The study of issues related to the origins of various peoples of the world can be classified as the most problematic areas of historical research. The main obstacle to identifying hidden facts about the life of ancient ethnic communities is the lack of writing at the time of their inception. In the case of the Slavic peoples, the situation is complicated by the vastness of the linguistic group, to which several ethnic groups belong. It is enough to note that the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia at different times formed independent states and commonwealths belonging to the Altai, Ural, Indo-European and Caucasian language groups. Nevertheless, to date, scientists have identified some factual layers in this direction of historical analysis that are beyond doubt.
Peoples on the territory of Russia during antiquity
The first people of the species Homo sapiens appeared in certain areas of Central Asia and the Black Sea region about 30 thousand years ago. At that time, the northern and central parts of the territory were uninhabitable due to glaciers. Therefore, the very first peoples and ancient states on the territory of Russia arose in the southern and western regions as the most favorable for life and economy. As the population increased, the development of material production and the establishment of a primitive communal system in Central Asia, Transcaucasia and the Black Sea region, more and more new slave states were formed. At the same time, they developed autonomously and independently of each other. The only unifying feature is the raids of the same barbarians. These states had no contacts at all with the central and western regions in the European part of the present country, since the establishment of routes was hampered by mountain ranges and deserts.
One of the most notable states of that time can be called Urartu, which existed in Transcaucasia in the 9th century. BC e. It was formed on the shores of Lake Van, the territory of which now belongs to Turkey, but by the middle of the 7th century. his possessions extended to the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates. If we talk about the ethnic composition, the peoples and ancient states on the territory of Russia in the Black Sea region and Transcaucasia were predominantly represented by Armenian tribes. Urartu reached significant prosperity in the 8th century. BC e., but by the 6th century. due to the Scythian invasions it ceased to exist. Later, the same tribes founded the Armenian kingdom. Around the same period, Abkhazian and Georgian families developed in parallel, which formed the Colchis kingdom. Iberia, the Georgian kingdom, arises in the northern part of Transcaucasia.
Impact of the Arab conquest
In the history of Central Asia and Transcaucasia VII - VIII centuries. n. e. The Arab conquest, which brought with it the Islamic faith, occupies a significant place. On current Russian territory, this process took place in the Caucasus region. In particular, Islam spread among some peoples of the Northern and Eastern Caucasus and, in particular, the Azerbaijanis. However, the Arab conquerors also met with rejection among the local population. The same Georgians and Armenians, who had previously converted to Christianity, steadfastly resisted Islamization. However, in Central Asia, Islam gradually emerged as the dominant religion of the local population. After the collapse of the Arab Caliphate, the most ancient peoples and civilizations on the territory of Russia were forced to confront the Seljuk Turks. Other states were formed during this struggle. For example, under King David the Builder, the unification of Georgian lands took place with the formation of the city of Tbilisi. To the north is the Abkhazian kingdom with independent Kakheti, and in the eastern part are Albania and a number of other small states.
Greek colonies in Russia
The Black Sea coast became one of the most developed areas on the territory of modern Russia in the 6th - 5th centuries. BC e. This was greatly facilitated by the Greek colonialists, who in the 1st millennium BC. began to develop the southern lands. In the Azov and Black Sea regions, the Greeks form large colonial cities - such as Tiras, Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, Olbia, Feodosia, Tanais, Fasis, etc. To illustrate the success of these cities, it can be noted that in the 5th century. BC e. Panticapaeum was the central slave-holding power of the Bosporan state. It covered a significant part of the Azov region, promoting the development of local agriculture, trade, fishing, cattle breeding and handicrafts. It is important to emphasize that the most ancient peoples and civilizations on the territory of Russia in the Azov and Black Sea regions were not fully original. They copied the lifestyle and cultural structure brought by the Greeks. But at the same time, the colonies had close cultural and trade relations with the same Caucasian peoples and the steppe tribes of the Scythians. Up to the 3rd century. n. e. Greek tribes were regularly attacked by nomads, and during the great migration of peoples they were forced to leave altogether.
