Settlement of Slavic tribes. Settlement of East Slavic tribes

“Slavs” is a formation, a concept only linguistic, not anthropological. Its basis was precisely the Gothic ethnosubtract. In Polyabye, where the Goths and Gepids completed their campaign by the 6th century, the Proto-Slavic language appeared. The settlement of the Slavs into increasingly vast territories naturally led to the formation of Slavic nations/nationalities, the development of local dialects and the rejection of the Slavic-Latin languages ​​as non-national languages ​​for a given country (until the 16th-18th centuries, European countries used two languages ​​as state languages: Latin and Church Slavonic-Thessalonica, both extinct), some of which then underwent transformation into independent languages- official ones are created national languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lithuanian-Belarusian, Rusyn-Ukrainian, etc. Church books were translated into national languages.

However, in relation to the ancient Slavs, we would like to know where the so-called ancestral home of the Slavs was located.

The ancestral homeland (of the Slavs, and not only the Slavs) should not be understood as the primordial area of ​​residence of a single people with a single language. An ancestral homeland is a conditional territory with blurred boundaries, on which, as a rule, a confusing and difficult to define ethnogenic process took place.

In matters of Slavic ethnogenesis, there is significant disagreement: the process of formation of a nationality is so complex and diverse that, of course, one cannot expect complete definiteness, accuracy of ethnic boundaries, clarity of ethnic characteristics. Anthropology, which studies the diversity of human physical types, has shown that there is no complete coincidence with linguistic areas, that language and physical type may coincide, but may not coincide.

Historical and linguistic materials alone, on which scientists of the 19th century relied, were not enough to solve the problem of ethnogenesis. Much more stable data was obtained by combining linguistic materials with anthropological and archaeological ones. Such a serious generalization was the work of L. Niederle. The ancestral home of the Slavs, according to Niederle (in relation to the first centuries AD), looked like this: in the west it covered the upper and middle Vistula, in the north the border ran along Pripyat, in the northeast and east it included the lower reaches of the Berezina, Iput, and Desna and along the Dnieper it reached the mouth of the Sula. The southern border of the Slavic world ran from the Dnieper and Ros to the west along the upper reaches of the Southern Bug, Dniester, Prut and San. Subsequently, other researchers preferred the western half - to the west from the Bug and Vistula to the Oder (i.e. in the territory of modern Poland). The degree of persuasiveness of the arguments of the Vistula-Dnieper and Vistula-Oder hypotheses is approximately the same. Hence the idea arose about the possibility of combining both hypotheses with the fact that the entire space from the Dnieper to the Oder can be considered the ancestral home of the Slavs.

Ancient Europeans and the formation of the Slavs in the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC

Cloud of ethnogenesis of the Slavs during the period of their origin and their neighbors - ca. 1000 BC

Ancient map of Europe → Enlarge.

Areas inhabited by Slavs at the beginning of the Middle Ages on a German map.

Slavs in the High Middle Ages - around 800-950 → Enlarge.

Archaeological cultures of the eastern part of Europe in the V-IV centuries. AD

Settlement of tribes in the V-IV centuries. AD → Enlarge.

VI century

Slavic formation and their neighbors

The beginning of a big settlement of the Slavs. V - first half VI century AD. The map highlights the events that led to the conquest proto-states Ostrogoths by Huns. → Enlarge.

Kievan Rus in the 9th century

Grand Duchy of Lithuania XII-XV centuries. AD. See more → .

ON under Gedymin, 1341. See more →.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1462 → Enlarge. See more →.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1572. See more →.

Ethnographic map of the Ruthenian (Ukrainian) tribe, 1903 → Enlarge.

Territory of Ukraine before 1954 → Enlarge. See more →.

Ethnographic map of the Belarusian tribe, 1903 → Enlarge. Read more → Belarusians are the oldest inhabitants of Europe.

