Part of the common Slavic people, who settled in the territory of the East European Plain in the early Middle Ages, formed a group of East Slavic tribes (they markedly differed from the southern and western Slavs). This conglomerate was adjacent to many different nations.
The emergence of the Eastern Slavs
Modern archeology has all the necessary materials to illuminate in detail where and how the East Slavic tribes and their neighbors lived. How did these early medieval communities form? Even in the Roman era, the Slavs settled the middle course of the Vistula, as well as the upper Dniester. From here began colonization to the east - to the territory of modern Russia and Ukraine.
In the V and VII centuries. Slavs, who settled in the Dnieper, coexisted with the Ants. In the VIII century, as a result of a powerful new migration wave, another culture was formed - the Romance one. Its carriers were northerners. These East Slavic tribes and their neighbors populated the river basins of the Sejm, Desna and Sula. From other "relatives" they were distinguished by narrow faces. Northerners settled in coppices and fields cut by forests and swamps.
Colonization of the Volga and Oka
In the VI century, the colonization of the future Russian North and the interfluve of the Volga and Oka began by the Eastern Slavs. Here the settlers encountered two groups of neighbors - the Balts and the Finno-Ugric peoples. The first to the northeast moved Krivichi. They populated the upper Volga. To the north penetrated the Ilmen Slovenes, who stopped in the White Lake region. Here they encountered pomors. The Ilmens also populated the Mologi basin and the Yaroslavl Volga. Ritualism mixed with the tribes.
East Slavic tribes and their neighbors divided the modern suburbs and the Ryazan Territory. Here Vyatichi acted as colonizers, to a lesser extent - northerners and radimichi. Don Slavs also contributed. Vyatichi reached the Prony River and settled on the banks of the Moscow River. A characteristic feature of these colonizers was the temporal rings. According to them, archaeologists have determined the area of resettlement of Vyatichi. Northeastern Russia attracted immigrants with a stable agricultural base and fur resources, which by that time had already been exhausted in other regions of the settlement of Slavs. Local residents - Meri (Finno-Ugric) - were few in number and soon disappeared among the Slavs or were driven out by them even further north.
Eastern neighbors
Having settled the upper Volga, the Slavs became neighbors of the Volga Bulgarians. They lived in the territory of modern Tatarstan. The Arabs considered them the northernmost people of the world who professed Islam. The capital of the kingdom of the Volga Bulgarians was the city of Veliky Bulgar. Its ancient settlement has survived to the present day. Military clashes between the Volga Bulgarians and the Eastern Slavs began already during the existence of a single centralized Russia, when its society ceased to be strictly tribal. Conflicts alternated with periods of peace. At that time, profitable trade along the great river brought significant revenue to both sides.
The settlement of the Eastern Slavic tribes on its eastern borders also ran into the territory inhabited by the Khazars. This people, like the Volga Bulgarians, was Turkic. At the same time, the Khazars were Jews, which was quite unusual for the then Europe. They controlled significant territories from the Don to the Caspian. The heart of the Khazar Khaganate was located in the lower Volga, where the Khazar capital Itil existed not far from modern Astrakhan.
Western neighbors
The western border of the settlement of the eastern Slavs is considered to be Volyn. From there to the Dnieper lived dulebs - the union of several tribes. Archaeologists rank it among the Prague-Korczak culture. The union included Volhynians, Drevlyans, Dregovics and glades. In the 7th century, they survived the Avar invasion.
East Slavic tribes and their neighbors in this region lived in the steppe zone. To the west began the territory of the Western Slavs, primarily the Poles. Relations with them escalated after the creation of Russia and the adoption of Orthodoxy by Vladimir Svyatoslavich. The Poles were baptized according to the Catholic rite. Between them and the Eastern Slavs, a struggle was fought not only for Volyn, but also for Galicia.
Fighting the Pechenegs
Eastern Slavs during the period of the existence of pagan tribes could not colonize the Black Sea region. Here ended the so-called "Great Steppe" - a steppe belt located in the heart of Eurasia. The Black Sea attracted a variety of nomads. In the IX century, the Pechenegs settled there. These hordes lived between Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Alanya.
Having gained a foothold in the Black Sea region, the Pechenegs destroyed settled cultures in the steppes. The Transnistrian Slavs (Tiberians), as well as the Don Alans, disappeared. In the X century, numerous Russian-Pecheneg wars began. The East Slavic tribes and their neighbors could not get along with each other. The exam gives the Pechenegs a lot of attention, which is not surprising. These ferocious nomads lived only at the expense of robberies and did not give rest to Kievans and Pereyaslavlites. In the XI century, an even more formidable enemy came in their place - the Polovtsy.
