Slav - who is this? History and myths of the Slavs. Western Slavs

Slavic countries are states that have existed or still exist, with most of their population of Slavs (Slavic peoples). The Slavic countries of the world are those countries in which the Slavic population is about eighty to ninety percent.

What countries are Slavic?

Slavic countries of Europe:

But still, to the question “the population of which country belongs to the Slavic group?” The answer immediately suggests itself - Russia. The population of the Slavic countries today is about three hundred million people. But there are other countries in which Slavic peoples live (these are European states, North America, Asia) and speak Slavic languages.

The countries of the Slavic group can be divided into:

• West Slavic.
• East Slavic.
• South Slavic.

Languages ​​in Slavic countries

The languages ​​in these countries originated from one common language (it is called Proto-Slavic), which once existed among the ancient Slavs. It was formed in the second half of the first millennium AD. It is not surprising that most of the words are consonant (for example, Russian and Ukrainian languages ​​are very similar). There are also similarities in grammar, sentence structure, and phonetics. This is easy to explain if we take into account the duration of contacts between the inhabitants of the Slavic states. The lion's share in the structure of the Slavic languages ​​is occupied by Russian. Its carriers are 250 million people.

Interestingly, the flags of the Slavic countries also have some similarities in color scheme, in the presence of longitudinal stripes. Does it have something to do with their common origin? More likely yes than no.

The countries where Slavic languages ​​are spoken are not so numerous. Nevertheless, Slavic languages ​​still exist and flourish. And it's been hundreds of years! This only means that the Slavic people are the most powerful, steadfast, unshakable. It is important that the Slavs do not lose the originality of their culture, respect for their ancestors, honor them and keep traditions.

Today there are many organizations (both in Russia and abroad) that revive and restore Slavic culture, Slavic holidays, even names for their children!

The first Slavs appeared in the second or third millennium BC. It goes without saying that the birth of this mighty people took place in the region of modern Russia and Europe. Over time, the tribes developed new territories, but still they could not (or did not want to) go far from their ancestral home. By the way, depending on the migration, the Slavs were divided into eastern, western, southern (each branch had its own name). They had differences in lifestyle, agriculture, some traditions. But still the Slavic "core" remained intact.

A major role in the life of the Slavic peoples was played by the emergence of statehood, war, and mixing with other ethnic groups. The emergence of separate Slavic states, on the one hand, greatly reduced the migration of the Slavs. But, on the other hand, from that moment on, their mixing with other nationalities also fell sharply. This allowed the Slavic gene pool to firmly gain a foothold on the world stage. This affected both the appearance (which is unique) and the genotype (hereditary traits).

Slavic countries during World War II

The Second World War brought great changes to the countries of the Slavic group. For example, in 1938 the Czechoslovak Republic lost its territorial unity. The Czech Republic ceased to be independent, and Slovakia became a German colony. The following year, the Commonwealth came to an end, and in 1940 the same thing happened with Yugoslavia. Bulgaria sided with the Nazis.

But there were also positive aspects. For example, the formation of anti-fascist trends and organizations. A common misfortune rallied the Slavic countries. They fought for independence, for peace, for freedom. Especially such movements gained popularity in Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia.

The Soviet Union played a key role in World War II. The citizens of the country selflessly fought against the Hitler regime, against the cruelty of the German soldiers, against the Nazis. The country has lost a huge number of its defenders.

Some Slavic countries during the Second World War were united by the All-Slavic Committee. The latter was created by the Soviet Union.

What is Pan-Slavism?

The concept of pan-Slavism is interesting. This is a direction that appeared in the Slavic states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was aimed at uniting all the Slavs of the world on the basis of their national, cultural, everyday, linguistic community. Pan-Slavism promoted the independence of the Slavs, praised their originality.

