Proto-Slavic tribes of Eastern Europe. Non-Slavic peoples of European Russia

Summary theoretical issues

Topic study plan

1. Tribes and peoples Eastern Europe in ancient times.

2. The influence of geographical features: natural environment and people.

3. Eastern Slavs in the 7th-8th centuries.

Basic Concepts: Indo-European community, paganism, tribal unions, military democracy, veche, prince, squad, tribute.

The Slavs belong to the Indo-Europeans (Aryans). These peoples with related languages ​​(Indo-European language family) inhabit a significant part of the Eurasian continent. Indo-Europeans (Aryans), in addition to the Slavs, are: Germans, Celts, Romans, Greeks, Iranians, Indians. Linguists have established that the division of the Indo-European language into separate branches (Indo-Iranian, Slavic, Germanic) occurred at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The question of where the Europeans came from remains open. According to the most convincing versions, their roots go back to Asia Minor VII thousand BC, Northern Mesopotamia, Western Syria, Armenian Highlands. There is an assumption that the homeland of the Aryans is Chelyabinsk region. The separation of the ancient Slavs from the Indo-European unity occurred in the 2nd – 1st millennium BC. The general self-name “Slavs” (in ancient times - “Slovenes”) denotes verbal ones, speaking in contrast to other tribes, speaking incomprehensible languages ​​(mute, Germans). In the VI century. AD The Slavs have already been repeatedly mentioned in foreign sources. The era of the Great Migration of Peoples, which put an end to the Roman Empire, displaced the Slavic tribes, who were subjected to invasions by the Germans and steppe nomads - the Huns. The Slavs, pushed by the increase in their numbers, were forced to look for new places to live. At that time they advanced to the territory of the Balkan Peninsula. The first wave of the Great Migration was associated with the Germans. In the second and third centuries, Germanic tribes of the Goths moved across the Russian Plain from north to south - from the Baltic and Denmark regions - to the Crimea, to the Balkans and from there to South Asia. The Gothic historian Jordan has a mention of the Mordovians, Vesi, Meri, Esti and the Onega miracle, which were part of the Gothic kingdom created by the Gothic leader Germanaric and extending over the entire Russian Plain. Under the pressure of the Huns and Slavs, the Goths were forced out of the Black Sea region to the west, setting in motion other Germanic tribes bordering the Roman Empire.

Thus, for almost a whole millennium, the southern steppes of present-day Russia were the subject of dispute among past tribes: the Goths were replaced by the Huns, the Huns by the Avars, the Avars by the Ugrians and Khazars, the Khazars by the Pechenegs, the Pechenegs by the Cumans, the Cumans by the Tatars. Starting with the Huns, Asia sent one nomadic tribe after another to Europe. Penetrating through the Urals or the Caucasus into the Black Sea region, the nomads stayed close to the Black Sea shores, in the steppe zone, convenient for nomadism, and did not go far to the north, into the forest spaces of what is now central Russia. The forests here were saved from the final defeat of the incoming hordes by the permanent local population, consisting mainly of Slavs And Finns .

As for the Slavs, their oldest place of residence in Europe was, apparently, the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, where the Slavs under the names of Wends, Antes and Sklavens were known back in Roman, Gothic and Hunnic times. From here the Slavs dispersed in different directions: to the south (Balkan Slavs), to the west (Czechs, Moravians, Poles) and to the east (Russian Slavs). The eastern branch of the Slavs came to the Dnieper probably back in the 7th century. and, gradually settling, reached Lake Ilmen and the upper Oka.

In the middle of the 1st millennium AD. The Slavs completed the process of collapse of the primitive communal system. This was facilitated by: the widespread use of iron, the development of agriculture and cattle breeding, and the emergence of crafts. The settlement area of ​​the Sklavin union was the lands to the west of the Dniester, and tribal union Antes - Dniester and Middle Dnieper. At the turn of the 5th-6th centuries. The Antes, together with the Sklavins, entered into the fight against the Byzantine Empire. In the VIII – IX centuries. Slavs are divided into three large groups:

- South Slavs ( Sklavins - ancestors of the Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbor-Croatian people);

- Western Slavs (Wends - the ancestors of the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks);

- Eastern Slavs (Antes - the ancestors of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians).

The problem of the origin and settlement of the Slavs still remains controversial in historical science, but in general, different points of view come down to two concepts (see Fig. 6).

Rice. 6 “Concepts of the origin and settlement of the Slavs.”

2. The influence of geographical features: natural environment and people.

The interaction of a person with the environment in the process of production activity largely influences national character. The formation of the society of the Eastern Slavs was influenced by the following factors:

1. Huge spaces (colonization of territories).

2. Difficult natural and climatic conditions (continental nature natural environment, the presence of huge natural resources led to an extensive type of agriculture due to the expansion of sown areas; uniformity of economic activity).

3. Neighborhood with nomadic peoples Eurasia.

4. Predominance of communal traditions.

The countries of Eastern Europe are a natural territorial area located between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. The bulk of the population of Eastern Europe are Slavs and Greeks, while in the western part of the continent Romance and Germanic peoples predominate.

Eastern European countries

Eastern Europe is a historical and geographical region that includes the following countries (according to United Nations classification):

• Poland.
• Czech Republic.
• Slovakia.
• Hungary.
• Romania.
• Bulgaria.
• Belarus.
• Russia.
• Ukraine.
• Moldova.

The history of the formation and development of Eastern European states is a long and difficult path. The formation of the region began in prehistoric era. In the first millennium AD, there was an active settlement of Eastern Europe by people. Subsequently, the first states were formed.

The peoples of Eastern Europe have a very complex ethnic composition. It was this fact that became the reason that conflicts on ethnic grounds often occurred in these countries. Today, Slavic peoples occupy a predominant place in the region. Read more about how the statehood, population and culture of Eastern Europe were formed.

First peoples in Eastern Europe (BC)

The Cimmerians are considered to be the very first peoples of Eastern Europe. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus says that the Cimmerians lived in the first and second millennium BC. The Cimmerians settled primarily in the Azov region. Evidence of this is the characteristic names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmerian crossings, Cimmeria region). The graves of the Cimmerians who died in clashes with the Scythians on the Dniester were also discovered.

In the 8th century BC there were many Greek colonies. The following cities were founded: Chersonesos, Feodosia, Phanagoria and others. Basically all the cities were trading. In the Black Sea settlements, spiritual and material culture was quite well developed. Archaeologists to this day find evidence confirming this fact.

The next people inhabiting eastern Europe in the prehistoric period were the Scythians. We know about them from the works of Herodotus. They lived on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the 7th-5th centuries BC, the Scythians spread to the Kuban, Don, and appeared in Taman. The Scythians were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, and crafts. All these areas were developed among them. They traded with the Greek colonies.

In the 2nd century BC, the Sarmatians made their way to the land of the Scythians, defeated the former and settled the territory of the Black Sea and Caspian regions.

During the same period, the Goths, Germanic tribes, appeared in the Black Sea steppes. For a long time they oppressed the Scythians, but only in the 4th century AD they managed to completely oust them from these territories. Their leader, Germanarich, then occupied almost all of Eastern Europe.

Peoples of Eastern Europe in antiquity and the Middle Ages

The kingdom of the Goths did not last long. Their place was taken by the Huns, a people from the Mongolian steppes. From the 4th-5th centuries they waged their wars, but in the end their union fell apart, some remained in the Black Sea region, others went east.

In the 6th century, the Avars appeared; they, like the Huns, came from Asia. Their state was located where the Hungarian Plain is now. Until the beginning of the 9th century, the Avar state existed. The Avars often clashed with the Slavs, as evidenced by the Tale of Bygone Years, attacked Byzantium and Western Europe. As a result, they were defeated by the Franks.

In the seventh century, the Khazar state was formed. The North Caucasus, Lower and Middle Volga, Crimea, and the Azov region were in the power of the Khazars. Belenjer, Semender, Itil, Tamatarkha are the largest cities of the Khazar state. In economic activity, the emphasis was placed on the use trade routes which passed through the territory of the state. They were also involved in the slave trade.

In the 7th century, the state of Volga Bulgaria appeared. It was inhabited by Bulgars and Finno-Ugrians. In 1236, the Bulgars were attacked by the Mongol-Tatars, and in the process of assimilation, these peoples began to disappear.

