The name of the tribes. Slavic tribes: the main secrets

Ancient historians were sure that warlike tribes and "people with five heads" live on the territory of Ancient Rus'. A lot of time has passed since then, but many mysteries of the Slavic tribes have not yet been solved.

1. Northerners living in the south

Archaeologist Valentin Sedov believed that the Savirs were a Scythian-Sarmatian tribe, and the toponyms of the northerners are of Iranian origin. Thus, the name of the river Seim (Seven) comes from the Iranian śyama or even from the ancient Indian syāma, which means "dark river". According to the third hypothesis, the northerners (northers) were immigrants from the southern or western lands. On the right bank of the Danube lived a tribe with that name. It could easily be "moved" by the Bulgars who invaded there.

The northerners were representatives of the Mediterranean type of people: they were distinguished by a narrow face, an elongated skull, were thin-boned and nosy. They brought bread and furs to Byzantium, back - gold, silver, luxury goods. Traded with the Bulgarians, with the Arabs. The northerners paid tribute to the Khazars, and then entered into an alliance of tribes united by the Novgorod prince Prophetic Oleg. In 907 they participated in the campaign against Tsargrad. In the 9th century, the Chernigov and Pereyaslav principalities appeared on their lands.

2. Vyatichi and Radimichi - relatives or different tribes?

The Vyatichi lands were located on the territory of the Moscow, Kaluga, Orel, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tula, Voronezh and Lipetsk regions.

Outwardly, the Vyatichi resembled the northerners, but they were not so nosey, but they had a high bridge of the nose and blond hair. The "Tale of Bygone Years" indicates that the name of the tribe came from the name of the ancestor Vyatko (Vyacheslav), who came "from the Poles."

Other scientists associate the name with the Indo-European root ven-t (wet), or with the Proto-Slavic vęt (big) and put the name of the tribe on a par with the Wends and Vandals. Vyatichi were skilled warriors, hunters, collected wild honey, mushrooms and berries. Cattle breeding and slash-and-burn agriculture were widespread. They were not part of Ancient Rus' and more than once fought with the Novgorod and Kyiv princes.

According to legend, Vyatko's brother Radim became the ancestor of the Radimichi, who settled between the Dnieper and Desna in the territories of the Gomel and Mogilev regions of Belarus and founded Krichev, Gomel, Rogachev and Chechersk.

Radimichi also rebelled against the princes, but after the battle on Peschan they submitted. Chronicles mention them for the last time in 1169.

3. Are Krivichi Croats or Poles?

According to one version, the Krivichi are the migrating tribes of white Croats and Serbs, according to another, they come from the north of Poland.

The Krivichi worked closely with the Varangians and built ships on which they went to Constantinople.

The Krivichi became part of Ancient Rus' in the 9th century. The last prince of the Krivichi Rogvolod was killed with his sons in 980. Smolensk and Polotsk principalities appeared on their lands.

4. Slovene vandals

Slovenes (Itelmen Slovenes) were the northernmost tribe. They lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and on the Mologa River. Origin unknown. According to legend, their ancestors were Sloven and Rus, who founded the cities of Slovensk (Veliky Novgorod) and Staraya Russa even before our era.

From Slovene, power passed to Prince Vandal (known in Europe as the Ostrogoth leader Vandalar), who had three sons: Izbor, Vladimir and Stolposvyat, and four brothers: Rudotok, Volkhov, Volkhovets and Bastarn. The wife of Prince Vandal Advind was from the Varangians.

Slovene now and then fought with the Vikings and neighbors. It is known that the ruling dynasty descended from the son of Vandal Vladimir. The Slavs were engaged in agriculture, expanded their possessions, influenced other tribes, engaged in trade with the Arabs, with Prussia, with Gotland and Sweden.

It was here that Rurik began to reign. After the emergence of Novgorod, the Slovenes began to be called Novgorodians and founded the Novgorod Land.

5. Russ. A people without a territory

Look at the map of the settlement of the Slavs. Each tribe has its own lands. Russians are not there. For all that, it was the Rus who gave the name to Rus'. There are three theories of the origin of the Russians.

The first theory considers the Rus to be Varangians and relies on The Tale of Bygone Years (written from 1110 to 1118), which says: “They drove the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves, and there was no truth among them, and generations stood up against generations, and they had strife, and they began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let's look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called Swedes, and others are Normans and Angles, and still others are Gotlanders, and so are these.

