Countries with dominating Slavic ethnicities      West Slavic      East Slavic      South Slavic

The Slavic peoples are group of diverse ethnic and national groups based on linguistic roots that are part of Indo-European people, living mainly in Europe. Since emerging from their original homeland (most commonly thought to be in Eastern Europe) in the early 6th century, they have inhabited most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans. ^[1] Many settled later in Siberia^[2] and Central Asia^[3] or emigrated to other parts of the world.^[4][5] Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Slav (שליו), (quail in Hebrew), was an Israeli settlement in the Gush Katif settlement bloc, located in the south-west edge of the Gaza Strip, and evacuated in Israels disengagement of 2005. ... For the language group, see Indo-European languages. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Eastern Europe is a concept that lacks one precise definition. ... The 6th century is the period from 501 - 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... Balkan redirects here. ... This article is about Siberia as a whole. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to...

Slavic settlers mixed with existing local populations and later invaders, thus descendants of Slavic peoples are considerably genetically and culturally diverse.

Slavic peoples are traditionally divided along geographical lines into West Slavic (including Czechs, Poles, Slovaks and Sorbs), East Slavic (including Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians), and South Slavic (including Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes). For a more comprehensive list, see Ethno-cultural subdivisions. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) comprise the languages of the Slavic peoples. ... The Sorbs are a Slavic minority indigenous to the region known as Lusatia in the current German states of Saxony and Brandenburg (in former GDR territory). ... The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. ... This article or section should be merged with List of South Slavic languages South Slavic languages is one of the three groups of Slavic languages (besides West and East Slavic). ... Language(s) Bosnian Religion(s) Predominantly Sunni Islam Related ethnic groups Slavs (South Slavs) The Bosniaks or Bosniacs[1] (Bosnian: BoÅ¡njaci, IPA: ) are a South Slavic people, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia) and the Sandžak region of Serbia and Montenegro, with a smaller autochthonous population also... Languages Croatian Religions Predominantly Roman Catholic Related ethnic groups Slavs South Slavs Croats (Croatian: Hrvati) are a South Slavic people mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. ... Montenegrins (Serbian/Montenegrin: Црногорци/Crnogorci) are a South Slavic people who are primarily associated with the Republic of Montenegro. ... Languages Serbian Religions Predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christian Related ethnic groups Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs See Cognate peoples below (* many Serbs opted for Yugoslav ethnicity) [27] Serbs (Serbian: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavic people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in... Countries with dominating Slavic ethnicities  West Slavic  East Slavic  South Slavic Slav redirects here. ...

Origin of the term Slav

The origin of the word Slav remains controversial. Excluding the ambiguous mention by Ptolemy of tribes Stavanoi and Soubenoi, the earliest references of "Slavs" under this name are from the 6th century AD. The word is written variously as Sklabenoi, Sklauenoi, or Sklabinoi in Byzantine Greek, and as Sclaueni, Sclauini, or Sthlaueni in Latin. The oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest slověne to describe the Slavs around Thessalonica. Other early attestations include Old Russian slověně "an East Slavic group near Novgorod", Slovutich "Dnieper river", and Serbo-Croatian Slavonica, a river. This article is about the geographer, mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy. ... Byzantine Greek is an archaic variant of Greek language derived from Koine which was used by the administration of the Byzantine Empire from 395 until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... Old Church Slavonic (also called Old Slavic[1]) is the first literary Slavic language, developed from the Slavic dialect of Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki) by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Scholars such as Roman Jacobson and others link the name with the Slavic forms sláva "glory", "fame" or slovo "word, talk" (both akin to slusati "to hear" from the IE root *kleu-). Thus slověne would mean "people who speak (the same language)", i.e. people who understand each other, as opposed to the Slavic word for foreign nations, nemtsi, meaning "speechless people" (from Slavic němi - mute, silent, dumb). For example, the Polish word Niemcy means "Germans" or "Germany", as do the Serbo-Croatian words Nemci/Nijemci and the Russian and Bulgarian word Nemtsi. Roman Osipovich Jakobson (October 11, 1896 - July 18, 1982) was a Russian thinker who became one of the most influential linguists of the 20th century by pioneering the development of structural analysis of language, poetry, and art. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ... Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the power of articulate speech. ...

