Slavs Explained

Group:	Slavs
Population:	see
Langs:	Slavic languages
Rels:	Mostly Christianity (OrthodoxCatholicProtestantSpiritual) Minorities: Non-religiousSunni IslamSlavic paganism (neopaganism)
Related:	Other European peoples

The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe and Northern Asia, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia,^{[1] [2]} and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.

Early Slavs lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th century AD), and came to control large parts of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe between the sixth and seventh centuries. Beginning in the 7th century, they were gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of a number of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in the 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 has emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus of the movement was in the Balkans, whereas the Russian Empire was opposed to it.

The Slavic languages belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Present-day Slavs are classified into three groups:^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

• the West Slavs (chiefly Czechs, Kashubians, Poles, Silesians, Slovaks, and Sorbs);
• the East Slavs (chiefly Belarusians, Russians, Rusyns, and Ukrainians);
• the South Slavs (chiefly Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Gorani, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, and Slovenes).

Though the majority of Slavs are Christians, some groups, such as the Bosniaks, mostly identify as Muslims. Modern Slavic nations and ethnic groups are considerably diverse, both genetically and culturally, and relations between them may range from "ethnic solidarity to mutual feelings of hostility" — even within the individual groups.^[8]

Ethnonym

See main article: Slavs (ethnonym). The oldest mention of the Slavic ethnonym is from the 6th century AD, when Procopius, writing in Byzantine Greek, used various forms such as Sklaboi (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκλάβοι), Sklabēnoi (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκλαβηνοί), Sklauenoi (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκλαυηνοί), Sthlabenoi (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σθλαβηνοί), or Sklabinoi (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Σκλαβῖνοι), and his contemporary Jordanes refers to the Latin: Sclaveni in Latin. The oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic, dating from the 9th century, attest the autonym as Slověne (Church Slavic; Old Slavonic; Church Slavonic; Old Bulgarian; Old Church Slavonic: Словѣне). Those forms point back to a Slavic autonym, which can be reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as, plural Slověne.

The reconstructed autonym Slavic languages: *Slověninъ is usually considered a derivation from Slavic languages: slovo ("word"), originally denoting "people who speak (the same language)", meaning "people who understand one another", in contrast to the Slavic word denoting "German people", namely, meaning "silent, mute people" (from Slavic "mute, mumbling"). The word slovo ("word") and the related slava ("glory, fame") and Uncoded languages: sluh ("hearing") originate from the Proto-Indo-European root ("be spoken of, glory"), cognate with Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κλέος ("fame"), as in the name Pericles, Latin ("be called"), and English .

In medieval and early modern sources written in Latin, Slavs are most commonly referred to as Sclaveni or the shortened version Sclavi.

History

Origins

First mentions

See main article: Early Slavs.

See also: Vistula Veneti, Spori, Sclaveni and Wends.

Ancient Roman sources refer to the Early Slavic peoples as Veneti, who dwelt in a region of central Europe east of the Germanic tribe of Suebi, and west of the Iranian Sarmatians in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD,^{[9] [10]} between the upper Vistula and Dnieper rivers. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni first appear in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Byzantine historiographers under emperor Justinian I (527–565), such as Procopius of Caesarea, Jordanes and Theophylact Simocatta describe tribes of these names emerging from the area of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea, invading the Danubian provinces of the Eastern Empire.

Jordanes, in his work Getica (written in 551 AD),^[11] describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He also describes the Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine frontier in the early 6th century.

Procopius wrote in 545 that "the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called Sporoi in olden times". The name Sporoi derives from Greek σπείρω ("to sow"). He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, believed in one god, "the maker of lightning" (Perun), to whom they made a sacrifice. They lived in scattered housing and constantly changed settlement. In war, they were mainly foot soldiers with shields, spears, bows, and little armour, which was reserved mainly for chiefs and their inner circle of warriors.^[12] Their language is "barbarous" (that is, not Greek), and the two tribes are alike in appearance, being tall and robust, "while their bodies and hair are neither very fair or blond, nor indeed do they incline entirely to the dark type, but they are all slightly ruddy in color. And they live a hard life, giving no heed to bodily comforts..."

Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities. Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly-impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes.

Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius (c. 577–579) who slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I for asking the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars; Daurentius declined and is reported as saying: "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs – so it shall always be for us as long as there are wars and weapons".

