Slavs constantly entered into cultural interaction and mixing with neighbors and invaders. Even during the migration of peoples, the Slavs were under the influence of the Avars, Goths and Huns. Later, we were influenced by the Finno-Ugric peoples, the Tatar-Mongols (who, characteristically, did not leave a trace in our genetics, but had a strong influence on the Russian language and even more strongly on our statehood), the nations of Catholic Europe, the Turks, the Balts and many other nations. Here the Poles fall away immediately - their culture was formed under the strong influence of their Western neighbors.
In the XVIII-XX centuries. Poland was divided between neighboring powers, which also affected the national culture and self-consciousness. Russians too - there are a lot of Finnish and Turkic borrowings in our language, the Tatar-Mongols, Greeks, as well as quite alien, from the point of view of tradition, Peter's transformations had a very strong influence on our traditions. In Russia, for several centuries it has been customary to build a tradition to Byzantium or to the Horde, and at the same time completely forget about, for example, Veliky Novgorod.
The southern Slavic peoples without exception were subject to the strongest influence of the Turks - we can see this in the language, and in the cuisine, and in traditions. The least influence of foreign peoples was experienced, first of all, by the Slavs of the Carpathians: Hutsuls, Lemkos, Rusyns, to a lesser extent Slovaks, Western Ukrainians. These peoples were formed in the area of Western civilization, however, due to isolation, they were able to preserve many ancient traditions and protect their languages from a large number of borrowings.
It is also worth noting the efforts of peoples who are striving to restore their traditional culture spoiled by historical processes. First of all, they are Czechs. When they fell under the rule of the Germans, the Czech language began to rapidly disappear. By the end of the 18th century, it was known only in remote villages, and Czechs, especially in cities, did not know any other language than German.
Maria Yanechkova, a teacher at the Department of Bohemianism at Karollav University in Prague, says that if a Czech intellectual wanted to learn the Czech language, he went to a special linguistic circle. But it was precisely such national activists who restored bit by bit the almost lost Czech language. At the same time, they cleared it of all borrowings in a rather radical spirit. For example, theater in Czech is divadlo, aviation is leitadlo, artillery is shooting, and so on. The Czech language and Czech culture are very Slavic, but this was achieved through the efforts of the intellectuals of the New Age, and not through the continuous transmission of the ancient tradition.
The Slavs today are the largest ethno-linguistic community in Europe. They inhabit vast territories and number about 300-350 million people. In this article, we will consider what branches the Slavic peoples are divided into, we will talk about the history of their formation and division. We will also touch a little on the modern stage of the spread of Slavic culture and those religious beliefs that the tribes adhered to in the course of their development and formation.
Origin theories
So, according to medieval chroniclers, our peoples descend from a common ancestor. He was Japheth. This character, according to the chronicles, gave birth to such tribes as the Medes, Sarmatians, Scythians, Thracians, Illyrians, Slavs, British and other European peoples.
The Arabs knew the Slavs as part of the community of the peoples of the West, which included the Turks, Ugrians and Europe. In their military records, historians associate this conglomerate with the word "Sakalib". Later, deserters from the Byzantine army who converted to Islam began to be called that.
The ancient Greeks and Romans called the Slavs "Sklavins" and correlated them with one of the Scythian tribes - the Skolts. Also, sometimes the ethnonyms Wends and Slavs are brought together.
Thus, the three branches of the Slavic peoples, the scheme of which is given below, have a common ancestor. But later, the paths of their development diverged significantly, due to the vast territory of settlement and the influence of neighboring cultures and beliefs.
Settlement history
Later we will touch separately on each group of tribes, but now we should understand what branches the Slavic peoples are divided into and how the process of settlement took place.
So, for the first time these tribes are mentioned by Tacitus and Pliny the Elder. These ancient Roman historians in their records spoke of the Wends who inhabited the Baltic territories. Judging by the period of life of these statesmen, the Slavs already existed in the second century AD.
The next to speak of these same tribes were Procopius of Caesarea and Prisk, a Byzantine writer and scholar. But the most complete information that relates to the pre-chronic period is available from the Gothic historian Jordanes.
He reports that the Sclaveni are an independent tribe that separated from the Veneti. In the territories north of the Vistula River (modern Vistula), he mentions "a numerous people of the Veneti", which are divided into Antes and Sclaveni. The first lived along the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) from Danastra (Dniester) to Danapra (Dnieper). The Sclavens lived from Novietun (the city of Iskach on the Danube) to Danastra and Vistula in the north.
