Who belongs to the Slavs list. What branches are the Slavic peoples divided into? Ancient and modern Slavic peoples

Slavic peoples

representatives of the Slavic nations, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Yugoslavs, who have their own specific culture and a kind of national psychology. In the dictionary, we consider only the national-psychological characteristics of the representatives of the Slavic peoples who have lived since ancient times on the territory of Russia.

, (see) and Belarusians (see) - peoples that are very close to each other in terms of genotype, language, culture, community historical development. The vast majority of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians live within their historically established ethnic territories. But also in other states different regions In our country, they are settled quite widely and often make up a significant part of their population.

The Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nations are among the most urbanized. For example, in Russia 74 percent is urban population, 26 percent - rural. In Ukraine - 67 and 33 percent, in Belarus - 65 and 35 percent, respectively. This circumstance leaves its mark on their psychological makeup, the specifics of their relations with representatives of other ethnic communities. Young people living in big cities are more educated, technically literate, and erudite. On the other hand, a certain part of them, especially in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Minsk and many other large cities, are subject to the vices of the urban lifestyle, such as drunkenness, drug addiction, debauchery, theft, etc. (which, certainly applies not only to representatives of these nations). Citizens who, as a rule, grew up in small families, in conditions of everyday comfort, are often poorly prepared for the complexities of today's life: a tense rhythm, increased psychophysiological socio-economic stress. They often turn out to be unprotected in interpersonal relationships, their moral, psychological and moral guidelines are not sufficiently stable.

The study of various sources reflecting the life, culture and way of life of representatives of Slavic nationalities, the results of special socio-psychological studies indicates that, in general, most of them are currently characterized by:

A high degree of comprehension of the surrounding reality, although somewhat delayed in time from a specific situation;

Sufficiently high general education level and preparedness for life and work;

Balance in decisions, actions and work activities, reactions to the difficulties and difficulties of life;

Sociability, friendliness without obtrusiveness, constant readiness to provide support to other people;

A fairly even and friendly attitude towards representatives of other nationalities;

Absence under normal circumstances Everyday life striving for the formation of ethnically isolated microgroups;

AT extreme conditions life and activities that require the utmost tension of spiritual and physical strength, they invariably show stamina, selflessness, readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of other people.

Unfortunately, now that Ukraine and Belarus have separated themselves and are not part of a single state with the Russians, we have to consider the psychology of their peoples separately from the Russians. There is a certain amount of injustice in this, since the representatives of these three nationalities, perhaps, have more in common in behavior, traditions and customs than other people. At the same time, this fact once again confirms the unshakable truth: there are concepts of "we" and "them", which still reflect objective reality human existence, without which we cannot yet do.

Ethnopsychological dictionary. - M.: MPSI. V.G. Krysko. 1999

See what "Slavic peoples" are in other dictionaries:

SLAVIC PEOPLES- representatives of the Slavic nations, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Yugoslavs, who have their own specific culture and peculiar national psychology. In the dictionary, we consider only national psychological ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary in psychology and pedagogy

peoples of the world- The following is a list of peoples ordered based on linguistic genetic classification. Contents 1 List of families of peoples 2 Paleo-European on ... Wikipedia

Slavic languages- SLAVIC LANGUAGES. S. yaz. belong to the Indo-European system of languages ​​(see Indo-European languages). They are divided into three groups: western, southern and eastern. The western group includes the languages ​​Czech, Slovak, Polish with Kashubian, Lusatian and ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

Romance peoples- Indo-Europeans Indo-European languages ​​Anatolian Albanian Armenian Baltic Venetian Germanic Illyrian Aryan: Nuristani, Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Dardic ... Wikipedia

European peoples - European states... Wikipedia

Finno-Ugric peoples- peoples speaking Finno-Ugric (Finnish-Ugric) languages. Finno-Ugric languages. make up one of the two branches (along with the Samoyedic) ur. lang. families. According to the linguistic principle of F.U.N. are divided into groups: Baltic-Finnish (Finns, Karelians, Estonians ... Ural Historical Encyclopedia

Iranian peoples- Iranians ... Wikipedia

Balkan peoples under Turkish rule- The situation of the Balkan peoples in the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries. The decline of the Ottoman Empire, the disintegration of the military system, the weakening of the power of the Sultan's government, all this was heavily reflected in the lives of those under Turkish rule ... ... The World History. Encyclopedia

italic peoples- Indo-Europeans Indo-European languages ​​Albanian Armenian Baltic Celtic Germanic Greek Indo-Iranian Romance Italic Slavic Dead: Anatolian Paleo-Balkan ... Wikipedia

Indo-European peoples- Scheme of migrations of Indo-Europeans in 4000-1000 years. BC e. in accordance with the "Kurgan hypothesis". The pink area corresponds to the alleged ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans (Samara and Srednestog cultures). The orange area corresponds to ... ... Wikipedia

Books

• Noomachia. Mind Wars. Eastern Europe. Slavic Logos. Balkan Nav and Sarmatian style, Alexander G. Dugin. Slavic peoples since the 5th-6th centuries. according to R. Kh. played a decisive role in the space of Eastern Europe. This volume of "Noomachia" deals with the Slavic horizon of Eastern Europe, which ...

The Slavs are the largest linguistic and cultural community of the peoples of Europe. Among scientists there is no consensus about the origin of this name. First ethnonym( 1 } "Slavs" is found among Byzantine authors of the 7th century. in the form of a "clave". Some linguists consider it the self-name of the Slavs and raise it to the concept of "word": "those who speak." This idea is rooted in antiquity. Many peoples considered themselves "speaking", and strangers, the language of which was incomprehensible, - "dumb". It is no coincidence that in the Slavic languages ​​one of the meanings of the word "German" is "mute". According to another hypothesis, the name "sklavins" is associated with the Greek verb "kluxo" - "I wash" and the Latin cluo - "I cleanse". There are other equally interesting points of view.

Scientists identify Eastern, Western and Southern Slavs . The eastern ones include Russians (about 146 million people), Ukrainians (about 46 million) and Belarusians (about 10.5 million). These peoples inhabit the east of Europe and widely settled in Siberia. Western Slavs - Poles (about 44 million people), Czechs (about 11 million), Slovaks (about 6 million) and Lusatians (100 thousand). All of them are inhabitants of Eastern and Central Europe. In the Balkans live south Slavic peoples: Bulgarians (about 8.5 million people), Serbs (about 10 million), Croats (about 5.5 million), Slovenes (over 2 million), Bosnians (over 2 million), Montenegrins (about 620 thousand).

Slavic peoples are close in language and culture. By religion, the Slavs are Christians, excluding the Bosnians, who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule. Believing Russians are mostly Orthodox, Poles are Catholics. But among Ukrainians and Belarusians there are many Orthodox and Catholics.

Slavs make up 85.5% of the population of Russia. Most of them are Russians - about 120 million people, or 81.5% of the country's inhabitants. Other Slavic peoples - Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles - almost 6 million people. Bulgarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats also live in Russia. However, their number is very small - no more than 50 thousand people.

(1) Ethnonym (from the Greek "ethnos" - tribe, "people" and "onyma" - "name") - the name of the people.

HOW THE EASTERN SLAVIC PEOPLES ARISED

The ancestors of the Slavs were probably the Wends, who in the first centuries of the new era settled along the banks of the Vistula and Venedsky (now Gdansk) Bay of the Baltic Sea. Byzantine authors of the 6th c. the name "sklavins" appeared, but it was applied only to the tribes living west of the Dniester. To the east of this river were placed the Antes, whom many scientists consider the direct predecessors of Eastern Slavs. After the 6th c. the name of the Ants disappears, and the names of the East Slavic tribes become known: glade, drevlyans, vyatichi, radimichi, dregovichi, krivichi, etc. Some historians see them as real tribes, while others see them as a kind of "pre-nationality" or "proto-state". These communities were not "pure": they included racially, linguistically and culturally diverse elements. For example, in the East Slavic burials of the 10th-11th centuries. found the remains of people belonging to at least six racial types, not only Caucasoid, but also Mongoloid.

