Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation. With more than 10 million inhabitants living within the incorporated area of the city, Moscow is one of the ten most populous cities of the world and the most populous city in Europe. It is one of the two (with St. Petersburg) “cities of federal importance,” cities that are separate subjects of Russian Federation; it is administratively separate from the Moscow Region (Oblast'). The history of Moscow spans more than eight centuries of growth from a tiny trade settlement to the capital of a world superpower throughout much of the twentieth century. At one time an iconic socialist city, on the verge of the third millennium, Moscow is still going through rapid transformation.