The colors of Pan-Slavism were white, blue and red (the same colors appear on many national flags). The emergence of such a direction as pan-Slavism began after the Napoleonic wars. Weakened and "tired", the countries supported each other in difficult times. But over time, Pan-Slavism began to be forgotten. But now there is again a tendency to return to the origins, to the ancestors, to the Slavic culture. Perhaps this will lead to the formation of the Neo-Pan-Slavist movement.

Slavic countries today

The twenty-first century is a time of some kind of discord in the relations of the Slavic countries. This is especially true for Russia, Ukraine, EU countries. The reasons here are more political and economic. But despite the discord, many residents of countries (from the Slavic group) remember that all the descendants of the Slavs are brothers. Therefore, none of them wants wars and conflicts, but only warm family relations, as our ancestors once had.

Slavic countries

The history of the formation of the Slavic state

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. South Slavic peoples live in the Balkans: 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 Ants, whom many scientists consider the direct predecessors of the 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 of ancient Russian art, and 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 Rus', 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 state formation that arose here turned out to be difficult: the political power was Lithuanian, and the 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 16-17 centuries. on these lands, two nationalities were formed - Ukrainians and Belarusians. The population of the southern regions (the territories of modern Kiev, Poltava, Chernihiv, Vinnitsa, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Chernivtsi regions, Transcarpathia) experienced a strong influence of the 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 Rus', 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, 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. At the same time, the Right-Bank Ukraine became part of the Russian Empire, 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 residents 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 (borsch, 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 the light hair color and white clothes of the country's population. According to another theory, "White Russia" originally meant "free Rus', 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 of Belarusians 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 "to 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 a 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 called Polish their native language. 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.

The Slavs are one of the most ancient peoples of the European continent. Its culture dates back many centuries and is distinguished by unique features.

Today, few people know about the origin and life of the ancient Slavs. The Slavic video can be downloaded online, which can be found on one of the specialized sites, to learn about this.

South Slavs

Peoples are groups that spread over a large area of ​​Europe. According to some experts, their number is more than 350 million people.

The South Slavs are a group of peoples who, by coincidence, found their home closer to the south of the mainland. These include people living in the following countries:

• Bulgaria;
• Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Macedonia;
• Slovenia;
• Montenegro;
• Serbia;
• Croatia.

This group of people inhabits almost all the Balkans and the Adriatic coast. Today, the culture of these peoples is undergoing significant changes under the influence of Western peoples.

Eastern and Western Slavs

Western peoples are indigenous descendants, since it was from these places that the resettlement took place.

This group includes descendants of several nationalities:

• Poles;
• Czechs;
• Slovaks;
• Kashubians;
• Lusatians.

The last two peoples are distinguished by a small number, therefore they do not have their own states. The place of residence of the Kashubians is Poland. As for the Lusatians, certain groups are found in Saxony and Brandenburg. All these peoples have their own culture and values. But it should be understood that there is no clear division between nationalities, as there is a constant movement of people and their mixing.

Eastern Slavs live on the territory of several states:

• Ukraine;
• Belarus;
• Russia.

As for the latter, the Slavs did not settle throughout the country. They live near all other peoples that have spread near the Dnieper and Polissya.

It should be noted that the culture of the Slavs was amenable to a certain change. This is due to the fact that many territories were under the influence of neighboring peoples for a long time.

Thus, the southern peoples absorbed some of the traditions of the Greeks and Turks. In turn, the Eastern Slavs were under the Tatar-Mongol yoke for a long time, which also contributed to their language and cultural values.

Slavic peoples are a unique group of people, distinguished by unconventional thinking and beautiful traditions.

All Slavic peoples are usually divided into 3 groups: Western Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks, Poles), Eastern Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) and Southern Slavs (Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Bulgarians).

East Slavic group

According to the 1989 census

There were 145.2 Russians in the USSR

million people, Ukrainians - 44.2 million people, Belarusians - 10 million people. Russians and Ukrainians have always been the most numerous nationalities in the USSR, Belarusians in the 1960s gave way to Uzbeks in third place (16.7 million people in 1989).