Thus, in the sixth century AD, the Sclavens already lived on the lands from the Dniester to the Vistula and the Danube. Later, various chroniclers will mention a much larger area of settlement of these tribes. It covered the lands of Central and Eastern Europe.
How were the three branches of the Slavic peoples divided? The diagram we have given above shows that the movement went north, south and east.
Initially, the tribes moved in the direction of the Black and Baltic Seas. Just this period is described by the Gothic historian Jordanes. Further, the Avars invade these lands and split the single area of the tribes into parts.
For two centuries (from the sixth to the eighth) they inhabit the Eastern foothills of the Alps and fall under the rule of Emperor Justinian II. We know this from references in the annals, which spoke of the campaign of the Byzantine army against the Arabs. Sclaveni are also mentioned as part of the army.
In the eighth century, these tribes reach the Balkan Peninsula in the south and Lake Ladoga in the north.
South Slavs
Western and southern Slavs, as we see, were formed at different times. Initially, the Antes separated from the conglomerate of tribes, who went east, towards the Black Sea and the Dnieper. Only in the eighth century did this nation begin to settle the Balkan Peninsula.
The process went as follows. Some East and West Slavic tribes moved in search of better lands to the southwest, towards the Adriatic Sea.
Historians identify the following groups in this migration: encouraged (in European chronicles they are known as predenicents), northerners (possible connection with northerners), Serbs, Croats and others. Basically, these are the tribes that lived along the course of the Danube River.
Later, it was replaced by the Penkovskaya archaeological community. Between these cultures there is a gap of two centuries, but it is believed that such a gap is caused by the assimilation of some tribes with others.
Thus, the origin of the Slavic peoples was the result of the authentic formation of larger communities from a number of small tribal associations. Later, the chroniclers of Kievan Rus would give names to these groups: Polans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Vyatichi and other tribes.
According to ancient Russian chronicles, as a result of the unification of fifteen groups of Eastern Slavs, such a powerful medieval power as Kievan Rus was formed.
Current situation
So, we discussed with you what branches the Slavic peoples are divided into. In addition, we talked about exactly how the process of settling the tribes to the south and east went.
Modern Slavic peoples are slightly different from their direct ancestors. In their culture, they combine the imprints of influences, both neighboring peoples, and many newcomers conquerors.
For example, the main part of the regions of the west of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which were once part of Kievan Rus, were under the Mongol-Tatar yoke for several centuries. Therefore, many borrowings from the Turkic languages are included in the dialects. Also, some traditional ornaments and rituals bear the imprints of the culture of the enslavers.
The southern Slavs were more influenced by the Greeks and Turks. Therefore, at the end of the article, we will have to talk about religious issues. The once pagan tribes today are adherents of different confessions of the Abrahamic religions.
Thoroughly what branches the Slavic peoples are divided into, the descendants may not know, but, as a rule, everyone easily recognizes their “countryman”. The Southern Slavs are traditionally darker, and in their dialect specific phonemes slip through, which are characteristic only for this region. A similar situation exists with the descendants of western and eastern tribal associations.
So, what countries today have become the homeland for different branches of the Slavic people?
States of the South Slavs
Modern Slavic peoples are settled throughout most of Eastern and Central Europe. However, in the context of globalization, their representatives can be found in almost any country in the world. Moreover, the peculiarity of our mentality is such that after a short time the neighbors begin to understand the Slavic languages. The Slavs have always sought to introduce foreigners to their culture, while little succumbing to the process of their own assimilation.
The modern South Slavs include Slovenes and Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians, Croats, Bosnians and Serbs. Basically, these peoples live on the territory of their national states, which include Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia.
That is, in fact, this is the territory of the Balkan Peninsula and the northeastern part of the Adriatic Sea coast.
The southern Slavic peoples today are increasingly moving away from the idea of a commonality of these peoples, merging into the new family of the European Union. True, several decades ago there was an attempt to create one common country with a population consisting only of southern Slavs, but it failed. Once this state was called Yugoslavia.
Outside the national states, representatives of this branch of the Slavic peoples, according to official statistics, live quite a lot in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Turkey, Albania, Greece and Moldova.
Western Slavic countries
Since the ethnogenesis of the Slavic peoples mainly took place initially on the territory of modern Poland and Germany, the representatives of the Western tribes practically did not leave their homes.
