Chapter 2 explores Europeans’ first exposures to Muscovy from the late fifteenth century, focusing initially on the Italian humanist Paolo Giovio. His 1525 account of Muscovy was based on interviewing Russian diplomats; Giovio also commissioned a portrait of Grand Prince Vasilii III which became a template for such works thereafter. The chapter proceeds to Maciej Miechowita’s influential account of the Rus’ lands, Muscovy and forest and steppe frontiers; Miechowita established stereotypes of Russia (as familiar if less civilized than contemporary Europe) and the forest and steppe as exotic and barbaric. It concludes with analysis of the earliest maps of Muscovy, by Martin Waldseemüller, Olaus Magnus and Anton Wied.