List of early Slavic peoples

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This is a list of early Slavic peoples reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500.

Contents

Ancestors

Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony Indo-European Migrations. Source David Anthony (2007), The Horse, The Wheel and Language.jpg
Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony

Antiquity

Map 2: Eastern Europe in 3-4th century CE with archeological cultures identified as Baltic-speaking in purple, Slavic-speaking in light brown, and Finno-Ugric-speaking in green. East europe 3-4cc.png
Map 2: Eastern Europe in 3-4th century CE with archeological cultures identified as Baltic-speaking in purple, Slavic-speaking in light brown, and Finno-Ugric-speaking in green.
Map 3: During the Migration Period in 5-6th century CE, the area of archeological cultures identified as Baltic and Slavic is becoming more fragmented. East europe 5-6cc.png
Map 3: During the Migration Period in 5-6th century CE, the area of archeological cultures identified as Baltic and Slavic is becoming more fragmented.

Middle Ages

Map 4: By the 7-8th century CE, the Slavic territory was greatly increased after Slavic migration and expansion (in the context of Migration period). Slav-7-8-obrez.png
Map 4: By the 7-8th century CE, the Slavic territory was greatly increased after Slavic migration and expansion (in the context of Migration period).

East Slavs

Map 6: Maximum extent of European territory inhabited by the East Slavic tribes - predecessors of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state - in the 8th and 9th century. East Slavic tribes peoples 8th 9th century.jpg
Map 6: Maximum extent of European territory inhabited by the East Slavic tribes - predecessors of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state - in the 8th and 9th century.

West Slavs

Map 7: West Slav tribes in 9th and 10th centuries West slavs 9th-10th c..png
Map 7: West Slav tribes in 9th and 10th centuries
Map 8: Slavic Bohemian tribes shown in various colors and Moravians in red, on a map of modern Czech Republic Ceske kmeny.png
Map 8: Slavic Bohemian tribes shown in various colors and Moravians in red, on a map of modern Czech Republic

South Slavs

Approximate location of South Slavic tribes, per V. V. Sedov 1995. Early medieval South Slavic tribes.png
Approximate location of South Slavic tribes, per V. V. Sedov 1995.

South Slavic tribes descend mainly from two Slavic tribal confederations, Sclaveni and Antes. To reach the Balkans, the two groups took two different paths. While the Sclaveni came from Central Europe north of the Danube and migrated south around the eastern edges of the Alps and across the western part of the Pannonian Plain, the Antes came from the steppe between the Dniester and the Dnieper, penetrating into the Balkans throuhgh Transylvania or, alternatively, the mouth of the Danube. [19]

A number of historians have attributed the early split between Eastern and Western South Slavs to the different origins of Sclaveni and Antes. [20] While Western South Slavs were closely linked to the Western Slavic Veneti, Eastern South Slavs originated from the Eastern Slavic Antes. This is confirmed by both historical records and the duplication of tribal names between West Slavs and Western South Slavs and East Slavs and Eastern South Slavs, respectively. For example, the Polabian White Serb confederation is generally thought to be the ancestor of both Western Slavic Sorbs and South Slavic Serbs, while the Dunabian Abodriti, also known as Praedenecenti, are generally associated with the Polabian Obotrites. [21]

The same is true for Antes and Eastern South Slavs. For example, part of the East Slavic Severians are known to have migrated to present-day northeastern Bulgaria, becoming foederati of the First Bulgarian Empire under the name Severi, while some Pripyat Dregoviches are assumed to have migrated to the valley of the Vardar, establishing themselves as the Drougoubitai. [22] The Seven Slavic tribes are also hypothesized to be Antes hailing from the lands of modern Ukraine, but missing records of their tribal names makes the hypothesis unverifiable.

