Slavic countries are states that have existed or still exist, having for the most part its population of Slavs ( Slavic peoples). The Slavic countries of the world are those countries in which the Slavic population is about eighty to ninety percent.
What countries are Slavic?
Slavic countries of Europe:
But still, to the question “the population of which country belongs to the Slavic group?” The answer immediately suggests itself - Russia. Population Slavic countries today is about three hundred million people. But there are other countries in which Slavic peoples live (these are European states, North America, Asia) and speak Slavic languages.
Countries Slavic group can be divided into:
- West Slavic.
- East Slavic.
- South Slavic.
The languages in these countries are descended from one common language(it is called Proto-Slavic), which once existed among the ancient Slavs. It was formed in the second half of the first millennium AD. It is not surprising that most words are consonant (for example, Russian and Ukrainian languages very similar). There are also similarities in grammar, sentence structure, and phonetics. This is easy to explain if we take into account the duration of contacts between the inhabitants of the Slavic states. The lion's share in the structure of the Slavic languages is occupied by Russian. Its carriers are 250 million people.
Interestingly, the flags of the Slavic countries also have some similarities in color solution, in the presence of longitudinal stripes. Is it somehow related to their common origin? More likely yes than no.
The countries where Slavic languages are spoken are not so numerous. But still Slavic languages still exist and thrive. And it's been hundreds of years! This only means that the Slavic people are the most powerful, steadfast, unshakable. It is important that the Slavs do not lose the originality of their culture, respect for their ancestors, honor them and keep traditions.
Today there are many organizations (both in Russia and abroad) that revive and restore Slavic culture, Slavic holidays, even names for their children!
The first Slavs appeared in the second or third millennium BC. Of course, the birth of this mighty people took place in the region modern Russia and Europe. Over time, the tribes developed new territories, but still they could not (or did not want to) go far from their ancestral home. By the way, depending on the migration, the Slavs were divided into eastern, western, southern (each branch had its own name). They had differences in lifestyle, agriculture, some traditions. But still the Slavic "core" remained intact.
A major role in the life of the Slavic peoples was played by the emergence of statehood, war, mixing with other ethnic groups. The emergence of separate Slavic states, on the one hand, greatly reduced the migration of the Slavs. But, on the other hand, from that moment on, their mixing with other nationalities also fell sharply. This allowed the Slavic gene pool to firmly gain a foothold on the world stage. This affected both the appearance (which is unique) and the genotype (hereditary traits).
Slavic countries during World War II
Second World War contributed big changes to the countries of the Slavic group. For example, in 1938 the Czechoslovak Republic lost its territorial unity. The Czech Republic ceased to be independent, and Slovakia became a German colony. The following year, the Commonwealth came to an end, and in 1940 the same thing happened with Yugoslavia. Bulgaria sided with the Nazis.
But there were also positive sides. For example, the formation of anti-fascist trends and organizations. A common misfortune rallied the Slavic countries. They fought for independence, for peace, for freedom. Especially such movements gained popularity in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia.
The Soviet Union played a key role in World War II. The citizens of the country selflessly fought against the Hitler regime, against the cruelty of the German soldiers, against the Nazis. The country has lost a huge number of its defenders.
Some Slavic countries during the Second World War were united by the All-Slavic Committee. The latter was created by the Soviet Union.
What is Pan-Slavism?
The concept of pan-Slavism is interesting. This is a direction that appeared in Slavic states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It had the goal of uniting all the Slavs of the world on the basis of their national, cultural, everyday, linguistic community. Pan-Slavism promoted the independence of the Slavs, praised their originality.
The colors of Pan-Slavism were white, blue and red (the same colors appear on many national flags). The emergence of such a direction as pan-Slavism began after the Napoleonic wars. Weakened and "tired", the countries supported each other in Hard time. But over time, Pan-Slavism began to be forgotten. But now there is again a tendency to return to the origins, to the ancestors, to Slavic culture. Perhaps this will lead to the formation of the Neo-Pan-Slavist movement.
