From the limited Slavian records available, we can understand that the economic basis of Kievan Rus was trade in the initial times. The resources of the region included furs, beeswax, honey, and enslaved people. The three trade routes that were taken over by the Rus consisted of important trade lines between north and south, bridging Scandinavia and Constantinople and the east and the west from the Balkans to Greece.
Archaeologists have found more than 1,000 tablets made from birch bark from Kievan Rus cities, mainly from Novgorod. These writings, written in Old Eastern Slavic, are mainly associated with commercial themes such as accounting, credit and investments, all indicating their flourishing trade systems.
The currency of Kievan Rus was named the grivna, and in 15th-century Novgorod, 15 grivnas made up one ruble, equal to 170.1 grams of silver. A developed system of commercial credit and money lending made their line of credit open to anyone. In Kievan Rus, commercial loans were available to Rus, foreign merchants and investors as well.
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