For hundreds of years, the earliest civilizations had little contact with one another and so developed independently. The progress of each civilization depended on the area and the resources that were available. As time passed, civilizations advanced and spread, and the world's population rose steadily. The inhabitants of various civilizations began to exchange ideas.
Within each civilization, groups of people with distinctive customs and languages emerged. In time, some peoples, such as the Romans, gained power over others and built huge empires. Some of these empires flourished for centuries before collapsing. Great religions and later science and scholarship developed as people wondered about the meaning of human life and the mysteries of nature.
Migration in Russia and Eastern Europe has shaped the civilization and culture in many ways. It also influenced the language spoken in different parts of the Continent and the culture of the people. .
Food also had a large impact through migration. Many cultures of Eastern Europe experienced dramatic culture importation. Hungarians in particular have a wide variety of influences on the cuisine in Eastern Europe, because the people have access to many of the herbs/spices. .
Their western neighbors heavily influenced the more westerly parts of Eastern Europe; Russia was influenced by Constantinople and by the Byzantine Empire as a whole. There is a theory that after the fall of Rome and before the re-opening of the Mediterranean spice/silk route, the trade caravans with their spices traveled through Russia, which might have made spices more available in Russia before 1300. .
Russian culture not only has been influenced by parts of Europe, but they have done their fair share of influencing. Russian culture has had a great impact on most of the European civilizations. Countries such as: Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia are highly influenced by Russian culture.