Period of the Scythian state
Even further north of the Greek colonies lived the Scythian tribes, distinguished by their vibrant and original culture, which also left its mark on the way of life of the southern peoples. The first mentions of the Scythians date back to the 5th century. n. e. and belong to Herodotus, who described these tribes as Iranian-speaking. The first mentions of the geographical location indicate the mouths of the Lower Bug, Danube and Dnieper. The same Herodotus divided the Scythians into plowmen and nomads - accordingly, according to the direction of economic activity. The nomads were located in the Azov region, the Lower Dnieper region and the Crimea, and the plowmen mainly occupied the right bank of the Lower Dnieper and lived in dugouts. By the VI - IV centuries. BC e. There was a unification of the Scythian tribes, which later formed the basis of a full-fledged state in one of the current districts of Simferopol. This state was called Scythian Naples and its structure is characterized as a military democracy. But by the 3rd century. BC e. the Scythians begin to push out other ancient peoples on the territory of Russia in its modern form. In the regions of the Northern Black Sea region, the wars of Alexander the Great appear, and the Sarmatians come from the east. The biggest blow to the Scythians was dealt by the Huns, who later appeared on the Crimean Peninsula.
The Great Migration and the emergence of the Slavs
There were many reasons for the great migration, and for the most part this process took place in the territory of modern Europe. The resettlement began in the 3rd century. n. e., and by the 4th century. Numerous barbarian tribes of Celts and Germans began to fight neighboring states in new territories. Forest and steppe barbarians went to seize richer lands in the southern regions, which left a mark on the reorganization of parts of the North Caucasus and the Black Sea region. How did this affect the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia? The Great Migration of Peoples can be briefly described as the process of formation of independent Germanic, Roman and Slavic peoples. The Slavs did not play a key role at all during this period and figured already at the late stage of the resettlement, but it was precisely for the regions that today are included within the borders of Russia that they would later have a fateful influence.
The fact is that the resettlement occurred from two directions. As already noted, the main process took place in the European part - from the north-west, the Germans and Celts moved to conquer the southern lands. Nomads moved from the east from Asia, eventually traveling from China to France. There was activity in the southern regions themselves. From the Transcaucasus came the ancestors of modern Ossetians - the Alans. To varying degrees, these migration movements shaped the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The Eastern Slavs, in turn, joined the general wave of migration by the 4th century. n. e. They joined the stream, which consisted of Turks, Sarmatians, Illyrians and Thracians. For some time they had allied relations with the Huns and Goths, but later these tribes became enemies. Actually, it was the invasions of the Huns that forced the Slavs to settle in the directions of the west and southwest.
Theories of Slavic ethnogenesis
Today there is no exact idea of how exactly and where the Eastern Slavs came from. Moreover, the group of this nationality is very extensive and included many individual ethnic groups and families. And yet, scientists have formulated three theories of ethnogenesis. Ancient peoples on the territory of Russia in the context of these areas of research are considered precisely as the origins of the formation of the Russian state.
So, the first theory is autochthonous. According to it, the original place of origin of the Slavs is the Dnieper River. This theory is based on archaeological research. The second theory is migration. She notes that the Eastern Slavs were identified as an independent ethnic group from the common pan-Slavic branch in the 1st century BC. e. Also, according to the theory of migration ethnogenesis, during the period of the great migration the Slavs could move in two directions - from the river basin. Oder to the Vistula, or from the Danube basin to the east. One way or another, in the 1st century BC. e. Slavic ancient peoples already lived on the East European Plain. The origin of the Eastern Slavs in Russia during this period is confirmed by Tacitus, Herodotus, Ptolemy and some of the Arab sources.
Antes and Sklavins
In the VI century. n. e. After the first wave of settlement of the Slavs, Byzantine writers began to distinguish two peoples - the Antes and the Sklavins. Often their mention was in the context of ousting another Slavic people - the Wends. At the same time, Gothic sources emphasize that all three nationalities have one root, albeit a branched one. Thus, the Sklavins are characterized as a largely western group, the Antes as an eastern group, and the Wends as a northern group. Of course, there were other ethnic groups like the Radimichi, Northerners and Vyatichi, but these three are the most prominent ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The origin and further settlement according to sources of the same time extended from the lower Danube to Lake Murcia. In particular, the Antes occupied the territory from the Dniester to the very mouth of the Dnieper. However, the sources do not mark the boundaries of the distribution of the Slavs in the northern regions. About the same Wends, the Goths write that they occupy endless spaces.
According to the results of modern research in archeology, the Antes and Sklavins had minor differences, which mostly related to ritual rites. But at the same time, the cultural influence of the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes on the Antes is noted, as evidenced by the very name of this nation, which is of Iranian origin. But, despite the differences, the ancient Slavic peoples on the territory of Russia often united on the basis of political and military interests. Moreover, there is also a theory according to which the Antes, Sklavins and Wends were not called different groups of nationalities, but one ethnic group, but called differently by its neighbors.