In the 9th century, the Pechenegs appeared between the Dnieper and Don, they fought with the Khazars and Russia. Prince Igor went with the Pechenegs against Byzantium, but then a conflict arose between the peoples, which developed into long wars. In 1019 and 1036, Yaroslav the Wise struck blows at the Pecheneg people, and they became vassals of Rus'.

In the 11th century, the Polovtsians came from Kazakhstan. They raided trade caravans. By the middle of the next century, their possessions extended from the Dnieper to the Volga. Both Rus' and Byzantium took them into account. Vladimir Monomakh inflicted a crushing defeat on them, after which they retreated to the Volga, beyond the Urals and Transcaucasia.

Slavic peoples

The first mentions of the Slavs appear around the first millennium AD. A more accurate description of these peoples occurs in the middle of the same millennium. At this time they were called Slovenians. Byzantine authors talk about the Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula and in the Danube region.

Depending on the territory of residence, the Slavs were divided into Western, Eastern and Southern. Thus, the Southern Slavs settled in the southeast of Europe, the Western Slavs - in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Eastern Slavs - directly in Eastern Europe.

It was in Eastern Europe that the Slavs assimilated with the Finno-Ugric tribes. The Slavs of Eastern Europe were the largest group. The eastern ones were initially divided into tribes: Polyans, Drevlyans, Northerners, Dregovichi, Polochans, Krivichi, Radimichi, Vyatichi, Ilmen Slovenes, Buzhans.

Today, the East Slavic peoples include Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians. The Western Slavs include Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and others. The South Slavs include Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians and so on.

Modern population of Eastern Europe

The ethnic composition is heterogeneous. We will consider further which nationalities predominate there and which are in the minority. 95% of ethnic Czechs live in the Czech Republic. In Poland - 97% are Poles, the rest are Gypsies, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

Slovakia is a small but multinational country. Ten percent of the population are Hungarians, 2% are Gypsies, 0.8% are Czechs, 0.6% are Russians and Ukrainians, 1.4% are representatives of other nationalities. 92 percent consists of Hungarians or, as they are also called Magyars. The rest are Germans, Jews, Romanians, Slovaks and so on.

Romanians make up 89%, followed by Hungarians - 6.5%. The peoples of Romania also include Ukrainians, Germans, Turks, Serbs and others. Among the population of Bulgaria, Bulgarians are in first place - 85.4%, and Turks are in second place - 8.9%.

In Ukraine, 77% of the population are Ukrainians, 17% are Russians. The ethnic composition of the population is represented by large groups of Belarusians, Moldovans, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Hungarians. In Moldova, the main population is Moldovans, with Ukrainians in second place.

The most multinational countries

The most multinational among the countries of Eastern Europe is Russia. More than one hundred and eighty nationalities live here. Russians come first. Each region has indigenous people Russia, for example, Chukchi, Koryaks, Tungus, Daurs, Nanais, Eskimos, Aleuts and others.

More than one hundred and thirty nations live on the territory of Belarus. The majority (83%) are Belarusians, followed by Russians - 8.3%. Gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Moldovans, Germans, Chinese, and Uzbeks are also among the ethnic composition of the population of this country.

How did Eastern Europe develop?

Archaeological research in Eastern Europe provides a picture of the gradual development of this region. Archaeological finds indicate the presence of people here since ancient times. The tribes inhabiting this area cultivated their lands by hand. During excavations, scientists found ears of various cereals. They were engaged in both cattle breeding and fishing.

Culture: Poland, Czech Republic

Each state has its own peoples. Eastern Europe is diverse. Polish roots go back to the culture of the ancient Slavs, but Western European traditions also had a great influence on it. In the field of literature, Poland was glorified by Adam Mickiewicz and Stanislaw Lemm. The population of Poland is mostly Catholic, their culture and traditions are inextricably linked with the canons of religion.

The Czech Republic has always maintained its originality. Architecture ranks first in the cultural sphere. There are many palace squares, castles, fortresses, and historical monuments. Literature in the Czech Republic began to develop only in the nineteenth century. Czech poetry was “founded” by K.G. Maha.

Painting, sculpture and architecture in the Czech Republic have a long history. Mikolas Ales, Alphonse Mucha - the most famous representatives this direction. There are many museums and galleries in the Czech Republic, among them unique ones are the Museum of Torture, National Museum, Jewish Museum. The richness of cultures, their similarities - all this matters when it comes to friendship between neighboring states.

Culture of Slovakia and Hungary

In Slovakia, all celebrations are inextricably linked with nature. National holidays of Slovakia: the holiday of the Three Kings, similar to Maslenitsa - the removal of Madder, the holiday of Lucia. Each region of Slovakia has its own folk customs. Wood carving, painting, weaving are the main activities in rural areas in this country.

Music and dance are at the forefront of Hungarian culture. Music and theater festivals often take place here. Another distinctive feature is the Hungarian baths. The architecture is dominated by Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles. Hungarian culture is characterized by folk crafts in the form of embroidered items, wood and bone items, and wall panels. Cultural, historical and natural monuments of world significance are located everywhere in Hungary. In terms of culture and language, neighboring nations were influenced by Hungary: Ukraine, Slovakia, Moldova.

Romanian and Bulgarian culture

Romanians are mostly Orthodox. This country is considered to be the homeland of European gypsies, which has left its mark on the culture.

Bulgarians and Romanians are Orthodox Christians, so their cultural traditions are similar to other Eastern European peoples. The most ancient occupation Bulgarian people - winemaking. The architecture of Bulgaria was influenced by Byzantium, especially in religious buildings.

Culture of Belarus, Russia and Moldova

The culture of Belarus and Russia was largely influenced by Orthodoxy. St. Sophia Cathedral and Boris and Gleb Monastery appeared. Decorative and applied arts are widely developed here. Jewelry, pottery and foundry are common in all parts of the state. In the 13th century, chronicles appeared here.

The culture of Moldova developed under the influence of the Roman and Ottoman empires. The proximity in origin with the peoples of Romania and the Russian Empire had its significance.

Russian culture occupies a huge layer of Eastern European traditions. It is represented very widely in literature, art, and architecture.

The connection between culture and history

The culture of Eastern Europe is inextricably linked with the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe. This is a symbiosis of various foundations and traditions that at different times influenced cultural life and its development. The trends in the culture of Eastern Europe largely depended on the religion of the population. Here it was Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Languages ​​of the peoples of Europe

The languages ​​of the peoples of Europe belong to three main groups: Romance, Germanic, Slavic. The Slavic group includes thirteen modern languages, several minor languages ​​and dialects. They are the main ones in Eastern Europe.

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian are included in the Eastern Slavic group. The main dialects of the Russian language: northern, central and southern.

In Ukrainian there are Carpathian dialects, southwestern and southeastern. The language was influenced by the long proximity of Hungary and Ukraine. IN Belarusian language there is a southwestern dialect and a Minsk dialect. The West Slavic group includes Polish and Czechoslovak dialects.

Several subgroups are distinguished in the South Slavic group of languages. So, there is an eastern subgroup with Bulgarian and Macedonian. Slovenian also belongs to the Western subgroup.

The official language in Moldova is Romanian. The Moldovan language and Romanian are, in fact, the same language of neighboring countries. That is why it is considered state. The only difference is that the Romanian language borrows more from Russia, while the Moldovan language borrows more from Russia.

Linguists believe that the primitive tribes that settled Europe 10 - 12 thousand years ago spoke languages ​​dating back to a relatively single language family, conventionally called Nostratic. However, as the tribes settled, linguistic alienation began to increase. Split from the Nostratic family Indo-European family languages, which included the ancestors of most of the peoples of Eastern Europe and the linguistically related peoples of Asia.

The differentiation of the Indo-European community turned out to be closely related to ethnic processes. Much remains unclear here. The fact is that the problems of the origin of peoples - ethnogenesis - are always among the most complex, rarely amenable to an unambiguous solution. The beginning of the formation of an ethnic community, as a rule, dates back to very distant eras of the primitive communal system. The researcher is almost deprived of the opportunity to judge the language spoken by the tribes who left archaeological sites. Language is one of the most essential features ethnic community. One should also keep in mind the numerous migrations of tribes and peoples and the processes of assimilation. When studying ethnogenetic problems, it is necessary to take into account data from a number of related scientific disciplines- archaeology, historical linguistics, anthropology, etc. There is practically no material that allows us to judge the linguistic and ethnic affiliation of the tribes of the Stone Age and partly the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. Evidence for the study of ethnogenesis in the Iron Age is somewhat more widely presented, however, even here there are more questions than scientifically based answers. Therefore, researchers prefer to talk about the existence of certain ethnic groups. It is also clear that the peoples inhabiting Russia do not have a single ancestor - the ethnocultural processes that took place in Eastern Europe were so complex and diverse.

