From the 830's Varangian (Swedish Vikings) bands had been raiding and trading their way down the Volga and the Dnieper"Water Road" to the Black Sea and "The Greeks" in Constantinople. According to the Russian Primary Chronicle written in the 11th century, Rurik, who was the head of such a band of Varangians, was invited by the Slavic residents of Novgorod in 862 to protect them. Ultimately he established himself as prince beginning settlement of the Slavic lands. Kinsmen of his established themselves in Kiev about the same time. Kiev was well situated as a central gathering point for what became annual expeditions to Constantinople and became the capital of the loose political federation that became known as Kievan Rus.