Slavs today - the largest ethno-linguistic community in Europe.They inhabit the vast territory and there are about 300-350 million people.In this article we'll look at what branches are divided Slavic peoples, let's talk about the history of their formation and separation.Also, a little touch on the present stage of the spread of Slavic culture and religious beliefs of those who adhered to the tribes in the course of its development and formation.
theory of the origin
remainder of this article we will look at what branches are divided Slavic nations.But now it is to understand what happens from this ethnic group.
So, according to medieval chroniclers, our peoples are descended from a common ancestor.He was Japheth, son of Noah.This character, according to the chronicles, gave life to such tribes as the Medes, Sarmatians, Scythians, Thracians, Illyrians, the Slavs, the British and other European nationalities.
Arabs knew the Slavs, as part of the community of nations of the West, which included Turks, Ugric and Slavs in Eastern Europe.Their military records, historians associate this conglomerate with the word "Sakaliba."Later, so they began to call Byzantine army deserters who took Islam.
ancient Greeks and Romans called Slavs "sklaviny" and relate them to one of the Scythian tribes - Scoloti.Also sometimes they bring together ethnonims Wends and Slavs.
Thus, the three branches of the Slavic peoples, the scheme of which is shown below, have a common ancestor.But later their development diverged significantly due to the vast territory of the settlement and the influence of neighboring cultures and beliefs.
This is what we will talk further.
history of settlement
Later we shall deal separately for each group of tribes, but now you should understand that at any branch of the Slavic peoples are divided and how the process of resettlement.
So first of these tribes mentioned by Tacitus and Pliny the Elder.These Roman historians in their records talked about Veneti that inhabited the Baltic territories.According to the period of life of public figures, the Slavs already existed in the second century AD.
next who spoke of these same tribes were Procopius of Caesarea and Priscus, Byzantine writer and scholar.But the most complete information that relate to doletopisnomu period are available from the Gothic historian Jordan.
He reports that Sklave - an independent tribe, which is isolated from Veneto.In areas north of the river Vistula (Wisla modern), he mentions "numerous people Veneti", which are divided into Antes and sklavenov.The first lived along the Pontus Euxine (Black Sea) from Danastra (Dniester) to Danapra (Dnipro).Sklave also inhabited by Novietuna (Iskach city on the Danube) to Danastra and Vistula in the north.
Thus, in the sixth century AD, the ancestors of the Slavs - Sklave already living on the land of the Dniester River to the Vistula and the Danube.Later, various chroniclers will mention a much more extensive area of settlement of these tribes.It covered the ground in Central and Eastern Europe.
How divided the three branches of the Slavic peoples?The scheme, which we quoted above, shows that the movement was going to the north, south and east.
First tribes moved in the direction of the Black and Baltic seas.Just this period and described by Gothic historian Jordan.Next to these lands invaded by the Avars and split a single area of the tribes.
two centuries (from the sixth to eighth) they inhabit the eastern foothills of the Alps and fall into submission to the Emperor Justinian II.We know that in the annals of references, which refers to the campaign of the Byzantine troops to the Arabs.As part of the army and referred sklaviny.
In the eighth century, these tribes reach the Balkan Peninsula to the south and to the north of Lake Ladoga.
Southern Slavs
western and southern Slavs, as we see, were formed at different times.At the beginning of a conglomerate of tribes separated Antes, who went to the east, towards the Black Sea and the Dnieper.Only in the eighth century, this nation beginning of colonization of the Balkan Peninsula.
process is as follows.Some Eastern and West Slavic tribes moved in search of the best land in the south-west towards the Adriatic Sea.
Historians distinguish migration in the following groups: Obodrits (European chronicles known as predenitsenty), Severtsov (communication with the northerners), Serbs, Croats and others.Basically, it's the tribes that lived along the river Danube.
Thus, the ancient Slavic peoples have become a powerful force that assimilated the small group of local residents, and later in the Balkans and the Adriatic coast has created a state.
But the movement in the south-west there was a one-time campaign.Different generations moved with his speed and not quite in the same direction.Thus, the researchers identified three groups that formed during migration: Northwest (from it in the future formed the Slovenes), east (modern Bulgarians and Macedonians) and western (Croats and Serbs).
Western tribes
common ancestors of the Slavic peoples, which even the Romans knew how wends originally inhabited the lands of modern Poland and partly in Germany.Subsequently, it is on this territory formed a large group of tribes.
It included land from the Elbe to the Oder and from the Baltic to the Ore Mountains.Researchers share this conglomeration into three groups according to their place of residence.
Northwest tribes were called bodrichi (reregi and Obodrits) south - Sorbs (It also includes part of Serbia) and the central group - lutici (or Veleta).Three named nationalities were originally military tribal alliances.Sometimes they are talking about four separate community.Its members called themselves Pomerania and lived on the Baltic coast.
gradually as a result of migration Polabian Slavs in the unoccupied lands formed Polish, Silesian, Czech, and pomoryanskie lehitskie tribes.
Thus, western and southern Slavs differ in that the former were originally indigenous to these areas, and the second came from the Danube to the Adriatic coast.
Eastern Slavs
According to West European chronicles, the work of the historian of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine works, the territory of the Eastern Slavs is always related to tribal groupings of ants.
As we know from the evidence of the Gothic historian Jordan, they have occupied the land east of the Carpathian Mountains.And Byzantines say resettlement area reached the shores of the Dnieper.