Slavic countries today
The twenty-first century is a time of some kind of discord in the relations of the Slavic countries. This is especially true for Russia, Ukraine, EU countries. The reasons here are more political and economic. But despite the discord, many residents of countries (from the Slavic group) remember that all the descendants of the Slavs are brothers. Therefore, none of them wants wars and conflicts, but only warm family relations, as our ancestors once had.
The Slavs are the largest ethnic community in Europe, but what do we really know about them? Historians are still arguing about who they came from, and where their homeland was located, and where the self-name "Slavs" came from.
Origin of the Slavs
There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs. Someone refers them to the Scythians and Sarmatians, who came from Central Asia, someone to the Aryans, the Germans, others completely identify with the Celts. All hypotheses of the origin of the Slavs can be divided into two main categories, directly opposite to each other. One of them, the well-known "Norman", was put forward in the 18th century by German scientists Bayer, Miller and Schlozer, although for the first time such ideas appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
The bottom line was this: the Slavs - Indo-European people, which was once part of the "German-Slavic" community, but broke away from the Germans during the Great Migration of Peoples. Caught on the periphery of Europe and cut off from the continuity of Roman civilization, they were very backward in development, so much so that they could not create their own state and invited the Varangians, that is, the Vikings, to rule them.
This theory is based on the historiographic tradition of The Tale of Bygone Years and the famous phrase: “Our land is great, rich, but there is no side in it. Come reign and rule over us." Such a categorical interpretation, which was based on an obvious ideological background, could not but arouse criticism. Today, archeology confirms the existence of strong intercultural ties between Scandinavians and Slavs, but hardly says that the former played a decisive role in the formation ancient Russian state. But disputes about the "Norman" origin of the Slavs and Kievan Rus do not subside to this day.
The second theory of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs, on the contrary, is patriotic in nature. And, by the way, it is much older than the Norman one - one of its founders was the Croatian historian Mavro Orbini, who wrote a work called “The Slavic Kingdom” at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. His point of view was very extraordinary: he attributed to the Slavs the Vandals, Burgundians, Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Gepids, Getae, Alans, Werls, Avars, Dacians, Swedes, Normans, Finns, Ukrovs, Marcomanni, Quadi, Thracians and Illyrians and many others: "They were all of the same Slavic tribe, as will be seen in the future."
Their exodus from the historical homeland of Orbini dates back to 1460 BC. Wherever they didn’t have time to visit after that: “The Slavs fought almost all the tribes of the world, attacked Persia, ruled Asia and Africa, fought the Egyptians and Alexander the Great, conquered Greece, Macedonia and Illyria, occupied Moravia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the coast of the Baltic Sea ".
He was echoed by many court scribes who created the theory of the origin of the Slavs from the ancient Romans, and Rurik from the emperor Octavian Augustus. In the 18th century, the Russian historian Tatishchev published the so-called "Joachim Chronicle", which, in contrast to the "Tale of Bygone Years", identified the Slavs with the ancient Greeks.
Both of these theories (although in each of them there are echoes of the truth), are two extremes, which are characterized by a free interpretation historical facts and archeological information. They were criticized by such "giants" national history, like B. Grekov, B. Rybakov, V. Yanin, A. Artsikhovsky, arguing that the historian should in his research not rely on his preferences, but on facts. However, the historical texture of the "ethnogenesis of the Slavs", to this day, is so incomplete that it leaves many options for speculation, without the possibility of definitively answering the question. main question: "Who are these Slavs anyway?"