Migrations

According to eastern homeland theory, prior to becoming known to the Roman world, Slavic-speaking tribes were part of the many multi-ethnic confederacies of Eurasia – such as the Sarmatian, Hun and Gothic empires. The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germanic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (thought to be in conjunction with the movement of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, and later Avars and Bulgars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present-day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river. It has also been suggested that some Slavs migrated with the Vandals to the Iberian Peninsula and even North Africa. On the other hand, historian Florin Curta categorically dismisses the concept of "Slavs' migration" and opts instead for short-distance population movements that would explain the spread of Slavic languages. He argues in favor of this view that the proposed migration models are inconsistent with the archaeological findings, for example the Prague type pottery associated with Slavs was not found anywhere south of the Danube where large numbers of Slavic speaking population emerged in the early Middle Ages.^[13]

Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers.^[14] Byzantine records note that Slav numbers were so great, that grass would not regrow where the Slavs had marched through. After a military movement even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor were reported to have Slavic settlements.^[15] This southern movement has traditionally been seen as an invasive expansion. By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had settled the Eastern Alps regions.^[16]

Pope Gregory I in 600 AD wrote to Maximus, the bishop of Salona (in Dalmatia), in which he expresses concern about the arrival of the Slavs:

Middle Ages

When Slav migrations ended, their first state organizations appeared, each headed by a prince with a treasury and a defense force. In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant Samo supported the Slavs against their Avar rulers and became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, Samo's Empire. This early Slavic polity probably did not outlive its founder and ruler, but it was the foundation for later West Slavic states on its territory.

The oldest of them was Carantania; others are the Principality of Nitra, the Moravian principality (see under Great Moravia) and the Balaton Principality. The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681 as an alliance between the ruling Bulgars and the numerous Slavs in the area, and their South Slavic language, the Old Church Slavonic, became the main and official language of the empire in 864 AD. Bulgaria was instrumental in the spread of Slavic literacy and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. Duchy of Croatia was founded in 7th century and later became Kingdom of Croatia.^[17] Principality of Serbia was founded in 8th, Duchy of Bohemia and Kievan Rus' both in the 9th century.

The expansion of the Magyars into the Carpathian Basin and the Germanization of Austria gradually separated the South Slavs from the West and East Slavs. Later Slavic states, which formed in the following centuries included the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, Banate of Bosnia, Duklja and Kingdom of Serbia which later grew into Serbian Empire.

Modern era

Pan-Slavism, a movement which came into prominence in the mid-19th century, emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires: the Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice. Austro-Hungary envisioned its own political concept of Austro-Slavism, in opposition of Pan-Slavism that was predominantly led by the Russian Empire.^[18]

As of 1878, there were only three majority Slavic states in the world: the Russian Empire, Principality of Serbia and Principality of Montenegro. Bulgaria was effectively independent but was de jure vassal to the Ottoman Empire until official independence was declared in 1908. The Slavic peoples who were, for the most part, denied a voice in the affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were calling for national self-determination.

During World War I, representatives of the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes set up organizations in the Allied countries to gain sympathy and recognition.^[19] In 1918, after World War I ended, the Slavs established such independent states as Czechoslovakia, the Second Polish Republic, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.The first half of the 20th century in Russia and the Soviet Union was marked by a succession of wars, famines and other disasters, each accompanied by large-scale population losses.^[20] The two major famines were in 1921 to 1923 and 1932 to 1933, which caused millions of deaths mostly around Ukraine and the Northern Caucasus.^{[21] [22]} The latter resulted from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's collectivization of agriculture in Ukraine.^[23]

During the war, Nazi Germany used hundreds of thousands of people for slave labor in their concentration camps, the majority of whom were Jewish or Slavic.^[24] Both groups were a part of what Germans claimed to be a "vast racially subhuman surplus population" that they "intended to eliminate in time from their new empire", their term for "racial subhumans" being Untermensch.^[25] Thus, one of Adolf Hitler's ambitions at the start of World War II was to exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all West and East Slavs from their native lands, so as to make "living space" for German settlers.In early 1941, Germany began planning Generalplan Ost, the genocide of Slavs in Eastern Europe which was supposed to start after a major expansion of German concentration camps in occupied Poland and the fall of Stalin's regime.^[26] This plan was to be carried out gradually over 25 to 30 years.^[27] After an approximate 30 million^[28] Slavs would be killed through starvation and their major cities depopulated, the Germans were supposed to repopulate Eastern Europe.^{[29] [30]} In June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, Hitler paused the plan to focus on the extermination of the Jews. However, some of the plan was nonetheless implemented. Millions of Slavs were murdered in Eastern Europe; this includes victims of the Hunger Plan, Germany's intentional starvation of the region, as well as the murders of 3.3. million Soviet prisoners of war.^[31] Germany's Heinrich Himmler also ordered his subordinate Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben to start repopulating Crimea, and hundreds of ethnic Germans were forcibly moved to cities and villages there.^[32] The Soviet Red Army took back their land from the Germans in 1944. Stephen J. Lee estimates that, by the end of World War II in 1945, the Russian population was about 90 million fewer than it could have been otherwise.^[33] Also during World War II, fascist Italy sent tens of thousands of Slavs to concentration camps in mainland Italy, Libya, and the Balkans, because Italian leader Benito Mussolini also had a hatred of them.^[34]

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and many former Soviet republics became independent countries.^[35] Currently, former Soviet states in Central Asia such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have very large minority Slavic populations, with most being Russians. Kazakhstan has the largest Slavic minority population.^[36]

Languages

See main article: History of the Slavic languages and Slavic languages. Proto-Slavic, the supposed ancestor language of all Slavic languages, is a descendant of common Proto-Indo-European, via a Balto-Slavic stage in which it developed numerous lexical and morphophonological isoglosses with the Baltic languages. In the framework of the Kurgan hypothesis, "the Indo-Europeans who remained after the migrations [from the steppe] became speakers of Balto-Slavic".