Until recently, the name "Russians" was often indiscriminately assigned to all Eastern Slavs. Between the 10th and 13th centuries The center of Rus' was Kyiv and its inhabitants were known as "Rusichi". But as political conditions contributed to the strengthening of linguistic and cultural differences between the territorial groups of the Eastern Slavs, they divided into Little Russians (Ukrainians), Belorussians (Belarusians) and Great Russians (Russians).

Over the centuries of territorial expansion, the Russians assimilated the Varangians, Tatars, Finno-Ugric peoples and dozens of peoples of Siberia. All of them left their linguistic traces, but did not noticeably affect the Slavic identity. While Russians migrated throughout northern Eurasia, Ukrainians and Belarusians continued to inhabit their compact ethnic ranges. The modern borders of the three states roughly correspond to ethnic borders, but all Slavic territories have never been nationally homogeneous. Ethnic Ukrainians in 1989 made up 72.7% of the population of their republic, Belarusians - 77.9%, and Russians - 81.5%. 1

There were 119,865.9 thousand Russians in the Russian Federation in 1989. In other republics of the former USSR, the Russian population was distributed as follows: in Ukraine it was 1,1355.6 thousand people. (22% of the population of the republic), in Kazakhstan - 6227.5 thousand people. (37.8% respectively), Uzbekistan - 1653.5 thousand people. (8%), Belarus - 1342 thousand people. (13.2% of the population of the republic), Kyrgyzstan - 916.6 thousand people. (21.5% of the population of the republic), Latvia - 905.5 thousand people. (37.6% of the population of the republic), Moldova - 562 thousand people. (13% of the population of the republic), Estonia - 474.8 thousand people. (30% of the population of the republic), Azerbaijan - 392.3 thousand people. (5.5% of the population of the republic), Tajikistan - 388.5

thousand people (7.6% of the population of the republic), Georgia - 341.2

thousand people (6.3% of the population of the republic), Lithuania - 344.5

thousand people (9.3% of the population of the republic), Turkmenistan - 333.9 thousand people. (9.4% of the population of the republic), Armenia - 51.5 thousand people. (1.5% of the population of the republic). In the far abroad, the Russian population as a whole is 1.4 million people, the majority live in the USA (1 million people).

The emergence of regional differences among the Russian people dates back to the feudal period. Even among the ancient East Slavic tribes, differences in material culture between north and south were noted. These differences intensified further after active ethnic contacts and assimilation of the non-Slavic population of Asia and Eastern Europe. The formation of regional differences was also facilitated by the presence of a special military population on the borders. According to ethnographic and dialectological features, the differences between the Russians of the north and the south of European Russia are most noticeable. Between them there is a wide intermediate zone - Central Russian, where northern and southern features are combined in spiritual and material culture. The Volgars - Russians of the Middle and Lower Volga regions - are distinguished into a separate regional group.

Ethnographers and linguists also distinguish three transitional groups: western (inhabitants of the basins of the rivers Velikaya, upper Dnieper and Western Dvina) - transitional between the northern and central Russian, middle and southern Russian groups and Belarusians; northeastern (Russian population of the Kirov, Perm, Sverdlovsk regions), formed after the settlement of Russian territories in the 15th 1-17th centuries, close to the North Russian group in the surrounding dialect, but having Central Russian features due to the two main directions along which the settlement proceeded edges - from the north and from the center of European Russia; southeastern (Russians of the Rostov region, Stavropol and Krasnodar territories), close to the southern Russian group in terms of language, folklore and material culture.

Other, smaller, historical and cultural groups of the Russian people include Pomors, Cossacks, old-timers-Kerzhaks and Siberians-mestizos.

In the narrow sense, the Pomors are usually called the Russian population of the White Sea coast from Onega to Kem, and in a broader sense, all the inhabitants of the coast of the northern seas washing European Russia.

The Pomors are the descendants of the ancient Novgorodians, who differed from the North Russian in the features of the economy and life associated with the sea and marine crafts.

