans and almost completely destroyed. After liberation, it again became a regional center, was rebuilt, and many historical buildings were restored.

Jermaine