Today their descendants live in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Traditionally, ethnologists distinguish five peoples that belong to the West Slavic branch. These are Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Kashubians and Lusatians.
The first three ethnic groups live mainly in states with the corresponding names, and the last two - in separate areas. Lusatian Serbs, to which the Wends, Lugii and Sorbs also belong, inhabit Lusatia. This territory is divided into the Upper and Lower parts, which are located in Saxony and Brandenburg, respectively.
The Kashubians live in the land called Kashubia. It is part of the modern Polish People's Republic. The unofficial capital of this people is the city of Kartuzy. Also, many representatives of this nationality are found in Gdynia.
The Kashubians consider themselves an ethnic group, but Polish citizenship is recognized. In their environment, they are divided into several formations depending on the place of residence, the characteristics of the national costume, activities and class differences. So, among them there are fences, parcha gentry, gburs, taverns, gokhs and other groups.
Thus, it can be said with confidence that for the most part, the Western Slavic peoples have preserved their customs to the maximum. Some of them are even still engaged in traditional trades and crafts, however, more to attract tourists.
East Slavic powers
The modern territory belongs to such countries as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Today, these states, one might say, are at a crossroads. Their peoples are faced with a choice: to remain adherents of traditional ways or to follow the path of their southern brethren, accepting Western European values.
Once a powerful state - Kievan Rus eventually transformed into three countries. Moscow was formed around Moscow, and then the Russian Empire. Kyiv united around itself the lands of many tribes from the Carpathians to the Don. And Belarus was formed in the forests of Polissya. Based on the name of the territory, the main part of the country is inhabited by the descendants of Poleshchuks and Pinchuks.
Religions of different branches of the Slavs
The Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus are the modern territory of the Eastern Slavs. Here, the majority of the population belongs to Orthodox Christians.
In principle, the official departure from paganism occurred in the tenth century, when the Kiev prince Vladimir the Great baptized Rus. But in 1054 there was a great schism, when separate Orthodox and Catholic faiths appeared in Christianity. The eastern and southeastern tribes remained loyal to the Patriarch of Constantinople, while the western and southwestern tribes became supporters of the Roman Catholic Church.
At a certain stage in history, certain groups of southern Slavs converted to Islam. This is explained by the fact that their lands were under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire. For fellow believers, the Turks did a lot of concessions. Today, Muslims include Gorani, Bosniaks, Pomaks, Kuchis and Torbeshis.
Thus, in this article we studied the ethnogenesis of the Slavic peoples, and also talked about their division into three branches. In addition, we figured out which modern countries belong to the territory of settlement of the southern, western and eastern tribes.
The origin of the term "Slavs", which has been of great public interest in recent times, is very complex and confusing. The definition of the Slavs as an ethno-confessional community, due to the very large territory occupied by the Slavs, is often difficult, and the use of the concept of "Slavic community" for political purposes for centuries caused a serious distortion of the picture of real relationships between the Slavic peoples.
The origin of the term "Slavs" is unknown to modern science. Presumably, it goes back to some common Indo-European root, the semantic content of which is the concept of "man", "people". There are also two theories, one of which derives Latin names Sclavi, Stlavi, Sklaveni from the ending of the names "-glory", which, in turn, is associated with the word "glory". Another theory connects the name "Slavs" with the term "word", citing as evidence the presence of the Russian word "Germans", derived from the word "mute". Both of these theories, however, are refuted by almost all modern linguists, who argue that the suffix "-yanin" unambiguously indicates belonging to a particular locality. Since the area called "Slav" is unknown to history, the origin of the name of the Slavs remains unclear.
The basic knowledge that modern science has about the ancient Slavs is based either on the data of archaeological excavations (which in themselves do not provide any theoretical knowledge), or on the basis of chronicles, as a rule, known not in their original form, but in the form of later lists, descriptions and interpretations. Obviously, such factual material is completely insufficient for any serious theoretical constructions. Sources of information about the history of the Slavs are discussed below, as well as in the chapters "History" and "Linguistics", however, it should immediately be noted that any study in the field of life, life and religion of the ancient Slavs cannot claim anything more than a hypothetical model.