Age of the people
The next sore problem for historians is the age of the Slavic ethnic group. When did the Slavs nevertheless stand out as united people from the pan-European ethnic "katavasia"? The first attempt to answer this question belongs to the author of The Tale of Bygone Years, monk Nestor. Taking the biblical tradition as a basis, he began the history of the Slavs with the Babylonian pandemonium, which divided mankind into 72 peoples: “From now 70 and 2 languages were the language of Slovenesk ...”. The aforementioned Mavro Orbini generously bestowed Slavic tribes a couple of extra millennia of history, dating their exodus from their historical homeland to 1496: “At the indicated time, the Goths left Scandinavia, and the Slavs ... since the Slavs and Goths were of the same tribe. So, having subjugated Sarmatia to its power, the Slavic tribe was divided into several tribes and received different names: Wends, Slavs, Antes, Verls, Alans, Massaets .... Vandals, Goths, Avars, Roskolans, Russians or Muscovites, Poles, Czechs, Silesians, Bulgarians ... In short, the Slavic language is heard from the Caspian Sea to Saxony, from the Adriatic Sea to the German, and in all these limits lies the Slavic tribe.
Of course, such "information" was not enough for historians. To study the "age" of the Slavs, archeology, genetics and linguistics were involved. As a result, it was possible to achieve modest, but still results. According to the accepted version, the Slavs belonged to the Indo-European community, which, most likely, came out of the Dnieper-Donetsk archaeological culture, in the interfluve of the Dnieper and Don, seven thousand years ago during the Stone Age. Subsequently, the influence of this culture spread to the territory from the Vistula to the Urals, although no one has yet been able to accurately localize it. In general, speaking of the Indo-European community, we mean not a single ethnic group or civilization, but the influence of cultures and linguistic similarity. About four thousand years BC, it broke up into three conditional groups: the Celts and Romans in the West, the Indo-Iranians in the East, and somewhere in the middle, in Central and Eastern Europe, another one stood out. language group, from which the Germans, Balts and Slavs later came out. Of these, around the 1st millennium BC, the Slavic language begins to stand out.
But there is not enough information from linguistics alone - to determine the unity of an ethnic group, there must be continuous continuity archaeological cultures. The bottom link in the archaeological chain of the Slavs is considered to be the so-called “culture of under-closing burials”, which got its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “flared”, that is, “upside down”. She existed in V-II centuries BC between the Vistula and the Dnieper. In a sense, it can be said that its speakers were the earliest Slavs. It is from it that it is possible to reveal the continuity of cultural elements up to the Slavic antiquities of the early Middle Ages.
Proto-Slavic homeland
Where did the Slavic ethnic group come into the world, and what territory can be called “originally Slavic”? Historians' accounts vary. Orbini, referring to a number of authors, claims that the Slavs came out of Scandinavia: “Almost all the authors, whose blessed pen conveyed to their descendants the history of the Slavic tribe, argue and conclude that the Slavs came out of Scandinavia ... The descendants of Japheth the son of Noah (to whom the author refers the Slavs ) moved to Europe to the north, penetrating into the country now called Scandinavia. There they multiplied innumerably, as St. Augustine points out in his "City of God", where he writes that the sons and descendants of Japheth had two hundred homelands and occupied the lands located north of Mount Taurus in Cilicia, along the Northern Ocean, half of Asia, and throughout Europe. all the way to the British Ocean.
Nestor called ancient territory Slavs - lands along the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Pannonia. The reason for the settlement of the Slavs from the Danube was the attack on them by the Volkhovs. “For many years, the essence of Slovenia sat down along the Dunaev, where there is now Ugorsk land and Bolgarsk.” Hence the Danube-Balkan hypothesis of the origin of the Slavs.
The European homeland of the Slavs also had its supporters. Thus, the prominent Czech historian Pavel Šafarik believed that the ancestral home of the Slavs should be sought on the territory of Europe, next to their kindred tribes of the Celts, Germans, Balts and Thracians. He believed that in ancient times the Slavs occupied vast territories of the Middle and of Eastern Europe, from where they were forced to leave the Carpathians under the onslaught of the Celtic expansion.