Therefore, it has been suggested that the ancestors of medieval Serbs and Croatians were the Sclaveni, wereas the progenitors of the Bulgarian Slavs were the Antes. [23] Nevertheless, there must have been substantial overlap between Sclaveni and Antes, especially in contact zones. For example, the exact origin of White Croats is still shrouded in mystery. Some scholars consider them be an Antes tribal polity that migrated to Galicia in the 3rd–4th century, [24] [25] [26] while others regard them as early Sclaveni or as a mixture of both Antes and Sclaveni. [27]

Nevertheless, South Slavs over time evolved into a new Slavic ethnolinguistic group. This phenomenon was accentuated by the Bavarian expansion east (as an element in the Ostsiedlung) and by the Magyar settlement and expansion in the Pannonian Plain, which severed the contiguous land or territory between West and South Slavs (in the Middle Danube river basin) and contact between both of them, contributing to greater differentiation.

Unclassified Slavs

Possible Slavs

Unclassified

Slavs or Balts

Slavs, Balts or Finnic

Slavs or Romance peoples

Slavs or Turkics

Mixed

Unclassified peoples or tribes

Mentioned by Bavarian Geographer and possibly Baltic Indo-European

Mentioned by Bavarian Geographer and possibly Iranian Indo-European

Mentioned by Bavarian Geographer and possibly Turkic

Mentioned by Bavarian Geographer and possibly Uralic

Mentioned by Bavarian Geographer and Unknown

See also

Sources

Related Research Articles

The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states, Northern Asia, and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Slavs</span> Slavic peoples speaking the East Slavic languages

The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor. Today Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians are the existent East Slavic nations. Rusyns can also be considered as a separate nation, although they are often considered a subgroup of the Ukrainian people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severians</span>

The Severians, also Severyans, Siverians, or Siverianians were a tribe or tribal confederation of early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the middle Dnieper River and southeast of the Danube River. They are mentioned by the Bavarian Geographer, Emperor Constantine VII (956–959), the Khazar ruler Joseph, and in the Primary Chronicle (1113).

The Vistula Veneti, also called Baltic Veneti or Venedi, were an Indo-European people that inhabited the lands of central Europe east of the Vistula River and the Bay of Gdańsk. Ancient Roman geographers first mentioned Venedi in the 1st century AD, differentiating a group of peoples whose manner and language differed from those of the neighbouring Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. In the 6th century AD, Byzantine historians described the Veneti as the ancestors of the Slavs who - during the second phase of the Migration Period - crossed the northern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulichs</span> Tribe of Early East Slavs

The Uliches or Ugliches were a tribe of Early East Slavs who, between the eighth and the tenth centuries, inhabited Bessarabia, and the territories along the Lower Dnieper, Bug River and the Black Sea littoral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tivertsi</span>

The Tivertsi, were a tribe of early East Slavs which lived in the lands near the Dniester, and probably the lower Danube, that is in modern-day western Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and possibly in eastern Romania and the southern Odesa oblast of Ukraine. The Tivertsi were one of the tribes that formed the Ukrainian ethnicity, namely the sub-ethnic and historic region of Podolia. The Tivertsis' cultural inheritors, the Podolians, are a distinct group of Ukrainians.

The Buzhans were one of the tribal unions of Early Slavs, which supposedly formed East Slavs in Southern Russia and Volga region. They are mentioned as Buzhane in the Primary Chronicle. Several localities in Russia are claimed to be connected to the Buzhans, like for example Sredniy Buzhan in the Orenburg Oblast, Buzan and the Buzan river in the Astrakhan Oblast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vistulans</span> Central European tribe

The Vistulans, or Vistulanians, were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Croats</span> Early Slavic tribe and ethnic group

The White Croats, also known simply as Croats, were a group of Early Slavic tribes that lived between East Slavic and West Slavic tribes in the historical region of Galicia north of the Carpathian Mountains, and possibly in Northeastern Bohemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Slavs</span> Subgroup of Slavic peoples who speak the South Slavic languages

South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hungary, Romania, and the Black Sea, the South Slavs today include Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Slavs</span> Subgroup of Slavic peoples

The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic languages diversified into their historically attested forms over the 10th to 14th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lendians</span>

The Lendians were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Europe geography was often vague, they were recorded by different names, which include Lendzanenoi, Lendzaninoi, Lz’njn, Lachy, Lyakhs, Landzaneh, Lendizi, Licicaviki and Litziki.