It should also be noted that in the science of the XIX-XX centuries. there was a serious divergence in views on the history of the Slavs between Russian and foreign researchers. On the one hand, it was caused by the special political relations of Russia with other Slavic states, the sharply increased influence of Russia on European politics and the need for a historical (or pseudo-historical) justification for this policy, as well as a backlash against it, including from openly fascist ethnographers - theorists (for example, Ratzel). On the other hand, there were (and are) fundamental differences between the scientific and methodological schools of Russia (especially the Soviet one) and Western countries. The observed discrepancy could not help but be influenced by religious aspects - the claims of Russian Orthodoxy to a special and exclusive role in the world Christian process, rooted in the history of the baptism of Rus', also required a certain revision of some views on the history of the Slavs.
In the concept of "Slavs" certain peoples are often included with a certain degree of conventionality. A number of nationalities have undergone such significant changes in their history that they can be called Slavic only with great reservations. Many peoples, mainly on the borders of traditional Slavic settlement, have signs of both the Slavs and their neighbors, which requires the introduction of the concept "marginal Slavs". These peoples definitely include the Dakoromanians, Albanians and Illyrians, Leto-Slavs.
Most of the Slavic population, having experienced numerous historical vicissitudes, one way or another mixed with other peoples. Many of these processes took place already in modern times; Thus, Russian settlers in Transbaikalia, having mixed with the local Buryat population, gave rise to a new community known as chaldons. By and large, it makes sense to derive the concept "Mesoslavs" in relation to peoples that have a direct genetic connection only with the Wends, Ants and Sklavens.
It is necessary to use the linguistic method in identifying the Slavs, as suggested by a number of researchers, with extreme caution. There are many examples of such a discrepancy or syncretism in the linguistics of some peoples; for example, the Polabian and Kashubian Slavs de facto speak German, and many Balkan peoples have changed their original language beyond recognition several times over the past millennium and a half.
Such a valuable method of research as anthropological, unfortunately, is practically inapplicable to the Slavs, since a single anthropological type, characteristic of the entire habitat of the Slavs, has not been formed. The traditional everyday anthropological characteristics of the Slavs refers mainly to the northern and eastern Slavs, who for centuries assimilated with the Balts and Scandinavians, and cannot be attributed to the eastern and, even more so, to the southern Slavs. Moreover, as a result of significant external influences from, in particular, the Muslim conquerors, the anthropological characteristics of not only the Slavs, but also all the inhabitants of Europe changed significantly. For example, the indigenous inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula during the heyday of the Roman Empire had an appearance characteristic of the inhabitants of Central Russia in the 19th century: blond curly hair, blue eyes and rounded faces.
As mentioned above, information about the Proto-Slavs is known to us exclusively from ancient, and later from Byzantine sources of the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. The Greeks and Romans gave completely arbitrary names to the Proto-Slavic peoples, attributing them to the area, appearance, or combat characteristics of the tribes. As a result, there is a certain confusion and redundancy in the names of the Proto-Slavic peoples. At the same time, however, in the Roman Empire, the Slavic tribes were generally called by the terms Stavani, Stlavani, Suoveni, Slavi, Slavini, Sklavini, obviously having a common origin, but leaving a wide scope for reasoning about the original meaning of this word, as already mentioned above.
Modern ethnography rather conditionally divides the Slavs of the new time into three groups:
Eastern, which includes Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians; some researchers distinguish only the Russian nation, which has three branches: Great Russian, Little Russian and Belarusian;
Western, which include Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Lusatians;
Southern, which include Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins.
It is easy to see that this division corresponds more to linguistic differences between peoples than to ethnographic and anthropological ones; Thus, the division of the main population of the former Russian Empire into Russians and Ukrainians is highly controversial, and the unification of the Cossacks, Galicians, Eastern Poles, northern Moldavians and Hutsuls into one nationality is more about politics than science.
Unfortunately, based on the foregoing, a researcher of Slavic communities can hardly be based on a different method of research and the classification that follows from it than linguistic. However, with all the richness and effectiveness of linguistic methods, in the historical aspect they are very susceptible to external influences, and, as a result, they may turn out to be unreliable in the historical perspective.
Of course, the main ethnographic group of the Eastern Slavs are the so-called Russians, at least in terms of their size. However, with regard to Russians, we can speak only in a general sense, since the Russian nation is a very bizarre synthesis of small ethnographic groups and nationalities.
