Kuyaba

50°27′N 30°31′E / 50.450°N 30.517°E / 50.450; 30.517 Kuyaba (Arabic: كويابة Kūyāba^[1]) was one of the three centers of the Rus^[1]^[2] or Saqaliba (early East Slavs) described in a lost book by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (dating from ca. 920) and mentioned in works by some of his followers (Ibn Hawqal, Al-Istakhri, Hudud ul-'alam). The two other centers were Slawiya (Arabic: صلاوية Ṣ(a)lāwiya)^[1]^[2] (tentatively identified with the land of Ilmen Slavs, see Rus' Khaganate) and Arthaniya (Arabic: ارثانية ’Arṯāniya) (not properly explained).^[1]^[2]

Soviet historians such as Boris Grekov and Boris Rybakov hypothesized that "Kuyaba" was a mispronunciation of "Kiev". They theorized that Kuyaba had been a union of Slavic tribes in the middle course of the Dnieper River centered on Kiev (now in Ukraine).^[3] Kuyaba, Slawiya, and Artaniya later merged to form the state of Kievan Rus', believed to include modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. This explanation has been adopted by modern Ukrainian historiography.^{[citation needed]}