In the 9th-11th centuries. East Slavic tribes were united into one of the largest states of medieval Europe - Kievan Rus. It stretched from the lower reaches of the Danube in the south of the Ladoga and Onega lakes in the north, from the upper reaches of the Western Dvina in the west to the Volga-Oka interfluve in the east. Within these boundaries, a single ancient Russian nationality arose. She was neither Russian, nor Ukrainian, nor Belarusian - she can be called East Slavic. The consciousness of community and unity among the population of Kievan Rus was very strong. It was reflected in chronicles and literary works telling about the defense of the homeland from nomadic raids. In 988 the prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavovich did Christianity the state religion of Kievan Rus. Pagan idols were overthrown, and the people of Kiev were baptized in the Dnieper. The adoption of Christianity contributed to close cultural ties with Europe, the flourishing ancient Russian art the spread of writing. A new religion was sometimes introduced by force. So, in Novgorod they burned half the city. The people said: " Putyata ( 2 } baptized the people with fire, and Dobrynya( 3 } - with a sword". Under the external cover of Christianity in Russia, a "dual faith" was established: for several centuries, pagan traditions were preserved.

The unity of Kievan Rus was not strong, and by the end of the 12th century. The state broke up into independent principalities.

Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians how independent peoples developed, according to various estimates, in the 14-18 centuries.

Moscow state - the center of education of the Russian people - first united the lands in the basins of the Upper Volga and Oka, then in the upper reaches of the Don and Dnieper; even later - Pskov, Novgorod lands in the basin of the Northern Dvina and on the coast of the White Sea.

The fate of the descendants of those tribes that lived in the west of Kievan Rus was much more complicated. From the 13th-14th centuries. western regions pass under power of the Lithuanian princes . The public education that emerged here was not easy: political power was Lithuanian, and cultural life was East Slavic. At the end of the 16th century The Grand Duchy united with Poland . The local population, first of all, the nobility, began to become more or less Polishized, but East Slavic traditions were preserved among the peasants.

In the 16th and 17th centuries on these lands, two nationalities were formed - Ukrainians and Belarusians. The population of the southern regions (the territories of modern Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Vinnitsa, Khmelnitsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi regions, Transcarpathia) experienced a strong influence Turkic peoples with whom they fought and traded. Precisely, here they have developed as united people Ukrainians . In the Polotsk-Minsk, Turov-Pinsk and, possibly, in the Smolensk lands formed Belarusians . Their culture was influenced by Poles, Russians and Lithuanians.

Languages, culture, historical destinies of the East Slavic peoples are close. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians are well aware of this, they remember their common roots. The Russian-Belarusian affinity is especially pronounced.

{2 } Putyata - Novgorod governor.

{3 } Dobrynya -educator and governor of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich; princely governor in Novgorod.

U K R A I N C Y

The word "Ukrainians" first appeared at the end of the 12th century. It denoted the inhabitants of the steppe "outskirts" of Russia, and by the 17th century. so they began to call mainly the population of the Middle Dnieper.

Under the rule of Catholic Poland, Ukrainians, Orthodox by religion, suffered religious harassment and therefore fled to Sloboda Ukraine ( 4 } .

Many of them ended up in the Zaporozhian Sich - a kind of republic of the Ukrainian Cossacks. In 1654, the Left-bank Ukraine united with Russia, receiving autonomy into its composition. However, in the second half of the 18th century, after the annexation of the Right-Bank Ukraine, the tsarist government sharply limited the independence of the Ukrainian lands and liquidated the Zaporozhian Sich.

After the Russian-Turkish warriors of the late 18th century. The Northern Black Sea and Azov regions were annexed to Russia. The new territories were named Novorossiya; they were inhabited mainly by Ukrainians. Then in the composition Russian Empire and entered the Right-bank Ukraine, and in the first third of the 19th century. - Bessarabia and the mouth of the Danube (Ukrainian colonies also arose here).

Now, out of more than 45 million Ukrainians, more than 37 million live in Ukraine and over 4 million in Russia, where they are the second largest Slavic people in the country. In Russia, Ukrainians live mainly in the Russian-Ukrainian borderlands, as well as in the central regions, in the Urals, in Western Siberia; there are many Ukrainians in the Far East. In mixed Russian-Ukrainian regions, they are often called Khokhols - because of the traditional Khokhol on their heads. At first, the nickname was considered offensive, but over time it became familiar and is used as a self-name. One of the ethnologists cites the following statement from a resident of the Belgorod province: "We are Russians, only crests, turn over." Indeed, there is a rapid assimilation of Ukrainians in Russia. In 1989, only 42% of Russian Ukrainians named Ukrainian as their native language, and even less spoke it - 16%. Most of all, urban dwellers became Russified; often only surnames speak about their Ukrainian roots: Bezborodko, Paley, Seroshapko, Kornienko, etc.

{4 } Sloboda Ukraine - modern Kharkov and part of Sumy, Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

TRADITIONS OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE

At the same time, many Ukrainians in Russia, even those who have become Russified to some extent, retain some traditions of their native culture. Their houses in the villages are easy to recognize by clay plastered walls . In Ukrainian you can often see a traditional shirt - with a straight collar slit and rich embroidery . Of course, today they dress in a modern urban way, but on holidays, the old people, and often the young, put on national clothes.

UKRAINIAN FOOD

Russian Ukrainians have well-preserved traditions of folk cuisine. Flour dishes and products are popular: round or oval yeast bread ("palyanitsa", "khlibina"), cakes ("cakes", "platforms"), pancakes, pancakes, pies, noodles, dumplings, dumplings with cottage cheese, potatoes, cherries .

Bake for Christmas and New Year "kalach" , at the meeting of spring - "larks" , at the wedding - "bumps" etc. All sorts of things are on the way porridge and something between porridge and soup - "kulish" from millet and potatoes, seasoned with onions and lard. Of the soups, Ukrainians are the most borscht made from various vegetables and often cereals ; from dairy products - "varenets" (fermented baked milk) and "cheese" (salted cottage cheese).

Ukrainians, unlike Russians, call meat only pork . Common cabbage rolls, aspic, homemade sausage stuffed with pork pieces .

Favorite drinks - herbal tea, dried fruit compote ("uzvar"), various types of kvass ; intoxicating - mash, mead, liqueurs and tinctures .

Many Ukrainian dishes (borscht, dumplings, varenets, etc.) were recognized by neighboring peoples, and the Ukrainians themselves borrowed such foods and drinks as cabbage soup and koumiss.

UKRAINIAN CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF SPIRITUAL CULTURE

The family and social life of Russian Ukrainians is devoid of originality. It everywhere reveals the features of an urban lifestyle and is distinguished by democratic orders. One of the indicators of this is a large number of ethnically mixed families: Ukrainian-Russian, Ukrainian-Belarusian, Ukrainian-Bashkir, etc. However, some customs are still alive today. For example, at a Ukrainian wedding in Russia, you can meet custom "viti giltse" - a branch or tree decorated with flowers and colored ribbons is stuck into the wedding loaf.

The traditions of the rich Ukrainian spiritual culture are partly preserved, in particular folk .Many of them are related to calendar and family holidays let's say Christmas caroling( 5 } , wedding magnificence, etc. Ukrainians love songs , in particular lyrical and comic, as well as (especially the Cossacks) military-historical.