Three ethnic elements took part in the formation of the Russian nation: Slavic, Finnish and Tatar-Mongolian. Asserting this, however, we cannot definitely say what exactly the original East Slavic type was. A similar uncertainty is observed in relation to the Finns, who are united in one group only due to a certain proximity of the languages of the Baltic Finns proper, Lapps, Livs, Estonians and Magyars. Even less obvious is the genetic origin of the Tatar-Mongols, who, as is known, have a rather distant relation to modern Mongols, and even more so to the Tatars.
A number of researchers believe that the social elite of ancient Rus', which gave the name to the whole people, was a certain people of the Rus, who by the middle of the 10th century. subjugated Slovenian, glade and part of the Krivichi. There are, however, significant differences in the hypotheses about the origin and the very fact of the existence of the Rus. The Norman origin of the Rus is assumed to be from the Scandinavian tribes of the Viking expansion period. This hypothesis was described as early as the 18th century, but was received with hostility by the patriotic-minded part of Russian scientists, headed by Lomonosov. At present, the Norman hypothesis is considered in the West as a basic one, in Russia - as a probable one.
The Slavic hypothesis of the origin of the Rus was formulated by Lomonosov and Tatishchev in defiance of the Norman hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the Rus originate from the Middle Dnieper and are identified with glades. Under this hypothesis, which had official status in the USSR, many archaeological finds in the south of Russia were fitted.
The Indo-Iranian hypothesis suggests the origin of the Rus from the Sarmatian tribes of Roxalans or Rosomones, mentioned by ancient authors, and the name of the people - from the term ruksi- "light". This hypothesis does not stand up to criticism, first of all, due to the dolichocephalicity of the skulls inherent in the burials of that time, which is inherent only to the northern peoples.
There is a strong (and not only in everyday life) belief that the formation of the Russian nation was influenced by a certain nation called the Scythians. Meanwhile, in the scientific sense, this term has no right to exist, since the concept of "Scythians" is no less generalized than "Europeans", and includes dozens, if not hundreds of nomadic peoples of Turkic, Aryan and Iranian origin. Naturally, these nomadic peoples, in one way or another, had a certain influence on the formation of the eastern and southern Slavs, but it is completely wrong to consider this influence decisive (or critical).
As the Eastern Slavs spread, they mixed not only with the Finns and Tatars, but also, somewhat later, with the Germans.
The main ethnographic group of modern Ukraine are the so-called little Russians, living on the territory of the Middle Dnieper and Slobozhanshchina, also called Cherkasy. Two ethnographic groups are also distinguished: Carpathian (Boikos, Hutsuls, Lemkos) and Polissya (Litvins, Polishchuks). The formation of the Little Russian (Ukrainian) people took place in the XII-XV centuries. based on the southwestern part of the population of Kievan Rus and genetically differed little from the indigenous Russian nation that had formed by the time of the baptism of Rus. In the future, there was a partial assimilation of the Little Russians with the Hungarians, Lithuanians, Poles, Tatars and Romanians.
Belarusians, calling themselves so by the geographical term "White Rus'", are a complex synthesis of Dregovichi, Radimichi and partially Vyatichi with Poles and Lithuanians. Initially, until the 16th century, the term "White Rus'" was applied exclusively to the Vitebsk region and northeastern Mogilev region, while the western part of the modern Minsk and Vitebsk regions, together with the territory of the present Grodno region, were called "Black Russia", and the southern part of modern Belarus - Polissya. These areas became part of "Belaya Rus" much later. Subsequently, the Belarusians absorbed the Polotsk Krivichs, and some of them were pushed back to the Pskov and Tver lands. The Russian name for the Belarusian-Ukrainian mixed population is Polishchuks, Litvins, Rusyns, Ruthenians.
Polabian Slavs(Wends) - the indigenous Slavic population of the north, northwest and east of the territory occupied by modern Germany. The composition of the Polabian Slavs includes three tribal unions: Lutichi (velets or Velets), Bodrichi (encouraged, rereki or rarogs) and Lusatians (Lusatian Serbs or Sorbs). At present, the entire Polabian population is completely Germanized.
Lusatians(Lusatian Serbs, Sorbs, Wends, Serbs) - the indigenous Mesoslavic population, lives on the territory of Lusatia - the former Slavic regions, now located in Germany. They originate from the Polabian Slavs, occupied in the 10th century. German feudal lords.
Extremely southern Slavs, conditionally united under the name "Bulgarians" represent seven ethnographic groups: Dobrujantsi, Khartsoi, Balkanji, Thracians, Ruptsi, Macedonians, Shopi. These groups differ significantly not only in language, but also in customs, social structure and culture in general, and the final formation of a single Bulgarian community has not been completed even in our time.