Avar invasion
In the middle of the 7th century. n. e. the regions of the eastern Azov region and the North Caucasus were attacked by the Avars. The latter ravaged the lands of the Antes, but as they advanced into the country of the Slavs, their relations with Byzantium deteriorated. Nevertheless, in the Avar Khaganate by the second half of the 7th century. n. e. included almost all the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The story of this invasion was subsequently passed on for centuries and was even described in the Tale of Bygone Years. The size of the share of the Slavic people in the Kaganate was so impressive that John of Ephesus in his chronicles identified the Antes and Avars.
Archaeological information allows us to draw conclusions about a wide migration wave of Antes towards Pannonia. For example, the origin of the ethnonym Croats also has Iranian roots. Therefore, we can talk about the dominance of the Antes in the Kaganate over the Sklavins. And the settlement of Croats throughout the Balkan Peninsula and parts of Western Europe testifies to the directions taken by the wave of migration of the Antes with the Avars. In addition, the ethnonym Serbs is of Iranian origin, which makes this ethnic group close to the ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. The Great Migration of Peoples did not have such an impact on the distribution of the Slavs in the eastern regions of Europe as the invasion of the Avars. They also left behind a cultural trace, but many scientists especially emphasize the likelihood of a demographic explosion by this time, which forced the Kaganate to look for new lands.
Completion of the history of the ants
Antes and other Slavic tribes during the 7th century. n. e. are in unstable hostile and allied relations with the Avar Khaganate and Byzantium. But it is important to emphasize that it was the advance of the Avars that provoked disagreements within the Slavic association. As sources note, the ancient peoples on the territory of modern Russia, formed by the Antes tribe, were eventually exterminated for their alliance with the Romans. This attempt at unity did not please the Avars, who sent an army to destroy the tribes. However, there is still no exact information about the fate of the remaining Antes. Some historians believe that they were completely defeated, while others are of the opinion that the Antes moved across the Danube.
The same “Tale of Bygone Years” indicates the death of Grand Duke Kiy and his warriors, after which the Slavic tribes began to fight among themselves, because of which the Khazars established strong power in the region. It is with this event that the new formation of ancient peoples on the territory of Russia is associated. The origin of the Slavs in the first stages determined the formation of the Ant community, but after its decline, a new period of development of the East Slavic people began with the next round of settlement.
Development of new territories by the Slavs
In the 8th century the previously secured position on the Balkan Peninsula becomes less secure. This was facilitated by the arrival of Byzantium in the region, under whose pressure the Slavs had to retreat. In Greece, their assimilation is also taking place, which forces the tribes to look for new places for development in other directions. At this stage, we can already talk about the complete formation of the basis of ancient peoples on the territory of Russia. Briefly, they can be characterized as Slavic families, but as new lands are invaded, other ethnic groups join the main masses. For example, at the beginning of the 8th century. On the left bank of the Dnieper, the Romny culture is actively forming. At the same time, in the upper Dnieper region, the Smolensk Slavs formed their own layer of traditions and rituals.
A single linguistic and cultural space is created by the Slavs, who occupied the territory from the Danube to the Baltic. This advancement ultimately allowed the formation of the famous trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. As archaeological research shows, ancient peoples in Russia used this road already in the second half of the 8th century. By the 9th century. Trade relations are formed between the Slavs and neighboring states, which allows them to enter the pan-European transport system. No less significant was the migration to the south, which made it possible to reach the countries of Asia Minor. Some of the Slavic tribes were captured by Emperor Justinian II during his campaign in the vicinity of Thessaloniki. The Bulgarian tribes acted as defenders in this clash, but further advances of the Eastern Slavs in this direction were suppressed for a long time.
Great Migration
The first people on the territory of Russia – 100 thousand years ago. The first colonies founded by the Greeks appeared in the 7th-5th centuries. BC e. In the 5th century BC. e. Most of these colonies united into the Bosphorus Kingdom, which existed until the 2nd century BC. e.
To the north of the Greeks lived the Scythians - nomads.
On the territory of Azerbaijan in the 4th century BC. e. The Scythian kingdom was formed. In the 3rd century they were forced out to Crimea. They were defeated by the Goths (German tribes).