What tribes and peoples lived on the territory of Russia in the 1st millennium BC?

In Eastern Europe, tribes were formed that spoke Finno-Ugric languages ​​(the ancestors of modern Sami, Estonians, Komi, Udmurts, Mari and Mordovians). It is believed that these tribes settled in the Eastern Baltic already in the Neolithic, and in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. spread throughout the entire forest belt of the Volga region and the Volga-Oka interfluve (the Dyakovo, Gorodets, and Ananyevsk cultures of the early Iron Age are associated with the Finno-Ugric tribes). Later, in the areas of Finno-Ugric settlement, tribes began to appear that spoke Slavic and Baltic languages.

To the north of the territory occupied by the Utro-Finns and Balto-Slavs, as well as in Western Siberia and the Yenisei basin, the ancestors of the Nenets, Enets, Nganasans, Selkups, Khanty and Mansi settled. The ancestors of the Evenks, Lamuts, Udeges, Nanais, as well as the Chukchi, Eskimos, Koryaks, Itelmens, Aleuts and Nivkhs settled in Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

In the forest-steppe and southern taiga regions of Eastern Europe and the Trans-Urals lived tribes that belonged to the Iranian linguistic group of Indo-Europeans (tribes of the Srubnaya culture). Ethnologists talk about the genetic connection between the tribes of the Srubnaya culture and the ancient Yamnaya Neolithic culture. Iranian languages ​​were spoken by numerous tribes of Southern Siberia. To the south of Baikal lived the ancestors of the current Turkic-speaking and Mongol-speaking peoples, who later played a large role in the ethnic history of Siberia and Eastern Europe.

Let us dwell in some detail on the ethnic history of the Slavic peoples. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. Peoples who spoke ancient European languages, dating back to the Indo-European group, penetrated into the European territory of the future Russia from Asia Minor. As they settled, large groups of tribes separated from them and settled on new lands. So, a huge territory - the southern coast Baltic Sea, a significant part of Central and Eastern Europe - was inhabited by tribes who spoke Baltoslavic languages. The lands on which the ancestors settled modern Slavs and Balts, in the west they were limited by the Dniester and Vistula rivers, in the east by the upper reaches of the Western Dvina and Oka.

Since these tribes constantly communicated with each other, their languages ​​were very close. Dwellings, clothing, household utensils, and other items were similar material culture. Therefore, it has not yet been possible to establish exactly which archaeological monuments of the 2nd - 1st millennium BC. were left by the ancestors of the Slavs, and which ones were left by the ancestors of the Balts. In addition to hunting and fishing, they were engaged in forest cattle breeding and shifting agriculture.

Around the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The Baltoslavs split into Baltic and Slavic tribes. An extremely important process for ethnogenesis was completed: the Slavs realized their ethnic independence, differentiated themselves culturally and linguistically from other, non-Slavic tribes. From now on, both the Slavic and Baltic tribes will have different historical destinies.

However, the Slavic community did not remain united. Soon it divided into three large groups: southern, western and eastern. The South Slavs settled in the Balkans. They became the ancestors of modern Bulgarians, Slovenes, Macedonians, Serbs and Croats. The Western Slavs, moving after the Germanic tribes, reached the banks of the Elbe, Main and Danube rivers; The history of the Czechs, Slovaks and Poles is connected with them. And only eastern group remained in the territories occupied by the Slavs for initial stage development of European lands. The Eastern Slavs became the ancestors of the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.

The further formation of the ethnic map of our country turned out to be associated with the settlement of peoples, primarily the Eastern Slavs, who more intensively developed the expanses of Eastern Europe than other tribes. In addition, the ethnic picture in the 1st millennium AD. will be affected by the Great Migration.

Ancient Slavic tribes played a big role in the ethnic geography of Eastern Europe in the 1st millennium AD. e. The earliest written evidence, dating back to the 1st–2nd centuries, reports that they occupied a large area of ​​Central and Eastern Europe. To ancient historians and to the geographers of this period - Pliny, Tacitus, Claudius Ptolemy - they were known under the name “Vendi”, a group of tribes that lived, according to their information, in the territory from the north to the Carpathian Mountains in the south, along the banks of the Vistula (Vistula) River. The name “Slavs” is sometimes associated with the name of one of the tribes of the Wends (“Suovens” according to Ptolemy), which later became the main name for the entire ethnic group. Gothic historian of the 6th century. Jordan already reported on three related tribal unions - the Venets, Ants and Sklavens, and he called the territory from the Dniester to the Dnieper the place of residence of the Ants, and the Sklavens - from the Sava to the upper reaches of the Vistula and to the Dniester. Byzantine authors of the 6th–7th centuries. Procopius of Caesarea, Theophylact Simocatta and others described the Slavs inhabiting the Danube region and the north of the Balkan Peninsula.

Modern historical science, based on this fragmentary information, as well as on archaeological, ethnological and toponymic data, gave rise to quite a few theories about the origin and place of the initial settlement of the Slavs. However, most of these hypotheses agree that the Slavs are an autochthonous population of Central and Eastern Europe, and the main period of their separation into an independent ethnic group from the Indo-European linguistic community falls on the 1st millennium BC. e. The main territory of the initial settlement of the Slavs (in a broad sense) can be considered the lands from the Oder in the west to the middle reaches of the Dnieper in the east and from the coast of the Baltic Sea (between the Vistula and Oder) in the north to the Northern Carpathian region in the south. In this territory, traces of several archaeological cultures have been preserved that took part in the ethnogenesis of the Slavs: Lusatian, Pomeranian, Przeworsk, Zarubinets, Chernyakhov and some others. Most researchers consider the Prague-type cultures (Prague-Penkov and Prague-Korchak) to be the immediate predecessors of the Slavs, the distribution area of ​​which fits into the outlined space.

The Great Migration of Peoples and the Formation of Separate Slavic Groups

In the I–II centuries. n. e. the ancient Slavs neighbored in the north with the Germans and Balts, who were also part of the northern group of Indo-European tribes. In the southeast lived the Indo-Iranian tribes - the Scythians and Sarmatians, in the south - the Thracians and Illyrians, in the west - the Germans. The further settlement and ethnic history of the Slavs is closely connected with significant movements of Germanic, Scythian-Sarmatian and other tribes.

In the 2nd–5th centuries. German tribes of the Goths and Gepids made the transition from the southern shore of the Baltic Sea and the lower reaches of the Vistula, through the Slavic lands, to the Northern Black Sea region. Apparently, under the influence of this advancement, a separation into eastern and western branches is emerging among the Slavs. In the IV–VII centuries. In the vast expanse of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, many tribes are on the move. This process is known as the “Great Migration.” In the second half of the 4th century. made the transition to the west through the Don, the Northern Black Sea region to the Central and Hunnic tribal union. This union was formed in the 2nd–4th centuries. as a result of the mixing of the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Xiongnu (Xiongnu), who originally lived in, with the autochthonous population of the Southern Urals and Ugric tribes. The Huns defeated the Sarmatian-Alan tribes that occupied the territories between the Caucasus, Don and Volga, and then the Goths in the Northern Black Sea region. After this, one part of the Goths (Ostrogoths) became part of the Hunnic tribal union, and the other (Visigoths) committed big way across Europe to Southern Gaul and. The Huns themselves at the end of the 4th century. formed a state that subjugated the tribes and peoples of the Northern Black Sea region, the Danube region, and the Southern Carpathian region. In the middle of the 5th century. The leader of the Huns, Attila, tried to extend his power to Western Europe, but was defeated in the Battle of Cataluan and after his death, the Hunnic state collapsed.

From the end of the 5th century. the Ant and Sklavin tribes move south to the Danube, to the North-Western Black Sea region, then the Ant tribes through the lower Danube, and the Sklavin tribes from the north and north-west invade the Balkan provinces of Byzantium, as a result of which the Balkans are populated by the Slavs and the southern group begins to take shape Slavic tribes. Simultaneously with this process, the Slavs were settling in the northwestern and northeastern directions. They inhabit the lands along the Lower Elbe and the southwestern coast of the Baltic Sea, as well as the Upper Dnieper region.

