East Colonisation (German: Ostsiedlung), also known as German eastward expansion, refers to the eastward expansion of Germans into regions inhabitated by Slavs, Balts, Romanians, and Hungarians beginning in the 12th century. In German scholarship, it refers especially to the reassertion of Saxon authority over Sorbian or Wendish areas, especially Brandenburg by Albert the Bear. The Slavic peoples are defined by their usage of the Slavic languages. ... The Baltic Sea The Balts or Baltic peoples have lived around the eastern coast of Mare Suebicum, or Baltic Sea (Tacitus, AD 98) since ancient times. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Map showing the Saxons homeland in traditional region bounded by the three rivers: Weser, Eider, and Elbe Src: Freemans Historical Geographys. The Saxons or Saxon people are (nowadays) part of the German people with its main areas of settlements in the German Federal States of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony... This article or section should be merged with List of Sorbian languages The Sorbian languages are members of the West Slavic branch of languages spoken in eastern Germany. ... Wends (German: Wenden, Latin: Venedi) is the English name for some Slavic people from north-central Europe particularly the Sorbs living in modern-day Germany. ... Brandenburg (Lower Sorbian: Bramborska; Upper Sorbian: Braniborska) is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states) and lies in the east of the country. ... Albert I (c. ...

The settlement of Germans east of the Elbe and Saale rivers (inhabited by Polabian Slavs) and in Styria and Carinthia (inhabited by Slovenians) began the medieval (Deutsche) Ostsiedelung ("settlement of the East"). The emigration of the inhabitants from the Valais canton in Switzerland to the areas that had been settled before by the Romans had to some extent the same preconditions as the colonisation of the East. A family of Russian settlers in the Caucasus region, ca. ... The River Elbe (Czech Labe , Sorbian/Lusatian Łobjo, German Elbe) is one of the major waterways of Central Europe. ... Length 413 km Elevation of the source 728  m Average discharge  ?  m³/s Area watershed  ?  km² Origin  Germany Mouth  Elbe Basin countries Germany Saale is the name of two rivers in Germany: the Saxonian Saale (German: Sächsische Saale) and the Franconian Saale (German: Fränkische Saale). ... Polabian Slavs is a collective term applied to a number of Slavic tribes living along the Elbe, between the Baltic Sea to the north, Solau to the west and Sudetes to the south. ... Styria (Steiermark in German, Štajerska in Slovenian) can refer to: Styria - a federal state of Austria Styria - an informal province in Slovenia Styria - a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire and crownland of Austria-Hungary This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise... Carinthia (Kärnten in German, Koroška in Slovenian) can refer to: Carinthia - a federal state of Austria Carinthia - an informal province in Slovenia Carinthia - a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire and crownland of Austria_Hungary Karantania - the first Slovenian state This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other... The Valais (also known in German as Wallis) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the south-western part of the country, in the Pennine Alps around the valley of the Rhone River from its springs to Lake Geneva. ... The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ...

The settlement began in the 11th century and reached its peak at the beginning of the 13th century. The various movements were sometimes military and sometimes peaceful, depending on the circumstances. In the middle of the 14th century, the settling progress slowed as a result of the Black Death; in addition, the most profitable areas for settlements had already been occupied. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Illustration of the Black Death from the Toggenburg Bible (1411). ...

In the 19th century, recognition of this complex phenomenon coupled with the rise of nationalism in Germany led to the concepts of Pan-Germanism and Drang nach Osten, which in part gave rise to the concept of Lebensraum. As a result of these nationalist ideas, people considered Slavs by Nazis suffered from discrimination and genocide by Nazi Germany. During and after World War II, Germans were expulsed east of the Oder-Neisse line, leaving the current German linguistic border smaller to that of the 10th century. Thus population transfers after the second World War partially reverted the settlement of Slavic or baltic territory by Germanic people conducted during Ostsiedlung. Large areas setteld at that time by Germans are however still part of Germany. Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology that holds that (ethnically or culturally defined) nations are the fundamental units for human social life, and makes certain cultural and political claims based upon that belief; in particular, the claim that the nation is the only legitimate... Pan-Germanism, one of the ethnically-charged political movements of the 19th century for unity of the German-speaking peoples of Europe. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Lebensraum, the German term for habitat (used both in ecological and sociological contexts; literally, living space) is used in English to refer to a motivation for Nazi Germanys expansionist policies, to provide extra space for the growth of the German population. ... Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) Article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Expulsion of Germans from the Sudetenland // The expulsion of Germans after World War II was the mass deportation of people considered Germans (both Reichsdeutsche and Volksdeutsche) from Soviet-occupied areas outside the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, and is a major part of the German exodus from Eastern Europe after... The Oder-Neisse line (German: , Polish: ) is the border between Germany and Poland. ...