From the east, from beyond the Don, a new wave of nomads - the Sarmatians - rushed. In the 3rd - 7th centuries. n. e. During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, Hunnic tribes or Huns poured into the territory of the Northern Black Sea region, and later between the Volga and Danube, emerging from the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia.
In the 5th century AD e. they reached the borders of Northern France. After their defeat by the Gallic tribes, they return back, where they completely dissolve among the Turkic tribes.
In the 6th century, Turkic tribes reappeared from Mongolia, which in the middle of the 6th century formed the Turkic Khaganate, whose territories extended from Mongolia to the Volga.
Gradually, almost the entire population of Eastern Europe (the steppe part) underwent Turkization. In the forest-steppe zone, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric components are established. The Central Caucasus is home to an Iranian-speaking ethnic group – the Alans. In the Western Ciscaucasia in the 6th century, the Bulgars occupied a dominant position.
After the collapse of the Turkic Khaganate in the 80s of the 6th century, the state of Great Bulgaria was formed here, which existed until the first third of the 7th century: it collapsed under the blows of the Khazars. After the collapse, part of the population went to the southwest (Balkan Peninsula), where the state of Danube Bulgaria was formed. The other part went to the North Caucasus (modern Balkars). Another part moved to the northeast, to the region of the Middle Volga and Kama, where the state of Volga Bulgaria was formed. The Bulgars are considered the ancestors of modern Chuvash, partly Tatars, Mari, and Udmurts.
The Great Migration of Peoples is the conventional name for a set of ethnic movements in Europe in the 4th-7th centuries, which destroyed the Western Roman Empire and affected a number of territories in Eastern Europe. The prologue to the Great Migration of Peoples was the movement of Germanic tribes (Goths, Burgundians, Vandals) at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 3rd centuries. to the Black Sea. The immediate impetus for the Great Migration of Peoples was the massive movement of the Huns (from the 70s of the 4th century). In the VI-VII centuries. Slavic (Slavins, Ants) and other tribes invaded the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire.
The Great Migration of Peoples and the Problem of Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs.
1st century AD e. Tacitus spoke about the Veneds, who lived in the Western regions. Poland, Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. By Wends, scientists understood a people unknown to the ancient world who lived outside the borders of the state.
4th century BC e. – 7th century BC e. – The Great Migration of Peoples due to cold weather.
Origin of the Eastern Slavs.
The origin of the Eastern Slavs is a complex scientific problem, the study of which is difficult due to the lack of sufficiently complete written evidence about the area of their settlement and economic life. It is reliably known that our ancestors in the I - VI centuries. n. e. occupied vast areas of Central and Eastern Europe. The works of ancient authors - Pliny the Elder and Tacitus (1st century AD) - report on the Wends living between the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. Many modern historians see the Wends as ancient Slavs, still preserving their ethnic unity and occupying approximately the territory of what is now South-Eastern Poland, as well as Volyn and Polesie.
Byzantine historians of the 6th century. were more attentive to the Slavs, who, having strengthened by this time, began to threaten the Empire. Jordan elevates the contemporary Slavs - the Wends, the Sklavins and the Antes - to one root and thereby records the beginning of their division, which took place in the 6th-8th centuries. The relatively unified Slavic world disintegrated as a result of migrations caused by population growth and the “pressure” of others tribes, as well as interaction with the multi-ethnic environment in which they settled (Finno-Ugrians, Balts, Iranian-speaking tribes) and with which they came into contact (Germans, Byzantines). It is important to take into account that representatives of all groups recorded by Jordan participated in the formation of the three branches of the Slavs - eastern, western and southern. The most valuable information about the Slavs is provided to us by the Tale of Bygone Years (PVL) by the monk Nestor (beginning of the 12th century). He writes about the ancestral home of the Slavs, which he places in the Danube basin. (According to the biblical legend, Nestor associated their appearance on the Danube with the “Babylonian pandemonium,” which, by the will of God, led to the separation of languages and their “dispersion” throughout the world). He explained the arrival of the Slavs to the Dnieper from the Danube by an attack on them by warlike neighbors - the “Volokhs”.