Archaeological findings are consistent with this view.From the second to the fourth century AD, between the Dnieper and Dniester existed, the so-called Chernyakhovskaya culture.
Later it was replaced by a Penkovskaya archaeological community.Between these cultures there is a gap in the two centuries, but it is believed that such a gap caused by the assimilation of some tribes with others.
Thus, the origin of the Slavic peoples was the result of an authentic formation of larger communities of a number of small tribal groups.Later chroniclers of Kievan Rus give names to these groups: meadow, drevlyans, Dregovichi, vyatichi and other tribes.
According to ancient Russian chronicles, as a result of association of fifteen groups of Eastern Slavs and formed such a powerful medieval empire as Kievan Rus.
current situation
So, we have discussed with you at any branch of the Slavic peoples are divided.In addition, we talked about how it was a process of settlement of tribes in the south and east.
modern Slavic peoples are slightly different from their direct ancestors.They combine their culture influences prints as neighboring peoples, and many came conquerors.
For example, the bulk of the area west of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, which once were part of Kievan Rus, a few centuries were under the Mongol-Tatar yoke.Therefore dialects include many borrowings from Turkic languages.Also, some of the traditional rites and ornaments stored fingerprints cultural oppressors.
Southern Slavs increasingly been influenced by the Greeks and the Turks.Therefore, at the end of the article we will have to talk about matters of religion.Once a pagan tribes today are the adherents of different religions Abrahamic religions.Thoroughly
is what branches are divided Slavic peoples, descendants may not know, but as a rule, everyone easily recognizes his "fellow countryman".Southern Slavs traditionally more swarthy, and in saying they skips specific phonemes that are unique to this region.A similar situation is with the descendants of the western and eastern tribal associations.
So what are today the country became home to various branches of the Slavic peoples?
State of the South Slavs
modern Slavic peoples settled in much of Eastern and Central Europe.However, in the context of globalization of their representatives can be found in almost any country in the world.And the feature of our mentality is such that after a short time the neighbors are beginning to understand the Slavic languages.Slavs have always tried to involve foreigners in their own culture, with little self-giving in the process of assimilation.
To date Southern Slavs include Slovenians and Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians, Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs.Most of these people live in the territory of the nation states, which include Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia.
That is actually a territory of the Balkan Peninsula and the north-eastern part of the Adriatic coast.
South Slavic nations today are increasingly moving away from the idea of community these people, entering the new family of the European Union.However, a few decades ago there was an attempt to create a common country, with a population consisting only of the South Slavs, but it failed.Once this state was called Yugoslavia.
Out of representatives of the national branch of the Slavic peoples, according to official statistics, a lot of lives in Italy, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Turkey, Albania, Greece and Moldova.
Country Western Slavs
Since ethnogeny Slavic peoples mostly occurred initially on the territory of modern Poland and Germany, the representatives of the western tribes were shot almost from their homes.
Today, their descendants live in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovakia.Traditionally, ethnologists are five nations that belong to the West Slavic branch.Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Sorbs Kashubes.
first three ethnic groups live mainly in countries with the corresponding names, and the last two - in some areas.Sorbs, which include more Wendy lugii and sorbitol, inhabit puddles.This area is divided into upper and lower parts, which are located in Saxony and Brandenburg, respectively.
Kashuba also live on the earth, which is called Kashubia.It is part of the modern Polish People's Republic.The unofficial capital of this nation is the city of Kartuzy.Also many representatives of this nation occurs in Gdynia.
Kashubia consider themselves an ethnic group, but recognize the Polish citizenship.In their environment, they are divided into several groups depending on where they live, features of national costumes, activities and class differences.So, some of them are zaboryaki, parchanskaya gentry, gbury, taverns, gohi and other groups.
Thus, we can say with certainty that the majority of the western Slavic peoples have retained as much as possible customs.Some of them even still engaged in traditional crafts, however, more to attract tourists.
East Slavic powers
modern territory of eastern Slavs refers to countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.Today, these countries can be said to be in the period Crossroads.Before their peoples have a choice: to remain committed to the traditional ways of life or go the way of the southern brethren, accepting Western values.
once-powerful state - Kievan Rus with time transformed into the three countries.It formed around Moscow Moscow kingdom, and then the Russian Empire.Kyiv united around a land of many tribes from the Carpathians to the Don.And Belarus has formed in the forests of Polesie.Based on the name of the territory, a major part of the country is inhabited by descendants of Polischuks and Pinchuk.
Religions different branches of Slavs
Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus - a modern area of the eastern Slavs.Here most of the population belongs to the Orthodox Christians.
In principle, the official departure from paganism occurred in the tenth century, when Kiev Prince Vladimir the Great was baptized Rus.But in 1054 there was a great schism in Christianity, when there were separate Orthodox and Catholic faith.The eastern and south-eastern tribes remained loyal to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the western and south-west have become advocates of the Roman Catholic Church.
At some point in the history of separate groups of the southern Slavs convert to Islam.This is due to the fact that their lands were under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire.For fellow Turks do many favors.Today, Muslims are Gorani, Bosniaks, Pomaks, and Torbeshi heap.
Thus, in this paper we have studied the ethnogenesis of the Slavic peoples, as well as talk about their division into three branches.Furthermore, to understand what modern countries belong to the territory occupied by the southern, eastern and western tribes.