Initially, the Bulgarians lived on the Don, when the Khazars, after moving to the west, founded a large kingdom on the lower Volga. Under the pressure of the Khazars, part of the Bulgarians moved to the lower Danube, forming modern Bulgaria, and the other part to the middle Volga, where they subsequently mixed with the Russians.
The Balkan Bulgarians mixed with the local Thracians; in modern Bulgaria, elements of the Thracian culture can be traced south of the Balkan Range. With the expansion of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, new tribes entered the generalized people of the Bulgarians. A significant part of the Bulgarians assimilated with the Turks in the period of the 15th-19th centuries.
Croatians- a group of southern Slavs (self-name - hrvati). The ancestors of the Croats are the tribes of Kachichi, Shubichi, Svachichi, Magorovichi, Croats, who moved along with other Slavic tribes to the Balkans in the 6th-7th centuries, and then settled in the north of the Dalmatian coast, in southern Istria, between the Sava and Drava rivers, in northern Bosnia .
Actually, the Croats, who form the backbone of the Croatian group, are most of all related to the Slavons.
In 806, the Croats fell under the rule of Thrace, in 864 - Byzantium, in 1075 they formed their own kingdom.
At the end of the XI - beginning of the XII centuries. the main part of the Croatian lands was included in the Kingdom of Hungary, resulting in significant assimilation with the Hungarians. In the middle of the XV century. Venice (back in the 11th century, seized part of Dalmatia) took possession of the Croatian Primorye (with the exception of Dubrovnik). In 1527, Croatia gained independence, falling under the rule of the Habsburgs.
In 1592, part of the Croatian kingdom was conquered by the Turks. A military frontier was created to protect against the Ottomans; its inhabitants, the frontiers, are Croats, Slavonians and Serb refugees.
In 1699, Turkey ceded to Austria the captured part, among other lands, under the Karlovtsy peace. In 1809-1813. Croatia was annexed to the Illyrian provinces ceded to Napoleon I. From 1849 to 1868. it constituted, together with Slavonia, the coastal region and Fiume, an independent crown land, in 1868 it was again united with Hungary, and in 1881 the Slovak border region was annexed to the latter.
A small group of South Slavs - Illyrians, the later inhabitants of ancient Illyria, located west of Thessaly and Macedonia, and east of Italy and Rhetia, as far north as the river Istra. The most significant of the Illyrian tribes are: Dalmatians, Liburnians, Istrians, Japodes, Pannonians, Desitiates, Pirusts, Dicyons, Dardani, Ardei, Taulantii, Plerei, Iapigi, Messaps.
At the beginning of the III century. BC e. the Illyrians were subjected to Celtic influence, as a result of which a group of Illyro-Celtic tribes was formed. As a result of the Illyrian Wars with Rome, the Illyrians underwent rapid romanization, as a result of which their language disappeared.
From the Illyrians are descended modern Albanians And dalmatians.
In formation Albanians(self-name shchiptar, known in Italy as arbreshi, in Greece as arvanites) the tribes of the Illyrians and Thracians took part, and the influence of Rome and Byzantium also affected it. The community of Albanians was formed relatively late, in the 15th century, but it was strongly influenced by the Ottoman domination, which destroyed the economic ties between the communities. At the end of the XVIII century. Albanians formed two main ethnic groups: the Ghegs and the Tosks.
Romanians(Dakorumyns), who until the 12th century were a pastoral mountain people who did not have a stable place of residence, are not pure Slavs. Genetically, they are a mixture of Dacians, Illyrians, Romans and South Slavs.
Aromanians(Aromans, Tsintsars, Kutsovlachs) are the descendants of the ancient Romanized population of Moesia. With a high degree of probability, the ancestors of the Aromanians until the 9th - 10th centuries lived in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula and are not an autochthonous population in the territory of their present residence, i.e. in Albania and Greece. Linguistic analysis shows the almost complete identity of the vocabulary of Aromanians and Dakoromanians, which indicates that these two peoples have been in close contact for a long time. Byzantine sources also testify to the resettlement of the Aromanians.
Origin Megleno-Romanian not fully explored. There is no doubt that they belong to the eastern part of the Romanians, which was subjected to a long influence of the Dakoromanians, and are not an autochthonous population in the places of modern residence, i.e. in Greece.