The second route of advance of the Slavs to Eastern Europe, confirmed by archaeological and linguistic material, passed from the Vistula basin to the area of Lake Ilmen. Nestor talks about the following East Slavic tribal unions: the Polyans, who settled in the Middle Dnieper region “in the fields” and therefore were called that; the Drevlyans, who lived northwest of them in dense forests; northerners who lived to the east and northeast of the glades along the Desna, Sula and Seversky Donets rivers; Dregovichi - between Pripyat and Western Dvina; Polochans - in the river basin Floors; Krivichi - in the upper reaches of the Volga and Dnieper; Radimichi and Vyatichi, according to the chronicle, descended from the clan of "Poles" (Poles), and were brought, most likely, by their elders - Radim, who "came and sat down" on the river. Sozhe (tributary of the Dnieper) and Vyatko - on the river. Oke; Ilmen Slovenes lived in the north in the basin of Lake Ilmen and the river. Volkhov; Buzhans or Dulebs (since the 10th century they were called Volynians) in the upper reaches of the Bug; white Croats - in the Carpathian region; Ulichi and Tivertsy - between the Dniester and the Danube. Archaeological data confirm the boundaries of settlement of the tribal unions indicated by Nestor.
It is known about the occupations of the Eastern Slavs that, while exploring the vast forest and forest-steppe spaces of Eastern Europe, they carried with them an agricultural culture. In addition to shifting and fallow farming from the 8th century. In the southern regions, field arable farming, based on the use of a plow with an iron share and draft animals, became widespread. Along with animal husbandry, they were also engaged in their usual trades: hunting, fishing, beekeeping. Crafts are developing, which, however, have not yet separated from agriculture. Of particular importance for the fate of the Eastern Slavs will be foreign trade, developing both on the Baltic-Volga route, along which Arab silver came to Europe, and on the route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” connecting the Byzantine world through the Dnieper with the Baltic region.
Theories of the origin of the Slavs:
Autochthonous (Slavs have always lived in this territory);
Migration (resettlement of Slavs).
4th century BC e. - Danube. Pre-State The Power of Germanaric (the leader of the Goths), but it also included other peoples. This power existed under a treaty with Rome, but collapsed at the end of the 4th century as a result of the invasion of Rome by the HUNKS (led by Attila). It is obvious that Slavic tribes took part in this raid.
6th century - Jordan (Alan historian of Ossetia) began to talk about the Ants and Sklavins. He refers them to the Wends. In the 6th century, the Antes constantly attacked the possessions of Byzantium. V. set the Avars tribe against them - the Ants were defeated. After this, Viz defeated the Avars.
7th century - division of the Slavs into southern, western and eastern.
8th-9th centuries - tribal unions emerge - the Drevlyans and the Polyans. Each has temporary leaders - princes, squads, cities and a people's assembly - the veche.
The northern center of the Slavs is Novgorod (Slovenes).
The southern center of the Slavs is Kyiv (glades).
The question of the origin of the Slavs was raised back in the Middle Ages. In the Tale of Bygone Years (12th century), the monk Nestor expressed the idea that the original territory of settlement of the Slavs was the Danube and the Balkans, and then the Carpathian region, the Dnieper and Ladoga.
According to the “Bavarian Chronicle” (XIII century), the ancestors of the Slavs were ancient Iranian-speaking peoples - Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans.
The beginning of the scientific development of the question of the origin of the Slavs dates back to the first half of the 19th century, when the Czech scientist P. Safarik, having analyzed information about the Slavs from ancient authors and the Gothic historian Jordan, put forward a hypothesis according to which the ancestral home of the Slavic peoples was the Carpathian region.
Research by linguists in the first half of the 19th century showed that the Slavic languages belonged to the Indo-European language family, on the basis of which it was suggested that there was an Indo-European community that included the ancestors of the Germans, Balts, Slavs and Indo-Iranians, which, according to the Czech historian L. Niederle, disintegrated at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Balto-Slavic community that emerged as a result of this collapse in the 1st millennium BC was divided into Baltic and Slavic.
The domestic historian and philologist A. A. Shakhmatov believed that such an Indo-European community existed in the Baltic Sea basin. First, the ancestors of the Indo-Iranians and Thracians who went south left it, and then the Slavs separated from the Balts, settling in the 2nd century AD, after the Germans left the Vistula, in the rest of Eastern Europe.
In the first half of the 20th century, foreign and domestic archaeologists made an attempt to clarify which archaeological cultures can be considered Proto-Slavic and what territory the Slavs occupied at different stages of historical development.
According to P.N. Tretyakov, the proto-Slavic culture was the culture of the Corded Ware tribes, who migrated at the turn of the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC from the Black Sea region and the Carpathian region to Central Europe, as well as to the north and east.