Proto-Slavic is defined as the last stage of the language preceding the geographical split of the historical Slavic languages. That language was uniform, and on the basis of borrowings from foreign languages and Slavic borrowings into other languages, it cannot be said to have any recognizable dialects, which suggests that there was, at one time, a relatively-small Proto-Slavic homeland.

Slavic linguistic unity was to some extent visible as late as Old Church Slavonic (or Old Bulgarian) manuscripts which, though based on local Slavic speech of Thessaloniki, could still serve the purpose of the first common Slavic literary language.^[37]

Standardised Slavic languages that have official status in at least one country are: Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, and Ukrainian. Russian is the most spoken Slavic language, and is the most spoken native language in Europe.^[38]

The alphabets used for Slavic languages are usually connected to the dominant religion among the respective ethnic groups. Orthodox Christians use the Cyrillic alphabet while Catholics use the Latin alphabet; the Bosniaks, who are Muslim, also use the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic alphabet in Serbia. Additionally, some Eastern Catholics and Western Catholics use the Cyrillic alphabet. Serbian and Montenegrin use both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. There is also a Latin script to write in Belarusian, called Łacinka and in Ukrainian, called Latynka.

Ethno-cultural subdivisions

West Slavs originate from early Slavic tribes which settled in Central Europe after the East Germanic tribes had left this area during the migration period.^[39] They are noted as having mixed with Germanics, Hungarians, Celts (particularly the Boii), Old Prussians, and the Pannonian Avars.^[40] The West Slavs came under the influence of the Western Roman Empire (Latin) and of the Catholic Church.

East Slavs have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed and contacted with Finns, Balts^{[41] [42]} and with the remnants of the people of the Goths.^[43] Their early Slavic component, Antes, mixed or absorbed Iranians, and later received influence from the Khazars and Vikings. The East Slavs trace their national origins to the tribal unions of Kievan Rus' and Rus' Khaganate, beginning in the 10th century. They came particularly under the influence of the Byzantine Empire and of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

South Slavs from most of the region have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed with the local Proto-Balkanic tribes (Illyrian, Dacian, Thracian, Paeonian, Hellenic tribes), and Celtic tribes (particularly the Scordisci), as well as with Romans (and the Romanized remnants of the former groups), and also with remnants of temporarily settled invading East Germanic, Asiatic or Caucasian tribes such as Gepids, Huns, Avars, Goths and Bulgars. The original inhabitants of present-day Slovenia and continental Croatia have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed with Romans and romanized Celtic and Illyrian people as well as with Avars and Germanic peoples (Lombards and East Goths). The South Slavs (except the Slovenes and Croats) came under the cultural sphere of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), of the Ottoman Empire and of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Islam, while the Slovenes and the Croats were influenced by the Western Roman Empire (Latin) and thus by the Catholic Church in a similar fashion to that of the West Slavs.

Genetics

See also: Fatyanovo–Balanovo culture and Middle Dnieper culture. Consistent with the proximity of their languages, analyses of Y chromosomes, mDNA, and autosomal marker CCR5de132 shows that East Slavs and West Slavs are genetically very similar, but demonstrating significant differences from neighboring Finno-Ugric, Turkic, and North Caucasian peoples. Such genetic homogeneity is somewhat unusual, given such a wide dispersal of Slavic populations. Together they form the basis of the "East European" gene cluster, which also includes non-Slavic Hungarians and Aromanians.

Only Northern Russians among East and West Slavs belong to a different, "Northern European" genetic cluster, along with Balts, Germanic and Baltic Finnic peoples (Northern Russian populations are very similar to Balts).

The 2006 Y-DNA study results "suggest that the Slavic expansion started from the territory of present-day Ukraine, thus supporting the hypothesis placing the earliest known homeland of Slavs in the basin of the middle Dnieper".^[44] According to genetic studies until 2020, the distribution, variance and frequency of the Y-DNA haplogroups R1a and I2 and their subclades R-M558, R-M458 and I-CTS10228 among South Slavs correlate with the spread of Slavic languages during the medieval Slavic expansion from Eastern Europe, most probably from the territory of present-day Ukraine and Southeastern Poland.^{[45] [46] [47] [48]}

Religion

See also: Slavic paganism. The pagan Slavic populations were Christianized between the 7th and 12th centuries. Orthodox Christianity is predominant among East and South Slavs, while Catholicism is predominant among West Slavs and some western South Slavs. The religious borders are largely comparable to the East–West Schism which began in the 11th century. Islam first arrived in the 7th century during the early Muslim conquests, and was gradually adopted by a number of Slavic ethnic groups through the centuries in the Balkans.

Among Slavic populations who profess a religion, the majority of contemporary Christian Slavs are Orthodox, followed by Catholic. The majority of Muslim Slavs follow the Hanafi school of the Sunni branch of Islam.^[49] Religious delineations by nationality can be very sharp; usually in the Slavic ethnic groups, the vast majority of religious people share the same religion.