Background

The beginnings of the East Colonisation are connected with the expansion of Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire and his efforts to safeguard its borders with marches. The eastern borders were exposed to a constant pressure of neighbouring peoples, such as Danes (or Normans), various Slavic people (Obotrites, Wends, Sorbs, Bohemians, Moravians), and Hungarians, in the 9th and the 10th centuries. Under the rule of King Louis the German of East Francia and of Arnulf of Carinthia, the first waves of settlement led by Franks and Bavarii reached the area of present-day Slovakia and what was then Pannonia (present-day Burgenland, Hungary, and Slovenia). The pioneers were accompanied by missionaries who brought with them Roman Catholicism and German culture, albeit with varying influence. Charlemagne (742 or 747 – 28 January 814) (also Charles the Great[1]; from Latin, Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus), son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, was the king of the Franks from 768 to 814 and king of the Lombards from 774 to 814. ... Map of Carolingian Empire The term Carolingian Empire is sometimes used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the dynasty of the Carolingians. ... Mark or march (or various plural forms of these words) are derived from the Frankish word marka (boundary) and refer to an area along a border, e. ... The Normans (adapted from the name Northmen or Norsemen) were a mixture of the indigenous people of France and the Viking invaders under the leadership of Hrolf Ganger, who adopted the French name Rollo and swore allegiance to the king of France (Charles the Simple). ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ... The Obotrites (sometimes Abodrites, Obodrites) were a group of Slavic peoples who had in the 6th century settled in the regions later known as Mecklenburg and Schleswig-Holstein in what is now north-eastern Germany. ... Wends (German: Wenden, Latin: Venedi) is the English name for some Slavic people from north-central Europe particularly the Sorbs living in modern-day Germany. ... The Sorbs are a Slavic minority indigenous to the region known as Lusatia in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg (in former GDR territory). ... Bohemian F.C. (Irish: An Cumann Peile Bóithéimeach) is an Irish football club playing in the Football League of Ireland. ... A Moravian can be: an ethnic group a Christian denomination This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Louis the German (also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian) (804 - August 28, 876), the third son of the emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye, was the king of Bavaria from 817, when his father partitioned the empire, and king of East Francia... Eastern Francia were the lands of Louis the German after the Treaty of Verdun of 843. ... Arnulf of Carinthia (German Arnulf von Kärnten, Slovenian Arnulf KoroÅ¡ki) (850 – December 8, 899) was one of the last ruling members of the Carolingian house in the Eastern part of the Frankish Kingdom, which had been split in the Treaty of Verdun in 843. ... For other uses, see Franks (disambiguation). ... Bavarii was a large and powerful tribe which emerged late in Teutonic tribal times, in what is now the Czech Republic (Bohemia). ... Position of the Roman province of Pannonia Pannonia is an ancient country bounded north and east by the Danube, conterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. ... Burgenland (Hungarian Őrvidék or FelsÅ‘Å‘rvidék, Croatian Gradišće, Slovenian Gradiščansko) is the easternmost state or Land of Austria. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

In order to safeguard their unstable eastern borders, the Ottonians and Salians commenced short military campaigns against their neighbors and established defensive marches under allied or trusted princes. These princes settled their new territories with settlers (usually Germans or Dutch) from the Holy Roman Empire, and granted them estates and privileges (such as the inheritable position of village elder). Ottonian dynasty is a name sometimes given to a ruling dynasty of German kings, sometimes regarded as the first dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, (though Charlemagne is commonly viewed as the original founder. ... The Salian Franks were a subgroup of the Franks who had separated from the original Franks, gone to the Dutch coastal area and migrated throughout Belgium and to northern France, then formed a kingdom in northern France and on coasts north of it. ... Mark or march (or various plural forms of these words) are derived from the Frankish word marka (boundary) and refer to an area along a border, e. ... The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ...

