Moscow (Russian: Москва, Moskvá), capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 878.7 km2. The city's population is rapidly increasing, with 11.2 million inhabitants counted in 2004.
The city is in the federal district called Central Russia (which is actually in the west of Russia). It was the capital of the former Soviet Union, and of Muscovite Russia, the pre-Imperial Russia. It is the site of the famous Kremlin, which serves as the center of the national government.
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The first reference to the town of Moscow is from 1147 when it was an obscure town in a small province, with a mostly Finno-Ugric population, the Merya. In 1156, Prince Yury Dolgoruky built a wooden wall and a moat around the city. They were not terribly successful, however, as in 1177 the city was burned to the ground and its population was murdered. After 1237-1238, when the Mongols captured the city, burning the city to the ground and murdering the inhabitants, it recovered and became the capital of an independent principality.
In 1300 it was ruled by Prince Daniel, the son of Alexander Nevsky, and a member of the Rurikovich line. Its favorable position at the headwaters of the Volga river let it slowly expand. Moscow was also stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large numbers of refugees from across Russia. By 1304 Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir. Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become the capitol of Vladimir, and the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow would not be divided up among his sons, but would be passed intact to his eldest. The Khan of the Golden Horde had long been trying to limit Moscow's power.
But, when the growth of the Lithuanian empire began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of the most powerful cities in Russia. In 1480, Ivan III is said to have finally broken the Russias free from Tatar control and Moscow became the capital of an empire which would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands.
The tyranny of later Tsars, such as Ivan the Terrible, led to a decay of the state, even as the empire was expanding. In 1571 the Crimean Tartars from the Ottoman Empire seized and burned Moscow. From 1605 through 1612 Polish troops occupied Moscow, as Poland got involved in an attempt of the Russian gentry to establish a usurper on the throne, or to form a personal union between the two biggest Slavic states. However, the Polish army had only half-hearted support from the state, and the intervention was strongly criticized in the Polish Sejm. Thus, in 1612, a Russian gentry made an another uprising that this time was directed against the Poles, and in 1613, an assembly of the Empire elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty.
Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital when in 1703Peter the Great constructed St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast. When Napoleon invaded in 1812, the Moscovites burned the city on September 14 and departed; Napoleon's troops soon left, defeated by hunger and the cold. Following the success of the Russian revolution in 1917, Lenin once again made Moscow the capital (moved on March 5, 1918), and it remains so to this day.
When a large army of German troops began to invade the Soviet Union in June 1941, (see Operation Barbarossa) one of three army divisions, Army Group Center, also marched straight towards Moscow. At one point advanced forces came within 40 miles of the city center before Russian defenders drove them off in the Battle of Moscow. Ultimately a heavy winter accompanied by heavy snow and below-freezing temperatures stopped the army and kept it from seizing the city; subsequent counteroffensives drove Army Group Center from Moscow's western suburbs. For its heroism during the War, Moscow was later awarded the title Hero City.
The post war years saw a serious housing crisis, solved by the invention of plattenbau. About 13,000 of these standardised and prefabricated apartment blocks house the majority of Moscow's population. They are built in heights of 8, 12, 16 or 21 stories. Apartments were built and partly furnished in the factory before being raised and stacked into tall columns. The popular soviet-era comic film Irony of Fate parodies this soulless construction method. A groom on his way home from his bachelor party passes out at an airport and wakes up in a different city. He gets a taxi to his address, which also exists in the new city, and uses his key to open the door. All the furniture and possessions are so standardised that he doesn't realise that this isn't his home, until the real owner returns. The film struck such a chord with Moscovites, watching on their standard TVs in their standard apartments, that the film is now shown every New Year's Eve, shortly before the President's speech.
Local transportation includes the Moscow Metro, an excellent metro system, filled with art, murals, and mosaics. Begun in 1935, it has 11 lines and more than 150 stations. It is not uncommon to see ornate chandeliers lighting the stations. The system is the world's busiest, with 9 million passengers every day and trains every 50 seconds at peak times.
As Metro stations are placed quite far apart in comparison to other cities, up to 4km, an extensive bus network radiates from each station to the surrounding residential zones. The buses are very frequent, often more than one a minute, and very cheap at about $0.35. Every large street in the city is served by at least one bus route and none of the city's 13,000 apartment blocks are more than a few minutes walk from a stop. There are also tram and trolleybus networks. Few people use cars for commuting within the city plagued by traffic jams, however most middle class families own a small car for use at weekends and holidays.
Winter sports have a large following. Most Russians own cross-country skis and ice skates and there are many large parks with marked trails for skiers and frozen ponds and canals for skaters. Often parks will have small local businesses offering ski and skate rental. Prices range from $1 to $5 an hour for rental.
Moscow was the host city of the 1980 Summer Olympics, although the yachting events were held at Tallinn. Huge new statia and sport facilities were built specially for the occasion. The main international airport, Sheremetyevo Terminal 2, was built at this time also.
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The first reference to the town of Moscow is from 
