On which branches are the Slavic peoples divided? Ancient and modern Slavic peoples

The Slavs today are the largest ethno-linguistic community of Europe. They inhabit vast territories and number about 300-350 million people. In this article, we will look at which branches the Slavic peoples are dividing, let's talk about the history of their formation and division. Also, let us touch a little on the present stage of the spread of the Slavic culture and on the religious views that the tribes adhered to during their development and formation.

Theories of origin

Further in the article we will consider which branches the Slavic peoples are divided into. But now it is worthwhile to figure out where this ethnic group comes from.

So, according to medieval chroniclers, our peoples come from a common ancestor. They were Japheth, the son of Noah. This character, according to the chronicles, gave life to such tribes as the Medes, Sarmatians, Scythians, Thracians, Illyrians, Slavs, Britons and other European nationalities.

The Arabs knew the Slavs as part of the commonality of the peoples of the west, which included the Turks, Ugrians and Slavs of Eastern Europe. In their military records, historians associate this conglomerate with the word "Sakalib". Later, they began to call deserters from the Byzantine army, who accepted Islam.

The ancient Greeks and Romans called the Slavs "sklavinami" and correlated them with one of the Scythian tribes - scots. Also sometimes the ethnonyms of the Wends and Slavs are brought together.

Thus, the three branches of the Slavic peoples, the scheme of which is given below, have a common ancestor. But later the ways of their development were significantly dispersed, due to the vast territory of settlement and the influence of neighboring cultures and beliefs.

We'll talk about this later.

History of settlement

Later we will touch each group of tribes separately, now it is necessary to understand which branches the Slavic peoples are divided into and how the process of settling took place.
So, for the first time about these tribes is mentioned in Tacitus and Pliny the Elder. These ancient Roman historians in their records spoke of the Wends that inhabited the Baltic territories. Judging by the period of life of these statesmen, the Slavs existed already in the second century of our era.

The following who spoke of these same tribes were Procopius of Caesarea and Priscus, a Byzantine writer and scholar. But the most complete information that relates to the pre-lit period is found in the Gothic historian of the Jordan.

He says that the Slovaks are an independent tribe, which was separated from the Venetians. In the territories to the north of the Vistula River (modern Vistula), he mentions "the numerous people of the Venetians", which are divided into antes and sklavens. The first lived along the Ponta Evksinsky (Black Sea) from Danastra (Dniester) to Danapra (Dnieper). The Sklavens also dwelt from Novietun (the town of Iskach on the Danube) to Danastra and Vistula in the north.

Thus, in the sixth century AD, the ancestors of the Slavs - the folds already lived on the lands from the Dniester to the Vistula and the Danube. Later, different chroniclers will mention a much more extensive territory for the settlement of these tribes. It covered the lands of Central and Eastern Europe.

How did the three branches of the Slavic peoples split? The scheme we showed above shows that the movement was heading north, south and east.

At first the tribes moved towards the Black and Baltic seas. Just this period is described by the Gothic historian of the Jordan. Then the Avars invade these lands and split a single area of the tribes into parts.

For two centuries (from the sixth to the eighth), they populate the Eastern foothills of the Alps and fall under the authority of Emperor Justinian II. We know this from references in the annals, where it was said about the Byzantine army's campaign against the Arabs. As part of the army are mentioned and sklaviny.

In the eighth century, these tribes reach the Balkan Peninsula in the south and Ladoga Lake in the north.

Southern Slavs

Western and southern Slavs, as we see, were formed at different times. In the beginning, antes separated from the conglomerate of tribes, which went to the east, towards the Black Sea and the Dnieper. Only in the eighth century this nation began settling the Balkan Peninsula.

The process was as follows. Some East and West Slavic tribes moved in search of better lands to the southwest, towards the Adriatic Sea.

Historians distinguish the following groups in this migration: they are obedrites (in the European chronicles are known as prenicents), the north (it is possible to communicate with the northerners), Serbs, Croats and others. Basically, these are the tribes that lived along the Danube River.

Thus, the ancient Slavic peoples became a powerful force that assimilated small groups of local residents and subsequently created states in the Balkans and the Adriatic Sea.

But the movement to the south-west was not a one-time campaign. Different genera moved with their speed and not exactly in one direction. Thus, the researchers distinguish three groups that were formed during migration: the north-western (from it in the future formed Slovenes), the eastern (modern Bulgarians and Macedonians) and the western (Croats and Serbs).

Western tribes

The common ancestors of the Slavic peoples, whom the Romans knew as Wends, originally inhabited the lands of modern Poland and partly of Germany. Subsequently, it was in this territory that a large group of tribes formed.

It included the land from the Elbe to the Oder and from the Baltic Sea to the Ore Mountains. Researchers share this conglomeration into three groups according to their place of residence.

The northwestern tribes bore the name Bodrichi (reregi and obedriti), the southern - Lusikans (here part of the Serbs included) and the central group - the Luichi (or Veletons). The three named peoples were originally military-tribal alliances. Sometimes they say about the fourth community separately. Its representatives called themselves pomors and lived on the coast of the Baltic.

Gradually, as a result of the migration of the Polabian Slavs in the unoccupied lands, the Polish, Silesian, Czech, Pomorian and Lechite tribes are formed.

Thus, the western and southern Slavs differ in that the former were originally indigenous inhabitants of these territories, while the latter came from the Danube on the Adriatic coast.

East Slavs

According to the Western European chronicles, the works of historians of the Roman Empire and the works of Byzantines, the territory of the Eastern Slavs always corresponded with the tribal union of Antes.

As we know from the testimonies of the Gothic historian of the Jordan, they settled the lands east of the Carpathian Mountains. And the Byzantines say that the area of settlement reached the banks of the Dnieper.