Mainly Eastern Orthodoxy:^{[50] [51]}

• Russians
• Ukrainians
• Serbs
• Bulgarians
• Belarusians
• Macedonians
• Montenegrins

Mainly Catholicism:

• Poles
• Silesians
• Kashubians
• Gorals
• Czechs (largely irreligious)
• Slovaks
• Croats
• Slovenes
• Sorbs^[52]
• Rusyns
• Banat Bulgarians^[53]

Mainly Islam:

• Bosniaks^[54]
• Pomaks^[55]
• Gorani
• Torbeši^[56]
• Ethnic Muslims

Relations with non-Slavic people

See also: Baltic Slavic piracy, Narentines and Germania Slavica. Throughout their history, Slavs came into contact with non-Slavic groups. In the postulated homeland region (present-day Ukraine), they had contacts with the Iranian Sarmatians and the Germanic Goths. After their subsequent spread, the Slavs began assimilating non-Slavic peoples. For example, in the Northern Black Sea region, the Slavs assimilated the remnants of the Goths.^[57] In the Balkans, there were Paleo-Balkan peoples, such as Romanized and Hellenized (Jireček Line) Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians, as well as Greeks and Celtic Scordisci and Serdi.^[58] Because Slavs were so numerous, most indigenous populations of the Balkans were Slavicized. Thracians and Illyrians mixed as ethnic groups in this period.

A notable exception is Greece, where Slavs were Hellenized because Greeks were more numerous, especially with more Greeks returning to Greece in the 9th century and the influence of the church and administration, however, Slavicized regions within Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia Inferior also had a larger portion of locals compared to migrating Slavs.^[59] Other notable exceptions are the territory of present-day Romania and Hungary, where Slavs settled en route to present-day Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and East Thrace but assimilated, and the modern Albanian nation which claims descent from Illyrians and other Balkan tribes.

The status of the Bulgars as a ruling class and their control of the land nominally left their legacy in the Bulgarian country and people, but Bulgars were gradually also Slavicized into the present-day South Slavic ethnic group known as Bulgarians. The Romance speakers within the fortified Dalmatian cities retained their culture and language for a long time. Dalmatian Romance was spoken until the high Middle Ages, but, they too were eventually assimilated into the body of Slavs.^[60]

In the Western Balkans, South Slavs and Germanic Gepids intermarried with invaders, eventually producing a Slavicized population. In Central Europe, the West Slavs intermixed with Germanic, Hungarian, and Celtic peoples, while in Eastern Europe the East Slavs had encountered Finnic and Scandinavian peoples. Scandinavians (Varangians) and Finnic peoples were involved in the early formation of the Rus' state but were completely Slavicized after a century. Some Finno-Ugric tribes in the north were also absorbed into the expanding Rus population. In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the Kipchak and the Pecheneg, caused a massive migration of East Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north.^[61] In the Middle Ages, groups of Saxon ore miners settled in medieval Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria, where they were Slavicized.

Saqaliba refers to the Slavic mercenaries and slaves in the medieval Arab world in North Africa, Sicily and Al-Andalus. Saqaliba served as caliph's guards.^{[62] [63]} In the 12th century, Slavic piracy in the Baltics increased. The Wendish Crusade was started against the Polabian Slavs in 1147, as a part of the Northern Crusades. The pagan chief of the Slavic Obodrite tribes, Niklot, began his open resistance when Lothar III, Holy Roman Emperor, invaded Slavic lands. In August 1160, Niklot was killed, and German colonization (Ostsiedlung) of the Elbe-Oder region began. In Hanoverian Wendland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lusatia, invaders started germanization. Early forms of germanization were described by German monks: Helmold in the manuscript Chronicon Slavorum and Adam of Bremen in Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum.^[64] The Polabian language survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of Lower Saxony.^[65] In Eastern Germany, around 20% of Germans have historic Slavic paternal ancestry, as revealed in Y-DNA testing.^[66] Similarly, in Germany, around 20% of the foreign surnames are of Slavic origin.^[67]

Cossacks, although Slavic and practicing Orthodox Christianity, came from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, including Tatars and other peoples. The Gorals of southern Poland and northern Slovakia are partially descended from the originally Balkan Romance speaking Vlachs, who migrated into the region from the 14th to 17th centuries and were quickly absorbed into the local population, especially since the majority of Vlachs were already slavicized and the term became synonymous with Ruthenians. The populations of Moravian Wallachia, Carpathian Ruthenia and parts of northern Slovakia are also descended partially from the Vlachs.^{[68] [69] [70]} Conversely, some Slavs were assimilated into other populations. Although the majority continued towards Southeast Europe, attracted by the riches of the area that became the state of Bulgaria, a few remained in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe and were assimilated into the Magyar people. Numerous rivers and places in Romania have a name with Slavic origins.^[71]

Population

Winkler Prins (2002) estimated the number of Slavs worldwide to be around 260 million at the time.^[72] Currently it is estimated that there are 300 million Slavic inhabitants in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe.^[73]