There are two alternative scholarly theories as to the origin of the Slavs ethnonym, both very tentative: according to the first theory^[6], it derives from a hypothetically reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *(s)lawos, cognate to Greek laós "population, people", which itself has no commonly accepted etymology. The second theory (forwarded by e.g. Max Vasmer) suggests that the word originated as a river name (compare the etymology of the Volcae), comparing it with such cognates as Latin cluere "to cleanse, purge", a root not known to have been continued in Slavic, however, and it appears in other languages with similar meanings (cf. Greek klyzein "to wash", Old English hlūtor "clean, pure", Old Norse hlér "sea", Welsh clir "clear, clean", Lithuanian šlúoti "to sweep"). The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. ... Max Vasmer (1886 – 1962), German linguist. ... The Volcae in the 2nd century BC were a large and powerful Celtic nation of Gallia Transalpina, comprised of two branches, the Volcae Arecomici and the Volcae Tectosages. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ...

Proto-Slavic language

Main article: Proto-Slavic language

Proto-Slavic, the ancestor language of all Slavic languages, branched off at some uncertain time in a disputed location from common Proto-Indo-European, passing through a Balto-Slavic stage in which it developed numerous lexical and morphophonological isoglosses with Baltic languages. In the framework of the Kurgan hypothesis, "the Indo-Europeans who remained after the migrations became speakers of Balto-Slavic"^[7]. Proto-Slavic is the proto-language from which Old Church Slavonic and other Slavic languages later emerged. ... Proto-language may refer to either: a language that is the common ancestor of a set of related languages (a language family), or a system of communication during a stage in glottogony that may not yet be properly called a language. ... The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. ... The Balto-Slavic language group is a hypothetical language group consisting of the Baltic and Slavic language subgroups of the Indo-European family. ... The Baltic languages are a group of genetically-related languages spoken in northeastern Europe and belonging to the Indo_European language family. ... Map of Indo European migrations from ca. ...

Proto-Slavic proper, or more commonly referred to as Common Slavic or Late Proto-Slavic, defined as the last stage of the language preceding the geographical split of the historical Slavic languages, was likely spoken during the 6th and 7th centuries on a vast territory from Novgorod to southern Greece. That language was unusually uniform, and on the basis of borrowings from foreign languages and Slavic borrowings into other languages, can't be said to have any recognizable dialects. Slavic linguistic unity lasted for at least 1-2 centuries more, as can been seen in Old Church Slavonic manuscripts which, though based on local Slavic Macedonian speech of Thessaloniki, could still serve the purpose of the first common Slavic literary language.  Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language  Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language  Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup... Old Church Slavonic (also called Old Slavic[1]) is the first literary Slavic language, developed from the Slavic dialect of Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki) by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius. ... Thessaloniki or Salonica (Greek: ) is Greeces second-largest city and the capital of Macedonia, the largest Region of Greece. ...

Origins

Homeland debate

The location of the speakers of pre-Proto-Slavic and Proto-Slavic is subject to considerable debate. Serious candidates are cultures on the territories of modern Belarus, Poland, European Russia and Ukraine. The proposed frameworks are: The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) were a patrilineal society of the Bronze Age (roughly 5th to 4th millennium BC), probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry. ... Map of Indo European migrations from ca. ... Map showing the Neolithic expansion from the seventh to fifth millennium BC. The Anatolian hypothesis of Proto-Indo-European origin is the suggestion that the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) lived in Anatolia during the Neolithic era, and associates the distribution of historical Indo-European languages with... The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (PCT) suggests that the Indo-European languages originated in Europe and have existed there since the Paleolithic. ... Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics, dealing with the Indo-European languages. ... European Russia can be considered the western areas of Russia, where most of the population is centred. ...

