How the Baltic and Finno-Ugric ethnic groups influenced the Russians and where are most of their descendants now

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

In the 5th century A. D. Slavic tribes came from northern Poland to the territory of modern Russia. From that moment until the XIV century, the Slavs settled to the north - to Lake Ilmen and to the east - to the Volga-Oka interfluve. On the lands of eastern Europe and the north, the ancient Slavic tribes assimilated with the Finno-Ugrians and the Balts, merged into a single nationality and made up the main population of the Old Russian state. Most of the inhabitants of Russia consider themselves Slavs, denying other theories of their origin. However, there are many versions that both confirm the complexity of Russian ethnogenesis and question the purely Slavic origin of the Russians, and speak of the opposite. And they all have a scientific basis.

The multi-ethnic origin of the Russian people

None of the peoples have survived as a primordial ethnic group. During the period of active settlement, the Slavs assimilated with other tribes and communities, partially adopted their culture and language. Scientists have been arguing about the origin and development of the Russian nationality for centuries, since it is almost impossible to trace the exact history of a single ancient ethnos. There are several views on the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Great Russians. Historian Nikolai Polevoy argued that the Russian people have exclusively Slavic roots, both in genetics and in culture, and the Finno-Ugric tribes did not have a significant impact on its formation.

The Polish ethnographer Dukhinsky was an adherent of the theory of the Turkic and Finno-Ugric origin of the Russians. The Slavs, in his opinion, played only a linguistic (linguistic) role in the formation of the ethnogenesis of the Russian people.

Some researchers are sure that the ancient Scythians, even though they were not the direct ancestors of the Russians, contributed to the development of the Russian nation by their long geographical proximity with the Slavs. This opinion was shared by the Russian archaeologist Boris Rybakov.

Lomonosov's point of view, which was later developed by the writer and teacher Konstantin Ushinsky, can be considered the golden mean in the array of hypotheses. According to scientists, the Russian ethnos is the result of the mutual influence of the Slavs and Finno-Ugric peoples. Chud, Meria and other ancient Finno-Ugric tribes were gradually assimilated by the Slavs, but brought their autochthonous experience to their culture and passed on unique methods of management in the difficult conditions of the Russian North.

Slavs and Finno-Ugric peoples: who appeared earlier on Russian soil?

Until now, there is no consensus about the origin of the Slavs, as well as there is no exact information about the place of origin of the Finno-Ugric ethnogroup. But it can be said for sure that at the time of the arrival of the Slavs to the territory of modern Russia, the Finno-Ugrians were already there and occupied the bulk of the land. Along with the Balts, who lived in the western part of the Oka-Volga interfluve, the Finno-Ugrians were the indigenous population of the Russian land.

Most researchers, including the Russian philologist M. Castren, argue that the Finno-Ugric ethnogroup originated on the border of Europe and Asia, separating from the Proural community presumably in the 6th-5th millennium BC. By the 4th-3rd millennium BC. NS.they occupied not only Russian lands, but also spread to Europe. There is an opinion that the resettlement of the Finno-Ugrians to the West was caused by pushing back from the side of the conquerors.

Colonization of the Slavs

From the V century. AD the Slavs take an active part in the Great Migration of Peoples, literally reshaping the ethnic map of Europe. Until the 9th century, colonization was spasmodic. Separate groups of Slavs separated from the main massif and lived in isolation.

The Slavs came to the territory of present-day Russia through the lands of modern Belarus and Ukraine. From the lands of the Pskov region, Smolensk region, Novgorod region, Bryansk region, regions of Kursk and Lipetsk, Slavic tribes began to move to the East, settling the lands where the Finno-Ugric peoples lived from ancient times (for example, the present Ryazan, Moscow region, etc.).

The northeastern part of Russia was attractive to the Slavs for a number of reasons. First, the optimal climatic conditions provided a stable base for agriculture. Secondly, furs were produced on these lands, which played the role of the main surplus product.

Colonization was mostly peaceful and continued until the late Middle Ages.

According to the chronicles, the assimilation of the Finno-Ugric ethnic groups took place since the 12th century. For the chroniclers, they are no longer independent tribes, but part of the Russian people. In fact, the tribal structure was preserved, but faded into the background.

Language as an important feature of the Slavic ethnos

According to some ethnographers, the Russians are Slavicized Finno-Ugrians who melted into the culture of the colonialists and adopted the Slavic language from them. If this theory is criticized and has many contradictions, then the East Slavic origin of the Russian language does not raise any doubts.