Available historical, linguistic, archaeological, anthropological materials and modern genetic research, on which scientists rely, do not reducediscussions and disputes concerning formation and ethnogenesis Slavs

Horde Muscovy/Russia’s pulling over everything Slavic and so-called “Russian” - the exaltation of the invented “Great Russian” nation, can be explained simply: in order to seize the territories of Europe, to deprive the Slavic peoples of Europe of national identity, to guard them from the height of their “high-born” position and assimilate them into the metropolis "" with the rights of younger brothers - the colonial peoples.

It has been proven that the so-called . It is impossible, on the basis of some Slavic features in the so-called “Russian” language, to mix Finno-Ugric, Turkic, and other languages ​​with the Bulgarian (Church Slavonic) book (introduced by religion from the outside, by no means predominant in the vocabulary and grammar of the so-called “Russian” language), classify it as “Slavic”.

No single Slavic community and/or “Old Russian nationality” has ever existed. Formation Slavic peoples occurred in different territories and with the participation of different ethnic components. There were no “Russians” in the past. The ideologists of Horde Muscovy/Russia in the 19th century invented the word “Rusich”, because in reality, a person’s belonging to Rus' was determined in the Middle Ages by a completely different word: “Rusin”. It did not mean Russians at all (then Muscovites), but only Rusyns (Ukrainians) - residents of the Kiev region, Podolia, Volyn, and Galicia. This scientific fact is not advertised in Russia only because it completely refutes the myth of the “Russian World” and some common origin of the Finno-Ugric and Asian Horde Muscovy/Russia with the historical formation of the Slavic peoples of Europe.

The Eastern Slavs in ancient times were a united group of nationalities that included thirteen tribes. Each of them had its own characteristics, place of settlement and numbers.

Tribes of the Eastern Slavs

The table below “Eastern Slavs in antiquity” will give a general idea of ​​which nationalities were included in this group and how they differed.

Rice. 1. Map of the settlement of the Slavs.

Main occupations of the Eastern Slavs

They mainly cultivated the land. Depending on the region, this resource was used differently: for example, in the south, with its rich black soil, the land was sown for five years in a row, and then moved to another site, giving it a rest. In the north and center, forests first had to be cut down and burned, and only then useful crops could be grown in the freed area. The plot was fertile for no more than three years. They grew mainly grain crops and root crops.

The Slavs were also engaged in fishing, hunting and beekeeping. Stall cattle breeding was quite developed: they kept cows, goats, pigs, and horses.

Trade, which was carried out along the famous route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” played a very important role in the life of the Slavic tribes. Basic " monetary unit“The skins of martens were used.

Social structure of the Eastern Slavs

The social structure was not complex: the smallest unit was the family, headed by the father, families were united into communities under the leadership of an elder, and the communities already constituted a tribe, important questions whose lives were decided at a national meeting - veche.

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Rice. 2. People's Assembly.

Belief system of the Eastern Slavs

It was polytheism or, in other words, paganism. The ancient Slavs had a pantheon of deities that they worshiped. The belief was based on fear or admiration for natural phenomena, which were deified and personified. For example, Perun was the god of thunder, Stribog was the god of wind, and so on.

Rice. 3. Statue of Perun.

The Eastern Slavs performed rituals in nature; they did not build temples. Statues of deities carved from stone were placed in clearings and groves.

The Slavs also believed in spirits such as mermaids, brownies, goblins, etc., which was later reflected in folklore.

What have we learned?

From the article we learned briefly about Eastern Slavs ah in ancient times: tribal division and territories that each tribe occupied, their characteristics and main activities. They learned that the main among these occupations was agriculture, the types of which differed depending on the area, but others were also important, such as cattle breeding, fishing and beekeeping. They clarified that the Slavs were pagans, that is, they believed in a pantheon of gods, and their social system was based on communities.

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Slavs- one of the largest groups of the European population, having indigenous (autochthonous) origin. The Slavs formed as a separate ethnic community at the turn of the century new era. The first written mentions can be found in the works of Roman chroniclers of the 1st-2nd centuries. - Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Ptolemy.