1. Lusatian culture hypothesis: The pre-Proto-Slavs were present in north-eastern Central Europe since at least the late 2nd millennium BC, and were the bearers of the Lusatian culture and later the Przeworsk culture (part of the Chernyakhov culture).
2. Milograd culture hypothesis: The pre-Proto-Slavs (or Balto-Slavs) were the bearers of the Milograd culture
3. Chernoles culture hypothesis: The pre-Proto-Slavs were the bearers of the Chernoles culture of northern Ukraine

The starting point in the autochtonic/allochtonic debate was the year 1745, when Johann Christoph de Jordan published De Originibus Slavicis. From the 19th century onwards, the debate became politically charged, particularly in connection with the history of the Partitions of Poland and German imperialism known as Drang nach Osten. The question as to whether Germanic or Slavic peoples were autochthonous on the land east of the Oder river was used by factions to pursue their respective German and Polish political claims to governance of those lands. Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... A simplified map of the central European cultures, ca 1200 BC. The purple area is the Lusatian culture, the central blue area is the Knoviz culture, the red area is the central urnfield culture, and the orange area is the northern urnfield culture. ... The green area is the Przeworsk culture in the first half of the 3rd century. ... Chernyakhiv culture is shown in orange, the third-century Wielbark Culture in red. ... The Milograd culture (also spelled Mylohrad, also known as Pidhirtsi culture on Ukrainian territory) is an archaeological culture, lasting from about the seventh century BC to the first century AD. Geographically, it corresponds to present day southern Belarus and northern Ukraine, in the area of the confluence of the Dnieper... The Chernoles culture is an iron age archaeological unit dating ca. ... Johann Christoph Jordan or Johann Christoph de Jordan he published in 1745 (or 1720) De Originibus Slavicis written in latin history of Slavic Peoples and by this publication start unended debate about the homeland origin and history. ... The Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Lietuvos-Lenkijos padalijimai, Belarusian: Падзелы Рэчы Паспалітай) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... The Oder (or Odra) River (German: Oder, Polish/Czech: Odra, Ancient Latin: Viadua, Viadrus, Medieval Latin: Odera, Oddera) is a river in Central Europe (mostly in Poland). ...

Earliest accounts

Further information: Vistula Veneti

Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy mention a tribe of the Veneti around the river Vistula. The lands east of the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and west of the Vistula river were referred to as Magna Germania by Tacitus in AD 98. Romans occupied the land west of the Rhine. From Romanticism, the allochthonic school theorem is that the 6th century authors re-applied this ethnonym to hitherto unknown Slavic tribes, whence the later designation "Wends" for Slavic tribes, and medieval legends purporting a connection between Poles and Vandals. This article is about the Veneti of the Vistula River basin. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... This article is about the geographer, mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy. ... This article is about the Veneti of the Vistula River basin. ... For other uses, see Vistula (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Rhine (disambiguation). ... This article is about a river in Central Europe. ... The Oder (or Odra) River (German: Oder, Polish/Czech: Odra, Ancient Latin: Viadua, Viadrus, Medieval Latin: Odera, Oddera) is a river in Central Europe (mostly in Poland). ... For other uses, see Vistula (disambiguation). ... Map of the Roman Empire and Germania Magna in the early 2nd century. ... For other uses, see Tacitus (disambiguation). ... Romantics redirects here. ... Vend redirects here. ...

The Slavs under name of Venethi, the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Byzantine historiographers under Justinian I (527-565), such as Procopius of Caesarea, Jordanes and Theophylact Simocatta describe tribes emerging from the area of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea, invading the Danubian provinces of the Eastern Empire. This article is about the Veneti of the Vistula River basin. ... The 6th century is the period from 501 - 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Byzantine redirects here. ... This article is about the Roman emperor. ... The writings of Procopius of Caesarea (500 ? - 565 ?), in Palestine, are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian. ... Theophylact Simocatta (Theophylaktos Simokates, also Simokattes) was an early 7th century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Antiquity. ... Satellite image of the Carpathians. ... This article is about the Danube River. ... For other uses, see Black Sea (disambiguation). ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ...

Jordanes mentions that the Venethi sub-divided into three groups: the Venethi, the Antes and the Sklavens (Sclovenes, Sklavinoi), collectively called Spores. The Byzantine term Sklavinoi was loaned as Saqaliba by medieval Arab historiographers. In the medieval Arab world, the term Saqaliba (سقالبة, sg. ...