Settlement was usually organised by so-called lessors. The advanced agricultural, legal, administrative, and technical methods of the immigrants, as well as their successful proselytising of the native inhabitants, led to a gradual transformation of the marches. At the same time, linguistically and culturally Slavic areas became affiliated with the Empire as German lands. The original princes of such territories became princes of the Empire. Beside the marches which were adjacent to the Empire, German settlement occurred in areas farther away, such as the Carpathians, Transylvania, and along the Gulf of Riga. German cultural and linguistic influence lasted in some of these areas has continued to the present day. Lessor is the name of two places in the United States: Lessor, Wisconsin Lessor Township, Minnesota This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once (a political shift as much as a spontaneous mass shift in individual consciences), also includes the practice of converting pagan cult practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar... This is about the terrestrial mountain range. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Gulf of Riga The Gulf of Riga (or Bay of Riga, Latvian RÄ«gas jÅ«ras lÄ«cis, Estonian Liivi Laht) is a bay of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia. ...

The East Colonisation was predominantly a peaceful process; the rulers of Hungary, Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and Poland encouraged German settlement to promote the development of the less populated portions of the land. The Transylvanian Saxons and Baltic Germans were corporately combined and privileged. In Silesia the Germans, without receiving special privileges as a group, became integral parts of both state and society. Bohemia. ... Prussian Silesia, 1871, outlined in yellow; Silesia at the close of the Seven Years War in 1763, outlined in cyan (areas now in the Czech Republic were Austrian-ruled at that time) Silesia (Czech: ; German: ; Polish: ) is a historical region in central Europe. ... Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders. ... The coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Western-Pommerania Mecklenburg is a geographical area located in Northern Germany. ... The Transylvanian Saxons (German: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Romanian: Saşi, Hungarian: Szászok) are a people of German origin who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards. ... The Baltic Germans (German: Deutsch-Balten, Deutschbalten, sometimes incorrectly Baltendeutsche), were ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea which forms today the countries of Estonia and Latvia. ...

The people in the regions at the south of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation were still pagan (at least at the beginning), so that German settlers frequently accompanied monks as missionaries. The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ...

Historical development of a few marches and regions

In northern Germany the Ostsiedlung led to conflicts between the pagan Saxons and Charlemagne as he secured the borders of his empire. The Obotrites, who entered into various coalitions and after 800 fought against the Empire, stood on Charlemagne's site at that time, the Saxons could trust the support of the *Borussen and the Danes. In 804, it was decided that the zones to the west of the Elbe river became parts of the Carolingian Empire. For the time being, the land to the east of the Elbe river stayed outside the boundaries of the later Holy Roman Empire (see Limes Saxoniae). The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ... The Limes Saxoniae (Latin for Limit of Saxony; see Limes), also known as the Sachsenwall (Saxon Wall) was a border established c. ...

Harald Bluetooth, who at that time was a seignory of Otto I, took shelter from his son by the Baltic Sea near to the Oder river on the zone, which as from 1050 has been called Pomerania. The dioceses Brandenburg and Havelburg were destroyed in the rebellion of Slavic peoples in 983. Harald Bluetooth Gormson (Danish: Harald Blåtand, Old Norse: Haraldr blátönn, Norwegian: Harald Blåtann, German: Harald Blauzahn), was born 911, the son of King Gorm the Old, king of Jutland (i. ...

Nordalbingen

The Nordalbingen boundary marker, occupying the territory between Hedeby and the Danish fortress Dannevirke in the north and the Eider River in the south, was part of the Empire during the reign of Charlemagne. The border was later fixed as the Eider River. Hedeby (Haithabu in Old Norse; Heidiba in Latin; in Germany the name Haithabu is frequently used) was a Danish settlement and trading centre on the southern Baltic Sea coast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of a narrow, navigable inlet, the Schlei (Danish: Slien) in the province of Schleswig... Danevirke, also known as Dannevirke or Danewerk, means Danes work. It is the name for the Danish earthen defense structure, which stretches from the swampy moors of west Jutland to the town of Schleswig, situated at Slien at the Baltic Sea, near the Viking trade centre of Hedeby. ... Eider River near Tönning close to the North Sea The Eider (lat. ... Charlemagne (742 or 747 – 28 January 814) (also Charles the Great[1]; from Latin, Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus), son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, was the king of the Franks from 768 to 814 and king of the Lombards from 774 to 814. ...