The emergence of an independent Ukrainian state in the 90s 20th century gave impetus to the revival of national identity not only in Ukraine itself, but also among Ukrainians in Russia. Cultural societies and folklore ensembles are being created.

{5 } Carols - ritual songs with the wishes of health, well-being, etc.

B E L O R U S S

The third largest Slavic people in Russia are Belarusians. Belarusian lands became part of the Russian Empire at the end of the 17th century. The names "Belaya Rus" are associated by some scientists with light color hair and white clothes of the population of the country. According to another theory, "White Russia" originally meant "free Russia, independent of the Tatars." In 1840, Nicholas I forbade the official use of the name "Belaya Rus", "Belarus", "Belarusians": the latter became the population of the "North-Western Territory".

Belarusians relatively late realized themselves as a special people. Only in the middle of the 19th century. Belarusian intellectuals put forward the idea of ​​Belarusians as a separate people. However, in broad sections of the population, national self-consciousness was developed slowly and finally formed only after the creation of in 1919 the Byelorussian SSR (since 1991 - the Republic of Belarus).

In Russia, Belarusians have long lived next to Russians in the Smolensk and Pskov regions, as well as in Central Russia, the Volga region and Siberia, where they moved after the Russian-Polish war of the 17th century. and subsequent violent partitions of Poland. Many peasants and artisans left for Russia voluntarily because of the scarcity of Belarusian lands. Large communities Belarusians were formed in Moscow and later in St. Petersburg.

For the 90s. 20th century About 1.2 million Belarusians lived in Russia. Most of them, especially the townspeople, became Russified. By 1989, only a little more than 1/3 recognized the Belarusian language as their mother tongue. According to a sample survey conducted in St. Petersburg in 1992, 1/2 of the polled Belarusians called themselves people of Russian culture, 1/4 - mixed Russian-Belarusian, and only about 10% - Belarusian. Russian Belarusians have a lot of ethnically mixed families - with Russians, Ukrainians, Karelians.

BELARUSIAN CUISINE

In the life of Russian Belarusians, little is left of their traditional culture. The traditions of national cuisine are best preserved.

Belarusians love flour dishes - pancakes, pancakes, pies, cook various cereals and cereals, kulesh, oatmeal and pea jelly.

Although, as the Belarusians say, "usyamu galava is bread," "second bread" is in great use - potato . In traditional cuisine, there are up to 200 dishes from it! Some dishes are supposed to be eaten not with bread, but with cold potatoes. Widespread potato fritters ("pancakes"), potato casserole with lard ("drachonka"), mashed potatoes with lard or milk and eggs ("tavkanitsa", "bulb egg").

Favorite meat of Belarusians - pork .

One of the highlights of the kitchen is "bleached ", i.e. dishes seasoned with milk, most often soups, and vegetable dishes are preferred stew of rutabagas, pumpkins, carrots .

Belarusian folk art

Their Belarusian folklore can be heard in everyday life "drawing" ( 6 } songs they sing at Easter. Such Belarusian dances as "hussars", "myatselitsa", "kryzhachok" and others, accompanied by "refrains", are famous.

In folk art, the traditions of patterned weaving and embroidery on bedspreads, wall rugs, tablecloths, and towels are best preserved. Patterns are mostly geometric or floral.

{6 )Name "dragging" (rite, songs) is associated with the verb "drag", in the meaning of "to go, drag, wander." On Easter Sunday, groups of men (8-10 people each) went around all the houses in the village and sang special songs in which they wished the owners family well-being and a bountiful harvest.

P O L I K I

About 100 thousand Poles live in Russia. Unlike Ukraine and Belarus, Poland does not have common borders with Russia, and therefore, there is no mixed settlement of Poles and Russians. Polish emigrants, as a rule, did not leave their homeland of their own free will. The tsarist government forcibly resettled them after the anti-Russian uprisings of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Some, in search of free land and a better life, voluntarily moved to Siberia. The majority of Russian Poles live in the Tomsk, Omsk and Irkutsk regions, in Altai and in both capitals.

There are many Poles among the Russian intelligentsia. Suffice it to name K.E. Tsiolkovsky, geographer A.L. Chekanovsky, linguist and ethnographer E.K. Pekarsky, ethnographer V. Seroshevsky, artist K.S. Malevich, Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky. In the tsarist army, the Poles made up more than 10% of the officer corps. Polish cultural and educational organizations existed in Russia, and in 1917 territorial and cultural autonomy arose, which was liquidated by 1937. This intensified the Russification of the Poles: in 1989, less than 1/3 of Russian Poles were named Polish language relatives. In the 90s. the restoration of Polish cultural and educational organizations began.

Most Russian Poles live scattered, mostly in cities. Even those who consider themselves Poles by nationality have retained almost nothing from Polish everyday culture. This also applies to food, although certain Polish dishes (for example, "bigos" - fresh or sauerkraut stewed with meat or sausage) are widely used. The Poles are distinguished by religiosity, strictly observe church rites. This feature has become a feature of national identity.

Slavs are the largest this moment In Europe, the Indo-European language group. Within the common Slavic unity, Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Kashubians and Lusatians), Southern Slavs (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Macedonians, Slovenes, Montenegrins) and Eastern Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians, Rusyns) stand out.

The origin of the ethnonym Slavs.

There are several versions of the etymology of the term "Slavs".
1. The meaning of the ethnonym goes back to the word "word", i.e. Slavs are people with the gift of words, unlike foreign-speaking peoples. The version is based on the opposition of one's own - someone else's, which was widespread in antiquity among many peoples. (supporters - L. Niederle, T. Lehr-Splavinsky, R.O. Jacobson.)
2. B.A. Rybakov connects the Slavs with the tribes of the Wends of the Roman authors and interprets the term Slavs as “slavs” + “vene” (i.e. ambassadors of the Wends).
3. The etymology of the word goes back to the Indo-European root -kleu-, one of the meanings of which is “glory” in the concept of fame, celebrity, popularity.
4. The word "Slavs" is associated with a hydronym in the area of ​​​​settlement of one of the tribes and subsequently spread to all other tribes. The epithet r. Dnieper - Slavutych, r. Sluya, a tributary of the Vazuza, Polish. the names of the rivers Svava, Svawisa, the Serbian river Slavnica, etc.
5. The self-name is derived from the Indo-European word -slauos- people (supporters - S. B. Bernstein, I. Yu. Mikkola).

Where did the Slavs come from?

Where did the Slavs come from When determining the territory of the Slavic ancestral home, data from linguistics, toponymy, paleobotany and paleozoology, historical linguistics, anthropology and archeology were used. It was found that the region of the ancestral home should be located in the foothills, where oak, beech and hornbeam grow, in the basin of rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea and should not go to the sea coast. The territory is roughly localized somewhere in the Northern Carpathian region. According to archeology, the first archaeological culture associated with the Slavs proper is the sub-klosh culture of the 5th - 2nd centuries. BC. The area of ​​distribution of this culture is southern Poland, the north of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the southeast of Germany and the Carpathians. This place is associated with the separation of the Slavic language from the Balto-Slavic linguistic community. In the north, the Slavs bordered on the Balts and Germans, in the east with the Iranian-speaking tribes of the Scythians and Sarmatians, in the south with the Illyrians and Thracians, and with the Celts in the west.
The Slavs are sometimes identified with a part of the Scythian cultural region (the so-called Scythians-plowmen), as well as with the ethnonym Wends. So the Finns still call Russia - Veneia, and the Estonians - Venemaa.

Settlement of the Slavs.