The ethno-class group of the Cossacks is peculiar - Amur, Astrakhan, Don, Transbaikal, Kuban, Orenburg, Semirechensk, Siberian, Terek, Ural, Ussuri.

Don, Ural, Orenburg, Terek, Transbaikal and Amur Cossacks, although they had different origins, differed from the peasants in their economic privileges and self-government. Don Cossacks, formed in the ХУ1-ХУХ centuries. from Slavic and Asian components, historically divided into Verkhovsky and Ponizovsky. Among the Verkhovsky Cossacks there were more Russians, among the Poniz Cossacks Ukrainians prevailed. The North Caucasian (Terek and Grebensky) Cossacks were close to the mountain peoples. The core of the Ural Cossacks in the XVI century. were immigrants from the Don, and the core of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks, who appeared later, in the 19th century, was formed not only by Russians, but also by Buryats with Evenks.

The old-timers of Siberia are the descendants of the settlers of the ХУ1-ХУН centuries. from Northern Russia and the Urals. Among the West Siberian old-timers, the okane is more common, and in Eastern Siberia, in addition to the okane Russians, there are also okany - immigrants from the southern Russian lands. The akanye is especially widespread in the Far East, where the descendants of new settlers of the late 19th century predominate.

Early 20th century

Many Kerzhaks - Siberian Old Believers - have retained their ethnographic features. Among them stand out: “masons”, descendants of white Old Believers from the mountainous regions of Altai, living along the Bukhtarma and Uimon rivers; "Poles", speaking the dialect of Akah, the descendants of the Old Believers who were resettled after the partition of Poland from the town of Vetki in the Ust-

Kamenogorsk; "family", the descendants of the Old Believers, evicted from European Russia in Transbaikalia in the XVIII

Among the mestizo Siberians, there are Yakutians and Kolymians, descendants of mixed Russian-Yakut marriages, Kamchadals, Karyms (Russified Buryats of Transbaikalia) and descendants of tundra peasants who adopted the Dogan language and customs, living along the Dudinka and Khatanga rivers.

Ukrainians (4362.9 thousand people) live mainly in the Tyumen region (260.2 thousand people), Moscow (247.3 thousand people), and in addition, in the Moscow region, in the areas bordering Ukraine , in the Urals and in Siberia. Of these, 42.8% consider Ukrainian as their native language, and another 15.6% are fluent in it, 57% of Russian Ukrainians consider Russian as their native language. There are no Ukrainian ethnographic groups within Russia. Among the Kuban (Black Sea) Cossacks, the Ukrainian component prevails.

Belarusians (1206.2 thousand people) live dispersed throughout Russia and mainly (80%) in cities. Among them, a special ethnographic group of Poleshchuks is distinguished.

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 territory 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 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.

The basic knowledge that modern science has about the ancient Slavs is 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 their 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", however, 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 help but be influenced 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 Rus', 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 Polabian 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 Central Russia in the 19th century: blond 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, obviously having a common origin, but leaving a wide scope for reasoning about the original meaning of this word, as already 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 Rus', 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". 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 Rus'", are a complex synthesis of Dregovichi, Radimichi and partially Vyatichi with Poles and Lithuanians. Initially, until the 16th century, the term "White Rus'" 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 of 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. The Russian name for the Belarusian-Ukrainian mixed population is 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 Kachichi, Shubichi, Svachichi, Magorovichi, Croats tribes, 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 captured part, among other lands, under the Karlovtsy peace. In 1809-1813. Croatia was annexed to the Illyrian provinces ceded to Napoleon I. From 1849 to 1868. it constituted, together with Slavonia, the coastal region and Fiume, 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, the later inhabitants of ancient Illyria, located 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 the 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), who until the 12th century were a pastoral mountain people who did not have a stable place of residence, are not pure 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 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. an early state was formed. 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 - Nitrans, 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 that differed in dialects and some ethnographic features: in the west - the Great Poles (which included the Kuyavians), the Lenchitsans and the 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, Glomachi) 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 Danube (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.