It is the most widely spoken Slavic language, spoken by the largest part of the Slavic population worldwide. In turn, the East Slavic language originated from the Indo-European proto-language, in particular from its Balto-Slavic branch.

In the XIV-XVII centuries. The Russian language finally stands out from the East Slavic group and begins to be supplemented by various dialects, including the "akay" dialect characteristic of the inhabitants of the upper and middle Oka.

The Old Russian language developed not without the influence of the Finno-Ugric peoples. From them the Russian vocabulary got the names of fish - salmon, sprat, smelt, flounder, navaga. The words "tundra", "fir", "taiga", as well as the names of the cities of Okhta, Ukhta, Vologda, Kostroma, Ryazan also came to the Russian language from the Finno-Ugric peoples. It is believed that even "Moscow" is nothing more than a Mari "mask" (that is, a bear).

What Genetics and Anthropology Says

The Slavs are an ethno-linguistic community and a purely linguistic concept. Therefore, the formulations "Slavic blood" or "Slavic genes" are considered anti-scientific and meaningless.

All modern Slavic peoples have retained their pre-Slavic substrates, which are determined by anthropological features, including the shape of the skull. That is, with whom the Slavic colonialists mingled, they absorbed the features of that people. For example, the skulls of modern Slavs-Belarusians are identical to those of the Balts, the skulls of a significant part of the Ukrainians are identical to those of the Sarmatians, and the Russian Zalesye (part of the Moscow region) have anthropological features of the Oka Finno-Ugric peoples.

Russian historian and specialist in Ancient Russia I. N. Danilevsky denies the existence of a "purely Slavic anthropology" and claims that even if it existed, it eventually dissolved among the autochthons who were assimilated by the Slavs (Finno-Ugrians, Balts, etc.). In turn, the Finno-Ugrians, despite the "dissolution" among the Slavs, retained their typical anthropological features - blue eyes, blonde hair and a wide face with pronounced cheekbones.

Ethnic assimilation, which also occurred as a result of mixed marriages of Slavs and Finno-Ugric peoples, manifested itself not only in the cultural, but also in the anthropological aspect. Subsequent generations of Russians differed from other East Slavic peoples in more convex cheekbones and angular facial features, which indirectly, but still can be attributed to the influence of the Finno-Ugric substrate.

With regard to genetics, the generally accepted marker for determining the origin of human populations is Y-chromosomal haplogroups, transmitted through the male line. All peoples have their own sets of haplogroups, which may be similar to each other.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Russian and Estonian scientists studied the Russian gene pool. As a result, it was revealed that the indigenous population of South-Central Russia has a genetic relationship with other Slavic-speaking peoples (Belarusians and Ukrainians), and the inhabitants of the North are close to the Finno-Ugric substrate. At the same time, a set of haplogroups typical for indigenous Asians (Mongol-Tatars) was not sufficiently found in any part of the Russian gene pool (neither in the north, nor in the south). Thus, the saying "Scratch a Russian - you will find a Tatar" has no basis, but the direct influence of the Finno-Ugric people on the formation of Russian ethnogenesis has been genetically proven.

Distribution of different peoples on the territory of modern Russia

According to the census, significant Finno-Ugric groups still live in Russia: Mordovians, Udmurts, Mari, Komi-Zyryans, Komi-Permians, Izhorians, Vods and Karelians. The number of representatives of each nation varies from 90 to 840 thousand people. The gene pool of these tribes did not become “Russified” to the end, therefore, among the indigenous population, you can find residents with different external characteristics characteristic of certain ethnic groups.

Individual tribes of the Finno-Ugrians literally "disappeared" over the centuries and left no traces, but according to the mentions in the chronicles, one can trace their location on the territory of the Old Russian state. So, the mysterious Chud people, which included the tribes Vod, Izhora, all, Sum, Em, etc.) inhabited mainly the northwestern part of the modern Leningrad region. Merya lived in Rostov, and Murom and Cheremis lived in the Murom region.

It is also historically proven that the Baltic tribe Golyad lived in the upper reaches of the Oka (on the territory of Kaluga, Orel, Tula and the Moscow region). In the 1st millennium A. D. Western Balts were Slavicized, but all theories about their significant influence on Russian ethnogenesis are not well founded.

Also, not everything is simple with the Tatars, and a very big mistake will call them all one people.