The following cultures were actually Slavic: between the Vistula and the Dnieper - Trzciniec (3rd quarter of the 2nd millennium BC), on the territory of Poland - Lusatian (XIII-IV centuries BC) and Pomeranian (VI-II centuries BC), on the Vistula - Przeworskaya, in the Middle Dnieper - Zarubinetskaya (both - the end of the 1st millennium BC).
In the 2nd-4th centuries, as a result of the movement of Gothic tribes to the south, the territory occupied by the Slavs was cut into two parts, which led to the division of the Western and Eastern Slavs. Having taken part in the great migration of peoples, the Slavs at the end of the 5th century, after the collapse of the Huns, also settled in the south of the European continent.
Some chronological clarifications of the origin of the Slavic peoples were made by modern American researchers (G. Treger and H. Smith), according to whom, in the 2nd millennium BC, ancient European unity broke up into the ancestors of southern and western Europeans (Celts and Romanesque peoples) and northern Europeans (Germans , Balts and Slavs). The Northern European community collapsed in the 1st millennium BC, when the Germans first emerged from it, and then the Balts and Slavs.
The historian and ethnographer L. Gumilyov believed that in this process there was not only a separation of the Slavs from the Germans, but also their union with the German-speaking Rus, which supposedly happened during the settlement of the Slavs in the Dnieper region and the region of Lake Ilmen.
Thus, the question of the origin of the Slavs is so complex and confusing that it is hardly possible to present a true picture of the distant past due to the lack of written sources of that time
Crimea is one of the amazing corners of the Earth. Due to its geographical location, it was located at the junction of different peoples and stood on the path of their historical movements. The interests of many countries and entire civilizations collided in such a small territory. The Crimean Peninsula has more than once become the scene of bloody wars and battles, and was part of several states and empires.
Diverse natural conditions attracted peoples of various cultures and traditions to the Crimea. For nomads there were vast pastures, for cultivators - fertile lands, for hunters - forests with a lot of game, for sailors - convenient bays and bays, a lot of fish. Therefore, many peoples settled here, becoming part of the Crimean ethnic conglomerate and participants in all historical events on the peninsula. In the neighborhood there lived people whose traditions, customs, religions, and way of life were different. This led to misunderstandings and even bloody clashes. Civil strife stopped when there was an understanding that it was possible to live and prosper well only in peace, harmony and mutual respect.
History of Ukraine from ancient times to the present day Semenenko Valery Ivanovich
East Slavic tribes on the territory of Ukraine
East Slavic tribes on the territory of Ukraine
Of the 15 large tribal associations (each tribe occupied an area of 40–60 square kilometers) that existed in the 7th–8th centuries, half are associated with the territory of modern conciliar Ukraine. In the Middle Dnieper region there lived glades - around Kyiv, Pereyaslav, Lyubech, Belgorod and other centers. Among scientists, Professor E. Pritsak’s version of their non-Slavic origin did not find support. In 1982, together with N. Golb, he concluded that the Polyans are a type of Khazars.
In the 6th–7th centuries, in the Bug basin there was the center of one of the Dulib tribes - the Zimnovskoye fortified settlement. The Dulibs also settled in the Czech Republic, on the upper Danube, and in the Balkans.
On their basis, territorial associations of Buzhans and Volynians later arose, the capitals of which were Busk and Volyn.
Between the Volynians in the west and the Polyans in the east lived the Derevlyans, who had a developed tribal structure led by a prince and tribal nobility. The center of their land was Iskorosten (Korosten).
To the east of the glades, on the Left Bank of the Dnieper, covering the Bryansk and Kursk-Belgorod areas, there were Siverians - carriers of the Volyntsevo and Romny cultures.
Apparently, the southern Dnieper region was occupied by the Ulich tribes, whom the governor Sveneld subjugated to Kyiv in 940, taking possession of their capital Peresechen after a three-year siege. Because of this, as well as under the pressure of the Pechenegs, some of the Ulichi migrated to the interfluve of the Southern Bug and the Dniester, becoming neighbors of the Tiverts.
The Tiver tribes inhabited Middle Transnistria and the Dniester-Prut interfluve. They most likely got their name from the Greek name Dniester-Tiras.
On the territory of the Eastern Carpathian region, in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, there lived Eastern (white) Croats, some of whom, under pressure from the warlike Avars, went to the Balkans. and to Central Europe, the rest settled in the Carpathian and Transcarpathian regions.