Lechites, also known as the Lechitic tribes, is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Distinct from the Czech–Slovak subgroup, they are the closest ancestors of ethnic Poles and of Pomeranians, Lusatians and Polabians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poland in the Early Middle Ages</span> Overview about Poland in the Early Middle Ages

The most important phenomenon that took place within the lands of Poland in the Early Middle Ages, as well as other parts of Central Europe was the arrival and permanent settlement of the West Slavic or Lechitic peoples. The Slavic migrations to the area of contemporary Poland started in the second half of the 5th century AD, about a half century after these territories were vacated by Germanic tribes fleeing from the Huns. The first waves of the incoming Slavs settled the vicinity of the upper Vistula River and elsewhere in the lands of present southeastern Poland and southern Masovia. Coming from the east, from the upper and middle regions of the Dnieper River, the immigrants would have had come primarily from the western branch of the early Slavs known as Sclaveni, and since their arrival are classified as West Slavs and Lechites, who are the closest ancestors of Poles.[a]

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antes people</span> Early Slavic people inhabiting parts of Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages

The Antes or Antae were an early Slavic tribal polity of the 6th century CE. They lived on the lower Danube River, in the northwestern Black Sea region, and in the regions around the Don River. Scholars commonly associate the Antes with the archaeological Penkovka culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early Slavs</span> Group of tribal societies, 5th–10th c.

The early Slavs were Indo-European peoples who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe and established the foundations for the Slavic nations through the Slavic states of the Early and High Middle Ages. The Slavs' original homeland is still a matter of debate due to a lack of historical records; however, scholars believe that it was in Eastern Europe, with Polesia being the most commonly accepted location.

The Zeriuani or Zeruiani was an unknown Slavic tribe mentioned by the 9th-century Bavarian Geographer (BG). It states that the Zeruiani "which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and trace their origin". It was the first Latin source to claim that all Slavs have originated from the same homeland.

Sporoi or Spori was according to Eastern Roman scholar Procopius (500–560) the old name of the Antes and Sclaveni, two Early Slavic branches. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes spoke the same language, but he did not trace their common origin back to the Veneti but to a people he called "Sporoi". He derived the name from Greek σπείρω, because "they populated the land with scattered settlements".

The Slavic ethnonym, Slavs, is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural Slověně. The earliest written references to the Slav ethnonym are in other languages.

Topical outline of articles about Slavic history and culture. This outline is an overview of Slavic topics; for outlines related to specific Slavic groups and topics, see the links in the Other Slavic outlines section below.