By the end of the II century. BC. to the west of the Carpathians, the Przeworsk archaeological culture is localized, and to the east of the Carpathians, the Zarubynets culture, some of whose carriers belong to the Slavs. Settlement of the Slavs Representatives of the Przeworsk culture migrated to the Dnieper, and there in the 2nd century the Chernyakhov archaeological culture was formed, which, along with the Slavs, also included the Iranian-speaking tribes of the Sarmatians.
From the 6th century AD Slavs actively participate in the Great Migration of Nations, reshaping the ethnic map of Europe in a new way. The Slavic stage of the ethnogenesis of Europe is coming. The settlement of the Slavs in Europe took place in three main directions: south to the Balkan Peninsula, north and east along the East European Plain and west to the Middle Danube and the interfluve of the Oder and Elbe.
Three directions of settlement determined the division of the Slavs into three branches: eastern, western and southern. The Tale of Bygone Years lists twelve East Slavic tribal unions inhabiting the territories between the Baltic and Black Seas. Among these tribal unions are Polans, Drevlyans, Dregovichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Krivichi, Slovenes, Dulebs (later divided into Volynians and Buzhans), White Croats, Severians, Ulichs, Tivertsy.

Written testimonies about the Slavs.

Written evidence of the Slavs The earliest references to the Slavs are found in ancient authors of the 1st century BC. n. e (Pliny the Elder, Tacitus). They are the first to mention the Wends, who are usually identified with the Slavs. The Slavs themselves, under the name of the Slavs and Antes, are first spoken of in the middle of the 6th century AD. two authors - the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea and the Goth Jordanes. Below are the most informative testimonies about the Slavs of the two indicated authors.

These [Veneti], as we already told at the beginning of our presentation, precisely when listing the tribes, come from the same root and are now known under three names: Veneti, Antes, Sklavens. Although now, due to our sins, they rage everywhere, but then they all obeyed the power of Germanaric.

Procopius.

These tribes, Slavs and Antes, are not ruled by one person, but since ancient times they live in the government of the people, and therefore they consider happiness and unhappiness in life to be a common thing. And in all other respects, both of these barbarian tribes have the same life and laws. They believe that only one god, the creator of lightning, is the lord over all, and bulls are sacrificed to him and other sacred rites are performed. They do not know fate and do not at all recognize that it has any power in relation to people, and when they are about to face death, whether they are stricken with illness or in a war in a dangerous situation, they make a promise if they are saved, immediately bring a sacrifice to God for your soul; having escaped death, they sacrifice what they promised, and think that their salvation is bought at the price of this sacrifice. They worship rivers, and nymphs, and all sorts of other deities, make sacrifices to all of them and, with the help of the victims, perform divination. They live in miserable huts, on long distance from each other, and all of them often change their place of residence. Entering the battle, most of them go to the enemy with shields and darts in their hands, but they never wear shells; others do not wear shirts or cloaks, but only trousers, pulled up by a wide belt on the hips, and in this form they go to battle with enemies. Both have the same language, rather barbaric. And by appearance they are not different from each other. Highly tall and great strength. The color of their skin and hair is white or golden and not quite black, but they are all dark red. Their way of life, like that of the Massagets, is rough, without any conveniences, they are always covered with mud, but in essence they are not bad and not at all malicious, but they preserve the Hunnic customs in all their purity. In ancient times, both of these tribes were called disputes [scattered], I think because they lived, occupying the country "sporaden", "scattered", in separate villages. That is why they need a lot of land. They live, occupying most of the banks of the Istra, on the other side of the river. I consider sufficient what has been said about this people.
No less interesting are the data on the Slavs of the Byzantine emperor Mauritius the Strategist. The work of Mauritius "Strategikon" was for subsequent generations of Byzantine commanders a kind of textbook on military operations against the Slavs. The information concerns mainly military affairs. The author notes they great amount military tricks. So our ancestors could hide in a pond, breathing through reeds, or use a false retreat technique. Mauritius describes the Slavs as extremely freedom-loving, unpretentious and hardy people who value hospitality most of all, which they have elevated almost to a cult element. On this occasion, the historian of the XIX century Petrushevsky A.F. wrote the following. The Slavs were of good character and very hospitable. Leaving the house, the Slav did not lock the door and left various food on the table, in case a stranger came in. For others, it was not even considered dishonorable if the owner, out of poverty, steals something for a guest. According to the author, Slavic women, after the death of their husband, could prefer death on his grave to the position of a widow. It is also noted that they have some features of patriarchal slavery, so having been a slave for some time, a person could move into the position of a free member of the community.

Literature.
Reader on the history of the USSR. T. I / Comp. V. Lebedev and others. M.: 1940
Rybakov B. A. Paganism of Ancient Russia. M.: Publishing house "Nauka", 1987
Rybakov B. A. Paganism of the ancient Slavs M .: Publishing house "Nauka", 1981
Cornelius Tacitus. Works in two volumes. T.1. Annals. Small works. L.: Nauka, 1969
Sedov V.V. Origin and early history of the Slavs. M.: Publishing house "Science", 1979
Gimbutas M. Slavs. Sons of Perun. M.: 2001.

Blagorad,
Magazine Rodnoverie №1(1) 2009

The origin of the term "Slavs", which has been of great public interest in recent times, is very complex and confusing. The definition of the Slavs as an ethno-confessional community, due to the very large area occupied by the Slavs is often difficult, and the use of the concept of "Slavic community" for political purposes for centuries caused a serious distortion of the picture of the real relationships between the Slavic peoples.

The origin of the term "Slavs" is unknown to modern science. Presumably, it goes back to some common Indo-European root, the semantic content of which is the concept of "man", "people". There are also two theories, one of which derives Latin names Sclavi, Stlavi, Sklaveni from the ending of the names "-glory", which, in turn, is associated with the word "glory". Another theory connects the name "Slavs" with the term "word", citing as evidence the presence of the Russian word "Germans", derived from the word "mute". Both of these theories, however, are refuted by almost all modern linguists, who argue that the suffix "-yanin" unambiguously indicates belonging to a particular locality. Since the area called "Slav" is unknown to history, the origin of the name of the Slavs remains unclear.

Basic knowledge available modern science about the ancient Slavs are based either on the data of archaeological excavations (which in themselves do not provide any theoretical knowledge), or on the basis of chronicles, as a rule, known not in original form, but in the form of later lists, descriptions and interpretations. Obviously, such factual material is completely insufficient for any serious theoretical constructions. Sources of information about the history of the Slavs are discussed below, as well as in the chapters "History" and "Linguistics", but it should immediately be noted that any study in the field of life, life and religion of the ancient Slavs cannot claim anything more than a hypothetical model.

It should also be noted that in the science of the XIX-XX centuries. there was a serious divergence in views on the history of the Slavs between Russian and foreign researchers. On the one hand, it was caused by the special political relations of Russia with other Slavic states, the sharply increased influence of Russia on European politics and the need for a historical (or pseudo-historical) justification for this policy, as well as a backlash against it, including from openly fascist ethnographers - theorists (for example, Ratzel). On the other hand, there were (and are) fundamental differences between the scientific and methodological schools of Russia (especially the Soviet one) and Western countries. The observed discrepancy could not but be affected by religious aspects - the claims of Russian Orthodoxy to a special and exclusive role in the world Christian process, rooted in the history of the baptism of Russia, also required a certain revision of some views on the history of the Slavs.

In the concept of "Slavs" certain peoples are often included with a certain degree of conventionality. A number of nationalities have undergone such significant changes in their history that they can be called Slavic only with great reservations. Many peoples, mainly on the borders of traditional Slavic settlement, have signs of both the Slavs and their neighbors, which requires the introduction of the concept "marginal Slavs". These peoples definitely include the Dakoromanians, Albanians and Illyrians, Leto-Slavs.