Scenarios of ethnogenesis

Eastern Europe c. 300 BC

The Globular Amphora culture stretches from the middle Dniepr to the Elbe in the late 4th and early 3rd millennia BC. It has been suggested as the locus of a Germano-Balto-Slavic continuum (compare Germanic substrate hypothesis), but the identification of its bearers as Indo-Europeans is uncertain. The area of this culture contains typical for IE originators numerous tumuli. Approximate extent of the Corded Ware horizon with adjacent 3rd millennium cultures (after EIEC). ... The Germanic substrate hypothesis is a hypothesis that some have ventured that attempts to explain the distinctiveness of the Germanic languages within the Indo-European language family. ... A tumulus (plural tumuli, from the Latin word for mound or small hill, from the root to bulge, swell also found in ) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. ...

The Chernoles culture (8th to 3rd c. BC, sometimes associated with the "Scythian farmers" of Herodotus) is "sometimes portrayed as either a state in the development of the Slavic languages or at least some form of late Indo-European ancestral to the evolution of the Slavic stock"^[8] The Milograd culture (700 BC - 100 AD), centered roughly on present day Belarus, north of the contemporaneous Chernoles culture, have also been proposed as ancestral to either Slavs or Balts. The Chernoles culture is an iron age archaeological unit dating ca. ... Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ... Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. ... The Milograd culture (also spelled Mylohrad, also known as Pidhirtsi culture on Ukrainian territory) is an archaeological culture, lasting from about the seventh century BC to the first century AD. Geographically, it corresponds to present day southern Belarus and northern Ukraine, in the area of the confluence of the Dnieper...

The ethnic composition of the bearers of the Przeworsk culture (2nd c. BC to 4th c. AD, associated with the Lugii) of central and southern Poland, northern Slovakia and of Ukraine, including the Zarubintsy culture (2nd c. BC to 2nd c. AD, also connected with the Bastarnae tribe) and the Oksywie culture are other candidates. The green area is the Przeworsk culture in the first half of the 3rd century. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Zarubintsy culture was one of the major archaeological cultures which flourished in the area north of the Black Sea along the upper Dnieper and Pripyat Rivers, stretching west towards the Vistula Basin from the 3rd or 2nd centuries BC until the 2nd century AD. It was identified ca 1899... The Bastarnae were a Celtic or mixed Germanic-Celtic tribe who lived in the Danube estuary and western Balkans during the last centuries BC and early centuries AD. The origin of their name is uncertain, but may mean mixed-bloods (compare bastard) as opposed to the neighbouring Germanic Skiri clean... The Oksywie Culture, existed in the area of modern day Eastern Pomerania around the lower Vistula river, from the 2nd century BC to the early 1st century AD. The Oksywie culture is named after the village Oksywie, part of the city of Gdynia in northern Poland, where the first archaeological...

The area of southern Ukraine is known to have been inhabited by Scythian and Sarmatian tribes prior to the foundation of the Gothic kingdom. Early Slavic stone stelae found in the middle Dniestr region are markedly different from the Scythian and Sarmatian stelae found in the Crimea. Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ... Sarmatian Cataphract Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae (the second form is mostly used by the earlier Greek writers, the other by the later Greeks and the Romans) were a people whom Herodotus (4. ... The anthropomorphic stone stelae found in the Ukrainian steppe, with some finds extending the area to Moldavia, the northern Caucasus (Southern Federal District) and and the area north of the Caspian (western Kazakhstan), date from the Copper Age (ca. ...