Istro-Romanians represent the western part of the Romanians, currently living in small numbers in the eastern part of the Istrian peninsula.
Origin Gagauz, people living in almost all Slavic and neighboring countries (mainly in Bessarabia), is highly controversial. According to one of the widespread versions, this Orthodox people, who speak the specific Gagauz language of the Turkic group, are Turkified Bulgarians mixed with the Polovtsy of the southern Russian steppes.
Southwestern Slavs, currently united under the code name "Serbs"(self-designation - srbi), as well as singling out of them Montenegrins And Bosnians, are assimilated descendants of the Serbs themselves, Duklyans, Tervunyans, Konavlyans, Zakhlumyans, named, who occupied a significant part of the territory in the basin of the southern tributaries of the Sava and Danube, the Dinaric Mountains, south. part of the Adriatic coast. The modern southwestern Slavs are divided into regional ethnic groups: the Shumadians, the Uzhians, the Moravians, the Machvans, the Kosovians, the Srems, and the Banachans.
Bosnians(Bosanians, self-name - Muslims) live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In fact, they are Serbs who mixed with Croats and converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation. The Turks, Arabs, Kurds who moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina mixed with the Bosnians.
Montenegrins(self-name - "tsrnogortsy") live in Montenegro and Albania, genetically differ little from the Serbs. Unlike most Balkan countries, Montenegro actively resisted the Ottoman yoke, as a result of which, in 1796, it gained independence. As a result, the level of Turkish assimilation of Montenegrins is minimal.
The center of settlement of the southwestern Slavs is the historical region of Raska, which unites the basins of the Drina, Lim, Piva, Tara, Ibar, Western Morava rivers, where in the second half of the 8th century. an early state was formed. In the middle of the ninth century the Serbian principality was created; in the X-XI centuries. the center of political life moved to the south-west of Raska, to Duklja, Travuniya, Zakhumya, then again to Raska. Then, at the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV centuries, Serbia entered the Ottoman Empire.
Western Slavs, known by their modern name "Slovaks"(self-name - Slovaks), on the territory of modern Slovakia began to prevail from the VI century. AD Moving from the southeast, the Slovaks partially absorbed the former Celtic, Germanic, and then the Avar population. The southern areas of Slovak settlement in the 7th century were probably within the borders of the state of Samo. In the ninth century along the course of the Vah and Nitra, the first tribal principality of the early Slovaks arose - Nitrans, or the Principality of Pribina, which around 833 joined the Moravian Principality - the core of the future Great Moravian state. At the end of the ninth century The Great Moravian principality collapsed under the onslaught of the Hungarians, after which its eastern regions by the XII century. became part of Hungary, and later Austria-Hungary.
The term "Slovaks" appeared from the middle of the 15th century; earlier, the inhabitants of this territory were called "Slovenia", "Slovenka".
The second group of Western Slavs - Poles, formed as a result of the unification of the Western shy; Slavic tribes of the glades, slenzan, vislyans, mazovshans, pomeranians. Until the end of the XIX century. There was no single Polish nation: the Poles were divided into several large ethnic groups that differed in dialects and some ethnographic features: in the west - the Great Poles (which included the Kuyavians), the Lenchitsans and the Seradzians; in the south - the Malopolyans, whose group included the Gorals (the population of mountainous regions), Krakovians and Sandomierz; in Silesia - slenzan (slenzaks, Silesians, among whom there were Poles, Silesian Gorals, etc.); in the north-east - Mazury (they included Kurpi) and Warmiaks; on the coast of the Baltic Sea - the Pomeranians, and in Pomorie the Kashubians were especially prominent, retaining the specifics of their language and culture.
The third group of Western Slavs - Czechs(self-name - Cheshi). The Slavs as part of the tribes (Czechs, Croats, Luchians, Zlichans, Dechans, Pshovans, Litomers, Hebans, Glomachi) became the predominant population in the territory of modern Czech Republic in the 6th-7th centuries, assimilating the remnants of the Celtic and Germanic population.
In the ninth century The Czech Republic was part of the Great Moravian Empire. At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries. the Czech (Prague) principality was formed, in the X century. included Moravia in their lands. From the second half of the XII century. The Czech Republic became part of the Holy Roman Empire; further, German colonization took place on the Czech lands, in 1526 the power of the Habsburgs was established.