Marker of the Billungs and the Brandenburg Mark

The marker of the Billungs and the north marker were still not parts of the Empire under the Salians and the Ottonians. The Billung Family were Saxon dukes and rulers, who can be traced back to AD 500. ... The Salian Dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire was founded by Conrad II (c. ... Ottonian dynasty is a name sometimes given to a ruling dynasty of German kings, sometimes regarded as the first dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, (though Charlemagne is commonly viewed as the original founder. ...

Just at the time of Albrecht von Ballenstedts (Albrecht the Bear), the north marker came from the home of the Askaniers (see also: Anhalt) to the Brandenburg Markgrafschaft and therefore became part of the Empire. In 1147, Heinrich the Lion conquered the **marker of the Billungs, the later Mecklenburg as a seignory and in 1164 Pomerania, that lay further to the east of the Baltic Sea. In 1181, Mecklenburg and Pomerania officially became parts of the Roman-German Empire. Monument commemorating Albrecht, Spandau Citadel, Berlin Albert I (c. ... The Ascanian House is a dynasty of German rulers. ... Anhalt is a historical region of Germany, which is now included in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. ... Brandenburg (Lower Sorbian: Bramborska; Upper Sorbian: Braniborska) is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states) and lies in the east of the country. ... Henry the Lion (face of statue on his tomb in Brunswick Cathedral) Coronation of Henry the Lion and Matilda of England (1188) Henry the Lion, in German, Heinrich der Löwe) (1129 – August 6, 1195; was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, since... The coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Western-Pommerania Mecklenburg is a geographical area located in Northern Germany. ... Seignory, or Seigniory (Fr. ... Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ...

A little time later the last expansion to the East was completed with Silesia. Poland, which was adjacent to Silesia, proved itself enough power to prevent a further eastward expansion of the Empire.

Saxony

In the later duchy of Saxony, several Markgrafschaften (Lausitz, Meißen, Thuringian Markgrafschaft, Zeitz) were established at first.

Silesia

As of 1138 after the death of Boleslaw Schiefmund, Silesia became part of the Polish particularism. The state of Poland declined into many autonomous partial duchies. On that account, the province of Silesia. That also happened with the Silesian province, that in 1202 was divided into two independent duchies. Since the beginning of the 13th century, the reinforced Polish-Silesian Piast dynasty kept German settlers on the land, who in decades founded more than 100 new towns and over 1200 villages under German law, particularly under the law of the town Magdeburg. Many churches and hospitals came into being. For the most part, the original Slavic settlements also suited the German settlements legally, socially and linguistically. Most immigrants came from the Middle-Frankish language area (from the environment of Mainz), from Hessen and from Thuringia. Accordingly, the dialect of the Low Silesian people changed into another form, in which the Middle-Frankish, Hessian, Thuringian and Slavic features are united. Particularism is exclusive devotion to ones own groups interests. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The population grew at least fivefold. The German settlement was initated substantially by Duke Heinrich the I of Silesia and his wife Hedwig of Andechs (1201-1238). This settlement also attempted to tmerge the duchy Oppeln as well as the regions Great and Lesser Poland. However, he died in 1238 and because of the Mongolian invasions from 1241 in which his successor Heinrich the II also lost, his plan failed.

From 1249, the duchy Silesia and from 1281 the duchy Oppeln declined temporarily into more than a dozen smaller Piastian duchies that were rivalled with each other. The Bohemian and later also Poland, that has been united since 1306, attempted to go into this vacuum of power. From 1289 to 1292, the earldom Glatz was already brought under control of the Bohemian.

Eventually, the Piast dynasty took shelter under the duchies Silesia and Oppeln individually or in groups as Vassals of the fiefdom of the Bohemian (Czech) kings. In 1353, the Bohemian won the duchy Schweidnitz-Jauer through the marriage of Charles the IV with the Schweidnitz-Jauerian heiress Anna. With the Treaty of Visegrád (1333), in comparison to Trencín (1335) as well as in the Treaty of Namslau (1348), the Polish kings had to recognize the Bohemian head power and the affiliation with the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The most important detail in those treaties is the agreement of Trencin, that was confirmed in 1339.