Settlement of the Slavs

Many modern scientists believe that the first Slavic tribes occupied the territory between the Vistula and the Dnieper. During the period of the Great Migration of Peoples (II-VI centuries), they populated a significant territory of Europe, dividing into three branches:

• Western (Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Lusatian Serbs, Kashubians);
• southern (Bulgarians, Croats, Serbs, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins);
• Eastern (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

Great Migration- a term denoting the totality of movements of European peoples in the IV-VII centuries, most of which was due to the pressure of the Huns, who came to Europe from the Asian steppes in the middle of the 4th century.

They occupied the territory from Lake Ilmen in the north to the Black Sea steppes in the south, and from the Carpathian Mountains in the west to the Volga in the east. In the chronicles there are references to 13 different tribal groups of the Eastern Slavs (Polyans, Northerners, Radimichi, Krivichi, Ilmen Slovenes, Dregovichi, Tivertsy, Dulebs, White Croats, Volynians, Buzhans, Ulichs, Polo-chans). They all had common ethnic features.

Neighbors of the Slavs

The formation of the East Slavic ethnos and its culture was significantly influenced by the neighbors of the Slavs. Ethnic contacts of the Eastern Slavs in the VI-VIII centuries. were: in Northern Europe - Finno-Ugrians(chud, all, muroma, etc.); in Eastern Europe - Balts(ancestors of Latvians, Lithuanians); in Asia - Iranian tribes(Scythians, Sarmatians). Contacts with Avars, Bulgarians, Khazars, Vikings. From the 5th century Relations between the Eastern Slavs and the Byzantine Empire are established.

Settlement of the Eastern Slavs

Polyana and Ilmen Slovenes are the largest East Slavic tribes early Middle Ages. The Kiev (II-V centuries) and Penkovskaya (VI - early VIII centuries) archaeological cultures are the first archaeological cultures of the Eastern Slavs.

Slavic occupations

The economic system of the Eastern Slavs was based on agriculture(slash-and-burn and fallow) and cattle breeding. Two-field and three-field crop rotations in agriculture became common in the Slavic lands of the 7th-8th centuries, replacing slash-and-burn, in which the land was cleared from under the forest, used until exhaustion, and then abandoned. There is also information about the occupation of the Slavs fishing, beekeeping(collecting honey from wild bees), there were different kinds crafts(blacksmithing, weaving, pottery), intensively developed trade.

Social order

The development of society occurred in the direction from the primitive community in the first centuries of our era to the neighboring community. Initially, the Eastern Slavs were united on the basis consanguinity. At the head of the clan was elder. Clan ties are being replaced by territorial ones. Consanguinity was replaced by the neighboring community - rope(world). Private property already existed, but land, forests and livestock remained in common ownership.

Gradually increased the role of nobility and leaders who enriched themselves during the wars. This caused property stratification. Period VIII - early IX centuries. in historical science it is called military democracy - This is a transitional period from primitiveness to statehood. Her signs: participation of all members of the tribal union (men) in solving public problems; people's assembly ( veche) How supreme body authorities; Availability people's militia . Ruling stratum: old tribal aristocracy ( leaders, priests, elders) and members of the community who got rich from the exploitation of slaves and neighbors. Patriarchal slavery took place (when slaves were part of the family that owned them).

Beliefs

Played a significant role in the life of the East Slavic tribes paganism, which for a long time acted as the basis of their spiritual and material culture. Most modern experts attribute the pagan beliefs of the Slavs to animism, since Slavic deities, as a rule, personified different forces nature. The main gods of the Slavs include:

• Perun - god of thunder, lightning, war;
• Svarog - god of fire;
• Veles is the patron of cattle breeding;
• Mokosh is a goddess who protected the female part of the tribe;
• Dazhdbog (Yarilo) - god of the sun.