In the middle of the 6th century. Through the Volga-Don steppes, a tribal union of Avars (Obra or Aubry in Russian chronicles) invaded the Northern Black Sea region, in which the main role was played by Turkic-speaking tribes. Having devastated the lands of the Antes, in the 560s. The Avars invaded Pannonia (the middle reaches of the Danube), where they founded the Avar Khaganate. The Kaganate did not have precise and permanent borders. It is known that the Avars raided Byzantium, the Slavs, the Franks, the Lombards and other tribes and peoples for the purpose of robbery and collecting tribute. Since the 20s VII century As a result of defeats from the Byzantines and the rebel Slavic tribes, the gradual weakening and collapse of the Kaganate begins. This process was completed at the turn of the 8th–9th centuries, when the Avar Kaganate suffered from Frankish Kingdom Charlemagne, who acted in alliance with the southern Slavs, suffered a decisive defeat. By the end of the 9th century. the Avars were assimilated by the peoples of the Danube region and the North-Western Black Sea region.

Assimilation(ethnologist) - the merger of one people with another with the loss of one of them of its language, culture, and national identity.

In the second half of the 6th century. The steppes of Central Asia and the territories between the Volga and Don were united within one state - the Turkic or Turkic Khaganate, formed by a Turkic-speaking (basically Avar) tribal union. This state collapsed at the very beginning of the 7th century. into the Western Turkic and Eastern Turkic Khaganates. The Western Turkic Kaganate, which included the Northern Black Sea region and the territory between the Don, Volga and Caucasus, did not last long, since already in the middle of the 7th century. the Bulgarians invaded here (in modern science they are usually called proto-Bulgarians) - also a Turkic-speaking nomadic tribe. They formed their own state here - Great, central part which was located in the lower reaches of the Don and on east coast. At the turn of the 7th–8th centuries. The proto-Bulgarians were divided. One part – the “black Bulgarians” – continued to wander in the steppes between the Don and the Caucasus and gradually dissolved into the mass of other ethnic groups in this region. There is a version that it is from them that the name of one of the modern peoples – the Balkars – comes from. The other part, the so-called “horde of Khan Asparukh,” went west, to the region of the lower Danube, where over time it was assimilated by local Slavic tribes(this community formed the basis of the modern Bulgarian people). At the end of the 7th century. the First was formed here Bulgarian kingdom. Finally, the third group made the transition to the northeast (to the middle Volga and Lower Kama). In this territory, the assimilation of the local Finno-Ugric population by the Proto-Bulgarians led to the formation of the ethnos and state of the Volga Bulgars (or Bulgarians).

In the 8th century a large group of Ugric tribes - the Magyars, who had previously lived along the Yaik and Ori, made the transition to the west, through the Volga and Don to the Black Sea steppes, and then further to the middle Danube.

Under the influence of the Great Migration of Peoples, the Slavs were forced to develop new territories, their linguistic and ethnic community was gradually disrupted, and as a result, three Slavic groups that exist to this day were formed: Western, Eastern and Southern. The South Slavs settled on the Balkan Peninsula (Thrace, Northern, Dalmatia, Istria) right up to the Adriatic Sea coast and the valleys of the Alpine Mountains, on the banks of the Danube and to the Aegean Sea. The Western Slavs settled between the Vistula in the east in the west, the Baltic Sea coast in the north and the middle reaches of the Danube in the south.

Settlement of the Eastern Slavs at the end of the 1st millennium AD. e.

Most full picture the settlement of the East Slavic and neighboring tribes at the turn of the 1st–2nd millennium is provided by a comparison of information from the Russian chronicle beginning of XII V. – “The Tale of Bygone Years” (hereinafter referred to as PVL) with other written sources and archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic materials. PVL calls the place of initial settlement of the Slavs the middle and lower reaches of the Danube, “where the Ugric and Bulgarian lands are now,” where the Slavs, according to the chronicler, came from Asia after Babylonian pandemonium and the so-called “confusion of languages.” This plot, based on a biblical legend, is not confirmed by archaeological data, but in further presentation of the history of the Slavs, the author of the “Tale” provides more reliable information. He reports that the Slavs were divided into three groups - western, southern and eastern, and that the eastern Slavs began to settle in a north-eastern direction, gradually occupying vast areas of Eastern Europe. Even more important is the listing in the chronicle of East Slavic tribal unions with a description of the territories of their residence.

According to these data, the forest-steppe region of the Middle Dnieper, between the mouths of the Desna and Ros rivers, was inhabited by a tribal union of glades. Its name was due to the fact that the glade, in the words of the chronicle, “is in the middle of nowhere.” Their largest center there was Kyiv, which arose from several villages on the “mountains”, or rather hills, located on the right bank of the Dnieper. To the west of the glades, in Polesie, in the basins of the Teterev, Uzh, Goryn rivers, to Pripyat in the north, the Drevlyans lived. The landscape feature of this area in the chronicle is emphasized by the fact that the Drevlyans “grayed in the forests,” hence the name of the tribal union. The most famous of the cities of the Drevlyans is Iskorosten. To the north of the Drevlyans, between Pripyat and Dvina, lived the Dregovichi. IN modern language and in some Western Russian dialects the word “dryagva” means “swamp”. Along the Western Dvina, the Dregovichi came into contact with the Polotsk residents, in relation to whom the chronicler indicated that they “lived on the Dvina and called the Polotsk river for the sake of the river that flows into the Dvina, by the name of Polot.”

The area of ​​settlement of the Ilmen Slovenes in the north reached the Neva River, Lake Nevo (Ladoga), and in the west, somewhat retreating from the coast of the Gulf of Finland, it went south along the Narova River and Lake Peipsi. The author of PVL reports that it was the Slovenes who founded Novgorod. It is characteristic that the Slovenes, unlike other tribes, “were nicknamed by their own name,” that is, they retained the common name of the Slavs. Obviously, this was due to the fact that this part of the Slavic ethnic community, as it moved to new territory, found itself in a foreign-language environment. The self-name “Slavs” (modified – “sklavens”, “sklavins”, “suovens”, etc.) initially had the meaning “master of words, speech”, and emphasized the difference from foreigners who do not speak Slavic. Therefore, the Ilmen Slovenes, neighboring Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes, retained this ethnonym. In a similar way, the ethnonyms “Slovaks” and “Slovenes” arose, since these peoples also found themselves on the periphery Slavic settlement, surrounded by foreign-speaking tribes.

The upper reaches of the Dnieper, Volga and Western Dvina, reaching Lake Pskov in the west, were occupied by the Krivichi, whose tribal center was Smolensk on the Dnieper. On the left bank of the Dnieper, along the Sozh River and its tributaries, there was an area of ​​settlement of the Radimichi, and along the Oka, in its upper reaches, the Vyatichi. The chronicler explains the names of these two tribal unions not by the geographical features of their places of residence, but by the names of their ancestors - Radim and Vyatko. To the northeast of the glades, in the rivers Desna, Seim and Sula, northerners lived. This term also has a “geographical” origin, since PVL describes the Slavic tribes, from the point of view of the glades, for which such a designation of northern neighbors is quite natural. In addition, if you believe the statement of the author of the chronicle, the northerners descended from the Krivichi, therefore, they moved to the Middle Dnieper from the north, which could also serve as a motive for the name.

To the west of the glades and the Drevlyans lived the Buzhans, “not sitting along the Bug,” who later received the name Volynians. The territory inhabited by them covered both banks of the Western Bug and the upper reaches of Pripyat. It is possible that the predecessor of the Buzhans (Volynians) was a tribal association known to the chronicler under the name Dulebs and which disintegrated by the 10th century. The Eastern Slavs also included the White tribes, who occupied mainly the northwestern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. The southernmost tribes of the Eastern Slavs were the Ulichs and Tivertsy, who inhabited the coast of the Dniester and the land between the Southern Bug and the Prut. True, their ethnicity is quite controversial. Some researchers suggest that these were Turkic-speaking or Iranian-speaking tribes who were under strong cultural influence of the Slavs.

It is worth emphasizing once again that the listed ethnonyms denoted large alliances of tribes that had internal divisions. However, written sources do not provide information about them, so their identification is possible only on the basis of archaeological data. Nevertheless, the chronicle repeatedly emphasizes the unity of all East Slavic tribes, which was based on a common language.