References

  1. ↑ Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (568 p.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-14818-2
  2. ↑ Mallory, J.P.; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN   978-1-884964-98-5.
  3. ↑ Tarasov I. The Balts in the Migration Period. P. I. Galindians, p. 97
  4. ↑ Mallory, J.P.; Douglas Q. Adams (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. ISBN   978-1-884964-98-5.
  5. ↑ Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (568 p.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-14818-2
  6. ↑ "Land and People, p.23" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2007. Retrieved July 30, 2005.
  7. ↑ Tarasov I. The balts in the Migration Period. P. I. Galindians, p. 97
  8. ↑ Gimbutas, Marija (1963). The Balts. London : Thames and Hudson, Ancient peoples and places 33.
  9. ↑ Oscar Halecki. (1952). Borderlands of Western Civilization. New York: Ronald Press Company. pp. 45-46
  10. ↑ Joachim Lelewel (1852). Géographie du moyen âge. Vol. 3–4. Ve et J. Pilleit. p. 43.
  11. ↑ Johann Kaspar Zeuss (1837). Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme. Ignaz Joseph Lentner. p. 615.
  12. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  13. ↑ Subtelny, Orest (2009-11-10). Ukraine: A History, 4th Edition. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   9781442697287.
  14. ↑ "Fvs:Sloveni". dai.fmph.uniba.sk. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  15. ↑ "Bavorský geograf – prvá písomná zmienka o Nitrianskych Slovenoch" . Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  16. ↑ "KULTURA - Dvojtýždenník závislý od etiky". 2007-11-16. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  17. ↑ "KULTURA - Dvojtýždenník závislý od etiky". 2007-11-16. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  18. ↑ Marek, Miloš (13 August 2021). "Národnosti Uhorska" (PDF).
  19. ↑ Magosci, Paul Robert (2010). A History of Ukraine (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. p. 43. ISBN   978-0-8020-7820-9.
  20. ↑ Szmoniewski, B. S. (2012). "The Antes: Eastern "Brothers" of the Sclavenes ?". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. Brepols. p. 62. ISBN   978-2-503-53125-0.
  21. ↑ Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250 . Cambridge University Press. p. 158 (Note 100). ISBN   978-0-521-89452-4.
  22. ↑ John Van Antwerp Fine (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. University of Michigan Press. pp. 69, 77. ISBN   9780472081493.
  23. ↑ Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. (2005). When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. pp. 26, 66. ISBN   0472025600. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  24. ↑ Gluhak, Alemko (1990). Porijeklo imena Hrvat[Origin of the name Croat] (in Croatian). Zagreb, Čakovec: Alemko Gluhak. pp. 115–116.
  25. ↑ Paščenko, Jevgenij (2006). Nosić, Milan (ed.). Podrijetlo Hrvata i Ukrajina[The origin of Croats and Ukraine] (in Croatian). Maveda. pp. 84–87. ISBN   953-7029-03-4.
  26. ↑ Sedov, Valentin Vasilyevich (2013) [1995]. Славяне в раннем Средневековье [Sloveni u ranom srednjem veku (Slavs in Early Middle Ages)]. Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga. pp. 444, 451, 501, 516. ISBN   978-86-6263-026-1.
  27. ↑ Majorov, Aleksandr Vjačeslavovič (2012). Velika Hrvatska: etnogeneza i rana povijest Slavena prikarpatskoga područja[Great Croatia: ethnogenesis and early history of Slavs in the Carpathian area] (in Croatian). Zagreb, Samobor: Brethren of the Croatian Dragon, Meridijani. pp. 85–86, 168. ISBN   978-953-6928-26-2.
  28. ↑ Marko Vego (1982). "Postanak imena Bosna". Postanak srednjovjekovne bosanske države (in Croatian). Svjetlost. p. 20. Retrieved 13 April 2021. Čvrsto sam ubijeđen, na temelju topografije, da je u pradomovrni stanovnika Bosne postojalo, živjelo ime Bosna i kao takvo zabilježeno u izvorima ili je ostalo u toponimima na terenu. Zato nije bilo teško jakom i mnogobrojnom plemenu Bosna da pri dolasku u centralnu Bosnu potisne staro predslavensko ime ili imena na području Gornje Bosne i ujedini srodna slavenska plemena i rodove pod jednim imenom Bosna i za oznaku rijeke Bosne.
  29. ↑ Hadžijahić, Muhamed (2004). POVIJEST BOSNE U IX I X STOLJEĆU (in Bosnian). pp. 164, 165.
  30. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  31. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  32. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  33. ↑ Curta, Florin (2001). The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN   9781139428880.
  34. ↑ Fine, J. (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. University of Michigan Press. pp. 46–48. ISBN   0-472-08149-7.
  35. ↑ Микулчиќ, Иван (1996). Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија[Medieval towns and castles in the Republic of Macedonia] (in Macedonian). Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite. pp. 29–33. ISBN   9989-649-08-1.
  36. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  37. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  38. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  39. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  40. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  41. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  42. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
  43. ↑ Koncha, S. (2012). Bavarian Geographer On Slavic Tribes From Ukraine. http://ukrbulletin.univ.kiev.ua/Visnyk-16-en/Koncha.pdf Ukrainian Studies. 12. Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. pp. 15–21.
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