Slavs
Speakers of Slavic languages across Eurasia.
The Slavs are a collection of peoples united by their use of Slavic languages. They are spread across Eurasia, with most living in Central, Eastern, Southeastern Europe, and Northern Asia. Significant Slavic minorities also exist in the Baltic states and Central Asia, and large diaspora communities are found in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. The early Slavs were active during the Migration Period and Early Middle Ages, roughly from the 5th to the 10th century AD, and between the 6th and 7th centuries they gained control over much of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Starting in the 7th century, they were gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, Slavs formed the core populations of several medieval Christian states: the East Slavs in Kievan Rus', the South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia, and the Banate of Bosnia, and the West Slavs in the Principality of Nitra, Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland.
From the mid-19th century onward, a pan-Slavic movement promoted the shared heritage and unity of all Slavic peoples, especially influential in the Balkans. The Russian Empire’s stance toward this movement was complex and often cautious, though many Pan-Slavists looked to Russia for support rather than seeing it as an opponent. The Slavic languages belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of Indo-European. Today, Slavs are divided into three groups: West Slavs (Czechs, Kashubians, Moravians, Poles, Silesians, Slovaks, and Sorbs); East Slavs (Belarusians, Russians, Rusyns, and Ukrainians); and South Slavs (Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Gorani, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Pomaks, Serbs, Slovenes, and Torbeši). Most Slavs are Christian, though some groups, like the Bosniaks, are mostly Muslim. Modern Slavic nations and ethnic groups are genetically and culturally diverse, and relations between them can range from ethnic solidarity to mutual hostility, even within individual groups.
The oldest known mention of the Slavic ethnonym comes from the 6th century AD. The Byzantine writer Procopius used Greek forms like Sklaboi and Sklabēnoi, while his contemporary Jordanes used the Latin Sclaveni. The earliest Old Church Slavonic documents, from the 9th century, record the autonym as Slověne. These forms point back to a Proto-Slavic *Slověninŭ, plural Slověne. This reconstru
- language_family
- Balto-Slavic branch of Indo-European
- earliest_mention
- 6th century AD
- major_groups
- West Slavs, East Slavs, South Slavs
- religion
- Majority Christian; some groups (e.g., Bosniaks) mostly Muslim
- known_for
- Formation of medieval Christian states; pan-Slavic movement from mid-19th century
Lore & Background
The oldest mention of the Slavic ethnonym is from the 6th century AD, when Procopius used forms such as Sklaboi, and Jordanes referred to the Sclaveni in Latin. The autonym *Slověninŭ is usually considered a derivation from slovo ('word'), originally denoting 'people who speak (the same language)', in contrast to the Slavic word for Germans, *němьcь, meaning 'silent, mute people'. Ancient Roman sources refer to Early Slavic peoples as Veneti, who dwelt in central Europe east of the Suebi and west of the Sarmatians between the upper Vistula and Dnieper rivers in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Slavs – called Antes and Sclaveni – first appear in Byzantine records in the early 6th century AD, described by Procopius, Jordanes, and Theophylact Simocatta as emerging from the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube, and the Black Sea to invade Danubian provinces of the Eastern Empire.
Reader's Guide
The Slavs emerged from obscurity during the Migration Period, when the westward movement of Germanic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, thought to be in conjunction with movements of Huns, Avars, and Bulgars, started the great migration of Slavs into lands abandoned by Germanic tribes. By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had settled the Eastern Alps regions, and by the 7th century, they began to be gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in Kievan Rus', South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia, and the Banate of Bosnia, and West Slavs in the Principality of Nitra, Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland. Beginning in the mid-19th century, a pan-Slavic movement emphasized common heritage and unity, particularly influential in the Balkans, with many Pan-Slavists looking to Russia for support. Modern Slavic nations are considerably diverse genetically and culturally, with relations ranging from ethnic solidarity to mutual feelings of hostility.
Did You Know?
- The reconstructed Proto-Slavic autonym *Slověninŭ is usually considered a derivation from slovo ('word'), originally meaning 'people who speak (the same language)'.
- Jordanes, in his work Getica (551 AD), describes the Veneti as a 'populous nation' whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula.
- Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae were both called Sporoi in olden times, from Greek σπείρω ('to sow').
- Pope Gregory I in 600 AD wrote to the bishop of Salona expressing concern about the arrival of the Slavs, noting they had begun to enter Italy through Istria.
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