Paganism- polytheism, belief in many gods. The gods of paganism personified the forces of nature; at the same time, spirits, demons, etc. were revered. The Magi were ministers of the pagan religious cult of the pre-Christian period. It was believed that the Magi could influence the forces of nature, predict the future and heal people. Animism is the belief in the existence of souls and spirits, the animation of all nature.

East Slavs - large group related peoples, which today numbers more than 300 million people. The history of the formation of these nationalities, their traditions, faith, relations with other states is important points in history, since they answer the question of how our ancestors appeared in ancient times.

Origin

The question of the origin of the Eastern Slavs is interesting. This is our history and our ancestors, the first mentions of which date back to the beginning of our era. If we talk about archaeological excavations, scientists find artifacts indicating that the nation began to form before our era.

All Slavic languages ​​belong to a single Indo-European group. Its representatives emerged as a nationality around the 8th millennium BC. The ancestors of the Eastern Slavs (and many other peoples) lived along the shores of the Caspian Sea. Around the 2nd millennium BC, the Indo-European group split into three nationalities:

• Pro-Germans (Germans, Celts, Romans). Filled Western and Southern Europe.
• Baltoslavs. They settled between the Vistula and the Dnieper.
• Iranian and Indian peoples. They settled throughout Asia.

Around the 5th century BC, the Balotoslavs are divided into Balts and Slavs; already in the 5th century AD, the Slavs, in short, are divided into eastern (eastern Europe), western ( Central Europe) and southern (Balkan Peninsula).

Today, the Eastern Slavs include: Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians.

The invasion of the Hun tribes into the Black Sea region in the 4th century destroyed the Greek and Scythian states. Many historians call this fact the root cause of the future creation of the ancient state by the Eastern Slavs.

Historical reference

Settlement

An important question is how the Slavs developed new territories, and how their settlement occurred in general. There are 2 main theories of the appearance of the Eastern Slavs in Eastern Europe:

• Autochthonous. It suggests that the Slavic ethnic group was originally formed on the East European Plain. The theory was put forward by historian B. Rybakov. There are no significant arguments in its favor.
• Migration. Suggests that the Slavs migrated from other regions. Soloviev and Klyuchevsky argued that the migration was from the territory of the Danube. Lomonosov spoke about migration from the Baltic territory. There is also a theory of migration from the regions of Eastern Europe.

Around the 6th-7th centuries, the Eastern Slavs settled the area of Eastern Europe. They settled in the territory from Ladoga and Lake Ladoga in the North to the Black Sea coast in the south, from the Carpathian Mountains in the West to the Volga territories in the East.

13 tribes lived in this territory. Some sources talk about 15 tribes, but this data does not find historical confirmation. The Eastern Slavs in ancient times consisted of 13 tribes: Vyatichi, Radimichi, Polyan, Polotsk, Volynians, Ilmen, Dregovichi, Drevlyans, Ulichs, Tivertsy, Northerners, Krivichi, Dulebs.

Specifics of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs on the East European Plain:

• Geographical. There are no natural barriers, which makes movement easier.
• Ethnic. Lived and migrated in the territory a large number of people with different ethnic composition.
• Communication skills. The Slavs settled near captivity and alliances that could influence ancient state, but on the other hand they could share their culture.

Map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs in ancient times

Tribes

The main tribes of the Eastern Slavs in ancient times are presented below.

Glade. The most numerous tribe, strong on the banks of the Dnieper, south of Kyiv. It was the glades that became the drain for the formation of the ancient Russian state. According to the chronicle, in 944 they stopped calling themselves Polyans, and began to use the name Rus.

Slovenian Ilmenskie. The northernmost tribe that settled around Novgorod, Ladoga and Lake Peipsi. According to Arab sources, it was the Ilmen, together with the Krivichi, who formed the first state - Slavia.

Krivichi. They settled north of the Western Dvina and in the upper reaches of the Volga. The main cities are Polotsk and Smolensk.

