Rus' people
Having settled Aldeigja (Ladoga) in the 750s, Norman colonists played an important role in the early ethnogenesis of the Rus' people and in the formation of the Rus' Khaganate. The Varangians ("Varyags", in Old East Slavic) are first mentioned by the "Primary Chronicle" as having exacted tribute from the Slavic and Finnic tribes in 859. It was the time of rapid expansion of the Vikings in Northern Europe; England began to pay Danegeld in 859, and the Curonians of Grobin faced an invasion by the Swedes at about the same date.