Thus, the territory of settlement of the Eastern Slavs, according to the PVL, seems to be very extensive. Its border in the west ran from the confluence of the Neva into the Gulf of Finland along the coast to the river. Narva; stretched along Lakes Peipus and Pskov; crossed the Western Dvina in its middle reaches; then from the middle reaches of the Neman it passed to the upper reaches of the Vistula; through the northern part of the Carpathian Mountains it went south to the Seret River and along the Danube to. The northern border of the settlement of the East Slavic tribes from the Neva ran along the southern tip of Lake Nevo (Ladoga), the rivers Syas, Chagoda, Sheksna, to the Volga, to the Nerl to the Klyazma, from the Klyazma to the Moscow River, along it to the Oka and, capturing the upper reaches of the Don , Oka, Seyma, descended along the Psel River to the Dnieper. In the south, from the mouth of the Psel, the border headed up the Dnieper and, before reaching the Ros River, went west to the Southern Bug, and then along the Bug to, known in ancient times as Russkoe.

These boundaries of the East Slavic population developed towards the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century. It is quite natural that they are quite conventional. Contact with neighboring peoples in border areas led to significant displacements. This is reflected in the fact that in a number of cases there is an exit of the East Slavic population into neighboring territories. Three directions can be noted in this settlement. One - the lower Danube and the Balkans - had weakened to a significant extent by the time of the formation of the Old Russian state. The second is to the north and northeast. Already by the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century. The Slavic population from the outskirts of Novgorod reaches the Onega and White lakes, the Svir and Sheksna rivers and settles in the territories occupied by Finno-Ugric tribes. A similar situation arose in the Oka-Klyazma interfluve, where the Vyatichi and Krivichi penetrated. The third direction is the southern regions. There were a number of difficulties in settling and developing fertile forest-steppe and steppe lands, among which protection from nomads seems to be one of the main ones. The Slavic population either moved forward or rolled back. However, individual streams of Slavs penetrated quite far. Some eastern authors of the 9th–10th centuries. fragmentarily mention the existence of a Slavic population in the territory Khazar Khaganate already in the 8th century. The Slavs appear on the Don, where the center of colonization at the end of the 10th century. became the settlement of Belaya Vezha (on the site of the Khazar city of Sarkel), at the intersection of the land route with the Don waterway. The Slavic population is also moving to the coast of the Azov (Surozh) and Black (Russian) seas.

Geography of the non-Slavic population of Eastern Europe

The sources make it possible to map the main tribal groups that inhabited various territories of Eastern Europe at that time and were adjacent to the East Slavic tribes. The territories from the Danube to the Vistula and the Western Bug were occupied by tribes Western Slavs: , Moravians, Wislans, Mazovshans. In the southwest from the end of the 9th century. The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs were the Hungarians (Magyars), who mixed here with the Slavic, Avar and other populations, the Roman tribes of the Wallachians (Volokhs), and along the lower Danube - the Southern Slavs (Bulgarians).

The northwestern neighbors of the Eastern Slavs were the Letto-Lithuanian (Baltic) tribes. The area of ​​their settlement covered the Eastern Baltic from the lower reaches of the Vistula to Lake Pskov. These included the Prussians, who inhabited the coast of the Baltic Sea between the mouths of the Vistula and Neman. The lands along the right bank of the Western Dvina up to Lake Pskov were occupied by the Letgola (Latgalians) tribe, and their neighbors in the south and southwest were the Zimegola (Semigallians). The coast of the Baltic Sea (Western) was inhabited by Kors (Curonians). The area of ​​settlement of the Yatvingians and Lithuanians covered the basin of the Viliya River between the Western Bug and the Neman, and between the mouth of the Neman and the Western Dvina lived the Zhmud (Zhemait) tribe; in the middle reaches of the Neman, the Aukshtaites neighbored them. In the XI–XII centuries. In the basin of the Protva River, a tributary of the Moscow River, lived the Golyad tribe, which also belonged to the group of Baltic tribes. Finding itself surrounded by the Slavs, it was very quickly assimilated by them.

The forested areas of the north and northeast of the East European Plain were occupied by Finno- Ugric tribes. Chud (Estonians) inhabited the territory from Lake Peipsi to the Gulf of Finland and Riga. To the south, along the coast of the Gulf of Riga, at the mouth of the Western Dvina, the Liv (Liv) tribe lived. Later it gave the name to this territory (Livonia, Livonia) and the Livonian Order. The coast of the Gulf of Finland between the Neva and Narova rivers was inhabited by a tribe. There was a korela along the Neva and around Ladoga. A significant territory between Lakes Ladoga, Onega and White, bounded from the north by Svir and from the east by Sheksna, was inhabited by the entire (Vepsians). PVL calls the entire indigenous population of the city of Beloozero. To the northeast of White Lake, in the Onega and Northern Dvina basins, there lived tribes that received the name Chud Zavolochskaya in Russian sources. The tribes that lived in the Upper Kama region and the Vychegda basin are known as the Perm. (approximately from Sheksna to Oka) and the shores of lakes Rostovskoye and Kleshchin were inhabited by the Merya tribe. Rostov owes its existence to the Meryans. Their neighbors were the Cheremis (Mari) who lived on the left bank of the Volga. The middle reaches of the Oka River were occupied by Meshchera, and the lower reaches by Muroma. The tribal center of the latter was the city of Murom. Mordovian tribes lived on the right bank of the middle Volga. Individual Mordovian settlements went far to the west along the Oka, Tsna and Khopr. To the south, along the Volga, there were lands inhabited by the Burtases, who were ethnically close.

To the east and southeast of the Finno-Ugrians and Eastern Slavs were Turkic-speaking tribes. These include the Volga-Kama Bulgars (Bulgars), whose settlement area in the east began from the confluence of the Belaya River with the Kama, in the west it stretched to the middle Volga, and in the south it reached. The steppe territory, lying in a strip from the Yaik basin (Ural), through the lower Volga and to the lower Dnieper, was an area of ​​settlement of nomadic tribes. During and after the Great Migration, this zone was a very busy route for the movement of various ethnic groups from Central Asia to Europe. Around the end of the 9th century. The steppes between the Don and the Southern Bug were occupied by the Pechenegs, who were a conglomerate of tribes of Turkic and Finno-Ugric origin. However, by the middle of the 11th century. The Pecheneg tribes were replaced by the Cumans (Kipchaks), who neighbored the Eastern Slavs until the Tatar-Mongol invasion of the 13th century. Since that time, the vast steppe territory from the Northern Black Sea region has been called Desht-i-Kipchak by eastern written sources, and by the Russians - the Polovtsian steppe.

1. Non-Slavic peoples of northern Russia.

2. Non-Slavic peoples of the Volga region.

1 . KARELIANS - the people of the Russian Federation, constituting the majority (about 80 thousand people of the Republic of Karelia (before the collapse of the USSR - the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), the total number in the Russian Federation is about 125 thousand people. Apart from Karelia, they live in Tver, Leningrad, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Moscow and other regions. They speak the Karelian language, which has several dialects (Karelian, Livvik, Lyudikov) and belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural. language family.

From the point of view of physical (biological) anthropology, Karelians belong to the White Sea-Baltic race, part of the larger Caucasian race. However, in some groups of the Karelian population a small Mongoloid admixture can be traced. Russian chronicles call their ancestors, who in the 9th century. inhabited the northwestern coast of Lake Ladoga - “Korela”. Having mastered in the XI-XII centuries. the western part of the present territory. Karelia, the Korels gradually moved north and east, mixing with the Lapps (Sami) and Vepsians; Since the 12th century, having entered the Russian state, they were under the constant ethnocultural influence of the Russians, which, “however, did not prevent the consolidation of the Karelian ethnos, which occurred in the middle of the 15th century.

The traditional type of farming of the Karelians is three-field and shifting farming (rye, barley, oats, peas, radishes, turnips, and late XIX V. -beets, carrots, potatoes, rutabaga) and livestock (cows, horses, pigs). Fishing is of no small importance in the traditional Karelian economy. The type of dweller is close to the Northern Russian one, with some specificity, which is manifested in the architectural decor. In folk costume there are also forms inherent in the traditional clothing of Russians of the European North: a sundress, a shirt. However, the national Karelian costume also has its own characteristics: in the Onega region you can find a type of ancient unstitched skirt (khurstut); among northern Karelians - a shirt with a slit on the back, men's scarves, knitted and woven belts and greaves, and among southern Karelians archaic embroidery is widespread.