Polotsk residents. They settled south of the Western Dvina. Minor tribal alliance that didn't play important role is that the Eastern Slavs form a state.

Dregovichi. They lived between the upper reaches of the Neman and the Dnieper. They mostly settled along the Pripyat River. All that is known about this tribe is that they had their own principality, the main city of which was Turov.

Drevlyans. They settled south of the Pripyat River. The main city of this tribe was Iskorosten.

Volynians. They settled more densely than the Drevlyans at the sources of the Vistula.

White Croats. The westernmost tribe, which was located between the Dniester and Vistula rivers.

Duleby. They were located east of the white Croats. One of the weakest tribes that did not last long. They voluntarily became part of the Russian state, having previously split into Buzhans and Volynians.

Tivertsy. They occupied the territory between the Prut and the Dniester.

Uglichi. They settled between the Dniester and the Southern Bug.

Northerners. They mainly occupied the territory adjacent to the Desna River. The center of the tribe was the city of Chernigov. Subsequently, several cities were formed on this territory that are still known today, for example, Bryansk.

Radimichi. They settled between the Dnieper and Desna. In 885 they were annexed to the Old Russian state.

Vyatichi. They were located along the sources of the Oka and Don. According to the chronicle, the ancestor of this tribe was the legendary Vyatko. Moreover, already in the 14th century there are no mentions of the Vyatichi in the chronicles.

Tribal alliances

The Eastern Slavs had 3 strong tribal union: Slavia, Kuyavia and Artania.

In relations with other tribes and countries, the Eastern Slavs attempted to capture raids (mutual) and trade. Mainly connections were with:

• Byzantine Empire (Slav raids and mutual trade)
• Varangians (Varangian raids and mutual trade).
• Avars, Bulgars and Khazars (raids on the Slavs and mutual trade). Often these tribes are called Turkic or Türks.
• Fino-Ugrians (the Slavs tried to seize their territory).

What did you do

The Eastern Slavs were mainly engaged in agriculture. The specifics of their settlement determined the methods of cultivating the land. In the southern regions, as well as in the Dnieper region, chernozem soil dominated. Here the land was used for up to 5 years, after which it was depleted. Then people moved to another site, and the depleted one took 25-30 years to recover. This farming method is called folded .

Northern and central District the East European Plain were characterized big amount forests Therefore, the ancient Slavs first cut down the forest, burned it, fertilized the soil with ashes, and only then began field work. Such a plot was fertile for 2-3 years, after which it was abandoned and moved on to the next one. This method of farming is called slash-and-burn .

If we try to briefly characterize the main activities of the Eastern Slavs, the list will be as follows: agriculture, hunting, fishing, beekeeping (honey collection).

The main agricultural crop of the Eastern Slavs in ancient times was millet. Marten skins were primarily used by the Eastern Slavs as money. Much attention was paid to the development of crafts.

Beliefs

The beliefs of the ancient Slavs are called paganism because they worshiped many gods. Mainly deities were associated with natural phenomena. Almost every phenomenon or important component of life that the Eastern Slavs professed had a corresponding god. For example:

• Perun - god of lightning
• Yarilo - sun god
• Stribog - god of the wind
• Volos (Veles) – patron saint of cattle breeders
• Mokosh (Makosh) – goddess of fertility
• And so on

The ancient Slavs did not build temples. They built rituals in groves, meadows, stone idols and other places. Noteworthy is the fact that almost all fairy-tale folklore in terms of mysticism belongs specifically to the era under study. In particular, the Eastern Slavs believed in the goblin, brownie, mermaids, merman and others.

How were the activities of the Slavs reflected in paganism? It was paganism, which was based on worship of the elements and elements influencing fertility, that shaped the Slavs’ attitude to agriculture as the main way of life.

Social order

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Territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs

Representatives of official historical science claim that the settlement of the East European Plain by tribes that can be classified as Slavic groups occurred in waves. Thus, the colonization of these territories occurred both in the form of one-time resettlement of tribal groups, and through the gradual resettlement of individual families and clans.

