By the 7th century the Croats had established and fortified Horods (Gord), which became a commerce and trade centers. Galicia was an important geographical location because it connected via an overland route Kiev in the East with Kraków, Buda, Prague and other cities in the West, as well as northwest to the Baltic Sea and southeast to the Black Sea. Along these routes were founded the settlements of Przemyśl, Zvenyhorod, Terebovlia, Halych, and Uzhhorod, of which the last was ruled by a mythical ruler Laborec.