The second says that the Rus are a separate tribe that came to Eastern Europe earlier or later than the Slavs.

The third theory says that the Rus are the highest caste of the East Slavic tribe of the Polyans, or the tribe itself, which lived on the Dnieper and on the Ros. “The meadows are even more called Rus” - it was written in the “Laurentian” chronicle, which followed the “Tale of Bygone Years” and was written in 1377. Here, the word "Rus" was used as a toponym and the name of the Rus was also used as the name of a separate tribe: "Rus, Chud and Slovene", - this is how the chronicler listed the peoples who inhabited the country.

Despite the research of geneticists, disputes around the Rus continue. For example, the Norwegian researcher Thor Heyerdahl believed that the Varangians themselves are descendants of the Slavs.

The indigenous inhabitants of the harsh and warlike Indians many times became the heroes of yard games and the central characters of books and films. And how can one not be interested in these warriors who lived in harmony with nature - when there is a non-standard appearance, and devotion to ideals, and a brutal, imperturbable facial expression even in the most seemingly dangerous situations.

Of course, among the numerous Indian tribes there were the very best, those who developed the most, annoyed white people, and even adopted elements of their culture. About them now and will be discussed.

1. Cherokee

The most advanced, if I may say so, tribe of Indians is alive and well to this day, fully cultivated and even mixed with the white man throughout the modern United States. This was facilitated by the fact that they lived in the vast territory of the southern Appalachians, vast - but devoid of any minerals, so no one was actively fighting them.

In addition, the Cherokee were practically the first to abandon the nomadic lifestyle and began to literally build their own state, increasing their numbers from 50 thousand people from the beginning of the 17th century to almost 200 thousand by the beginning of the 20th.

If the rest of the Indians were just nascent American nation contemptuously called "red-skinned savages", then the Cherokee did not even dare to call it that. Judge for yourself at the beginning of the 19th century, they accept Christianity, create their own alphabet, publish their own newspaper and open more than 30 schools and various people's departments, crowning all this with their constitution.

Later, the wealthy Indians became planters with hundreds of black slaves, and in so doing further assimilated their community with the people of the United States.

2. Apaches

The common name for as many as six large Indian tribes, and the story of all pulls on a small doctoral dissertation. The most interesting and brutal in my opinion are the Lipan Apaches, who perfectly mastered the art of war and the tactics of guerrilla warfare.

The Lipan Apaches even raided their relatives, the Hicariya Apaches, uniting either with the Spaniards or with the French. Constantly wandering and leaving in case of danger almost to the border with Mexico, like action heroes, the Lipan Apaches gradually succeeded in turning absolutely everyone against themselves, as they could attack both the Americans and their fellow Indians, for example, to steal their horses.

Throughout the 19th century, the Lipan Apaches fought with the Americans, arranging bloody battles and raids either from behind the mountains or from the Rio Grande River, which served as a natural border between the United States and Mexico and left behind it every time after the raids - after all, US soldiers cross she had no right.

Only at the end of the 19th century, having agreed with the government of Mexico, and undertaking a large-scale punitive operation, it was possible to finish off the Apaches in the mountains and take the remnants of the people to controlled reservations in the amount of 700-900 people left from 12 thousand.

3. Comanche

Sung in song for the bravery of the Comanches and their cavalry charges brought them well-deserved fame. The Comanche were the first to put horse breeding on stream, and rose up, supplying horses to other tribes. In addition, the ideological component was also strong - the Comanche had the most all kinds of military, funeral and wedding rites, for example, the famous pipe smoking and the Dance of the Sun and the Spirit after it.

It was also interesting the presence of polygamy, as well as the fact that if a woman cheated without receiving attention from a man, she could simply get off with a cut off nose. If she cheated, getting attention from her husband, then she could well be killed.

The adoption of all decisions and power belonged to the military commander, and indeed the role of the army was central in the tribe. There was not just a "mass of warriors", but cavalry detachments, foot detachments, reconnaissance detachments, and even a semblance of rear service - "bison", "crows", "horses", "foxes".

The Comanches are also famous and famous for their picturesque feather headdresses, military embroideries, and intricate body painting, perhaps the most colorful of all other Indian tribes.