Most of the Slavic population, having experienced numerous historical vicissitudes, one way or another mixed with other peoples. Many of these processes took place already in modern times; Thus, Russian settlers in Transbaikalia, having mixed with the local Buryat population, gave rise to a new community known as chaldons. By and large, it makes sense to derive the concept "Mesoslavs" in relation to peoples that have a direct genetic connection only with the Wends, Ants and Sklavens.

It is necessary to use the linguistic method in identifying the Slavs, as suggested by a number of researchers, with extreme caution. There are many examples of such a discrepancy or syncretism in the linguistics of some peoples; for example, the Polab and Kashubian Slavs de facto speak German, and many Balkan peoples have changed their original language beyond recognition several times over the past millennium and a half.

Such a valuable method of research as anthropological, unfortunately, is practically inapplicable to the Slavs, since a single anthropological type, characteristic of the entire habitat of the Slavs, has not been formed. The traditional everyday anthropological characteristics of the Slavs refers mainly to the northern and eastern Slavs, who for centuries assimilated with the Balts and Scandinavians, and cannot be attributed to the eastern, and even more so to the southern Slavs. Moreover, as a result of significant external influences from, in particular, the Muslim conquerors, the anthropological characteristics of not only the Slavs, but also all the inhabitants of Europe, changed significantly. For example, the indigenous inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula during the heyday of the Roman Empire had an appearance characteristic of the inhabitants of the Central Russia XIX c.: light curly hair, blue eyes and rounded faces.

As mentioned above, information about the Proto-Slavs is known to us exclusively from ancient, and later from Byzantine sources of the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. The Greeks and Romans gave completely arbitrary names to the Proto-Slavic peoples, attributing them to the area, appearance, or combat characteristics of the tribes. As a result, there is a certain confusion and redundancy in the names of the Proto-Slavic peoples. At the same time, however, in the Roman Empire, the Slavic tribes were generally called by the terms Stavani, Stlavani, Suoveni, Slavi, Slavini, Sklavini, having obviously common origin, however, leaving wide scope for reasoning about the original meaning of this word, as mentioned above.

Modern ethnography rather conditionally divides the Slavs of the new time into three groups:

Eastern, which includes Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians; some researchers distinguish only the Russian nation, which has three branches: Great Russian, Little Russian and Belarusian;

Western, which include Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Lusatians;

Southern, which include Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Montenegrins.

It is easy to see that this division corresponds more to linguistic differences between peoples than to ethnographic and anthropological ones; Thus, the division of the main population of the former Russian Empire into Russians and Ukrainians is highly controversial, and the unification of the Cossacks, Galicians, Eastern Poles, Northern Moldavians and Hutsuls into one nationality is more about politics than science.

Unfortunately, based on the foregoing, a researcher of Slavic communities can hardly be based on a different method of research and the classification that follows from it than linguistic. However, with all the richness and effectiveness of linguistic methods, in the historical aspect they are very susceptible to external influences, and, as a result, they may turn out to be unreliable in the historical perspective.

Of course, the main ethnographic group of the Eastern Slavs are the so-called Russians, at least in terms of their size. However, with regard to Russians, we can speak only in a general sense, since the Russian nation is a very bizarre synthesis of small ethnographic groups and nationalities.

Three ethnic elements took part in the formation of the Russian nation: Slavic, Finnish and Tatar-Mongolian. Asserting this, however, we cannot definitely say what exactly the original East Slavic type was. A similar uncertainty is observed in relation to the Finns, who are united in one group only due to a certain proximity of the languages ​​of the Baltic Finns proper, Lapps, Livs, Estonians and Magyars. Even less obvious is the genetic origin of the Tatar-Mongols, who, as is known, have a rather distant relation to modern Mongols, and even more so to the Tatars.

A number of researchers believe that the social elite of ancient Russia, which gave the name to the whole people, was a certain people of the Rus, who by the middle of the 10th century. subjugated Slovenian, glade and part of the Krivichi. There are, however, significant differences in the hypotheses about the origin and the very fact of the existence of the Rus. The Norman origin of the Rus is assumed to be from the Scandinavian tribes of the Viking expansion period. This hypothesis was described as early as the 18th century, but was received with hostility by the patriotic-minded part of Russian scientists, headed by Lomonosov. At present, the Norman hypothesis is considered in the West as a basic one, in Russia - as a probable one.

The Slavic hypothesis of the origin of the Rus was formulated by Lomonosov and Tatishchev in defiance of the Norman hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the Rus originate from the Middle Dnieper and are identified with glades. Under this hypothesis, which had official status in the USSR, many archaeological finds in the south of Russia were fitted.

The Indo-Iranian hypothesis suggests the origin of the Rus from the Sarmatian tribes of Roxalans or Rosomones, mentioned by ancient authors, and the name of the people - from the term ruksi- "light coloured". This hypothesis does not stand up to criticism, first of all, due to the dolichocephalicity of the skulls inherent in the burials of that time, which is inherent only to the northern peoples.

There is a strong (and not only in everyday life) belief that the formation of the Russian nation was influenced by a certain nation called the Scythians. Meanwhile, in the scientific sense, this term has no right to exist, since the concept of "Scythians" is no less generalized than "Europeans", and includes dozens, if not hundreds of nomadic peoples of Turkic, Aryan and Iranian origin. Naturally, these nomadic peoples, in one way or another, had a certain influence on the formation of the eastern and southern Slavs, but it is completely wrong to consider this influence decisive (or critical).

As the Eastern Slavs spread, they mixed not only with the Finns and Tatars, but also, somewhat later, with the Germans.

The main ethnographic group of modern Ukraine are the so-called little Russians, living on the territory of the Middle Dnieper and Slobozhanshchina, also called Cherkasy. Two ethnographic groups are also distinguished: Carpathian (Boikos, Hutsuls, Lemkos) and Polissya (Litvins, Polishchuks). The formation of the Little Russian (Ukrainian) people took place in the XII-XV centuries. based on the southwestern part of the population of Kievan Rus and genetically differed little from the indigenous Russian nation that had formed by the time of the baptism of Rus. In the future, there was a partial assimilation of a part of the Little Russians with the Hungarians, Lithuanians, Poles, Tatars and Romanians.

Belarusians, calling themselves so by the geographical term "White Russia", are a complex synthesis of Dregovichi, Radimichi and partially Vyatichi with Poles and Lithuanians. Initially, until the 16th century, the term "White Russia" was applied exclusively to the Vitebsk region and northeastern Mogilev region, while the western part of the modern Minsk and Vitebsk regions, together with the territory of the present Grodno region, were called "Black Russia", and the southern part modern Belarus- Polissya. These areas became part of "Belaya Rus" much later. Subsequently, the Belarusians absorbed the Polotsk Krivichi, and some of them were pushed back to the Pskov and Tver lands. Russian name Belarusian-Ukrainian mixed population - Polishchuks, Litvins, Rusyns, Ruthenians.

Polabian Slavs(Wends) - the indigenous Slavic population of the north, northwest and east of the territory occupied by modern Germany. The composition of the Polabian Slavs includes three tribal unions: Lutichi (velets or Velets), Bodrichi (encouraged, rereki or rarogs) and Lusatians (Lusatian Serbs or Sorbs). At present, the entire Polabian population is completely Germanized.

Lusatians(Lusatian Serbs, Sorbs, Wends, Serbs) - the indigenous Mesoslavic population lives on the territory of Lusatia - the former Slavic regions, now located in Germany. They originate from the Polabian Slavs, occupied in the 10th century. German feudal lords.

Extremely southern Slavs, conditionally united under the name "Bulgarians", represent seven ethnographic groups: Dobrujantsi, Khartsoi, Balkanji, Thracians, Ruptsi, Macedonians, Shopi. These groups differ significantly not only in language, but also in customs, social structure and culture in general, and the final formation of a single Bulgarian community has not been completed even in our time.