At the same time, in contrast to the western and southern directions of colonization of the Slavic tribes, the development of territories by the Eastern Slavs (for the most part, forest areas), according to the research of modern historians, took place quite peacefully, without typical military conflicts with the Baltic population and local residents. It is worth noting that the main enemy in these places was not an aggressive human enemy, but dense, deserted forests. Thus, the forest part of the future Slavic territories had to be settled by the tribes, and not conquered.

But in the southern lands, forest-steppe regions, the Slavic tribes encountered not the people living there, but aggressive nomadic hordes.

The author of one of the most significant and popular chronicles in the world, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” in his story about the beginning of Rus', notes several East Slavic tribes that settled in the second half of the first millennium in the territories located between the Black and Baltic seas. Among these tribes, Nestor distinguishes: Drevlyans, Polyans, as well as Tivertsy, Glichs, Northerners, White Croats, Buzhans or Volynians (remains of the Duleb tribes), Slovenes, Krivichi, Vyatichi, Radimichi, Dregovich, Drevlyans.

Most of the listed tribes are known to many medieval authors under their proper names. For example, Konstantin Porphyrogenitus describes the life of the Drevlyans, Lendzians (here, most likely, immigrants from the area of ​​​​modern Lodz are meant), Slovenians, as well as Krivichi and.

Researchers note that the bulk of the East Slavic tribes, which settled throughout the territory of the future Old Slavic state, belonged to the “Sklavenskaya” branch of the Slavs. The only exceptions were, perhaps, the northerners, Tivertsy and Uglich.

Also, it is worth noting that those Slavic tribes that at one time colonized Western European territories and the Balkans sometimes participated in the settlement of Russian territories. This is confirmed by numerous objects that were found as a result of archaeological excavations in the forest zone of Eastern Europe. First of all, historians include lunar temple rings among such objects, the origin of which is closely connected with the Middle Danube lands, where these objects acted as popular decorations of local Slavic tribes - Croats, Smolensk, Northerners and Droguvites.

The actual advancement of the bearers of the described lunar rings is most often associated with popularity in folklore, in which historical period, the “Danube theme”, which was transmitted in the form of epics.

The Danube River and the surrounding territories, in which the Slavic tribes realized their identity and ethnic independence, are forever imprinted in the popular Slavic memory as the cradle of a single people.

Thus, some modern scientists propose to consider the text about the settlement of the Slavs from the banks of the Danube along European territories, not as a literary or scientific version, but as a pre-chronicle folk tradition, established in people's memory for many years.

Map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs

Having studied the map of the settlement of the Eastern Slavs, one can notice that the Slavic tribes were especially attracted to rivers, and mention of the inhabitants of these territories as “river” people is found among Byzantine writers of the sixth century. This is evidenced by the “Tale of Bygone Years” we examined.

In fact, the general contours of the settlement of this ethnic group, as a rule, completely correspond to the lines of river channels. According to the same chronicle of Nestor, the Polyan tribe settled on the lands of the middle Dnieper, the Drevlyans settled along the banks of the Pripyat River, the Dregovich tribe neighbored the Drevlyans in the north, the Buzhans lived to the west of the glades, the northerners lived to the east of the Polyan tribe, whose neighbors in the north were rodimichi. The author moves furthest away from the Vyatichi, who settled in the upper reaches of the Oka. The Krivichi settled along the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper, and the so-called Ilmen Slavs settled near Lake Ilmen.

Procopius of Caesarea and various Arab sources report the settlement of the Eastern Slavs even further - into the Don basin. At the same time, apparently, they were not able to gain a foothold there for long. So, in the eleventh – twelfth centuries, during the creation of the “Tale of Bygone Years,” they were under the rule of nomadic tribes, and the memory that the Slavs once lived there was lost.

Table on the topic: Settlement of the Eastern Slavs