On that account, emperor Kasimir the III of Poland stopped claiming Silesia. Im 1348, the Bohemian emperor and Charles the IV, Holy Roman Emperor integrated into the Empire Bohemia and therefore into the Holy Roman Empire. In the period following, Low Saxony became part of the German speaking area, while Upper Silesia, comparably to the settlement of the Sorbs, remained a German – Polish mixed area.

Lesser Poland

Since the beginning of the 14/15th centuries, the Polish-Silesian Piast dynasty – (Władysław Opolczyk), reinforced German settlers on the land, who in decades founded more than 150 towns and villages under German law, particularly under the law of the town Magdeburg. German people also contributed to the large part of the town population of Kraków. (to edit) Tomb of Kazimierz the Great St. ...

Literature

• Prof. Kazimierz Tymieniecki - "Niemcy w Polsce", Poznań 1934
• Prof. Barbara Czopek-Kopciuch - "Adaptacje niemieckich nazw miejscowych w języku polskim", Kraków 1995, ISBN 83-85579-33-8
• Prof. Aleksandra Cieślikowa (Cieślik) - "Nazwy osobowe pochodzenia niemieckiego", Kraków 1997, ISBN 83-85579-63-X

Bohemia and Moravia

The decline of the Great Moravia

After the decline of the Great Moravia in 900, whose founder Ratislaw (also: Ratislav) wanted to connect the land to the east church with the help of the missionaries Kyrill and Method, who were summmoned from Byzantine, Bohemian princes appeared in the Parliament, including the Přemyslidian Spitignew who came to Regensburg. They built a new following of the East Carolingian Empire that was however still highly controversial between the members of the Bohemian (Czech) aristocracy: in 929, the Premyslidian Bleslaw murdered his brother, the duke Wenzel who was still in charge, because of his following and his Christianity that was given by German missionaries. The German king Henry I, the Fowler, led his army to Prague the same year to repress the rebellion against the Empire. In 950, Duke Boleslaw realized the cruelty of the German fiefdom and organized a succession in the army, as in the battle on Lechfeld in 955. In 973, the Prague diocese was founded under the aegis of Wolfgang, bishop of Regensburg. The first bishop of this diocese became the Saxonian benedictine monk Thietmar. After that Bohemia was subordinated to the archbishopric Mainz. In 983, Adalbert, a Slav who founded the benedictine monastery St. Margaret in Brewnow, became successor of Thietmar. In 997, Adalbert was killed by pagan Prussian people. Henry II, who was emperor from 1014 until 1024, dislodged the Polish duke (and later king) Boleslaw Chrobry who had conquered large parts of Bohemia as well as Moravia and Silesia. Bohemia became dependent on Germany; the Bohemian dukes were obliged to visit the hostage drama and to take part in the national war. Günter, called "the Blessed", monk of the benedictine monastery Altaich and who came from princely background, became a recluse in the Bohemian forest; new connecting paths were built between Bohemia and Bavaria through the virgin forest. The foundation of the benedictine monastery Raigern goes back to Guenter. Later, the Säumer paths - the Golden Path as the most important trade paths between Bohemia and Moravia, had special meaning. Along those Säumer paths, a great number of new places on sides of the Bohemian forest. The city Prachatice (German: Prachatitz) owes its foundation and flowering time from the 14th century to the Golden Paths. Heinrich I depicted as The Bamberg Knight Henry I, the Fowler (German: Heinrich der Finkler or Heinrich der Vogler) (876 - July 2, 936), was Duke of Saxony from 912 and king of the Germans from 919 until his death in 936. ... Saint Henry II of Germany (972 – 13 July 1024), was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty. ...

In 1030, Bretislaw united Bohemia and Moravia after those regions had come under control of Poland. Both lands were fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1038, duke Bretislaw conquered further parts of Poland and attempted to secede from the Empire that brought about preconditions with the German emperor Henry II.

In 1063, duke Wratislaw founded the diocese Olmütz; in 1085 he coronated Henry IV in Mainz to be king of Bohemia.

In 1142, the monatery Strahov opposite the Prague Burg (Hradschin) was founded by the monks of the Prämonstratens monastery Steinfeld in Cologne. The "white monks" advanced to the position of the most important German misssion foundations in Bohemia and Moravia. In 1117, duchess Richsa summmoned benedictine monks from Zweifalten (Württemberg) to Kladrau.