4. Mohicans

“The Last of the Mohicans” - this particular novel is almost immediately remembered when this tribe is mentioned. And indeed, having begun its history with the unification of 5 large tribes in the upper reaches of the Hudson and the number of about 35 thousand people, the Mohicans were constantly at war with the French, then with the Shoshone, then with the Mohawks.

Floating along rivers and lakes, these Indians earned the nickname "River Indians" and traded more actively than others, and in general developed trade, supplying Europeans with furs and products of their agriculture. At the beginning of the 17th century, after a series of bloody battles for the markets for furs, the Mohicans suffered a severe defeat from the Mohawks, only a thousand people survived.

The existence of their own tribe practically ceases, and the Mohicans assimilate with the Hurons, but the backbone of the tribe, about 300 people, nevertheless decides to live separately, in Ohio. At the beginning of the 18th century, the remnants of the Mohicans accept Christianity, disperse to the reservations and finally cease to exist as a tribe.

Northerners living in the south

The tribe of northerners at the beginning of the 8th century inhabited the banks of the Desna, the Seim and the Seversky Donets, founded Chernigov, Putivl, Novgorod-Seversky and Kursk. The name of the tribe, according to Lev Gumilyov, is due to the fact that it assimilated the nomadic tribe of the Savirs, who lived in Western Siberia in ancient times. It is with the Savirs that the origin of the name "Siberia" is also associated. Archaeologist Valentin Sedov believed that the Savirs were a Scythian-Sarmatian tribe, and the toponyms of the northerners are of Iranian origin. Thus, the name of the river Seim (Seven) comes from the Iranian śyama or even from the ancient Indian syāma, which means "dark river". According to the third hypothesis, the northerners (northers) were immigrants from the southern or western lands. On the right bank of the Danube lived a tribe with that name. It could easily be "moved" by the Bulgars who invaded there. The northerners were representatives of the Mediterranean type of people. They were distinguished by a narrow face, an elongated skull, were thin-boned and nosy. They brought bread and furs to Byzantium, back - gold, silver, luxury goods. Traded with the Bulgarians, with the Arabs. The northerners paid tribute to the Khazars, and then entered into an alliance of tribes united by the Novgorod prince Prophetic Oleg. In 907 they participated in the campaign against Tsargrad. In the 9th century, the Chernigov and Pereyaslav principalities appeared on their lands.

Vyatichi and Radimichi - relatives or different tribes?

The Vyatichi lands were located on the territory of the Moscow, Kaluga, Orel, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tula, Voronezh and Lipetsk regions. Outwardly, the Vyatichi resembled the northerners, but they were not so nosey, but they had a high bridge of the nose and blond hair. The "Tale of Bygone Years" indicates that the name of the tribe came from the name of the ancestor Vyatko (Vyacheslav), who came "from the Poles." Other scientists associate the name with the Indo-European root "ven-t" (wet), or with the Proto-Slavic "vęt" (big) and put the name of the tribe on a par with the Wends and Vandals. Vyatichi were skilled warriors, hunters, collected wild honey, mushrooms and berries. Cattle breeding and slash-and-burn agriculture were widespread. They were not part of Ancient Rus' and more than once fought with the Novgorod and Kyiv princes. According to legend, Vyatko's brother Radim became the ancestor of the Radimichi, who settled between the Dnieper and Desna in the territories of the Gomel and Mogilev regions of Belarus and founded Krichev, Gomel, Rogachev and Chechersk. Radimichi also rebelled against the princes, but after the battle on Peschan they submitted. Chronicles mention them for the last time in 1169.

Krivichi - Croats or Poles?

It is not known for certain the passage of the Krivichi, who since the 6th century lived in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, Volga and Dnieper and became the founders of Smolensk, Polotsk and Izborsk. The name of the tribe came from the ancestor of Kriv. Krivichi differed from other tribes in high growth. They had a nose with a pronounced hump, a well-defined chin. Anthropologists attribute the Krivichi to the Valdai type of people. According to one version, the Krivichi are the migrating tribes of white Croats and Serbs, according to another, they come from the north of Poland. The Krivichi worked closely with the Varangians and built ships on which they went to Constantinople. The Krivichi became part of Ancient Rus' in the 9th century. The last prince of the Krivichi Rogvolod was killed with his sons in 980. Smolensk and Polotsk principalities appeared on their lands.