There are features in traditional Karelian food that distinguish them from the nearby Russian population. These fish soups with the addition of flour products, pies with cereals and potatoes (wickets), fish baked in milk and sour cream. Drinks that are especially traditional for Karelians are turnip kvass, tea, and lightly salted coffee. Folklore has some similarities with Finnish: ancient chants (runes), which are accompanied by playing the kantele (plucked musical instrument), fairy tales with ancient heroes and scenes from the ancient Finnish history, and finally, the Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala”.

SAAM (self-name - Sami, Sami, Same, outdated name - Lapps) - a people settled on Kola Peninsula(Kola Sami 1615 people), Norway (30 thousand people), Sweden (17 thousand people) and Finland (5 thousand people). The former name “Lapps” is most likely of Finnish-Scandinavian origin, which later passed on to the Russians. Anthropologically, the Sami are very distinctive; they are classified as laponoid type (Mongoloid admixture) large Caucasian. The Sami language forms its own separate subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family. In the Kola Sami language there are four dialects, as well as several dialects. The Sami believers in Scandinavia and Finland are Lutherans, in Russia they are Orthodox.

Sami - ancient population European Far North. Their ancestors occupied a larger territory, but over the course of several centuries they were pushed north and assimilated by the Russians, Karelians, Finns and Scandinavians. The main occupation of the Sami for a long time was hunting and fishing, but since the 17th century. they become reindeer herders, maintaining this type of farming as the main one to this day. The traditional dwelling is a portable cone-shaped hut, the basis of which is made up of poles. They are covered with burlap (in summer) or deer skins (in winter). Among the Kola Sami this dwelling is called "kuvaksa", among the Scandinavian Sami it is called "kota", traditional men's and women's clothing differs slightly from each other. This is a straight shirt; sewn from cloth or canvas, which men belt with a wide leather belt. Winter clothing among the Sami represents

it is a blind cape made of deer skins with the fur facing out, which is fastened with straps. Traditional food consists mainly of reindeer meat (in winter) and fish (in summer). Sami folklore is, first of all, myths, folk tales and legends. For a long time, the Sami people retained vestiges of shamanism.

KOMI is the self-name of two close peoples. One of them is the Komi proper, who also call themselves Komi Mort or Komi Voityr and who were previously called Zyryans (they form the indigenous population of the Komi Republic, numbering about 300 thousand people); the other is the Komi-Permyaks, leaving the basis of the population of the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug (95.5 thousand people). Representatives of the first people also live in the Arkhangelsk, Sverdlovsk, Murmansk, Omsk, Tyumen regions, Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs. Representatives of the second people inhabit, in addition to the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug, the Perm region. The Komi themselves speak the Komi (Zyryan) language, which has ten dialects. Komi-Permyaks speak the Komi-Permyak language, which has a noticeable relationship with the Komi (-Zyryan) and Udmurt languages. All of them belong to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family. Komi believers are Orthodox and Old Believers.

The ancient ancestors of the Komi inhabited the basin of the middle and upper reaches of the Kama, some of them in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. moved to the Vychegda River basin and moved with the Finno-Ugric peoples living there. As a result of this mixing, two tribal conglomerates were formed: the Vychegda Perm, which became the direct ancestors of the Komi proper, and the Great Perm (the ancestors of the Komi-Permyaks). ,

The ethnic culture of the Komi people is connected with their habitat, and the presence of a reserve territory allowed the Komi to maintain the traditional economic complex almost unchanged. In the 12th century. the transition from slash-and-burn to arable farming began, and by the 15th century. The Komi mastered three-field farming, but at the beginning of the 20th century. among the Komi all three types of agriculture could be found; undercut, fallow and three-field. The main grain crops are still barley, rye, oats, wheat, flax, and hemp. The Komi dwellings are log houses, consisting of two huts - a summer hut (lunkerka) and a winter hut (voykerka). In folk clothing there is a great similarity with the traditional costume of the Russians of the European North; Women's costume consists of a sundress various types(shushun, kuntey, bruise, Chinese), shirt, apron (zapon), men's - from a shirt, wide-leg pants (gach), belt and felt hat. With the onset of cold weather, kaftans are worn, and in winter - fur coats. Clothes for hunting are quite distinctive. These are a shoulder cape (luzan), knitted stockings, leather shoes (ulyadi) and also leather high boots (shoe covers). Dishes made from meat and fish stand out from traditional cuisine, although products of plant origin are also eaten.

Traditional craft is fundamentally associated with folk art: embroidery, patterned weaving and knitting, fur applique, wood carving. Komi folklore consists of songs, fairy tales, epic tales about Pere the Bogatyr, as well as legends about miracles, which the Komi consider their historical ancestors.

The material and spiritual culture of the Komi-Permyaks is close to the ethnic culture of the Komi proper. Their traditional occupation is arable farming (cereals, hemp, flax, peas). Livestock farming (horses, cows), beekeeping, and fishing are widespread. The dwelling of the Komi-Permyaks is three-part log houses, close in type to the North Russian one (izba-seni-izba). Outbuildings are built close to the living space. Traditional clothing also has a great resemblance to the folk costume of the Komi proper. Women's clothing consists of a sundress (dubas, shirt, patterned belt (cover), apron (zapon). Men's clothing consists of pants (veshyan), a shirt, which is belted with a patterned belt. A canvas robe (shabur), canvas caftans, fur coat are worn over the lower clothing (pas). The traditional food of the Komi-Permyaks consists of barley and rye bread, vegetables, fish, mushrooms, berries. Meat dishes are rarely consumed, mainly on holidays. The applied art of the Komi-Permyaks is associated with traditional crafts, such as patterned weaving, carving and carving. painting on wood and bone; processing of birch bark and horns. The Komi-Permyak epic about Lera and Mize, as well as about Pele and Kudym-Osh is known, legends about miracles, bylichki, and fairy tales are widespread.

2 . TATARS (self-name - Tatars) are one of the largest peoples in Russia (sixth in number, more than 6.5 million people), constituting the main (indigenous) population of the Republic of Tatarstan. Tatars also live in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and Astrakhan regions, in the south of Siberia and the Far East. After the collapse of the USSR, a small number of Tatars. continues to exist in some CIS countries, Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan.

The ethnonym (name of the people) “Tatars” can be historically traced back to the 6th century. AD among a conglomerate of Mongol tribes wandering southeast of Lake Baikal. During the period of the Mongol conquests, which took place in the XII-XIV centuries. This is the name given to some of the peoples who became part of one of the states formed as a result of these conquests and which received the name Golden Horde. Subsequently, the Tatar population differentiated, as a result of which several ethno-territorial groups of the Tatar population were formed, of which the Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals (Kazan Tatars, Kasimov Tatars and Mishars), Tatars of the Lower Volga region or Astrakhan Tatars (Yurt Tatars, Kundra Tatars and Karagash) and, finally, the Tatars of Siberia (Tobolsk, Barabinsk and Tomsk Tatars). Such geographical dispersion of the Tatar population influenced its anthropological diversity. The Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals are close in their anthropology to representatives of the large Caucasian race. Most Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars are anthropologically close to the South Siberian version of the large Mongoloid race. This heterogeneity is also evident in languages; spoken by various groups of Tatars: Volga, Ural and Siberian Tatars speaking the language of the Kipchak subgroup, which is part of the Turkic group of the Altai language family, while the language of the Astrakhan Tatars, having a Nogai basis, is most close to the classical Tatar language. Believing Tatars are Sunni Muslims.

Tatars are predominantly farmers (they grow rye, wheat, oats, peas, barley, buckwheat, millet, flax, and hemp). Their livestock farming is less developed (small and large cattle, horses, and poultry are raised). Among the traditional crafts, the most notable ones are the processing of leather and wool, the production of patterned shoes and embroidered hats. A traditional Tatar house (a four- or five-walled hut) is divided into male and female halves.

In men's and women's underwear, the main element of traditional costume is; is a tunic-like shirt and wide-legged trousers. Men and women wear a fitted camisole over their shirt, with women's camisoles being longer than men's. Outerwear for both men and women is a beshmet quilted with cotton wool. Men's headdress - hat (in winter), skullcap, felt hat (in summer). Women's headdresses are very distinctive: an embroidered velvet cap called kalfak, a headdress (kashpau) decorated on the outside with silver coins, and various embroidered bedspreads. Among the traditional shoes, the most notable ones are ichegis, made of soft leather, and shoes inlaid with colored leather. Traditional food consists mainly of meat and dairy dishes, as well as dishes of plant origin: porridge; sour dough bread, flat cakes (kabartma), pancakes, unleavened dough muffins (bavyrsak, kosh, tele). Ritual dish - honey mixed with butter; wedding drink - a mixture of fruits and honey dissolved in water (shirbet). The most significant national holiday is Sabantuy, dedicated to spring sowing (with traditional competitions - wrestling, running, horse racing). Oral folk art is rich in fairy tales, legends, songs, riddles, and sayings. One of the main genres is bytes - epic or lyric-epic works telling about the history of the Tatar people.