Ethnicity	Estimates and census data
Belarusians	8.37 million Belarusians in Belarus (2009 Belarusian census)^[74] 46,787 Belarusians in Poland (2011 Polish census) 20,710 "Byelorussian" (5,125 Byelorussian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Bosniaks (previously called "Bosnian Muslims")	1,898,963 Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)^[75] 1.9 million Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013–2022 CIA World Factbook estimate)^[76] 153,801 Bosniaks in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 53,786 Bosniaks in Montenegro (2011 Montenegrin census) 17,018 Bosniaks in North Macedonia (2002 North Macedonia census) 26,740 "Bosnians" (15,610 Bosnian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Bulgarians	10 million Bulgarians worldwide (Kolev early 2000s estimate)^[77] 6.5 million Bulgarians in Bulgaria (Jeffreys et al. 2008 estimate)^[78] 10 million Bulgarian speakers worldwide (Jeffreys et al. 2008 estimate) 9 million Bulgarians worldwide, of which nearly 7 million in Bulgaria (Cole 2011 estimate)^[79] 9 million Bulgarians worldwide, of which 7.3 million in Bulgaria (Danver 2015 estimate)^[80] 12,918 Bulgarians in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 34,560 Bulgarians (19,965 Bulgarian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Bunjevci	11,104 Bunjevci in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)
Croats	4.5 million Croats in Croatia and 4 million Croats abroad (1993 estimate by Palermo & Sabanadze 2011)^[81] 759,906 Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992) 4.5 million Croats outside Croatia (Winland 2004 estimate) 4.5 million Croats and people of Croatian heritage outside Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (HWC 2003 estimate)^[82] 39,107 Croats in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 6,021 Croats in Montenegro (2011 Montenegrin census) 133,965 Croats (55,595 Croatian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Czechs	6.1 million Czechs in Czechia (2021–22 CIA World Factbook estimate)^[83] 6,732,104 Czechs in Czechia (2011 Czech census)^[84] 28,996 Czechs in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census) 3,447 Czechs in Poland (2011 Polish census) 104,585 Czechs (23,250 Czech-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Czechoslovaks (a supra-ethnic category of Czechs and Slovaks)	304,000 people with Czechoslovak ancestry in the United States (2010 American Community Survey) 40,715 "Czechoslovak, not otherwise specified" (5,075 Czechoslovak-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Gorani	60,000 Gorani worldwide (2009 estimate by political party Građanska inicijativa Goranaca)^[85] 7,700 Gorani in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)
Kashubians	331,000 Kashubs and 184,000 "half-Kashubs" (couldn't speak Kashubian) in the Gdańsk region (Latoszek 1980s)^[86] 52,665 inhabitants of Poland spoke Kashubian at home (49,855 of them also spoke Polish at home) (2002 Polish census) 566,737 "Kashubs and people with partial Kashubian ancestry" in Pomerania (Mordawski 2005)^[87] 232,547 Kashubians in Poland (2011 Polish census)
Macedonians	1,297,981 Macedonians in North Macedonia (2002 North Macedonia census)^[88] 580,000 Macedonian emigrants (1964 estimate) 14,767 Macedonians in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 43,110 Macedonians (18,405 Macedonian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Montenegrins	280,873 Montenegrins in Montenegro (2011 Montenegrin census) 500,000 Montenegrins outside Montenegro (2014 Montenegrin Foreign Ministry estimate)^[89] 20,238 Montenegrins in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 4,165 Montenegrins (915 Montenegrin-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Moravians	522,474 Moravians in Czechia (2011 Czech census) 1,098 Moravians in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census)
Muslims (ethnic group) (a supra-ethnic category of Bosniaks, Gorani, Torbeši, Pomaks)	13,011 Muslims in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 20,977 Muslims in Montenegro (2011 Montenegrin census) 12,121 Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013 BiH census)^[90]