There was even a version about the two ancestral homes of the Slavs, according to which the first ancestral home was the place where the Proto-Slavic language developed (between the lower reaches of the Neman and Western Dvina) and where the Slavic people themselves were formed (according to the authors of the hypothesis, this happened starting from the 2nd century BC) - the Vistula River basin. Western and East Slavs. The first settled the area of the Elbe River, then the Balkans and the Danube, and the second - the banks of the Dnieper and Dniester.
The Vistula-Dnieper hypothesis about the ancestral home of the Slavs, although it remains a hypothesis, is still the most popular among historians. It is conditionally confirmed by local toponyms, as well as vocabulary. If you believe the “words”, that is, the lexical material, the ancestral home of the Slavs was located away from the sea, in a forested flat zone with swamps and lakes, as well as within the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, judging by the common Slavic names of fish - salmon and eel. By the way, the areas of the culture of underclothe burials already known to us fully correspond to these geographical features.
"Slavs"
The very word "Slavs" is a mystery. It is firmly in use already in the 6th century AD, at least the Byzantine historians of this time often mention the Slavs - not always friendly neighbors of Byzantium. Among the Slavs themselves, this term is already in full use as a self-name in the Middle Ages, at least judging by the annals, including the Tale of Bygone Years.
However, its origin is still unknown. The most popular version is that it comes from the words "word" or "glory", going back to the same Indo-European root ḱleu̯- "to hear". By the way, Mavro Orbini also wrote about this, though in his characteristic “arrangement”: “during their residence in Sarmatia, they (the Slavs) took the name “Slavs”, which means “glorious”.
There is a version among linguists that the Slavs owe their self-name to the names of the landscape. Presumably, it was based on the toponym "Slovutych" - another name for the Dnieper, containing a root with the meaning "wash", "cleanse".
A lot of noise at one time was caused by the version about the existence of a connection between the self-name "Slavs" and the Middle Greek word "slave" (σκλάβος). It was very popular among Western scholars of the 18th-19th centuries. At the heart of her idea is that the Slavs, as one of the most numerous nations Europe, made up a significant percentage of captives and often became the object of the slave trade. Today, this hypothesis is recognized as erroneous, since most likely the basis of "σκλάβος" was a Greek verb with the meaning "to get military trophies" - "σκυλάο".
traditionally divided into three major branches: eastern, western and southern. This is the most numerous ethno-linguistic group in Europe. Eastern Slavs are represented by three peoples: Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The western branch includes Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenians, Koshubians, Luzhans, etc. The southern Slavs include Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, etc. The total number of all Slavs is about three hundred million.
The historical regions of residence of the Slavs are the eastern and southern and central parts of Europe. Modern representatives The Slavic ethnic group inhabit most of the Eurasian continent up to Kamchatka. Slavs also live in Western Europe, USA, Canada and other countries. By religion, the majority of Slavs are Christians, Orthodox or Catholics.
East Slavs
Reliable information about the origin and settlement of the East Slavic tribes in prehistoric period very little. It is known that around the fifth - seventh centuries, the Eastern Slavs settled in the territory of the Dnieper basin, and then spread to the upper reaches of the Volga in the east and the southern coast of the Baltic in the northeast.
Most researchers believe that by the ninth - tenth century, various tribal unions united into an integral ancient Russian ethnos. It was he who formed the basis of the Old Russian state.
Most of the representatives of the people adhere to the Roman Catholic faith. However, among the Poles there are Lutherans and Orthodox.
Slavic peoples today
Slavic peoples
representatives of the Slavic nations, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Yugoslavs, who have their own specific culture and a kind of national psychology. In the dictionary, we consider only the national-psychological characteristics of the representatives of the Slavic peoples who have lived since ancient times on the territory of Russia.
, (see) and Belarusians (see) - peoples very close to each other in terms of genotype, language, culture, community historical development. The vast majority of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians live within their historically established ethnic territories. But in other states, in various regions of our country, they are settled quite widely and often make up a significant part of their population.
The Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nations are among the most urbanized. Thus, in Russia 74 percent is urban population, 26 percent - rural. In Ukraine - 67 and 33 percent, in Belarus - 65 and 35 percent, respectively. This circumstance leaves its mark on their psychological makeup, the specifics of their relations with representatives of other ethnic communities. Young people living in big cities, more educated, technically literate, erudite. On the other hand, a certain part of them, especially in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk and many other large cities, are subject to the vices of the urban lifestyle, such as drunkenness, drug addiction, debauchery, theft, etc. (which, certainly applies not only to representatives of these nations). Citizens who, as a rule, grew up in small families, in conditions of domestic comfort, are often poorly prepared for the complexities of today's life: a tense rhythm, increased psychophysiological socio-economic stress. They often turn out to be unprotected in interpersonal relationships, their moral, psychological and moral guidelines are not sufficiently stable.
The study of various sources reflecting the life, culture and way of life of representatives Slavic nationalities, the results of special socio-psychological studies indicate that, in general, most of them are currently characterized by:
High degree of understanding surrounding reality, although somewhat delayed in time from a specific situation;
Sufficiently high general education level and preparedness for life and work;
Balance in decisions, actions and labor activity, reactions to the complexities and difficulties of life;
Sociability, friendliness without obtrusiveness, constant readiness to provide support to other people;
A fairly even and friendly attitude towards representatives of other nationalities;
Absence under normal circumstances Everyday life striving for the formation of ethnically isolated microgroups;
IN extreme conditions life and activities that require the utmost tension of spiritual and physical strength, they invariably show stamina, selflessness, readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of other people.
Unfortunately, now that Ukraine and Belarus have separated themselves and are not part of a single state with the Russians, we have to consider the psychology of their peoples separately from the Russians. There is a certain amount of injustice in this, because the representatives of these three nationalities, perhaps, have more in common in behavior, traditions and customs than other people. At the same time, this fact once again confirms the unshakable truth: there are concepts of "we" and "they", which still reflect the objective reality. human existence, without which we cannot do without.
Ethnopsychological dictionary. - M.: MPSI. V.G. Krysko. 1999
See what "Slavic peoples" are in other dictionaries:
SLAVIC PEOPLES- representatives of the Slavic nations, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Yugoslavs, who have their own specific culture and peculiar national psychology. In the dictionary, we consider only national psychological ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary in psychology and pedagogy
peoples of the world- The following is a list of peoples ordered based on linguistic genetic classification. Contents 1 List of families of peoples 2 Paleo-European on ... Wikipedia
Slavic languages- SLAVIC LANGUAGES. S. yaz. belong to the Indo European system of languages (see Indo European languages). They are divided into three groups: western, southern and eastern. TO western group the languages \u200b\u200bbelong to Czech, Slovak, Polish with Kashubian, Lusatian and ... ... Literary Encyclopedia
Romance peoples- Indo-Europeans Indo-European languages Anatolian Albanian Armenian Baltic Venetian Germanic Illyrian Aryan: Nuristani, Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Dardic ... Wikipedia
European peoples- European states ... Wikipedia
Finno-Ugric peoples- peoples speaking Finno-Ugric (Finnish-Ugric) languages. Finno-Ugric languages. make up one of the two branches (along with the Samoyedic) ur. lang. families. According to the linguistic principle of F.U.N. are divided into groups: Baltic-Finnish (Finns, Karelians, Estonians ... Ural Historical Encyclopedia
Iranian peoples- Iranians ... Wikipedia
Balkan peoples under Turkish rule- The situation of the Balkan peoples in the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries. decline Ottoman Empire, the decomposition of the military fief system, the weakening of the power of the Sultan's government, all this was heavily reflected in the lives of those under Turkish rule ... ... The World History. Encyclopedia
italic peoples- Indo-Europeans Indo-European languages Albanian Armenian Baltic Celtic Germanic Greek Indo-Iranian Romance Italic Slavic Dead: Anatolian Paleo-Balkan ... Wikipedia
Indo-European peoples- Scheme of migrations of Indo-Europeans in 4000-1000 years. BC e. in accordance with the "Kurgan hypothesis". The pink area corresponds to the alleged ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans (Samara and Srednestog cultures). The orange area corresponds to ... ... Wikipedia
Books
- Noomachia. Mind Wars. Eastern Europe. Slavic Logos. Balkan Nav and Sarmatian style, Alexander G. Dugin. Slavic peoples since the 5th-6th centuries. according to R. Kh. played a decisive role in the space of Eastern Europe. This volume of "Noomachia" deals with the Slavic horizon of Eastern Europe, which ...