Initially, the Bulgarians lived on the Don, when the Khazars, after moving to the west, founded a large kingdom on the lower Volga. Under the pressure of the Khazars, part of the Bulgarians moved to the lower Danube, forming modern Bulgaria, and the other part to the middle Volga, where they subsequently mixed with the Russians.

The Balkan Bulgarians mixed with the local Thracians; in modern Bulgaria, elements of the Thracian culture can be traced south of the Balkan Range. With the expansion of the First Bulgarian Kingdom, new tribes entered the generalized people of the Bulgarians. A significant part of the Bulgarians assimilated with the Turks in the period of the 15th-19th centuries.

Croatians- a group of southern Slavs (self-name - hrvati). The ancestors of the Croats are the tribes of Kachichi, Shubichi, Svachichi, Magorovichi, Kroats, who moved along with other Slavic tribes to the Balkans in the 6th-7th centuries, and then settled in the north of the Dalmatian coast, in southern Istria, between the Sava and Drava rivers, in northern Bosnia .

Actually, the Croats, who form the backbone of the Croatian group, are most of all related to the Slavons.

In 806, the Croats fell under the rule of Thrace, in 864 - Byzantium, in 1075 they formed their own kingdom.

At the end of the XI - beginning of the XII centuries. the main part of the Croatian lands was included in the Kingdom of Hungary, resulting in significant assimilation with the Hungarians. In the middle of the XV century. Venice (back in the 11th century, seized part of Dalmatia) took possession of the Croatian Primorye (with the exception of Dubrovnik). In 1527, Croatia gained independence, falling under the rule of the Habsburgs.

In 1592, part of the Croatian kingdom was conquered by the Turks. A military frontier was created to protect against the Ottomans; its inhabitants, the frontiers, are Croats, Slavonians and Serb refugees.

In 1699, Turkey ceded to Austria the occupied part, among other lands, according to the Karlovtsy peace. In 1809-1813. Croatia was annexed to the Illyrian provinces ceded to Napoleon I. From 1849 to 1868. together with Slavonia, the coastal region and Fiume, it constituted an independent crown land, in 1868 it was again united with Hungary, and in 1881 the Slovak border region was annexed to the latter.

A small group of South Slavs - Illyrians, later inhabitants of ancient Illyria, west of Thessaly and Macedonia, and east of Italy and Rhetia as far north as the river Istra. The most significant of the Illyrian tribes are: Dalmatians, Liburnians, Istrians, Japodes, Pannonians, Desitiates, Pirusts, Dicyons, Dardani, Ardei, Taulantii, Plerei, Iapigi, Messaps.

At the beginning of the III century. BC e. the Illyrians were subjected to Celtic influence, as a result of which a group of Illyro-Celtic tribes was formed. As a result of the Illyrian Wars with Rome, the Illyrians underwent rapid romanization, as a result of which their language disappeared.

From the Illyrians are descended modern Albanians and dalmatians.

In formation Albanians(self-name shchiptar, known in Italy as arbreshi, in Greece as arvanites) the tribes of the Illyrians and Thracians took part, and the influence of Rome and Byzantium also affected it. The community of Albanians was formed relatively late, in the 15th century, but it was strongly influenced by the Ottoman domination, which destroyed economic ties between the communities. At the end of the XVIII century. Albanians formed two main ethnic groups: the Ghegs and the Tosks.

Romanians(Dakorumyns), until the 12th century, were a pastoral mountain people who did not have a stable place of residence, are not in pure form Slavs. Genetically, they are a mixture of Dacians, Illyrians, Romans and South Slavs.

Aromanians(Aromans, Tsintsars, Kutsovlachs) are the descendants of the ancient Romanized population of Moesia. With a high degree of probability, the ancestors of the Aromanians until the 9th - 10th centuries lived in the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula and are not an autochthonous population in the territory of their present residence, i.e. in Albania and Greece. Linguistic analysis shows the almost complete identity of the vocabulary of the Aromanians and Dakoromanians, which indicates that these two peoples have been in close contact for a long time. Byzantine sources also testify to the resettlement of the Aromanians.

Origin Megleno-Romanian not fully explored. There is no doubt that they belong to the eastern part of the Romanians, which was subjected to a long influence of the Dakoromanians, and are not an autochthonous population in the places of modern residence, i.e. in Greece.

Istro-Romanians represent the western part of the Romanians, currently living in small numbers in the eastern part of the Istrian peninsula.

Origin Gagauz, people living in almost all Slavic and neighboring countries (mainly in Bessarabia), is highly controversial. According to one of the widespread versions, this Orthodox people, who speak the specific Gagauz language of the Turkic group, are Turkified Bulgarians mixed with the Polovtsy of the southern Russian steppes.

Southwestern Slavs, currently united under the code name "Serbs"(self-designation - srbi), as well as singling out of them Montenegrins and Bosnians, are assimilated descendants of the Serbs themselves, Duklyans, Tervunyans, Konavlyans, Zakhlumyans, named, who occupied a significant part of the territory in the basin of the southern tributaries of the Sava and Danube, the Dinaric Mountains, south. part of the Adriatic coast. The modern southwestern Slavs are divided into regional ethnic groups: the Shumadians, the Uzhians, the Moravians, the Machvans, the Kosovians, the Srems, and the Banachans.

Bosnians(Bosanians, self-name - Muslims) live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In fact, they are Serbs who mixed with Croats and converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation. The Turks, Arabs, Kurds who moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina mixed with the Bosnians.

Montenegrins(self-name - "tsrnogortsy") live in Montenegro and Albania, genetically differ little from the Serbs. Unlike most Balkan countries, Montenegro actively resisted the Ottoman yoke, as a result of which, in 1796, it gained independence. As a result, the level of Turkish assimilation of Montenegrins is minimal.

The center of settlement of the southwestern Slavs is the historical region of Raska, which unites the basins of the Drina, Lim, Piva, Tara, Ibar, Western Morava rivers, where in the second half of the 8th century. happened early state. In the middle of the ninth century the Serbian principality was created; in the X-XI centuries. the center of political life moved to the south-west of Raska, to Duklja, Travuniya, Zakhumya, then again to Raska. Then, at the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV centuries, Serbia entered the Ottoman Empire.

Western Slavs, known by their modern name "Slovaks"(self-name - Slovaks), on the territory of modern Slovakia began to prevail from the VI century. AD Moving from the southeast, the Slovaks partially absorbed the former Celtic, Germanic, and then the Avar population. The southern areas of Slovak settlement in the 7th century were probably within the borders of the state of Samo. In the ninth century along the course of the Vah and Nitra, the first tribal principality of the early Slovaks arose - Nitra, or the principality of Pribina, which around 833 joined the Moravian principality - the core of the future Great Moravian state. At the end of the ninth century The Great Moravian principality collapsed under the onslaught of the Hungarians, after which its eastern regions by the XII century. became part of Hungary, and later Austria-Hungary.

The term "Slovaks" appeared from the middle of the 15th century; earlier, the inhabitants of this territory were called "Slovenia", "Slovenka".

The second group of Western Slavs - Poles, formed as a result of the unification of the Western shy; Slavic tribes of the glades, slenzan, vislyans, mazovshans, pomeranians. Until the end of the XIX century. there was no single Polish nation: the Poles were divided into several large ethnic groups, which differed in dialects and some ethnographic features: in the west - Velikopoliane (which included the Kuyavians), Lenchitsans and Seradzians; in the south - the Malopolyans, whose group included the Gorals (the population of mountainous regions), Krakovians and Sandomierz; in Silesia - slenzan (slenzaks, Silesians, among whom there were Poles, Silesian Gorals, etc.); in the north-east - Mazury (they included Kurpi) and Warmiaks; on the coast of the Baltic Sea - the Pomeranians, and in Pomorie the Kashubians were especially prominent, retaining the specifics of their language and culture.

