Where did the Slavic people come from? Theories on this subject are many. In this article we will try to understand what ethnogenesis is. We find out what hypotheses about the origin of the Eastern Slavs exist.
What is ethnogenesis?
Peoples did not arise at one moment. Different people united in small groups, which gradually expanded. Small communities grew into whole tribes. In life together, they developed their own foundations, habits, rules and traditions that distinguish them from other groups.
What is ethnogenesis? This is the initial stage of the formation of peoples. The process of transition from individuals to a group with the same structure of life, one culture. The formation of the ethnic group, that is, the people, was due to various reasons and factors.
Each nation has a different history of occurrence. The emergence and formation of a nationality, a nation can be influenced by the geographical environment, religion, neighboring groups of people. Migrants and invaders also contribute to the development of the people. Some peoples, for example, Germans, Americans, Swiss, have arisen as a result of an external call.
Slavs
In cultural and ethnological terms, the people is a community of people, which are united by certain signs. Previously, they were consanguineous, but over time, language, religion, historical past, traditions and culture, territory began to be considered such signs.
About 70 nations live in Europe, some of which belong to the Slavs. They represent the largest ethnic community. Settled in Central, Southern, Eastern Europe, the Far East and the Asian part of Russia. Worldwide, they number approximately 350 million people.
Distinguish the eastern, southern and western branches of the Slavs. Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians are attributed to the Eastern Slavs because of a closer cultural and linguistic connection. According to some researchers, the ancestors of these peoples constituted the main population of the Old Russian state in the Middle Ages, representing one ethnic group.
Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs
Under the name of the Wends, the Slavs appear in various written sources as early as the 1st millennium BC. Prior to this, there were several pre-Slavic ethnic cultures (for example, Przeworsk), which, most likely, gave rise to these peoples. However, the problem of ethnogenesis of the Slavs is still open. And now the opinions of scientists on this subject are different.
It is believed that the Slavs belong to the Indo-European language family, which includes many other peoples. And the ancestors of the Slavs come from the central and eastern regions of Europe. According to various hypotheses, the ancestral home of the Slavs is the territory between the Oder and the Vistula, the Middle Danube, Pripyat Polesie, etc.
It is assumed that they lived in small tribes, after the first millennium they began to unite in larger formations - tribal unions. Gradually, they divided into western and eastern branches, and eventually the southern one appeared. The Eastern Slavs are often called Ants. They lived next to the tribes of Avars, Goths, Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians.
All these tribes had a significant impact on the ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs. Between them often there were wars, raids. The Khazars even managed to pay tribute to the Slavs. Researchers do not exclude the possibility that modern East Slavic peoples may be descendants of joint marriages between Slavs and East European tribes.
Theories of the origin of the Eastern Slavs
There are various hypotheses about the origin and distribution of Slavic tribes. Thus, the autochthonous theory of ethnogenesis reports that the tribes of the Eastern Slavs did not come from other territories, but arose in the valleys of the Dnieper and Dniester.
According to the migration theory, during the Great Migration of Peoples in the 3rd-7th centuries, they settled on the territory between the Dnieper and the Dniester, in the eastern valleys of the Dnieper. Later, some of them spread to the territory of southern Ukraine, the Southern Bug and modern Moldova. The other part, faced with the Vikings, stopped in the north-west of Russia and founded Veliky Novgorod, also occupied the territory of Beloozero and the Tver region.
There is a mixed theory, which suggests that migration among the Slavs took place. Only not everyone moved, some remained on the territory of their historical homeland, continuing their usual way of life.
Conclusion
What is ethnogenesis? This is the process of the origin and formation of the people. Although the term includes its further development. The study of ethnogenesis includes the study of the linguistic, cultural, historical features of a particular people, their way of life, geographical location and movement throughout their existence.
The origin of the eastern Slavs so far leaves more questions than answers. The formation is narrated by many theories, historical and semi-legendary documents, but there is no consensus in scientific circles.