BASHKIRS (self-name - Bashkort) - people who form the main population of one of the national republics Russian Federation (RF) - Bashkortostan. Outside their ethnic territory they live in Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Orenburg, Perm and Sverdlovsk regions RF. The total number in Russia at the beginning of the 1990s was about 1.5 million, including 864 thousand people in Bashkortostan.

The origin of the Bashkir ethnic group is closely connected with pastoral tribes Turkic origin, nomadic before coming to the territory Southern Urals in the Aral-Syr Darya steppes. However, the most ancient ancestors of the Bashkirs were the Iranian-speaking Sarmatians and various Finno-Ugric tribes. That is why the anthropological type of Bashkirs is heterogeneous. Some of them belong to the sub-Ural type of the transitional Ural race; the Bashkirs living in the north-west of the republic are close to the Eastern European type of the Central European race; and, finally, the Eastern Bashkirs have much in common with representatives of the South Siberian race. The Bashkir language belongs to the Kipchak subgroup Turkic group Altai language family, having several dialects. Among the Bashkirs, Russian and Tatar languages.

To mid-17th century V. The main traditional occupation of the Bashkirs was semi-nomadic cattle breeding: From the beginning of the 18th century. The role of agriculture is increasing, however, among the southern and eastern Bashkirs, nomadism persisted until the beginning of the 20th century. The traditional forms of life of the Bashkirs are based on agriculture and cattle breeding. Horse breeding is of great importance, especially in the south. Traditional crafts of the Bashkirs are weaving, felt making, carpet production, leather processing. Women's traditional clothing is a long dress cut off at the waist (kuldak), an apron and a camisole, often decorated with silver coins. A typical female headdress is called kashmau - a cap, the end of which goes down the back and which is usually decorated with coins and silver pendants; The headdress of an unmarried girl is a helmet-shaped cap with coins (takiya) attached to it. The men's national costume of the Bashkirs consisted of a shirt, wide-legged trousers, a camisole or a robe. The traditional Bashkir headdress is a skullcap, a round fur hat, and a fur malakhai that covers the ears and neck. Bashkir cuisine is based on meat and dairy foods; traditional Bashkir dishes are boiled horse meat and boiled lamb (beshbarmak), dried sausage (kazy), cheese (korot), curdled milk (katyk). Most common folk holidays Bashkirs are gin, sabantuy and a specific women's holiday called kargatuy. Bashkir folklore is primarily a heroic epic (“Ural-batyr”, “Akbuzat”), songs about Bashkir heroes (batyrs).

Chuvash (self-name - Chavash) - people forming the main population (more than two thirds, 907 thousand people) Chuvash Republic, part of the Russian Federation (RF), in which the Chuvash number 1773.6 thousand people. In addition to their ethnic territory, they live in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Samara, Ulyanovsk regions, Moscow and the Moscow region, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kemerovo, Orenburg regions, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Total number Chuvash in the territory of the former USSR 1842.3 thousand, people.

The ethnogenesis of the Chuvash ended approximately at the end of the 1st millennium AD. e, as a result of the mixing of the tribal association of the Volga-Kama Bulgarians with the Finno-Ugric tribes inhabiting the territory of the future Chuvash. The further process of Turkization of the local population was due to the defeat of the Volga Bulgarians in the 13th century. Tatar-Mongols, after which (mid-15th century) the Chuvash lands became part of the Kazan Khanate. The ethnic consolidation of the Chuvash was facilitated by the annexation of their territory (1551) to Muscovite Rus'. The Chuvash are divided into two main ethno-territorial groups: those living in northwestern Chuvashia (riding or viryap) and those inhabiting northeastern and southern Chuvashia (lower or anatri). However, between these two groups lives a group of middle-class Chuvash, which is close in language to the Viryal, but in everyday life is very similar to the Antari. The Chuvash ethnic group belongs to the Suburalic variant of the Uralic race, and the language forms the Bulgar subgroup of the Turkic group, which is part of the Altai language family.

The basis of the traditional economy is agriculture, which has been transformed over several centuries from slash-and-burn to three-field farming. The Chuvash from the second half of the 19th century V. The predominant dwellings are close to the layout of a Central Russian house: a hut, a canopy, a cage. Women's and men's folk costumes of the Chuvash are poorly differentiated. It consists of a tunic-like shirt called a kepe (women's is distinguished by richly decorated embroidery) and wide-legged trousers. Outerwear is similar to a caftan (shupar), and in colder time year, an undercoat (sakhman) and a sheepskin coat (kerek) are worn. Headdresses are very beautiful, especially for women: a cap in the shape of a truncated cone, decorated with coins and beads (khushpu), a turban made of triangular fabric. Headdress unmarried woman- a helmet-shaped or hemispherical cap, embroidered with beads and decorated with coins. The national cuisine is based on products of plant origin: soups (yashka), broths with various additives, porridges, pies with various fillings. Dairy dishes are also eaten: sour milk (turakh), cottage cheese (chakat), etc., as well as meat dishes: sausage made from sheep's offal (shartan), boiled sausage made from minced meat with cereal filling (tultarmash). The most common drink is rye or barley beer. The Chuvash family is still the custodian of folk traditions; maternity, wedding and funeral. The Russian language is widely spoken among the Chuvash, since the Chuvash ethnic group has undergone significant acculturation by the Russians. Chuvash believers are Orthodox Christians.

MARI (self-name - Mari, mayor's office, in pre-revolutionary Russia were called Cheremis) - a people living in one of the republics of the Russian Federation, Mari El, constituting the bulk of its population (more than 325 thousand people). The total number of Mari in Russia is about 645 thousand people, who, in addition to their ethnic territory, live compactly in Bashkortostan (about 106 thousand people), Tataria (about 10 thousand people), as well as in Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk and Perm regions.

The Mari are divided into three main ethno-regional groups: mountainous, inhabiting the Right Bank of the Volga, meadow - the interfluve between the Vyatka and Vetluga rivers; and eastern - east of the Vyatka River, mainly in the territory of Bashkortostan, having moved there in the 15th-18th centuries. In accordance with this settlement, the Mari language (Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family) is divided into the following dialects: mountain, meadow, eastern and northwestern. Anthropologically, the Mari belong to; sub-Ural type of the Ural race, that is, they are Caucasians with a small Mongoloid admixture. Believers are Christians (Orthodox), as well as adherents of their own Mari faith, which is a relic of ancient pagan beliefs.

The ancient ancestors of the Mari were Finno-Ugric tribes who settled in the present territory of the Mari in the beginning. AD. Under the name Sremiskan (VI century), they are mentioned by the Gothic historian Jordan. The Mari were not ignored by Russian sources (“The Tale of Bygone Years,” 12th century). It was at the end of the 12th century that the rapprochement of the Mari tribes with the Russians began, which noticeably intensified after the annexation to Russia (XVI century) of the Middle Volga region.

Arable farming is the main traditional occupation of the Mari (they grow rye, oats, barley, millet, buckwheat, hemp, and flax). Among garden crops, onions, potatoes, hops, carrots, and radishes are especially common. Auxiliary types of farming include livestock farming (horses, cattle, sheep), forestry, beekeeping and fishing. Traditional crafts include embroidery, jewelry making and wood carving. A rural traditional dwelling is a log house (tyurt) with a gable roof, divided into two or three parts. The national costume, both female and male, consists of a tunic-like shirt (tuvir), pants (yolash), caftan (shovyr), a waist towel (solyk) and a belt (yushte). Traditional food is quite varied: soup with dumplings (lazhka), dumplings , stuffed with meat or cottage cheese (podkogylyo), boiled horse sausage (kazh), cottage cheese (tuara), baked flatbread (salmaginde). The most common Mari drinks: beer (pura), buttermilk (eran), intoxicating drink made from honey (puro). Traditional beliefs are based on cults of ancestors and pagan deities.