The (Gothic) Wielbark Culture displaced the eastern Oksywie part of the Przeworsk culture from the 1st century AD. While the Chernyakhov culture (2nd to 5th c. AD, identified with the multi-ethnic kingdom established by the Goths immigrating from the Wielbark culture) leads to the decline of the late Sarmatian culture in the 2nd to 4th centuries, the western part of the Przeworsk culture remains intact until the 4th century, and the Kiev culture flourishes during the same time, in the 2nd-5th c. AD. This latter culture is recognized as the direct predecessor of the Prague-Korchak and Pen'kovo cultures (6th-7th c. AD), the first archaeological cultures the bearers of which are indisputably identified as Slavic. Proto-Slavic is thus likely to have reached its final stage in the Kiev area; there is, however, substantial disagreement in the scientific community over the identity of the Kiev culture's predecessors, with some scholars tracing it from the Ruthenian Milograd culture, others from the "Ukrainian" Chernoles and Zarubintsy cultures and still others from the "Polish" Przeworsk culture. The Kiev culture was overrun by the Huns around 400 AD, which may have triggered the Proto-Slavic expansion to the historical locations of the Slavic languages. Areas in the first half of the 3rd century: Wielbark culture (red) , Przeworsk culture (green), a Baltic culture (Aesti?, yellow), DÄ™bczyn culture (pink) and the Roman Empire (purple) Wielbark culture (German: , Polish: , Ukrainian Ukrainian: ) was an archaeological culture identified with the Goths which appeared during the first half of... Chernyakhiv culture is shown in orange, the third-century Wielbark Culture in red. ... The Kiev culture is an archaeological culture dating from about the third to fifth centuries AD, named after Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. ... Ruthenian may refer to: Ruthenia, a name applied to various parts of Eastern Europe Ruthenians, the peoples of Ruthenia Ruthenian language, a name applied to several Slavic languages This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For other uses, see Hun (disambiguation). ...

Genetics

Further information: Genetic history of Europe

The modern Slavic peoples come from a wide variety of genetic backgrounds. The frequency of Haplogroup R1a[1] ranges from 63.39% by the Sorbs, 56.4% in Poland and 54% in Ukraine, to 15.2% in Macedonia, 14.7% in Bulgaria and 12.1% in Herzegovina. ^{[9] [10]} Haplogroup R1a may be connected to the spread of Proto-Indo-Europeans (see Kurgan hypothesis for more information). The diversion of Haplogroup F and its descendants. ... A subclade of R1, R1a is a Y-chromosome haplogroup found at high frequency (more than 40%) from the Czech Republic across to the Altai Mountains in Siberia and south throughout Central Asia. ... The Sorbs are a Slavic minority indigenous to the region known as Lusatia in the current German states of Saxony and Brandenburg (in former GDR territory). ... This article is about the geographic area of Herzegovina. ... A subclade of R1, R1a is a Y-chromosome haplogroup found at high frequency (more than 40%) from the Czech Republic across to the Altai Mountains in Siberia and south throughout Central Asia. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... Map of Indo European migrations from ca. ...

A new study ^[11] studied several Slavic populations with the aim of localizing the Proto-Slavic homeland. The significant findings of this study are that:

1. Two genetically distant groups of Slavic populations were revealed: One encompassing all Western-Slavic, Eastern-Slavic, and two Southern - Slavic populations (Croats, Slovenes), and one encompassing all remaining Southern Slavs. According to the authors most Slavic populations have similar Y chromosome pools - R1a, and this similarity can be traced to an origin in middle Dnieper basin of the Ukraine from Ukrainian LGM refuge 15 kya.^[12]
2. However, some southern Slavic populations such as Serbians, Macedonians, Bulgarians, and Bosnians are clearly separated from the tight DNA cluster of the rest of Slavic populations. According to the authors this phenomenon is explained by "...contribution to the Y chromosomes of peoples who settled in the Balkan region before the Slavic expansion to the genetic heritage of Southern Slavs..."^[13]

Northern Eastern Slavs are distinguished by the presence of Y Haplogroup N in their genome. Postulated to originate from Central Asia, it is found at high rates in Finnic peoples. Its presence in Northern Russians^[14] attests to the Northern Eastern Slavic tribes mixing with Finno-Ugric peoples in northern Eurasia. Languages Croatian Religions Predominantly Roman Catholic Related ethnic groups Slavs South Slavs Croats (Croatian: Hrvati) are a South Slavic people mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. ... The Dnieper River (Russian: , Dnepr; Belarusian: , Dniapro; Ukrainian: , Dnipro) is a river which flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, ending its flow in the Black Sea. ... Ukrainian LGM refuge is one of postulated LGM refuge area, located around Black Sea where groups of humans sought shelter from glaciar climate around 13 kya. ... For the R&B singer, see Mya (singer). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ... In human genetics, Haplogroup N (LLY22G) is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Slavic migrations