Archaeological data coincide with this point of view. From the second to the fourth century AD, the so-called Chernyakhov culture existed between the Dnieper and the Dniester .

Later it was replaced by the Penkov archaeological community. Between these cultures there is an interval of two centuries, but it is believed that such a break is caused by the assimilation of certain tribes with others.

Thus, the origin of the Slavic peoples was the result of the authentic formation of larger communities from a number of small tribal associations. Later chroniclers of Kievan Rus will give names to these groups: glade, Drevlyane, Dregovichi, Vyatichi and other tribes.

According to Old Russian chronicles, as a result of the unification of fifteen groups of Eastern Slavs, such a powerful medieval power as Kievan Rus was formed.

Current situation

So, we discussed with you what branches the Slavic peoples are dividing into. In addition, we talked about how the process of settling the tribes to the south and east was going.

Modern Slavic peoples differ slightly from their direct ancestors. They in their culture unite the imprints of influences, both neighboring nationalities, and many alien conquerors.

For example, the bulk of the western regions of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, once part of Kievan Rus, were for several centuries under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Therefore, many dialects include borrowings from Turkic languages. Also, some traditional ornaments and rituals store imprints of the culture of enslavers.

The southern Slavs were more influenced by the Greeks and Turks. Therefore, at the end of the article, we will have to talk about the issues of religion. Once pagan tribes are adherents of different faiths of the Abrahamic religions.

Thoroughly, on which branches the Slavic peoples are divided, the descendants may not know, but, as a rule, everyone easily identifies their "fellow countryman". Southern Slavs are traditionally swarthy, and in the dialect they are skipped by specific phonemes, characteristic only for this region. A similar situation is with the descendants of the western and eastern tribal associations.

So, what countries today have become a homeland for different branches of the Slavic people?

The states of the southern Slavs

Modern Slavic peoples are settled for the most part in Eastern and Central Europe. However, in the context of globalization, their representatives can be found in virtually any country in the world. And the peculiarity of our mentality is that in a short time the neighbors begin to understand the Slavic languages. Slavs have always sought to attach foreigners to their culture, while not succumbing to the process of their own assimilation.

The modern southern Slavs include Slovenes and Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians, Croats, Bosnians and Serbs. Most of these peoples live in the territory of their national states, which include Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia.

That is, in fact, it is the territory of the Balkan Peninsula and the north-eastern part of the Adriatic coast.

Southern Slav peoples are increasingly moving away from the idea of the community of these peoples, merging into the new family of the European Union. True, several decades ago there was an attempt to create one common country with a population consisting only of the southern Slavs, but it failed. Once this state was called Yugoslavia.

Outside the national states representatives of this branch of the Slavic peoples, according to official statistics, live quite a lot in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Turkey, Albania, Greece and Moldova.

Countries of the Western Slavs

Since the ethnogenesis of the Slavic peoples mainly occurred initially on the territory of modern Poland and Germany, the representatives of the western tribes practically did not withdraw from the occupied places.

Today, their descendants live in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Traditionally, ethnologists distinguish five peoples, which belong to the West Slavic branch. They are Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Kashubians and luzhichans.

The first three ethnic groups live mainly in states with corresponding names, and the last two in separate regions. Lusatian Serbs, to which even the Vendian, the Sorcerers and the Sorbs belong, inhabit the Lusatia. This territory is divided into the Upper and Lower parts, which are located in Saxony and Brandenburg, respectively.

Kashubians live on the land called Kashubiya. It is part of the modern Polish People's Republic. The unofficial capital of this people is the city of Kartuzy. Also many representatives of this nationality are found in Gdynia.

Kashubians consider themselves to be an ethnic group, but Polish citizenship is recognized. In their environment, they are divided into several formations depending on the place of residence, the characteristics of the national costume, activities and class distinctions. So, among them there are kobiaks, the Parachment gentry, holsters, taverns, gokhi and other groups.

Thus, it can be said with certainty that the majority of the Western Slavic peoples preserved customs as much as possible. Some of them even continue to engage in traditional crafts and crafts, however, more to attract tourists.

East Slavic powers

The modern territory of the Eastern Slavs belongs to such countries as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Today these states can be said to be in the period of the crossroads. Before their people there is a choice: to remain adherents of traditional ways or to follow the path of southern brethren, taking Western European values.

Once a powerful power - Kievan Rus eventually transformed into three countries. Moscow was formed around Moscow, and after that the Russian Empire. Kiev united around itself the lands of many tribes from the Carpathians to the Don. And Belarus was formed in the forests of Polissya. Based on the name of the territory, the main part of the country is inhabited by the descendants of Poleschuk and Pinchuk.

Religions of different branches of the Slavs

The Russian Federation, Ukraine and Byelorussia are the modern territory of the Eastern Slavs. Here the majority of the population refers to Orthodox Christians.

In principle, the official departure from paganism occurred in the tenth century, when the Kiev prince Vladimir the Great baptized Rus. But in 1054 there was a great schism when in Christianity the Orthodox and Catholic faiths appeared separately. The eastern and south-eastern tribes remained faithful to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the western and south-western tribes became supporters of the Roman Catholic Church.

At a certain stage of history, certain groups of Southern Slavs accept Islam. This is because their lands were under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire. For the coreligionists, the Turks did a lot of indulgence. Today, Muslims include Goranians, Boshniaks, Pomaks, Heaps and Torbeshes.

Thus, in this article we have studied the ethnogenesis of the Slavic peoples, and also talked about their division into three branches. In addition, we figured out which modern countries belong to the territory of the resettlement of the southern, western and eastern tribes.