Slavs on the Don
The Slavs began to massively master the Middle Don region at the turn of the VIII - IX centuries. At this time, there are monuments of Borshev culture. Its most important attributes (ceramics, house-building, traces of rituals) show that the colonizers of the Don region came from the south-west of Eastern Europe. Don Slavs were neither northerners nor Vyatichs, as researchers had suggested until recently. In the 9th century, as a result of population infiltration, a burial ritual spread among them, which was identical to Vyatichi.
In the X century, Russian Slavs and their neighbors in this region survived the predatory raids of the Pechenegs. Many left the Don region and returned to Pochye. That is why we can say that the Ryazan land was populated from two sides - from the southern steppes and from the west. The return of the Slavs to the Don basin occurred only in the XII century. In this direction, in the south, the new colonizers reached the Bityug River basin and completely mastered the Voronezh River basin.
Near balts and Finno-Ugric peoples
The Slavic tribes of Radimichi and Vyatichi coexisted with the Balts - residents of modern Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Their cultures have acquired some common features. No wonder. The East Slavic tribes and their neighbors, in short, not only traded, but also influenced each other's ethnogenesis. For example, in the settlements of the Vyatichi, archaeologists found cervical hryvnias unnatural for other tribal families.
A peculiar Slavic culture has developed around the Balts and the Finno-Ugric peoples in the area of Lake Pskov. Long mound-like burial mounds appeared here, which replaced the soil burial grounds. Such was built only by the local East Slavic tribes and their neighbors. The history of the development of funeral rites allows specialists to better familiarize themselves with the past of the Gentiles. The ancestors of the Pskovs built terrestrial log cabins with heaters or adobe kilns (contrary to the southern custom of half ditches). They also engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture. It should be noted that the Pskov long mounds spread to the Polotsk Podviny and Smolensk Dnieper. In their regions, the influence of the Balts was especially strong.
Influence of neighbors on religion and mythology
Like many other peoples of Eastern Europe, the Eastern Slavs lived according to the patriarchal clan system. Because of this, they developed and maintained a family cult and a funeral cult. The Slavs were pagans. The most important gods of their pantheon are Perun, Mokosh and Veles. Slavic mythology was influenced by the Celts and Iranians (Sarmatians, Scythians and Alans). These parallels were manifested in the images of the gods. So, Dazhbog is similar to the Celtic deity Dagda, and Mokosh is similar to Maha.
Pagan Slavs and their neighbors had much in common in beliefs. The history of Baltic mythology left the names of the gods Perkunas (Perun) and Velnias (Veles). The motive of the world tree and the presence of dragons (Serpent Gorynych) brings Slavic mythology closer to Germanic-Scandinavian. After a single community was divided into several tribes, beliefs began to acquire regional differences. For example, the inhabitants of the Oka and Volga have experienced a unique influence of the mythology of the Finno-Ugric peoples.
Slavery among the Eastern Slavs
According to the official version, slavery was widespread among the Eastern Slavs of the early Middle Ages. Prisoners were taken, as usual, in the war. For example, Arab writers of the time claimed that the Eastern Slavs took many slaves in the wars with the Hungarians (and the Hungarians, in turn, took the captured Slavs into slavery). These people were in a unique position. Hungarians are Finno-Ugric by origin. They migrated west and occupied territories around the middle reaches of the Danube. Thus, the Hungarians were exactly between the southern, eastern and western Slavs. In this regard, there were regular wars.
Slavs could sell slaves in Byzantium, Volga Bulgaria or Khazaria. Although most of them consisted of foreigners captured in wars, in the VIII century slaves appeared among their own kindred. A Slav could fall into slavery due to a crime or violation of moral standards.
Proponents of a different version defend their point of view, according to which slavery did not exist in Russia. On the contrary, slaves sought these lands because here everyone was considered free, because Slavic paganism did not sanctify non-freedom (dependence, slavery) and social inequality.
Varangians and Novgorod
The prototype of the old Russian state arose in Novgorod. It was founded by the Ilmen Slovenes. Until the 9th century, their history is known quite fragmentarily and poorly. Next to them lived the Vikings, who in the West European annals were called Vikings.
The Scandinavian kungs periodically conquered the Ilmen Slovenes and forced them to pay tribute. The inhabitants of Novgorod were looking for protection from foreign neighbors from other neighbors, for which they called their commanders to reign at home. So on the banks of the Volkhov came Rurik. His successor Oleg conquered Kiev and laid the foundations of the Old Russian state.