Poles	37,393,651 inhabitants of Poland with declared Polish ethnicity (2011 Polish census)^[91] ^[92] ^[93] Over 20,000,000 Polish diaspora (2015 estimate by wspolnotapolska.org.pl)^[94] 1,106,585 Poles (264,415 Polish-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Russians	118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 Winkler Prins estimate)^[95] 622,445 Russians (120,165 Russian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Rusyns (incl. Boykos, Lemkos, Hutsuls)	1.2 million Rusyns worldwide (1995 Magocsi estimate)^[96] 23,746 Rusyns in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census) 11,483 Ruthenians in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 10,531 Lemkos in Poland (2011 Polish census)
Serbs	5,360,239 Serbs in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)^[97] 2.3 million Serbian diaspora (2008 World Bank estimate)^[98] 3.2–3.8 million Serbian diaspora (2006 MARRI estimate) 3.9–4.2 million Serbian diaspora broadly defined (2008 Serbian Ministry for Diaspora estimate) 1,365,093 Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992) 180,213 Serbs in Montenegro (2011 Montenegrin census) 35,939 Serbs in North Macedonia (2002 North Macedonia census) 96,535 Serbs (52,730 Serbian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Silesians	435,750 Silesians in Poland (2011 Polish census) 12,231 Silesians in Czechia (2011 Czech census) 2 million Silesians in Poland (Grabowska 2002 estimate)^[99]
Slavs (in the United States and Canada)	137,000 people with "Slavic" ancestry in the United States (2010 American Community Survey) 4,870 "Slavic, not otherwise specified" (1,470 Slavic-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)^[100]
Slavs in Greece (also a sub-ethnic category of Macedonians and Bulgarians)	200,000 speakers of "Macedonian" in Greece (Friedman 1985)^[101] 150,000—350,000 "Macedonians in Greek Macedonia" (various estimates around 1995)^[102] 20,000—50,000 "Slavic-speakers in northern Greece" (1990 USDoS estimates)^[103] 5,000—10,000 of them self-identified as "Macedonians" (1990 USDoS estimates) 10,000—50,000 Slavs in Greece (2002 USDoS estimates)^[104]
Slovaks	4,353,775 Slovaks in Slovakia (2011 Slovak census)^[105] 4,567,547 Slovaks in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census)^[106] 149,140 Slovaks in Czechia (2011 Czech census) 41,730 Slovaks in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 762,000 people with Slovak ancestry in the United States (2010 American Community Survey)^[107] 2,294 (1,889 single, 947 multiple ethnic identity) Slovaks in Poland (2011 Polish census) 72,290 Slovaks (20,475 Slovak-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Slovenes	1,632,000 Slovenes in Slovenia (2002 Slovenian census)^[108] 2.5 million Slovenes worldwide (2004 Zupančič estimate) 1.8 million Slovenes in Slovenia (2004 Zupančič estimate) 0.7 million Slovene diaspora (2004 Zupančič estimate) 2,829 Slovenes in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 40,470 Slovenes (13,690 Slovenian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)
Sorbs	60,000 Sorbs in Germany (20,000 of which still spoke Sorb) (2007 Reuters estimate)^[109]
Ukrainians	46.7~51.8 million Ukrainians worldwide (2001 Ukrainian census + various diaspora estimates)^[110] 58,693,854 Ukrainians worldwide (1994 Pawliczko estimate^[111]) 37,419,000 Ukrainians in Ukraine (1994 Pawliczko estimate) 21,274,854 Ukrainian diaspora (1994 Pawliczko estimate) 1,359,655 Ukrainians (273,810 Ukrainian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census) 51,001 Ukrainians in Poland (2011 Polish census) 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees recorded in Poland (August 2022 UNHCR figures)^[112]
Yugoslavs (a supra-ethnic category of Bosniaks, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes)	210,395 Yugoslavs in the United States (2021 American Community Survey)^[113] 38,480 "Yugoslavian, not otherwise specified" (8,570 Yugoslav-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census) 27,143 Yugoslavs in Serbia (2022 Serbian census) 26,883 Yugoslavs in Australia (2011 Australian census)^[114] 2,570 Yugoslavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013 Bosnian and Herzegovinian census)^[115] 1,154 Yugoslavs in Montenegro (2011 Montenegrin census)