Slovenian vandals

Slovenes (Ilmen Slovenes) were the northernmost tribe. They lived on the shores of Lake Ilmen and on the Mologa River. Origin unknown. According to legend, their ancestors were Sloven and Rus, who founded the cities of Slovensk (Veliky Novgorod) and Staraya Russa even before our era. From Slovene, power passed to Prince Vandal (known in Europe as the Ostrogoth leader Vandalar), who had three sons: Izbor, Vladimir and Stolposvyat, and four brothers: Rudotok, Volkhov, Volkhovets and Bastarn. The wife of Prince Vandal Advind was from the Varangians. Slovene now and then fought with the Vikings and neighbors. It is known that the ruling dynasty descended from the son of Vandal Vladimir. The Slavs were engaged in agriculture, expanded their possessions, influenced other tribes, engaged in trade with the Arabs, with Prussia, with Gotland and Sweden. It was here that Rurik began to reign. After the emergence of Novgorod, the Slovenes began to be called Novgorodians and founded the Novgorod Land.

Russ. A people without a territory

Look at the map of the settlement of the Slavs. Each tribe has its own lands. Russians are not there. Although it was the Rus who gave the name to Rus'. There are three theories of the origin of the Russians. The first theory considers the Rus to be Varangians and relies on The Tale of Bygone Years (written from 1110 to 1118), it says: “They drove the Varangians across the sea, and did not give them tribute, and began to rule themselves, and there was no truth among them , and generations stood up against generations, and they had strife, and began to fight with each other. And they said to themselves: "Let's look for a prince who would rule over us and judge by right." And they went across the sea to the Varangians, to Rus'. Those Varangians were called Rus, as others are called Swedes, and others are Normans and Angles, and still others are Gotlanders, and so are these. The second says that the Rus are a separate tribe that came to Eastern Europe earlier or later than the Slavs. The third theory says that the Rus are the highest caste of the East Slavic tribe of the Polyans, or the tribe itself, which lived on the Dnieper and on the Ros. “The meadows are even more called Rus” - it was written in the “Laurentian” chronicle, which followed the “Tale of Bygone Years” and was written in 1377. Here, the word "Rus" was used as a toponym and the name Rus was also used as the name of a separate tribe: "Rus, Chud and Slovene", - this is how the chronicler listed the peoples who inhabited the country.
Despite the research of geneticists, disputes around the Rus continue. According to the Norwegian researcher Thor Heyerdahl, the Varangians themselves are descendants of the Slavs.

The peoples inhabiting large areas of Central and Eastern Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia speak languages that have similarities in sound composition and grammatical structure. It is this similarity that is an important manifestation of their relationship.

All these peoples are considered Slavic. Depending on the language class, it is customary to distinguish 3 groups: East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic.

It is customary to include Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian languages in the East Slavic category.

To West Slavic - Macedonian, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian.

To the West Slavic - Slovak, Czech, Polish, Upper and Lower Lusatian.

All Slavic tribes had linguistic similarities, so it can be judged that in ancient times there was a single tribe or several large groups, which gave rise to the Slavic people.

The first mention of a single settlement belongs to ancient writers (first century AD). However, they allow us to speak of a more ancient people. According to the fossils, it can be judged that the Slavic tribes occupied the territory of Eastern Europe for many millennia BC. However, for some reason, a single people had to look for new lands to live in.

The resettlement of the Slavic tribes occurred in the era of the "great migration of peoples." This was mainly due to changes in the socio-economic conditions of life.

During this period, a new tool for cultivating the land arose, so it became possible to cultivate the land by an individual family, and not by a whole community. In addition, the constant growth of the population required the expansion of land for the production of products. Frequent wars pushed the Slavic tribes to seize new, cultivated and fertile lands. Therefore, during military victories, some part of the united people remained in the occupied territory.

Tribes are the most numerous group of Slavs.

These include:

Vyatichi. Settled along the upper and middle reaches of the Oka. It was this tribe that retained its identity longer than others. For a long time they did not have princes, the social order was characterized by democracy and self-government;

Dregovichi. Settled between and Pripyat. The name comes from the word "dregva", which means "marshland". On the territory of this tribe, the Turov-Pinsk principality was formed;

Krivichi. Settled along the banks of the Dnieper, Volga, Western Dvina. The name comes from the word "kryva", i.e. "kindred by blood". The center of this tribe was the city of Polotsk. The last leader of the Krivichi was Rogvolod, who, together with his sons, was killed by the Novgorod prince Vladimir. After this incident, Vladimir married the daughter of Rogvolod, thereby uniting Novgorod and Polotsk;