East Slavs - large group kindred peoples, which today has more than 300 million people. The history of the formation of these peoples, their traditions, faith, relations with other states is important points in history, because they answer the question of how our ancestors appeared in antiquity.
Origin
The question of the origin of the Eastern Slavs is interesting. This is our history and our ancestors, the first mention of which dates back to the beginning of our era. If we talk about archaeological excavations, then scientists find artifacts indicating that the nationality began to form even before our era.
All Slavic languages belong to a single Indo-European group. Its representatives stood out as a nationality around the 8th millennium BC. The ancestors of the Eastern Slavs (and many other peoples) lived near the shores of the Caspian Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC Indo-European group split into 3 nations:
- Pro-Germans (Germans, Celts, Romans). Filled Western and Southern Europe.
- Baltoslavs. They settled between the Vistula and the Dnieper.
- Iranian and Indian peoples. They spread throughout Asia.
Around the 5th century BC, the Balotoslavs are divided into Balts and Slavs, already in the 5th century AD, the Slavs, in short, are divided into eastern (eastern Europe), western ( Central Europe) and southern (Balkan Peninsula).
To date, the Eastern Slavs include: Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians.
The invasion of the Hun tribes into the territory of the Black Sea region in the 4th century destroyed the Greek and Scythian state. Many historians call this fact the root cause of the future creation of the ancient state by the Eastern Slavs.
Historical reference
resettlement
An important question is how the development of new territories by the Slavs took place, and how their resettlement took place in general. There are 2 main theories of the appearance of the Eastern Slavs in Eastern Europe:
- Autochthonous. It assumes that the Slavic ethnos was originally formed on the East European plain. The theory was put forward by the historian B. Rybakov. There are no significant arguments in its favor.
- Migration. Suggests that the Slavs migrated from other regions. Solovyov and Klyuchevsky argued that the migration was from the territory of the Danube. Lomonosov spoke about migration from the Baltic territory. There is also a theory of migration from the regions of Eastern Europe.
Around the 6th-7th centuries, the Eastern Slavs settled the territory of Eastern Europe. They settled in the territory from Ladoga and Lake Ladoga in the North to the Black Sea coast in the south, from the Carpathian Mountains in the West to the Volga territories in the East.
13 tribes lived in this territory. Some sources speak of 15 tribes, but these data do not find historical confirmation. The Eastern Slavs in ancient times consisted of 13 tribes: Vyatichi, Radimichi, Polans, Polochans, Volynians, Ilmens, Dregovichi, Drevlyans, Ulichi, Tivertsy, Northerners, Krivichi, Dulebs.
The specifics of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs on the East European Plain:
- Geographic. There are no natural barriers, which facilitated movement.
- Ethnic. Lived and migrated in the territory a large number of people with different ethnic backgrounds.
- Sociability. The Slavs settled near captivity and unions, which could influence ancient state, but on the other hand they could share their culture.
Map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs in antiquity
Tribes
The main tribes of the Eastern Slavs in antiquity are presented below.
Glade. The most numerous tribe, strong on the banks of the Dnieper, south of Kyiv. It was the clearing that became the sink for the formation of the ancient Russian state. According to the chronicle, in 944 they stopped calling themselves glades, and began to use the name Rus.
Slovenian Ilmen. The northernmost tribe that settled around Novgorod, Ladoga and Lake Peipus. According to Arab sources, it was the Ilmens, together with the Krivichs, who formed the first state - Slavia.