The above-mentioned tribal associations in the 7th–10th centuries had a similar archaeological culture with certain ethno-territorial differences. It was characterized by approximately the same level of socio-economic and political development, common features in housing construction, craft and agricultural production, funeral rites and beliefs. At the same time, as M. Grushevsky noted, the character of the Slavs in general and Ukrainians in particular has long been characterized by a lack of discipline and social solidarity.
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From the book History of Ukraine. Popular science essays author Team of authorsEstablishment of an occupation regime on the territory of Ukraine The future of the “liberated” territories of the East was constantly discussed in the highest echelons of civil administration of the occupied regions. The transfer of Galicia to the General Governorship caused
From the book History of the Ukrainian SSR in ten volumes. Volume four author Team of authors1. PREPARATION FOR WAR. DEFENSIVE MEASURES ON THE TERRITORY OF UKRAINE Plans and forces of Napoleon. Having set his goal to create a world empire centered in Paris, Napoleon intended to break England, which was France’s main competitor in the international market, and
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From the book Through the pages of the history of Kuban (local history essays) author Zhdanovsky A. M.V. A. Tarabanov BULGARIAN TRIBES IN THE TERRITORY. KHAZAR KAGANATE IV century. was marked by an unprecedented movement to the west of nomadic peoples, who changed the entire map of the then world. Long before this, the Asian Xiongnu moved west, gradually acquiring nomadic
From the book Encyclopedia of Slavic culture, writing and mythology author Kononenko Alexey AnatolievichA) East Slavic tribes (ancient) White Croats. Buzhans. Volynians. Vyatichi. Drevlyans. Dregovichi. Duleby. Ilmensky Slavs. Krivichi. Polotsk residents. Glade. Radimichi. Northerners. Tivertsy.
About 200 peoples live on Russian territory. The history of some of them goes back to distant millennia BC. We found out which indigenous peoples of Russia are the most ancient and from whom they originated.
Slavs
There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Slavs - some attribute them to the Scythian tribes from Central Asia, some to the mysterious Aryans, others to the Germanic peoples. Hence the different ideas about the age of an ethnic group, to which it is customary to add a couple of extra thousand years “for the sake of respectability.”
The first who tried to determine the age of the Slavic people was the monk Nestor, taking the biblical tradition as a basis, he began the history of the Slavs with the Babylonian pandemonium, which divided humanity into 72 nations: “From these 70 and 2 languages the Slovenian language was born...”.
From an archaeological point of view, the first culture that can be called Proto-Slavic was the so-called culture of podklosh burials, which received its name from the custom of covering cremated remains with a large vessel, in Polish “klesh”, that is, “upside down”. It originated between the Vistula and Dnieper in the 5th century BC. To some extent, we can assume that its representatives were Proto-Slavs.
Bashkirs
The Southern Urals and the adjacent steppes, the territories where the Bashkir ethnic group emerged, have been an important center of cultural interaction since ancient times. The archaeological diversity of the region baffles researchers and adds the question of the origin of the people to the long list of “mysteries of history.”
Today, there are three main versions of the origin of the Bashkir people. The most “archaic” - Indo-Iranian says that the main element in the formation of the ethnos were the Indo-Iranian Sako-Sarmatian, Dakho-Massaget tribes of the early Iron Age (III-IV centuries BC), whose place of settlement was the Southern Urals. According to another, Finno-Ugric version, the Bashkirs are “siblings” of the current Hungarians, since they together descended from the Magyars and the Eney tribe (in Hungary - Eno). This is supported by the Hungarian legend, recorded in the 13th century, about the Magyars’ journey from the East to Pannonia (modern Hungary), which they made in order to take possession of Attila’s inheritance.
Based on medieval sources in which Arab and Central Asian authors equate the Bashkirs and Turks, a number of historians believe that these peoples are related.
According to the historian G. Kuzeev, the ancient Bashkir tribes (Burzyan, Usergan, Bailar, Surash and others) emerged on the basis of Turkic early medieval communities in the 7th century AD and subsequently mixed with Finno-Ugric tribes and tribal groups of Sarmatian origin. In the 13th century, historical Bashkortostan was invaded by nomadic Kipchakized tribes, who shaped the appearance of modern Bashkirs.