Slavic tribes c. AD 700

Presence of South Slavic tribes c. 700

Prior to becoming known to the Roman world, Slavic speaking tribes were part of the many multi-ethnic confederacies of Eurasia- such as the Sarmatian, Hun and Gothic empires.^[15]The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (necessitated by the onslaught of people from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, and later Avars and Bulgars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river. Perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa.^[16]. For other uses, see Eurasia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hun (disambiguation). ... Late Avar period Map showing the location of Avar Khaganate, c. ... Not to be confused with Bulgarians. ... This article is about a river in 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). ... For other uses, see Bohemia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Moravia (disambiguation). ... The Pannonian Plain is a large plain in Central Europe that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea (see below) dried out. ... Balkan redirects here. ... This article is about the river. ... Vandal and Vandali redirect here. ...

Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers.^[17] The Byzantine records note that after they marched through grass wouldn't regrow under their footprints. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements.^[18] This southern movement has traditionally been seen as an invasive expansion.^[19] Byzantine redirects here. ... Greece and the Peloponnese The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus (Greek: Πελοπόννησος Peloponnesos; see also List of Greek place names) is a large peninsula in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey. ...

When their migratory movements ended, there appeared among the Slavs the first rudiments of state organizations, each headed by a prince with a treasury and a defense force. Moreover, it was the beginnings of class differentiation, and nobles either pledged allegiance to the Frankish/ Holy Roman Emperors or the Byzantine Emperors. For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... Statue of Charlemagne (also called Karl der Große, Charles the Great) in Frankfurt, Germany. ... The following list of German Kings and Emperors is one of several Wikipedia lists of incumbents. ... This is a list of Byzantine Emperors. ...

In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo, who supported the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, which, however, most probably did not outlive its founder and ruler. This provided the foundation for subsequent Slavic states to arise on the former territory of this realm. Arguably, Carantania is the oldest Slavic state. Very old also are the Principality of Nitra and the Moravian principality (see under Great Moravia). In this period, there existed central Slavic groups and states such as the Balaton Principality, but the subsequent expansion of the Magyars, as well as the Germanisation of Austria, separated the northern and southern Slavs. The First Bulgarian Empire, ruled by a core of Turkic Bulgars, was founded in AD 681. After their subesquent Slavicisation, it was instrumental in the spread of Slavic literacy and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. This biography does not cite any references or sources. ... Late Avar period Map showing the location of Avar Khaganate, c. ... Karantania (also Carantania, Carentania, in old Slovenian onomastics Korotan, or Karantanija) was a Slavic principality that emerged in the 7th century and was centered on the territory of contemporary Carinthia. ... Nitra - City Center Nitra (German: ( ); Hungarian: / Nyitria [archaic]) is a city in western Slovakia (and the fourth largest urban settlement in Slovakia) situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the Nitra River valley. ... This article deals with the modern national/ethnic group. ... Great Moravia was an empire existing in Central Europe between 833 and the early 10th century. ... Map of the main part of the Balaton principality (parts of the Dudleb County, of the Ptuj County, of the whole former Principality of Etgar, as well as territories in the east of the Danube and in the south of the Drava are not shown on this map) The Balaton... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Imperial Emblem Bulgarian Empire at its greatest extent c. ... Not to be confused with Bulgarians. ...

