The name ''Russia'' is derived from Rus', a medieval state populated primarily by the East Slavs. However, the proper name became more prominent in later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants "Русская земля" (''Russkaya zemlya''), which can be translated as "Russian land". In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as ''Kievan Rus''' by modern historiography. The name ''Rus'' itself comes from the early medieval Rus' people, a group of Norse merchants and warriors who relocated from across the Baltic Sea and founded a state centred on Novgorod that later became Kievan Rus'.