the capital moved to Vladimir. This was followed by numerous sackings of Kyiv by Rus' princes until the town was completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion in 1240. In the following centuries, the city functioned as a provincial capital of marginal importance in the outskirts of the territories controlled by its powerful neighbors: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, its successor the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Tsardom of Russia which later became the Russian Empire. Kyiv was also a major political and cultural center for Ukrainian nation, especially during the Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate in 17–18 centuries. A Christian city since 988, it still played an important role in preserving the traditions of Orthodox Christianity, especially at times of domination by Catholic Poland, and later the atheist Soviet Union. Kyiv prospered again during the Russian industrial revolution in the late 19th century. In the turbulent period following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the city, caught in the middle of several conflicts, served as the capital of several short-lived Ukrainian states. From 1921 the city was part of the Soviet Union, from 1934 as the capital of Soviet Ukraine. In World War II, the city was destroyed again, almost completely, but quickly recovered in the post-war years, becoming the third most important city of the Soviet Union, the capital of the second-most populous Soviet republic. It now remains the capital of Ukraine, independent since 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Kievan Rus' to the Mongol invasion According to a legend, East Slavs founded Kiev in the 5th century. The legend of Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv speaks of a founder-family consisting of a Slavic tribal leader Kyi, the eldest, his brothers Schek and Khoryv, and also their sister Lybid, who founded the city. Kyiv () is translated as "belonging to Kyi" or as "Kyi's place". The non-legendary time of the founding of the city is harder to ascertain. Slavic settlement existed in the area from the end of the 5th century, that later developed into the city. Archaeological excavations demonstrate the probability of commercial activity in Kyiv's Podil district in the seventh or eighth century. However, dendrochronological analysis of the remnants of Podil's log dwellings provides evidence of settlement only as far back as 887, and, according to Omeljan Pritsak, archaeologists have proven "beyond any doubt that Kiev as a town did not exist before the last quarter of the ninth to