At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. the revival of Czech identity began, which ended, with the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, with the formation of the national state of Czechoslovakia, which in 1993 broke up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
As part of the modern Czech Republic, the population of the Czech Republic proper and the historical region of Moravia stand out, where regional groups of Horaks, Moravian Slovaks, Moravian Vlachs and Hanaks are preserved.
Leto-Slavs are considered the youngest branch of the North European Aryans. They live to the east of the middle Vistula and have significant anthropological differences from the Lithuanians living in the same area. According to a number of researchers, the Leto-Slavs, having mixed with the Finns, reached the middle Main and Inn, and only later were partially forced out, and partially assimilated by the Germanic tribes.
Intermediate nationality between the southwestern and western Slavs - slovenes, currently occupying the extreme north-west of the Balkan Peninsula, from the upper reaches of the Sava and Drava rivers to the eastern Alps and the Adriatic coast up to the Friuli valley, as well as in the Middle Danube and Lower Pannonia. This territory was occupied by them during the mass migration of Slavic tribes to the Balkans in the 6th-7th centuries, forming two Slovenian regions - the Alpine (Karantans) and the Danubian (Pannonian Slavs).
From the middle of the ninth century most of the Slovenian lands came under the rule of southern Germany, as a result of which Catholicism began to spread there.
In 1918, the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created under the general name of Yugoslavia.
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, Germans, others even identify them 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 are an Indo-European people who were once part of the “German-Slavic” community, but broke away from the Germans during the Great Migration of Nations. 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 it hardly says that the former played a decisive role in the formation of the 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 there are echoes of the truth in each of them) represent two extremes, which are characterized by a free interpretation of historical facts and archeological information. They were criticized by such "giants" of Russian history as 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 ability to finally answer the 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 a single 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 above-mentioned Mavro Orbini generously granted the Slavic tribes a couple of extra millennia of history, dating their exodus from their historical homeland in 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 language group stood out, from which the Germans later emerged, Balts and Slavs. Of these, around the 1st millennium BC, the Slavic language begins to stand out.
But the information of linguistics alone is not enough - to determine the unity of an ethnos, there must be a continuous succession of 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”. It existed in the 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 the most ancient territory of the Slavs - the 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 the vast territories of Central and 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 homelands 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 the Western Dvina) and where the Slavic people themselves were formed (according to the authors of the hypothesis, this happened from the 2nd century BC). BC) - the basin of the Vistula River. Western and Eastern Slavs have already left from there. 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. It is based on the idea that the Slavs, as one of the most numerous peoples in 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".
The Slavs are one of the most ancient peoples of the European continent. Its culture dates back many centuries and is distinguished by unique features.
Today, few people know about the origin and life of the ancient Slavs. The Slavic video can be downloaded online, which can be found on one of the specialized sites, to learn about this.
South Slavs
Peoples are groups that spread over a large area of Europe. According to some experts, their number is more than 350 million people.
The South Slavs are a group of peoples who, by coincidence, found their home closer to the south of the mainland. These include people living in the following countries:
- Bulgaria;
- Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Macedonia;
- Slovenia;
- Montenegro;
- Serbia;
- Croatia.
This group of people inhabits almost all the Balkans and the Adriatic coast. Today, the culture of these peoples is undergoing significant changes under the influence of Western peoples.
Eastern and Western Slavs
Western peoples are indigenous descendants, since it was from these places that the resettlement took place.
This group includes descendants of several nationalities:
- Poles;
- Czechs;
- Slovaks;
- Kashubians;
- Lusatians.
The last two peoples are distinguished by a small number, therefore they do not have their own states. The place of residence of the Kashubians is Poland. As for the Lusatians, certain groups are found in Saxony and Brandenburg. All these peoples have their own culture and values. But it should be understood that there is no clear division between nationalities, as there is a constant movement of people and their mixing.
Eastern Slavs live on the territory of several states:
- Ukraine;
- Belarus;
- Russia.
As for the latter, the Slavs did not settle throughout the country. They live near all other peoples that have spread near the Dnieper and Polissya.
It should be noted that the culture of the Slavs was amenable to a certain change. This is due to the fact that many territories were under the influence of neighboring peoples for a long time.
Thus, the southern peoples absorbed some of the traditions of the Greeks and Turks. In turn, the Eastern Slavs were under the Tatar-Mongol yoke for a long time, which also contributed to their language and cultural values.
Slavic peoples are a unique group of people, distinguished by unconventional thinking and beautiful traditions.
