The history of the Smolensk land and the so-called “Smolensk state” can intrigue not only a narrow circle of scientists, but also a general reader interested in the past of our country. The principality was located on the Upper and Middle Dnieper, in the middle of the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” For this reason alone, his past is of interest. Located in the heart of the Russian land, it found itself at the center of Russian problems. In the 9th century, the Krivichi lived here, then the Varangians appeared, and in the 12th century, Smolensk became a contender in the struggle for hegemony in Rus'. The time will come, Kyiv and Ovruch, Polotsk and Minsk, Novgorod and Pskov, Galich will submit to the Smolensk princes. The influence of the Smolensk people will extend to Volyn and Polesie. We propose to conditionally call this period the time of the “Smolensk state”, or “Smolensk hegemony”. The author tried to solve the mystery of the Krivichi - a Slavic tribe that came to the Dnieper and Dvina from somewhere in the west. When and why did they come? Who did you find on the Dnieper? And in general, when did the ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs begin? All these are by no means idle and still unresolved questions, although enough material has been accumulated to answer them.