Throughout their history, Slavs came into contact with non-Slavic groups. In the postulated "homeland" region (present-day Ukraine), they had contacts with Sarmatians and the Germanic Goths. After their subsequent spread, they began assimilating non-Slavic peoples. For example, in the Balkans, there were Paleo-Balkan peoples, such as Thracians, Illyrians and Greeks. Having begun to lose their indegenous language and mores since the time of Roman conquest, what remained of the Thracians and Illyrians were completely absorbed into the Slavic tribes. Later invaders such as Turkic Bulgars and even Cumans mingled with the Slavs also, particularly in eastern parts (ie Bulgaria). In central Europe, the Slavs intermixed with Germanic, Celtic and Raetian peoples, whilst the eastern Slavs encountered Uralic and Scandinavian peoples. Sarmatia Europea in Scythia map 1697 AD Sarmatia Europæa separated from Sarmatia Asiatica by the Tanais (the River Don), based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in London, ca 1770 Great steppe in early spring. ... This article is about the Germanic tribes. ... The Paleo-Balkan languages were the Indo-European languages which were spoken in the Balkans in ancient times: Dacian language Thracian language Illyrian language Liburnian language Paionian language Proto-Greek language Mycenean language Ancient Greek Ancient Macedonian language (often classified as deriving from Proto-Greek) Because of the fragmentary evidence... Thracian peltast, fifth to fourth century BC. Thracian Roman era heros (Sabazius) stele. ... Illyria (disambiguation) Illyrians has come to refer to a broad, ill-defined Indo-European[1] group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans (Illyria, roughly from northern Epirus to southern Pannonia) and even perhaps parts of Southern Italy in classical times into the Common era, and spoke Illyrian languages. ... Not to be confused with Bulgarians. ... Cuman, also called Polovtsy, Polovtsian, or the Anglicized Polovzian (Russian: , Ukrainian: , Turkish: , Bulgarian: , Romanian: , Hungarian: ), is a Western European exonym for the western Kipchaks. ... Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:  core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC  maximal Celtic expansion, by the 3rd century BC  the six Celtic nations which retained significant numbers of Celtic speakers into the Early Modern period  areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today Celts (pronounced or , see pronunciation... Languages in Iron Age Italy, 6th century BC Raetic or Rhaetic is a largely obscure language of antiquity, which used to be spoken in the province of Raetia, in the Eastern Alps, to the north and west of Venetic. ... Geographical distribution of Finnic, Ugric, Samoyed and Yukaghir languages The Uralic languages form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... Scandinavian can mean: a resident of, or anything relating to Scandinavia any North Germanic language a chess opening, Scandinavian Defense the aviation corpotation Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Conversely, some Slavs were assimilated into other populations. The south Slavs who inhabited the Carpathian basin were Margyarised or Romanianised. Part of the substratum of modern-day Hungary and Romania was provided by Slavic peoples^{[citation needed]}. Needless to say, Romania and Hungary are not Slavic countries. Similarly, the populations of Austria and the eastern parts of Germany to some degree comprised of people with Slavic ancestry who became Germanised.

Because of the vastness and diversity of the territory occupied by Slavic people, there were several centers of Slavic consolidation. In the 19th century, Pan-Slavism developed as a movement among intellectuals, scholars, and poets, but it rarely influenced practical politics and didn't find support in all nations that had Slavic origins. Pan-Slavism became compromised when Russian Empire started to use it as an ideology justifying its territorial conquests in Central Europe as well as subjugation of other ethnic groups of Slavic origins such as Poles or Ukrainians, and the ideology became associated with Russian imperialism. The common Slavic experience of communism combined with the repeated usage of the ideology by Soviet propaganda after World War II within the Eastern bloc (Warsaw Pact) was a forced high-level political and economic hegemony of the USSR dominated by Russians. A notable political union of the 20th century that covered many South Slavs was Yugoslavia, but it was broken apart as well. Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic people. ... The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... A map of the Eastern Bloc 1948-1989. ... Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... Look up hegemony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... State motto (Russian): Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Translated: Workers of the world, unite!) Capital Moscow Official language None; Russian (de facto) Government Federation of Soviet republics Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km² Approx. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in the Latin alphabet, Југославија in Cyrillic; English: South Slavia, or literary The Land of South Slavs) describes three political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...

The word Slavs is used in the national anthem of the two Yugoslavias. The national anthems are the same.

Slavic populations under foreign rule

In the course of their history, many Slavic-speaking communities came under foreign rule for longer or shorter periods. Poland underwent partition, German-speaking empires appeared to absorb the Czechs and Slovenes for many centuries, and the Ottomans in their heyday dominated the Balkan Slavs. Even the East Slavs had to submit to the Tatar yoke after the Mongol invasion of Rus. German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ... Czechs (Czech: ÄŒeÅ¡i) are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1683, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–1365) Edirne (1365–1453) Ä°stanbul (1453–1922) Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 (first) Osman I  - 1918–22 (last) Mehmed VI Grand Viziers  - 1320... ... The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. ... Tatar invasions of Europe from the east took place over the course of three centuries, from the middle ages to early modern period. ... The Mongol Invasion of Rus was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River (1223) between Subutais reconnaissance unit and the combined force of several princes of Rus. After fifteen years of peace, it was followed by Batu Khans full-scale invasion in 1237-40. ...