Radimichi - a tribe that lived between the Desna and Dnieper rivers;

Tivertsy. They lived near the Black Sea coast between the Danube and the Dnieper. Their main occupation was agriculture;

Croatians. They lived on the coast They were called white Croats. Engaged in cattle breeding;

Vistula. Occupied the territory of modern Krakow. After the conquest, the glades were included in Poland;

Lusatians. They lived on the territory of the Lower and Upper Puddle, in the territory of modern Germany. Today Lusatian Serbs (descendants of the Lusatians) are among the national minorities of the Federal Republic;

Slovenia. They lived in the basin and currents of the Mologa. Slovenes made up a significant part of the Novgorodian population;

Convict. They lived along the Southern Bug and the lower reaches of the Dnieper. This tribe fought for its independence with Kievan Rus for a long time, but was forced to join it.

Thus, the Slavic tribes are an important ethnic group, play a significant role in the history of Europe and the formation of modern states.

Indians are the indigenous people of North and South America. They got this name because of the historical mistake of Columbus, who was sure that he had sailed to India. There are many tribes of Indians, but this rating contains the most famous of them.
10th place. Abenaki

This tribe lived in the United States and Canada. The Abenaki were not settled, which gave them an advantage in the war with the Iroquois. They could silently dissolve in the forest and suddenly attack the enemy. If before colonization there were about 80 thousand Indians in the tribe, then after the war with the Europeans there were less than one thousand of them left. Now their number reaches 12 thousand, and they live mainly in Quebec (Canada).

9th place. Comanche

One of the most warlike tribes of the southern plains, once numbering 20 thousand people. Their courage and courage in battles made the enemies treat them with respect. The Comanches were the first to use horses extensively, as well as supply them to other tribes. Men could take several women as wives, but if the wife was convicted of treason, she could be killed or her nose cut off. Today, there are about 8,000 Comanche left, and they live in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

8th place. Apaches

Apaches are a nomadic tribe that settled in the Rio Grande and then moved south to Texas and Mexico. The main occupation was hunting the buffalo, which became the symbol of the tribe (totem). During the war with the Spaniards, they were almost completely exterminated. In 1743, the Apache chief made a truce with them by placing his ax in a hole. This is where the catchphrase came from: “bury the hatchet”. About 1,500 Apache descendants live in New Mexico today.

7th place. Cherokee

Numerous tribe (50 thousand), inhabiting the slopes of the Appalachians. By the early 19th century, the Cherokee had become one of the most culturally advanced tribes in North America. In 1826, Chief Sequoyah created the Cherokee syllabary; free schools were opened, teachers in which were representatives of the tribe; and the wealthiest of them owned plantations and black slaves.

6th place. Huron

The Hurons are a tribe that numbered 40 thousand people in the 17th century and lived in Quebec and Ohio. They were the first to enter into trade relations with the Europeans, and thanks to their mediation, trade began to develop between the French and other tribes. Today, about 4 thousand Hurons live in Canada and the USA.

5th place. Mohicans

The Mohicans are once a powerful association of five tribes, numbering about 35 thousand people. But already at the beginning of the 17th century, as a result of bloody wars and epidemics, less than a thousand of them remained. They mostly merged into other tribes, but a small handful of descendants of the famous tribe live in Connecticut today.

4th place. Iroquois

This is the most famous and warlike tribe of North America. Thanks to their ability to learn languages, they successfully traded with Europeans. A distinctive feature of the Iroquois is their hook-nosed masks, which were designed to protect the owner and his family from disease.

3rd place. The Incas

The Incas are a mysterious tribe that lived at an altitude of 4.5 thousand meters in the mountains of Colombia and Chile. It was a highly developed society that created an irrigation system and used sewers. It still remains a mystery how the Incas managed to achieve such a level of development, and why, where and how the whole tribe suddenly disappeared.

2nd place. Aztecs

The Aztecs differed from other Central American tribes in their hierarchical structure and rigid centralized government. The priests and the emperor stood at the highest level, and the slaves at the lowest. Human sacrifices were widely used, as well as the death penalty, and for any offense.

1st place. Mayan

The Maya are the most famous highly developed tribe of Central America, famous for their extraordinary works of art and cities entirely carved out of stone. They were also excellent astronomers, and it was they who created the sensational calendar ending in 2012.