Krivichi. They settled north of the Western Dvina and in the upper reaches of the Volga. The main cities are Polotsk and Smolensk.
Polochane. Settled south of the Western Dvina. Minor tribal alliance that didn't play important role that the Eastern Slavs should form a state.
Dregovichi. They lived between the upper reaches of the Neman and the Dnieper. They mostly settled along the Pripyat River. All that is known about this tribe is that they had their own principality, the main city of which was Turov.
Drevlyans. Settled south of the Pripyat River. The main city of this tribe was Iskorosten.
Volynians. They settled earlier than the Drevlyans at the headwaters of the Vistula.
White Croats. The most western tribe, which was located between the rivers Dniester and Vistula.
Duleby. They were located east of the White Croats. One of the weakest tribes that did not last long. They voluntarily became part of the Russian state, having previously broken up into Buzhans and Volhynians.
Tivertsy. They occupied the territory between the Prut and the Dniester.
Uglichi. They settled between the Dniester and the Southern Bug.
northerners. They mainly occupied the territory adjacent to the Desna River. The center of the tribe was the city of Chernihiv. In the future, several cities were formed on this territory at once, which are known today, for example, Bryansk.
Radimichi. They settled between the Dnieper and the Desna. In 885 they were annexed to the Old Russian state.
Vyatichi. They were located along the sources of the Oka and Don. According to the chronicle, the legendary Vyatko was the ancestor of this tribe. At the same time, already in the 14th century there were no mentions of the Vyatichi in the annals.
Tribal unions
The Eastern Slavs had 3 strong tribal union: Slavia, Kuyavia and Artania.
In relations with other tribes and countries, the Eastern Slavs carried out attempts to capture raids (mutual) and trade. The main contacts were with:
- Byzantine Empire (Slav raids and mutual trade)
- Varangians (Varangian raids and mutual trade).
- Avars, Bulgars and Khazars (raids on the Slavs and mutual trade). Often these tribes are called Turks or Türks.
- Finno-Ugrians (Slavs tried to seize their territory).
What did you do
The Eastern Slavs were mainly engaged in agriculture. The specifics of their settlement determined the methods of cultivating the land. In the southern regions, as well as in the Dnieper region, chernozem soil dominated. Here the land was used up to 5 years, after which it was depleted. Then people moved to another site, and the exhausted one recovered for 25-30 years. This farming method is called shifting .
Northern and central District East European Plains were characterized by a large number of forests. Therefore, the ancient Slavs first cut down the forest, burned it, fertilized the soil with ashes, and only then proceeded to field work. Such a site was fertile for 2-3 years, after which it was left and moved on to the next one. This type of farming is called slash-and-burn .
If you try to briefly describe the main activities of the Eastern Slavs, the list will be as follows: agriculture, hunting, fishing, beekeeping (honey collection).
The main agricultural culture of the Eastern Slavs in ancient times was millet. Marten skins were mainly used by the Eastern Slavs as money. great attention devoted to the development of handicrafts.
Beliefs
The beliefs of the ancient Slavs are called paganism, because there was a worship of many gods. The deities were mostly associated with natural phenomena. Almost every phenomenon or important component of life that the Eastern Slavs professed, corresponded to a certain god. For example:
- Perun - god of lightning
- Yarilo - god of the sun
- Stribog - the god of the wind
- Volos (Veles) - the patron saint of cattle breeders
- Mokosh (Makosh) - goddess of fertility
- And so on
The ancient Slavs did not build temples. They built rituals in groves, in glades, near stone idols and in other places. Attention is drawn to the fact that almost all fairy-tale folklore in terms of mysticism belongs precisely to the era under study. In particular, the Eastern Slavs believed in the goblin, brownie, mermaids, water and others.
How were the occupations of the Slavs reflected in paganism? It was paganism, which was based on worship of the elements and elements that affect fertility, that formed the attitude of the Slavs to agriculture as the main way of life.
social order
