Which non-Slavic peoples have the most "Slavic blood"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The first written evidence of Slavic tribes dates back to the 1st century BC. This information is reliable, since it was found in Roman and Byzantine sources - by that time these civilizations already had their own written language. Science still does not give exact answers where and when the Slavic ethnos arose, but it is known for certain that from the V and approximately to the VIII centuries. tribes of the Slavs participated in the mass resettlement of peoples. Migration began from the territory of the Carpathian region, the upper reaches of the Dnieper and the middle Dnieper, spreading to the west, south and northeast. The Slavs left their mark on the formation of the ethnogenesis of many modern peoples. This is expressed in culture, language, anthropology and place names.

Slavic roots of modern Germans

Germany not only has historical Slavic roots, the descendants of the ancient Lusican tribe still live on its territory, occupying part of the lands of Saxony and Brandenburg (Lusatia region). This people, not fully Germanized, makes up the so-called indigenous Slavic enclave, contributes to the preservation of the Lusatian languages, ancestral culture and national identity.

Luzhichians and other Slavic tribes came to Germany from the territories of modern Czech Republic, Slovakia and southern Poland. At the time of mass settlement of peoples, the Slavs occupied the deserted Polab and Pomor lands, from where the Germans migrated to the south. Here they existed by tribal unions, erected fortifications, developed crafts, were engaged in agriculture and trade.

The main habitats of the Lusatians were present-day Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Cottbus. To the north of them lived the tribal union of the Lutichs (Wilts), occupying the territorial space between the Elbe and the Oder. The most western alliance of the Polabian tribes were invigorated or encouraged. They settled in the lower reaches of the Elbe on the territory of modern Schleswing-Holstein, Lubeck and Mecklenburg.

At the first stages of their coexistence (VI century), the Slavs and Germanic tribes were approximately at the same level of development. Having moved to Gaul and Northern Italy, the Germans significantly increased their cultural and technical potential. Having fortified in the south, the Germans gradually began to regain their control over northern Europe.

By the 9th century, despite the existing feudal elite, the Slavs still had not formed a state and remained disunited, and the Germans were already a consolidated alliance. Since the formation of the state of the Germans (919), the active conquest of the Slavs by the German people began. Over time, without any political rights, the Slavic tribes dissolved in the German environment, but left behind numerous toponyms. Most of the East German cities are of Slavic origin: Lubeck (Lubitsa), Schwerin (Zverin), Görlitz (Gorelets), Tsvetau (Tsvetov), Leipzig (Lipsk), etc.

The influence of the Slavs on the ethnogenesis of the Hungarians

Hungarians belong to the Uralic language family, their ancestors - warlike semi-nomadic pastoralists lived in the steppes east of the Urals, on the present West Siberian Plain. In the 1st millennium A. D. the Hungarians migrated to the lower reaches of the Kama, where their presence is confirmed by the settlements and burial grounds of the Kushnarenkovo culture, then they moved to the Black Sea and Azov steppes. In the 7th century, Slavs belonging to the Imenkov culture already lived in the interfluve of the Kama and Samara. Archaeological materials testify to long-term and close contacts between the "Slavs-Imenkovites" and the carriers of the Kushnarenko culture. This can be attributed to the presence of Slavisms in the Hungarian language.

The Hungarians made their further journey from the Middle Volga region to Transylvania and Pannonia already being assimilated by the Slavic Imenkov culture. From Pannonia in the X-XI centuries, the Magyars moved to the fertile flat lands of their present country, where at that time mainly Slavic peoples lived. From that moment on, the mixing of the Hungarian and Slavic ethnic groups began. Many Slavic borrowings have survived in the Hungarian language, in particular, various terms of agriculture (shovel, rake, rye, etc.).

According to scientists, the presence of the Slavic basis of the Imenkov culture to some extent helped the Magyars who came from Asia to adapt to European civilization.

Why are the Balts almost Slavs?

The Baltic peoples, and in particular the Eastern Balts (Letto-Lithuanians), are the ancestors of the Lithuanians and Latvians. At the same time, the Balts themselves were not the indigenous population of the Baltic States, they moved from the south and pushed the local Finno-Ugrians to the north of modern Latvia.

The Slavs had a direct impact on the ethnogenesis of the Balts, as evidenced by numerous toponymic materials.

The name of the Venta river, which flows in Lithuania and Latvia, comes from the Slavic tribe of the Ventchas (Vyatichi or Wends), who lived on the southeastern coast of the Baltic. According to early written records, the Baltic Sea at that time was called the Gulf of Venedi. All attempts to find the Baltic roots of this word were unsuccessful.

Lithuanian linguist Kazimir Buga argued that not only the word Venta, but also a number of other hydronyms testifies to the settlement of the Letto-Lithuanian lands by the Slavs during the time of large-scale migration of peoples (in the 5th-6th centuries). About 600 cities and towns in Latvia are of Slavic origin, more than 1,500 Latvian words have common roots, prefixes and suffixes with the Russian language.

Symbiosis of Slavs and Romanians

Romanians are one of the Romanesque peoples living in the southeastern part of Europe. Romanian ethnogenesis, formed under the influence of different peoples, has several theories of origin and causes a lot of discussion. According to the autochthonous (Dacian) theory, the basis of the Romanian people were the Dacian tribes (inhabitants of the Roman province of Dacia), who underwent Romanization in the II century AD. and those who adopted colloquial Latin. Supporters of the migration theory deny the Dacian continuity and believe that the Romanian ethnos originated south of the Danube and in the XII century its carriers moved to Transylvania, where the Hungarians already lived at that time.

Despite the contradictory hypotheses, representatives of most scientific directions agree on one thing - at the final stage of ethnogenesis, the Romanians underwent a strong influence of the Slavs, which began with the period of the great settlement of peoples in the 6th-7th centuries. Slavic peoples migrated through the lands of the former Roman Dacia and settled next to the Daco-Romans, partially mixing with them. From here, the correlation of the Romanian vocabulary, phonetics and grammar with the Slavic language is tracked. We are not talking about individual borrowings, but about whole thematic layers. About 20% of the modern Romanian language is Slavic.

Invasion of the Slavs in Greece

The main invasions of the South Slavs into Greece began in the 6th century and ended after the accession to the throne of Emperor Heraclius. Slavic tribes settled throughout Greece and the archipelago. In some places there were so many of them that in later historical documents these lands were called Slavic.

The intensity of the invasion was not so high as to speak of the destruction of the descendants of the Hellenes and the creation of Slavic Greece, but the strong influence of this people on Greek ethnogenesis cannot be denied.

Slavic domination ended in the X century, when Greece was re-conquered by the Byzantine Empire - the alien peoples quickly assimilated and were almost completely absorbed by the indigenous population. According to research data from 2008, the number of unassimilated autochthonous Slavs in Greece amounted to more than 30 thousand people.

But until now, many do not quite correctly imagine what Cyril and Methodius actually invented.