The term "Polovtsian steppe" was used in the Middle Ages to refer to the vast steppe Eurasian region, in the open spaces of which the Polovtsy lived. First, this name was fixed in Persia, then it became common in other countries, including in Russia. Arabs also used the term “Kypchak steppe”, since the Polovtsy were known to them as Kipchaks. These tribes ruled in this region in the XI-XIII centuries. The end of their rule was laid by the Mongol invasion.
Looking for a new home
Geographically, the Polovtsian steppe covered vast spaces. It began on the left bank of the Danube, in the territory of modern Romania. Nomads occupied the lands of present-day Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. The extreme eastern point can be called Lake Balkhash. In the south, the border of the steppes was the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea and the semi-deserts of Central Asia. In the north there was a natural boundary in the form of forests in the upper Dnieper, lands of North-Eastern Russia, Volga Bulgaria, Kama and Irtysh. The Polovtsian steppe was also divided into the western (from the Danube to the Caspian) and the eastern (from the Caspian to Altai).
Until the 11th century, Kipchaks lived on the banks of the Irtysh. But around 1030 they migrated west, ending up in Eastern Europe. Relocation was not peaceful. Moving west, the Polovtsy expelled the Pechenegs and Hungarians from their homes. It was a capture of new pastures. Nomads hardly imagined exactly who they would meet in the distant western lands. But the fact remains: not a single steppe tribe in Eastern Europe could contain their onslaught.
Neighbors Polovtsy
At the beginning of the XI century, the Polovtsian steppe acquired new owners who lived by the strict rules of military democracy. The invasions (and, therefore, the resettlement of the whole people) were led by talented commanders who sought recognition on the battlefield. For nomads, such a device of power was widespread. Most of the uninvited guests were interested in the region to the north of which Russia began. The Polovtsian steppe covered here the most fertile lands, in addition, the most suitable for grazing cattle and horses, without which the steppes could not imagine their life. These were the Azov and Lower Don lands. Also, the current Donetsk region of Ukraine can be attributed to this series (today there is the Polovetskaya Steppe landscape park).
Previously, the Pechenegs and Bulgarians lived in these places. The neighboring upper reaches of the North Donets were inaccessible and remote places where nomad cavalry was quite difficult to get to. There remained Alans - the remains of the former owners of these forest-steppes. Also in the lower Volga there was previously the Khazar Khaganate, destroyed by the Slavic army of Svyatoslav of Kiev. The population of these lands gradually mixed with the Polovtsy and, in the process of assimilation, somewhat changed their appearance.
Ethnic Cauldron
Settling in new places, the Kypchaks became neighbors of the Guz and Pecheneg hordes. These nomads played a significant role in the formation of a new Polovtsian community. The influence of the Guz and the Pechenegs affected the funerary customs of the new owners of the steppes. Living on the banks of the Irtysh, the Polovtsy poured stone mounds. The body of the deceased laid his head to the east. A horse’s carcass, whose legs were severed, was always placed nearby. At the same time, the Polovtsy had an unusual feature for the steppes. They buried both men and women with equal honors.
At the new place of residence, these rituals began to erode against the background of the customs of the former local residents. Stone embankments were replaced by simple earthworks. Instead of a horse, a scarecrow was buried. The body was now laid head west. Changes in the funeral rite perfectly characterize the constant ethnic changes experienced by the Polovtsian steppe. The population of this region has always been heterogeneous. By their number, Polovtsy were not even too numerous in comparison with their neighbors. But it was they who for two centuries played the first violin in the region, since among them were the most active and powerful military leaders, pacifying opponents and competitors.
Homeland
Modern archaeologists easily determine the territory that the Polovtsy occupied in the Middle Ages, thanks to the characteristic stone sculptures. The first such statues appeared on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov and in the lower reaches of the Seversky Donets. These are flat and stealth sculptures depicting the faces and some details of the human figure (arms, chest). Such drawings are either drawn or made in the form of low reliefs.
Even the Mongol invasion of the Polovtsian steppe did not destroy these curious monuments of the era. The statues depicted both men and women, and were mandatory attributes of the pagan shrines, which, in turn, were built already at the second stage of nomadism. After the first stage (the actual invasion and resettlement), the Polovtsian society stabilized. Routes of roaming have been streamlined. They acquired permanent winter and summer parking. When erecting religious statues, the steppes emphasized: they stay in their new home for a long time.
Polovtsy and Russia
The first evidence of foreigners about Polovtsy dates back to 1030, when they began to organize the first campaigns against neighbors with the goal of robbery. The sedentary inhabitants of Christian countries were little interested in what was happening in the wild and distant steppe. Therefore, for the first time they started talking about the Polovtsians exactly at the moment when they invaded their home.
The closest neighbor of the new nomads (as in the case of the Pechenegs) was Russia. For the first time, Polovtsy tried to rob in rich East Slavic lands in 1060. Then, towards the uninvited guests, the army of the Chernigov prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich came out. It was four times smaller than the horde of steppe inhabitants, but this did not prevent the Russian squad from defeating the enemy. In that year, many nomads were killed and drowned in the waters of the Snovi River. However, this meeting only anticipated further troubles, which were already ready to fall on Russia.
Long confrontation
Until 1060, no one really knew what the Polovets steppe was in the lands of the Eastern Slavs. With the appearance on the border of wild and ferocious nomads, who were much worse than the Pechenegs, the inhabitants of Russia involuntarily had to get used to a new unpleasant neighborhood. For almost two centuries, the Polovtsians constantly invaded their lands.
For Russia, this confrontation was even more dangerous and more difficult, due to the fact that it was in the XI century that the united state entered the stage of political fragmentation before. The previously existing monolithic Kiev power could fight on equal terms with the threats posed by the Polovtsian steppe. Features of the division of Russia led to the fact that several independent principalities appeared on its territory. Often they not only joined forces in the struggle against the steppes, but also fought against each other.
New threat
The Polovtsy often used civil strife in order to plunder and lead into slavery the civilian population of defenseless southern settlements. Moreover, the nomads began to engage in the service of some princes when they fought with their relatives from neighboring destinies. So Polovtsy freely penetrated deep into Russia and committed bloodshed there.
Polovtsian rule in the steppes of Eastern Europe disappeared after another wave of nomads came from Asia. These were the Mongols. They were even more numerous, ferocious and merciless. For two centuries, on the outskirts of Europe, the Polovtsy in a certain sense have become closer to civilization. The moons of the Mongols were much tougher and more warlike.
The disappearance of the Polovtsy
For the first time, a new horde invaded the lands of the Polovtsy in 1220. The latter united with the Russian princes, but suffered a crushing defeat in the battle on the Kalka River. No one expected such a terrible threat posed by the Mongols. In the Polovtsian steppes, everything was approaching major changes. After the first raid, the Mongols suddenly turned back. However, in 1236 they returned. For several years they conquered the entire Polovtsian steppe up to the borders with Hungary. Moreover, they imposed a tribute to Russia.
The Polovtsy did not disappear from the face of the earth, but they began to live in a forced position. Gradually, these people mingled with the Mongol hordes. Tatars, Bashkirs, etc., came from this assimilation. So, in the 13th century, the term "Polovtsian steppe" became archaism.