The third group of Western Slavs - Czechs(self-name - Cheshi). The Slavs as part of the tribes (Czechs, Croats, Luchians, Zlichans, Dechans, Pshovans, Litomers, Hebans, Glomachs) became the predominant population in the territory of modern Czech Republic in the 6th-7th centuries, assimilating the remnants of the Celtic and Germanic population.

In the ninth century The Czech Republic was part of the Great Moravian Empire. At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries. the Czech (Prague) principality was formed, in the X century. included Moravia in their lands. From the second half of the XII century. The Czech Republic became part of the Holy Roman Empire; further, German colonization took place on the Czech lands, in 1526 the power of the Habsburgs was established.

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. the revival of Czech identity began, which ended, with the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, with the formation of the national state of Czechoslovakia, which in 1993 broke up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

As part of the modern Czech Republic, the population of the Czech Republic proper and the historical region of Moravia stand out, where regional groups of Horaks, Moravian Slovaks, Moravian Vlachs and Hanaks are preserved.

Leto-Slavs are considered the youngest branch of the North European Aryans. They live to the east of the middle Vistula and have significant anthropological differences from the Lithuanians living in the same area. According to a number of researchers, the Leto-Slavs, having mixed with the Finns, reached the middle Main and Inn, and only later were partially forced out, and partially assimilated by the Germanic tribes.

Intermediate nationality between the southwestern and western Slavs - slovenes, currently occupying the extreme north-west of the Balkan Peninsula, from the upper reaches of the Sava and Drava rivers to the eastern Alps and the Adriatic coast up to the Friuli valley, as well as in the Middle Danube and Lower Pannonia. This territory was occupied by them during the mass migration of Slavic tribes to the Balkans in the 6th-7th centuries, forming two Slovenian regions - the Alpine (Karantans) and the Danubian (Pannonian Slavs).

From the middle of the ninth century most of the Slovenian lands came under the rule of southern Germany, as a result of which Catholicism began to spread there.

In 1918, the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created under the common name of Yugoslavia.

SLAVS- the largest group of European peoples, united by a common origin and linguistic proximity in the system of Indo-European languages. Its representatives are divided into three subgroups: southern (Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosnians), eastern (Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians) and western (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians). The total number of Slavs in the world is about 300 million people, including Bulgarians 8.5 million, Serbs about 9 million, Croats 5.7 million, Slovenes 2.3 million, Macedonians about 2 million, Montenegrins less 1 million, about 2 million Bosnians, 146 million Russians (120 million of them in Russia), 46 million Ukrainians, 10.5 million Belarusians, 44.5 million Poles, 11 million Czechs, less than 6 Slovaks million, Lusatians - about 60 thousand. Slavs make up the bulk of the population of the Russian Federation, the Republics of Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, the State Community of Serbia and Montenegro, they also live in the Baltic republics, Hungary, Greece, Germany, Austria, Italy, in Americas and Australia. Most Slavs are Christians, with the exception of the Bosnians, who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule over southern Europe. Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Russians - mostly Orthodox; Croats, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatians are Catholics, there are many Orthodox among Ukrainians and Belarusians, but there are also Catholics and Uniates.

The data of archeology and linguistics connect the ancient Slavs with a vast area of ​​Central and Eastern Europe, bounded in the west by the Elbe and Oder, in the north by the Baltic Sea, in the east by the Volga, in the south by the Adriatic. The northern neighbors of the Slavs were the Germans and the Balts, the eastern neighbors were the Scythians and Sarmatians, the southern neighbors were the Thracians and Illyrians, and the western neighbors were the Celts. The question of the ancestral home of the Slavs remains debatable. Most researchers believe that it was the Vistula basin. Ethnonym Slavs first found among Byzantine authors of the 6th century, who called them "sklavins". This word is related to the Greek verb "klukso" ("I wash") and the Latin "kluo" ("I cleanse"). The self-name of the Slavs goes back to the Slavic lexeme "word" (that is, the Slavs - those who speak, understand each other through verbal speech, considering strangers incomprehensible, "dumb").

The ancient Slavs were the descendants of the pastoral and agricultural tribes of the Corded Ware culture, who settled in 3-2 thousand BC. from the Northern Black Sea and Carpathian regions across Europe. In the 2nd century AD, as a result of the movement to the south of the Germanic tribes of the Goths, the integrity of the Slavic territory was violated, and it was divided into western and eastern. In the 5th c. the settlement of the Slavs to the south began - to the Balkans and the North-Western Black Sea region. At the same time, however, they retained all their lands in Central and Eastern Europe, becoming the largest ethnic group for that time.

The Slavs were engaged in arable farming, cattle breeding, various crafts, and lived in neighboring communities. Numerous wars and territorial movements contributed to the collapse of the 6-7 centuries. family ties. In the 6th–8th centuries many of the Slavic tribes united in tribal unions and created the first state formations: in the 7th century. the First Bulgarian kingdom and the state of Samo, which included the lands of the Slovaks, arose in the 8th century. - the Serbian state of Raska, in the 9th century. - The Great Moravian state, which absorbed the lands of the Czechs, as well as the first state of the Eastern Slavs - Kievan Rus, the first independent Croatian principality and state of the Montenegrins of Duklja. Then - in the 9th-10th centuries. - Christianity began to spread among the Slavs, which quickly became the dominant religion.

From the end of the 9th to the first half of the 10th century, when the state was still being formed among the Poles, and the Serbian lands were gradually being collected by the First Bulgarian Empire, the advance of the Hungarian tribes (Magyars) into the valley of the middle Danube began, which intensified by the 8th century. The Magyars cut off the Western Slavs from the southern ones, assimilated part of the Slavic population. The Slovenian principalities of Styria, Krajina, Carinthia became part of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 10th c. the lands of the Czechs and Lusatians (the only one of the Slavic peoples who did not have time to create their own statehood) also fell into the epicenter of colonization - but already the Germans. Thus, the Czechs, Slovenes and Lusatians were gradually included in the powers created by the Germans and Austrians and became their border districts. Participating in the affairs of these powers, the listed Slavic peoples organically merged into the civilization of Western Europe, becoming part of its socio-political, economic, cultural, and religious subsystems. Having retained some typical Slavic ethno-cultural elements, they acquired a stable set of features that are characteristic of the Germanic peoples in family and public life, in national utensils, clothing and cuisine, in types of dwellings and settlements, in dances and music, in folklore and applied arts. Even in anthropological terms, this part of the Western Slavs acquired stable features that bring it closer to the southern Europeans and the inhabitants of Central Europe (Austrians, Bavarians, Thuringians, etc.). The coloring of the spiritual life of the Czechs, Slovenes, Lusatians began to be determined by the German version of Catholicism; have undergone changes, the lexical and grammatical structure of their languages.

Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins formed during the Middle Ages, 8-9 centuries, southern Greek-Slavic natural-geographical and historical-cultural area. All of them were in the orbit of influence of Byzantium, adopted in the 9th century. Christianity in its Byzantine (orthodox) version, and with it Cyrillic writing. In the future - in the conditions of the ongoing onslaught of other cultures and the strong influence of Islam after the beginning of the second half of the 14th century. Turkish (Ottoman) conquest - Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins successfully preserved the specifics of the spiritual system, features of family and social life, original cultural forms. In the struggle for their identity in the Ottoman environment, they took shape as South Slavic ethnic formations. At the same time, small groups of Slavic peoples converted to Islam during the period of Ottoman rule. Bosnians - from the Slavic communities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turks - from Montenegrins, Pomaks - from Bulgarians, Torbeshi - from Macedonians, Mohammedan Serbs - from the Serbian environment experienced a strong Turkish influence and therefore assumed the role of "border" subgroups of the Slavic peoples, connecting representatives Slavs with Middle Eastern ethnic groups.

