ABSTRACT
Intermarium refers to the space between the Black and Baltic Seas, which circumscribe it in the north and south, respectively. H. J. Mackinder famously referred to the Intermarium as the "geographic pivot of history." He, who mastered the pivot, controlled the world. Hence, constant struggles for the Intermarium ensued. Geographic determinism aside, the Intermarium has indeed witnessed its share of invasions. During the Völkerwanderung before the fifth century and after, successive waves of visitors from Asia spilled across the southern areas of the Intermarium. The Goths, Vandals, Huns, Langobards, and others sojourned there, sometimes remaining for a century only to proceed further west. The word "Ruthenians" derives most probably from a Scandinavian name for rowers. It was the Viking raiders who, through trade and war, first settled in the far north-east of the Intermarium in the late eighth century. The Scandinavians or Varangians, as they were known locally, supplied much of the ruling caste of the eastern Slavs.