MORDVA is a people that forms the basis of the population of the Republic of Mordovia (313.4 thousand people), which is part of the Russian Federation (more than one million people). Compactly settled in Bashkortostan (about 32 thousand people), Tatarstan (29 thousand people), Chuvashia (18.7 thousand people), Siberia, the Far East (more than 80 thousand people), as well as in the following regions of the Russian Federation: Samara (116.5 thousand people). Penza (86.4 thousand people), Orenburg (about 69 thousand people), Ulyanovsk (about 62 thousand people), Nizhny Novgorod (36.7 thousand people), Saratov (23.4 thousand people) .). More than 60 thousand people. lives in some CIS countries. Mordva consists of two ethnocultural groups; Erzya and Moksha, which some scientists place at the level of two subethnic groups. The Erzyan and Moksha languages ​​are so far removed from each other that they have their own literary form, but both belong to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family. According to its anthropological characteristics, the Mordovians bear transitional forms of the Caucasoid. race, and in Moksha a small Mongoloid admixture is found. "

The most ancient ancestors of the Mordovian ethnic group are the Finno-Ugric tribes that inhabited in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. interfluve of the Volga, Oka and Sura.; Starting from the first half of the 1st millennium AD. e. There was a tendency for the formation and differentiation of the Erzya and Moksha tribal groups. In this process, an important role was played by the vastness of the territories, as well as the interaction of the two branches of the Mordovian ethnic group with various other cultures. The development of Mordovian duality was also facilitated by the migration of representatives of other cultures through their territory: the Volga Bulgars, and later the Mongol-Tatars. Under the name "Mordens" Mordovians are mentioned in the 6th century. Gothic historian, and in the 10th century. Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus speaks of the existence of the country of Mordia. Some discrepancies can be found in Russian chronicles of the 11th - 12th centuries; they preserved the ethnonyms (name of the people) Mordovians and Mordovians. While Erzya (Arisu) and Moksha are found respectively in the message of the Khazar Kagan (10th century). Both interacted with ethnic groups of Turkic origin (Tatars, Volga-Kama Bulgarians) and the Russian population, connections with which intensified even more after the annexation of the Mordovian lands to the Russian state (late 15th century). Subsequently (mid-16th century) the Mordovians adopted the Christian faith in the form of Orthodoxy, but for a long time retained elements of paganism.

The basis of the traditional Mordovian economy is arable farming (rye, wheat; hemp, flax, millet). An auxiliary role is given to livestock farming (large and small livestock), beekeeping. The traditional dwelling has a layout similar to the Central Russian two-chamber hut. The Mordovian women's costume consists of a white canvas shirt (pamar) with rich embroidery. Erzya costume - a shirt (pokai) completely covered with embroidery; outerwear - a robe made of white canvas (rutsya). Moksha women have white canvas pants (ponkst) and the same robe made of white canvas (myshkas, plakhon). Women's headdresses are very diverse; They are low and have a solid base. Unmarried girls wear a headband trimmed with beads. Ancient traditional shoes are, first of all, bast shoes, which are called kart among the Erzya, and karkht among the Moksha.

Traditional food mostly consists of agricultural products:

yeast bread (kiot), pies with various fillings, pancakes, noodles, round pieces of dough brewed in water. Meat dishes between Erzya and Moksha also differ: Erzya eat fried meat and liver with seasonings (selyanka), Moksha eat fried meat with onions (shcheny). Mordovian folk crafts include embroidery, wood carving and beadwork.

Traditional holidays are most often timed to coincide with the folk calendar, one of which (velozks) is dedicated to Vel-ava, the patroness of the village. Mordovian folklore is most based on ritual poetry (calendar and family). These are wedding songs, various lamentations... Among the Mordovian population there are lyrical sad songs, shepherd songs, and sayings.

Udmurts (self-name - utmort, ukmorg , obsolete Russian name - votyaki ) - the people who make up the main population of Udmurtia (496.5 thousand people) - a republic that is part of the Russian Federation (RF). Udmurts live in small groups in Tatarstan (about 25 thousand people), Bashkortostan (about 24 thousand people), the Republic of Mari (2-5 thousand people), Perm (about 33 thousand people), Kirov (23 thousand people). Tyumen "(a little more than 7 thousand people), Sverdlovsk (23.6 thousand people) regions, as well as in Ukraine (about 9 thousand people), Uzbekistan (2.7 thousand people) and Belarus ( 1.2 thousand people).

Anthropologically, the Udmurts are representatives of the Sub-Ural version of the Ural transitional race. The Udmurts speak the Udmurt language, which belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family and has four main dialects: northern, southern, peripheral-southern and Besermyan. Russian and Tatar languages ​​are very common. Believing Udmurts are Orthodox Christians.

The ethnogenesis of the Udmurts is based on the ancient Finno-Ugric tribes that inhabited the current territory of Udmurtia from the 1st millennium BC. 1st millennium AD). At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia AD. The Udmurt tribes came under the influence of the Voyage-Kama Bulgarians, and in 1236 they came under Mongol-Tatar rule. Until the middle of the 16th century. their northern territories were part of the Vyatka land, and the southern ones were part of the Kazan Khanate. However, in the third quarter of the same century, the entire territory where the Udmurts lived became part of the Russian state, still remaining a subject of the Russian Federation.

The main traditional types of economy of the Udmurts are arable farming (rye, oats, buckwheat, barley, spelt, peas, flax, hemp) and livestock farming (cattle and small cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry). The traditional dwelling of the Udmurts is a log house (cork) with a gable roof. The canopy of the house is cold, the stove is Russian. Outbuildings - barn (kenos), summer kitchen.

In the traditional clothing of the Udmurts, two options can be traced - the northern one, in which white, red, black predominate, and the southern one with a multi-color palette. Women's folk costume consists of a tunic-like shirt (derem), a robe (shertdarem), an apron, and a high cone-shaped headdress (ayshon ) with a cape (syulyk) of patterned stockings.

Women's outerwear is a caftan made of cloth (dukes) and a sheepskin fur coat. The men's traditional costume is almost similar to the Russian folk costume (colored pants, blouse shirt, felted hat, bast shoes with onuchami). The basis national cuisine constitute food products of a plant nature. On holidays, dishes such as dumplings, fish soup, pies with mushrooms, berries and vegetables, as well as meat, butter, eggs, and honey are widespread. IN religiously In the Udmurt ethnic group, the system of syncretism between paganism and Christianity is clearly manifested. Embroidery, weaving, knitting, and wood carving occupy a prominent place in everyday life. Udmurt folklore and oral folk art contain cosmogonic myths, legends about the ancient history of the people, tales of heroes, fairy tales, riddles, proverbs and sayings that carry the spiritual heritage of the Udmurt ethnos.

KALMYKS (self-name - Khalmg) are a people, the majority of whom live in the Republic of Kalmykia (146.3 thousand people). The rest live in the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov, Orenburg regions, as well as in Stavropol region and Siberia. A few diasporas of Kalmyks exist in the USA, France, and Germany. Kalmyks belong, according to their anthropological characteristics, to one of the groups of the Central Asian race, part of the large Mongoloid race (anthropologically close to the Mongols and Buryats). They speak Kalmyk, which belongs to the Mongolian group of the Altai language family.

The origin of the Kalmyks is associated with the Oirats of the Dzungarian Plain, some of whom, in search of new pastures, migrated to the region of the lower Volga ( end XVI- XVII centuries) Here they gradually mixed with local peoples, most of all of Turkic origin. Until the beginning of the 20th century. led a nomadic lifestyle, maintaining division into several tribal groups. In the Soviet, especially in the process of forced deportation to Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan (from 1943 to 1957). However, despite this, the Kalmyks still retain certain cultural features.

The basis of their former economic-cultural type was nomadic

cattle breeding with a predominance of sheep and horses. Traditional crafts -

metal processing, embroidery, wood carving and leather embossing, the Kalmyks have three main types of traditional housing: tent, dugout, semi-dugout.

The basis of a traditional costume is a long dress,

which is worn with a sleeveless vest, long shirt, pants, boots and

embroidered belt. The traditional men's suit consists of a fitted caftan; shirts, trousers, boots made of soft leather. The basis of traditional nutrition is sheep and horse meat, beef and milk, as well as pork and game. A widely used drink is tea with milk.

oil and other additives (salt, spices). In Kalmyk folklore

there are drawn-out songs, fairy tales, sayings, wishes for God, but especially

The Kalmyk heroic epic “Dzhangar” is famous. Believing Kalmyks -

Buddhists of the Lamaist persuasion.