Historiography

See main article: List of Slavic studies journals.

See also

• Ethnic groups in Europe
• Gord (archaeology)
• Lech, Čech, and Rus
• List of modern ethnic groups
• List of Slavic tribes
• Outline of Slavic history and culture
• Panethnicity
• Pan-Slavic colors
• Slavic names
• Asia Minor Slavs
• Bulgarisation
• Russification
• Serbianisation
• Polonization

References

Sources

Primary sources

• Book: Moravcsik . Gyula . Gyula Moravcsik . Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio . 1967 . 1949 . 2nd revised . Washington D.C. . Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies . 978-0-88402-021-9 . none.
• Book: Scholz . Bernhard Walter . Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories . 1970 . University of Michigan Press . 978-0-472-06186-0 . none.

Secondary sources

• Allentoft . ME . June 11, 2015 . Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia . . . 522 . 7555 . 167–172 . 10.1038/nature14507 . 26062507 . 2015Natur.522..167A . 4399103 . none.
• January 2008 . Balanovsky . Oleg . Rootsi . Siiri . etal . Two sources of the Russian patrilineal heritage in their Eurasian context . American Journal of Human Genetics . 82 . 1 . 236–250 . 2253976 . 18179905 . 10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.09.019.
• 2012 . Balanovsky . Oleg P. . Изменчивость генофонда в пространстве и времени: синтез данных о геногеографии митохондриальной ДНК и Y-хромосомы . Variability of the gene pool in space and time: synthesis of data on the genogeography of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome . Dr. habil. in Biology thesis . . ru.
• Book: Barford, Paul M. . The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe . 2001 . Ithaca, NY . Cornell University Press . 978-0-8014-3977-3 . none.
• Book: Curta, Florin . Florin Curta . The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700 . 2001 . Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-139-42888-0.
• Book: Curta, Florin . Florin Curta . Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 . 2006 . Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . registration . 978-0-521-81539-0 . none.
• Curta Florin, The early Slavs in Bohemia and Moravia: a response to my critics
• Đečević . Mehmed . Vuković-Ćalasan . Danijela . Knežević . Saša . 2017 . Re-designation of Ethnic Muslims as Bosniaks in Montenegro . East European Politics and Societies . 31 . 1 . 137–157 . 10.1177/0888325416678042 . 152238874 . 18 August 2022.
• Book: Dvornik, Francis . Francis Dvornik . The Slavs in European History and Civilization . 1962 . New Brunswick . Rutgers University Press . registration . 978-0-8135-0799-6 . none.
• Book: Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. . John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. . The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century . 1991 . 1983 . Ann Arbor, Michigan . University of Michigan Press . 978-0-472-08149-3.
• Book: Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. . John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. . The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest . 1994 . 1987 . Ann Arbor, Michigan . University of Michigan Press . 978-0-472-08260-5 . none.
• Lacey, Robert. 2003. Great Tales from English History. Little, Brown and Company. New York. .
• Lewis, Bernard. Race and Slavery in the Middle East. Oxford Univ. Press.
• Mathieson . Iain . February 21, 2018 . The Genomic History of Southeastern Europe . . . 555 . 7695 . 197–203 . 2018Natur.555..197M . 10.1038/nature25778 . 6091220 . 29466330 . none.
• Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, Maria. 1992. The "Macedonian Question": A Historical Review. © Association Internationale d'Etudes du Sud-Est Europeen (AIESEE, International Association of Southeast European Studies), Comité Grec. Corfu: Ionian University. (English translation of a 1988 work written in Greek.)
• Book: Obolensky, Dimitri . Dimitri Obolensky . The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe, 500–1453 . 1974 . 1971 . London . Cardinal . 978-0-351-17644-9 . none.
• Book: Ostrogorsky, George . George Ostrogorsky . 1956 . History of the Byzantine State . Oxford . Basil Blackwell . none.
• Rębała, Krzysztof, et al.. 2007. Y-STR variation among Slavs: evidence for the Slavic homeland in the middle Dnieper basin. Journal of Human Genetics, May 2007, 52(5): 408–414.
• Verbenko . Dmitry A. . etal . Variability of the 3'ApoB Minisatellite Locus in Eastern Slavonic Populations . Human Heredity . 2005 . 60 . 1 . 10–18 . 10.1159/000087338 . 16103681 . 8926871.
• Book: Vlasto, Alexis P. . Alexis P. Vlasto . The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs . 1970 . Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-07459-9.

Further reading

• Web site: Linguistic Marginalia on Slavic Ethnogensis. Sorin Palgia, University of Bucharest.

External links

• Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeny in Eastern and Western Slavs, B. Malyarchuk, T. Grzybowski, M. Derenko, M. Perkova, T. Vanecek, J. Lazur, P. Gomolcaknd I. Tsybovsky, Oxford Journals (archived 14 June 2010)