Northern historical and cultural range Orthodox Slavs developed in the 8th-9th centuries on a large territory occupied by the Eastern Slavs from the Northern Dvina and the White Sea to the Black Sea region, from the Western Dvina to the Volga and Oka. Started at the beginning of the 12th century. the processes of feudal fragmentation of the Kievan state led to the formation of many East Slavic principalities, which formed two stable branches of the Eastern Slavs: the eastern (Great Russians or Russians, Russians) and the western (Ukrainians, Belarusians). Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians as independent peoples developed, according to various estimates, after the conquest of the East Slavic lands by the Mongol-Tatars, the yoke and the collapse of the state of the Mongols, the Golden Horde, that is, in the 14-15 centuries. The state of the Russians - Russia (called Muscovy on European maps) - first united the lands along the upper Volga and Oka, the upper reaches of the Don and the Dnieper. After the conquest in the 16th century. Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, the Russians expanded the territory of their settlement: they advanced into the Volga region, the Urals, and Siberia. Ukrainians after the fall of the Crimean Khanate settled the Black Sea region and, together with the Russians, the steppe and foothill regions North Caucasus. A significant part of the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands were in the 16th century. as part of the united Polish-Lithuanian state of the Commonwealth, and only in the middle of the 17-18 centuries. was again for a long time attached to the Russians. The Eastern Slavs managed more fully than the Balkan Slavs (who were either under the Greek spiritual and intellectual, then under the Ottoman military and administrative pressure) and a significant part of the Germanized Western Slavs, to preserve the features of their traditional culture, mental and mental warehouse (non-violence, tolerance, etc.) .

A significant part of the Slavic ethnic groups that lived in Eastern Europe from Jadran to the Baltic - they were partly Western Slavs (Poles, Kashubians, Slovaks) and partly southern (Croats) - in the Middle Ages formed their own special cultural and historical area, gravitating towards Western Europe more, than to the southern and eastern Slavs. This area united those Slavic peoples who adopted Catholicism, but avoided active Germanization and Magyarization. Their position in the Slavic world is similar to a group of small Slavic ethnic communities that combined the features inherent in the Eastern Slavs with the features of the peoples living in Western Europe - both Slavic (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs) and non-Slavic (Hungarians, Lithuanians) . These are Lemkos (on the Polish-Slovak border), Rusyns, Transcarpathians, Hutsuls, Boikos, Galicians in Ukraine and Chernorusses (West Belarusians) in Belarus, who gradually separated from other ethnic groups.

The relatively late ethnic division of the Slavic peoples, the commonality of their historical destinies contributed to the preservation of the consciousness of the Slavic community. This is self-determination in the conditions of a foreign cultural environment - Germans, Austrians, Magyars, Ottomans, and similar circumstances of national development caused by the loss of statehood by many of them (most of the Western and southern Slavs were part of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, Ukrainians and Belarusians - in part of the Russian Empire). Already in the 17th century. among the southern and western Slavs there was a tendency to unite all Slavic lands and peoples. A prominent ideologist of Slavic unity at that time was a Croat serving at the Russian court, Yuri Krizhanich.

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. the rapid growth of national self-consciousness among almost all previously oppressed Slavic peoples expressed itself in the desire for national consolidation, resulting in a struggle for the preservation and dissemination national languages, the creation of national literatures (the so-called "Slavic revival"). Early 19th century marked the beginning of scientific Slavic studies - the study of cultures and ethnic history southern, eastern, western Slavs.

From the second half of the 19th century the desire of many Slavic peoples to create their own, independent states became obvious. Socio-political organizations began to operate on the Slavic lands, contributing to the further political awakening of the Slavic peoples who did not have their own statehood (Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Poles, Lusatians, Czechs, Ukrainians, Belarusians). Unlike the Russians, whose statehood was not lost even during the yoke of the Horde and had a history of nine centuries, as well as the Bulgarians and Montenegrins, who gained independence after Russia's victory in the war with Turkey in 1877–1878, most of the Slavic peoples were still fighting for independence.

National oppression and the difficult economic situation of the Slavic peoples in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. caused several waves of their emigration to more developed European countries in the USA and Canada, to a lesser extent - France, Germany. The total number of Slavic peoples in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. was about 150 million people (Russians - 65 million, Ukrainians - 31 million, Belarusians 7 million; Poles 19 million, Czechs 7 million, Slovaks 2.5 million; Serbs and Croats 9 million, Bulgarians 5 .5 million, Slovenes 1.5 million) At that time, the bulk of the Slavs lived in Russia (107.5 million people), Austria-Hungary (25 million people), Germany (4 million people) , countries of America (3 million people).

After the First World War of 1914–1918, international acts fixed the new borders of Bulgaria, the emergence of the multinational Slavic states of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia (where, however, some Slavic peoples dominated others), and the restoration of national statehood among the Poles. In the early 1920s, it was announced the creation of their own states - socialist republics - Ukrainians and Belarusians, who entered the USSR; however, the trend towards Russification of the cultural life of these Eastern Slavic peoples - which became apparent during the existence of the Russian Empire - continued.

The solidarity of the southern, western and eastern Slavs grew stronger during the Second World War of 1939-1945, in the fight against fascism and the "ethnic cleansing" carried out by the occupiers (they meant the physical destruction of a number of Slavic peoples as well). During these years, Serbs, Poles, Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians suffered more than others. At the same time, the Slavophobic Nazis did not consider Slovenes to be Slavs (having restored Slovenian statehood in 1941–1945), Lusatians were classified as East Germans (Swabians, Saxons), that is, the regional peoples (Landvolken) of German Middle Europe, and the contradictions between Croats and Serbs used to their advantage, supporting Croatian separatism.

After 1945, practically all Slavic peoples ended up in states called socialist or people's democratic republics. The existence of contradictions and conflicts on ethnic grounds was silent for decades, but they emphasized the advantages of cooperation, both economic (for which the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance was created, which existed for almost half a century, 1949–1991), and military-political (within the framework of the Warsaw Pact Organization, 1955–1991). However, the era of "velvet revolutions" in the countries of people's democracy in the 90s of the 20th century. not only revealed underlying discontent, but also led the former multinational states to a rapid fragmentation. Under the influence of these processes, which engulfed the whole of Eastern Europe, free elections were held in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the USSR and new independent Slavic states. In addition to positive aspects, this process also had negative ones - the weakening of existing economic ties, areas of cultural and political interaction.

The tendency for Western Slavs to gravitate toward Western European ethnic groups continues into the early 21st century. Some of them act as conductors of that Western European "onslaught on the East" that emerged after 2000. This is the role of the Croats in the Balkan conflicts, the Poles - in maintaining separatist tendencies in Ukraine and Belarus. At the same time, at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. the question of the common destinies of all the Eastern Slavs again became topical: Ukrainians, Belarusians, Great Russians, as well as the southern Slavs. In connection with the intensification of the Slavic movement in Russia and abroad, in 1996-1999 several agreements were signed, which are a step towards the formation of a union state of Russia and Belarus. In June 2001, a congress of the Slavic peoples of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia was held in Moscow; in September 2002, the Slavic Party of Russia was founded in Moscow. In 2003, the State Community of Serbia and Montenegro was formed, which declared itself the legal successor of Yugoslavia. The ideas of Slavic unity are regaining their relevance.

Lev Pushkarev