The Slavs living in Brandenburg and Pomerania were exterminated or dissimulated by Germans in the course of the Ostsiedlung; Turkish incursions suppressed the regional hegemonies of Bulgarian and Serbian speakers; Poland suffered decline, partition and extinction as a separate national state in the 18th century. Until the 20th century, certain speech-groups (such as speakers of Slovene) lacked the resources to establish their own distinctive independent nation-states. Other communities (speakers of Sorbian or of Kashubian, for example) remain as minorities in the current system of nation-states. For the similarly spelled Brandenberg, see Brandenberg (Austria) or Brandenburg (disambiguation) Location Coordinates , , Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE4 Capital Potsdam Minister-President Matthias Platzeck (SPD) Governing parties SPD / CDU Votes in Bundesrat 4 (of 69) Basic statistics Area  29,479 km² (11,382... Pommern redirects here. ... Evolution of German linguistic area from 700 to 1950 Settlement in the East (German: ), also known as German eastward expansion, refers to the eastward migration and settlement of Germans into regions inhabited since the Great Migrations by the Balts, Romanians, Hungarians and, since about the 8th century, the Slavs. ... 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. ... Kashubian is: one of the Kashubians the Kashubian language This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Some speech-communities have long stood under the influence of others -- even other Slavs: speakers of Ukrainian and Belarusian came under Polish and/or Russian rule; German-speaking overlords have long dominated the Sorbian-speakers. In the case of West Slavic speakers, originally kindred languages diverged when^{[citation needed]} the Poles, Czechs and Slovaks became parts of different countries (Poland, Bohemia, Kingdom of Hungary, respectively), Slovak becoming considerably influenced by Czech after 1400/1500. A political division (Austria, Kingdom of Hungary) also marks the now well-established border between the Slovene and Croatian language areas, even if some bordering dialects of the two languages indicate an almost smooth transition.

Despite their frequent lack of political power, Slavs demonstrated resilience, sometimes culturally taking over foreign political rulers, as in Bulgaria, where originally Bulgar overlords became Slavicized. Similarly, in the Republic of Dubrovnik, the locally spoken Slavic language became an official language in parallel to Ragusan Dalmatian and Latin. Even under the Ottoman Empire, south-Eastern Europe, except for Greece proper and Albanian, Romanian and Hungarian areas, remained Slavic speaking. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a Ruthenian dialect was the language of official documents. For the people of Central Asia see Bulgars Bulgar language is an extinct language commonly considered Turkic but more recently Indo-Iranian Bulgar, or bulgarish is Yiddish word for Romanian dance bugarească (means Bulgarian cf. ... The Republic of Dubrovnik, also known as the Republic of Ragusa, was a maritime city-state that was based in the city of Dubrovnik from the 14th century until 1808. ... Dalmatian is an extinct Romance language formerly spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor (Cattaro) in Montenegro. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1683, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–1365) Edirne (1365–1453) Ä°stanbul (1453–1922) Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 (first) Osman I  - 1918–22 (last) Mehmed VI Grand Viziers  - 1320... The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lithuanian: , Ruthenian: Wialikaje Kniastwa Litowskaje, Ruskaje, Å»amojckaje, Belarusian: , Ukrainian: , Polish: , Latin: ) was an Eastern and Central European state of the 12th[1] /13th century until the 18th century. ... Ruthenian was a historic East Slavic language, spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the East Slavic territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ...

Religion and alphabet

Slavs gradually adopted Christianity between 6th and 10th century, and consequently the old Slavic religion was suppressed. The two main Christian denominations with Slavs are Eastern Orthodox and Greek or Roman Catholic, others are Sunni Muslim and a very small minority are Protestant. The delineations by nationality can be very sharp. In many Slavic ethnic groups the vast majority of religious people share the same religion, although many are atheist or agnostic; in the latter cases people still may traditionally associate themselves with a particular religion in a cultural and historical sense. Slavic mythology and Slavic religion evolved over more than 3,000 years. ... Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ... The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... For information about the band, see Atheist (band). ... The term agnosticism and the related agnostic were coined by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. ...