The versions of the origin of the Bashkir people are not limited to this. Passionate about philology and archeology, public figure Salavat Gallyamov put forward a hypothesis according to which the ancestors of the Bashkirs once left ancient Mesopotamia and reached the Southern Urals through Turkmenistan. However, in the scientific community this version is considered a “fairy tale”.
Mari or Cheremis
The history of the Finno-Ugric people of the Mari begins at the beginning of the first millennium BC, along with the formation of the so-called Ananyin archaeological culture in the Volga-Kama region (VIII-II centuries BC).
Some historians identify them with the semi-legendary Fyssagetae - an ancient people who, according to Herodotus, lived near the Scythian lands. Of these, the Mari subsequently emerged, settling from the right bank of the Volga between the mouths of the Sura and Tsivil.
During the early Middle Ages, they were in close cooperation with the Gothic, Khazar tribes and Volga Bulgaria. The Mari were annexed to Russia in 1552, after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate.
Sami
The ancestors of the northern Sami people, the Komsa culture, came to the north in the Neolithic era, when these lands were freed from the glacier. The Sami ethnos, whose name translates as “land” itself, traces its roots back to the carriers of the ancient Volga culture and the Dauphinian Caucasian population. The latter, known in the scientific world as the culture of reticulated ceramics, inhabited a wide territory from the middle Volga region to the north of Fennoscandia, including Karelia, in the 2nd-1st millennium BC.
According to the historian I. Manyukhin, having mixed with the Volga tribes, they formed an ancient Sami historical community of three related cultures: the late Kargopol in Belozerye, Kargopolye and South-East Karelia, the Luukonsaari in Eastern Finland and Western Karelia, the Kjelmo and “Arctic”, in northern Karelia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Kola Peninsula.
Along with this, the Sami language emerged and the physical appearance of the Lapps (Russian designation for the Sami) took shape, which is characteristic of these peoples today - short stature, wide-set blue eyes and blond hair.
Probably the first written mention of the Sami dates back to 325 BC and is found in the ancient Greek historian Pytheas, who mentioned a certain people “Fenni” (finoi). Subsequently, Tacitus wrote about them in the 1st century AD, talking about the wild Fenian people living in the area of Lake Ladoga. Today the Sami live in Russia in the Murmansk region with the status of an indigenous population.
Peoples of Dagestan
On the territory of Dagestan, where remains of human settlements dating back to the 6th millennium BC are found, many peoples can boast of their ancient origins. This especially applies to the peoples of the Caucasian type - the Dargins and Laks. According to historian V. Alekseev, the Caucasian group formed on the same territory that it now occupies on the basis of the ancient local population of the Late Stone Age.
Vainakh
The Vainakh peoples, which include the Chechens (“Nokhchi”) and Ingush (“Galgai”), as well as many peoples of Dagestan, belong to the ancient Caucasian anthropological type, as the Soviet anthropologist Prof. Debets, “the most Caucasian of all Caucasians.” Their roots should be sought in the Kura-Araks archaeological culture, which inhabited the territory of the North Caucasus in the 4th and early 3rd millennium BC, as well as in the Maikop culture, which inhabited the foothills of the North Caucasus during the same period.
Mention of the Vainakhs in written sources is found for the first time in Strabo, who in his “Geography” mentions certain “Gargarei” living in the small foothills and plains of the Central Caucasus.
In the Middle Ages, the formation of the Vainakh peoples was strongly influenced by the state of Alania in the foothills of the North Caucasus, which fell in the 13th century under the hooves of the Mongol cavalry.
Yukaghirs
The small Siberian people of the Yukaghirs (“people of the Mezlots” or “distant people”) can be called the most ancient on the territory of Russia. According to the historian A. Okladnikov, this ethnic group emerged in the Stone Age, approximately in the 7th millennium BC in the east of the Yenisei.
Anthropologists believe that this people, genetically isolated from their closest neighbors - the Tungus, represents the oldest layer of the autochthonous population of polar Siberia. Their archaic nature is also evidenced by the long-preserved custom of matrilocal marriage, when after marriage the husband lives on his wife’s territory.
Until the 19th century, numerous Yukaghir tribes (Alai, Anaul, Kogime, Lavrentsy and others) occupied a vast territory from the Lena River to the mouth of the Anadyr River. In the 19th century, their numbers began to decline significantly as a result of epidemics and civil strife. Some of the tribes were assimilated by the Yakuts, Evens and Russians. According to the 2002 census, the number of Yukaghirs decreased to 1,509 people.