Notes and References

1. Kirch. Aksel. Russians as a Minority in Contemporary Baltic States. 44481642. SAGE Publishing. Bulletin of Peace Proposals. 23. 2. 205–212. June 1992. 10.1177/096701069202300212. 157870839.
2. Ramet. Pedro. Migration and Nationality Policy in Soviet Central Asia. 23261898. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations. California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. 1978. 79–101. 6. 1.
3. Book: Kamusella . Nomachi . Gibson . Tomasz . Motoki . Catherine . 2016 . The Palgrave Handbook of Slavic Languages, Identities and Borders . London . Palgrave Macmillan . 978-1-137-34839-5.
4. Web site: Cultural Proximity of the Slavic Nations . Academia . Serafin . Mikołaj . PDF . January 2015 . 28 April 2017.
5. Book: Živković . Crnčević . Bulić . Petrović . Cvijanović . Radovanović . Tibor . Dejan . Dejan . Vladeta . Irena . Bojana . 2013 . The World of the Slavs: Studies of the East, West and South Slavs: Civitas, Oppidas, Villas and Archeological Evidence (7th to 11th Centuries AD) . Belgrade . Istorijski institut . 978-86-7743-104-4.
6. Book: Gasparov . Boris . Raevsky-Hughes . Olga . Christianity and the Eastern Slavs, Volume I: Slavic Cultures in the Middle Ages . 2018 . Univ of California Press . 978-0-520-30247-1 . 120 & 124 . en.
7. Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael, Language and Nationalism in Europe, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 199,
8. Book: Robert Bideleux . A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change . Ian Jeffries . January 1998 . Psychology Press . 978-0-415-16112-1 . 325.
9. Coon, Carleton S. (1939) The Peoples of Europe. Chapter VI, Sec. 7 New York: Macmillan Publishers.
10. Tacitus. Germania, page 46.
11. Curta 2001: 38. Dzino 2010: 95.
12. Book: Barford, Paul M . 2001 . Cornell University Press . The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe . 978-0-8014-3977-3 .
13. Curta . Florin . 2024-01-01 . Migration and Common Slavic. Critical remarks of an archaeologist . Linguistica Brunensia.
14. Book: Cyril A. Mango. Byzantium, the empire of New Rome. registration. 26. 1980. Scribner. 978-0-684-16768-8.
15. Tachiaos, Anthony-Emil N. 2001. Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica: The Acculturation of the Slavs. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
16. Book: Štih, Peter. The Middle Ages Between the Eastern Alps and the Northern Adriatic: Select Papers on Slovene Historiography and Medieval History. 2010. V. Wiped Out By The Slavic Settlement? The Issue Of Continuity Between Antiquity And The Early Middle Ages In The Slovene Area. https://brill.com/view/book/9789004187702/Bej.9789004185913.i-463_007.xml. 978-9-004-18770-2. Brill. 85–99. 10.1163/ej.9789004185913.i-463.18. East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. 2.
17. During the reign of Heraclius (r. 610–641). De Administrando Imperio chapter 30.
18. Web site: Stergar . Rok . 12 July 2017 . Panslavism . International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
19. Web site: Stergar . Rok . Nationalities (Austria-Hungary) . International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
20. Mark Harrison (2002). "Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945". Cambridge University Press. p.167. ISBN 0-521-89424-7
21. Rudnytskyi, Omelian et al. “The 1921–1923 Famine and the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine: Common and Distinctive Features.” Nationalities Papers 48.3 (2020): 549–568. Web.
22. Livi-Bacci . Massimo . 2021-07-28 . Nature, Politics, and the Traumas of Europe . Population and Development Review . 47 . 3 . 579–609 . 10.1111/padr.12429 . 0098-7921. free .
23. Web site: 2023-02-24 . Russia and Ukraine: the tangled history that connects—and divides—them . 2024-05-23 . History . en.
24. Gwiazda II . Henry J. . 2016 . The Nazi Racial War: Concentration Camps in the New Order . The Polish Review . en . 61 . 3 . 59–84 . 10.5406/polishreview.61.3.0059.
25. Web site: 2023-08-01 . Vocabulary Terms Related To The Holocaust - Holocaust Museum Houston . 2024-05-23 . hmh.org . en-US.
26. Web site: 2022-03-18 . Remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and Russia's Invasion of Ukraine . 2024-05-23 . The National WWII Museum New Orleans . en.
27. Book: Fritz . Stephen G. . Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East . Generalplan Ost (General plan for the east) . 2011 . University Press of Kentucky . Google Books . 978-0-8131-4050-6.
28. Web site: Blakemore . Erin . 2017-02-21 . The Nazis' Nightmarish Plan to Starve the Soviet Union . 2024-05-23 . JSTOR Daily . en-US.
29. Web site: History of Germany - Germany from 1871 to 1918 Britannica . 2024-05-23 . www.britannica.com . en.
30. News: Rubenstein . Joshua . 2010-11-26 . The Devils' Playground . 2024-05-23 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
31. Web site: Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War . 2024-05-23 . encyclopedia.ushmm.org . en.
32. Berkhoff, Karel C. Central European History, vol. 39, no. 4, 2006, pp. 728–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20457191. Accessed 23 May 2024.
33. Stephen J. Lee (2000). "European dictatorships, 1918–1945". Routledge. p.86. ISBN 0-415-23046-2.
34. News: 2022-10-22 . 'The Italians hid behind Nazi crimes to forget their own and failed to firmly anchor democracy in their society' . 2024-05-23 . Le Monde.fr . en.
35. News: 10 December 2013 . Kyrgyzstan Offers an Unlikely Window Into Slavic Culture . The Moscow Times.
36. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm Russians left behind in Central Asia
37. J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006), pp. 25–26.
38. Web site: Russian. University of Toronto. Russian is the most widespread of the Slavic languages and the largest native language in Europe.. 26 March 2022.
39. Book: Kobyliński. Zbigniew . The Slavs. McKitterick . Rosamond . Rosamond McKitterick . The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 1, c.500-c.700 . Cambridge University Press . 531. 978-0-521-36291-7 . 1995.
40. Book: Roman Smal Stocki . Slavs and Teutons: The Oldest Germanic-Slavic Relations . 1950 . Bruce.
41. Book: Raymond E. Zickel. Library of Congress. Federal Research Division. Soviet Union: A Country Study. 1 December 1991. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. 978-0-8444-0727-2. 138.
42. Book: Comparative Politics. Pearson Education India. 978-81-317-6033-8. 182–.
43. https://www.academia.edu/98572077 Tarasov I.M. On the Mention of the Dnieper Varangians in the Context of the Legend of the Beginning of Kiev. 2023. P. 59–60
44. 17364156 . 2007 . Rebała . K . Mikulich . AI . Tsybovsky . IS . Siváková . D . Dzupinková . Z . Szczerkowska-Dobosz . A . Szczerkowska . Z . Y-STR variation among Slavs: Evidence for the Slavic homeland in the middle Dnieper basin . 52 . 5 . 406–14 . 10.1007/s10038-007-0125-6 . Journal of Human Genetics . free .
45. A. Zupan. The paternal perspective of the Slovenian population and its relationship with other populations. Annals of Human Biology. 40. 6. 2013. 10.3109/03014460.2013.813584. 23879710. etal. 515–526 . 34621779. However, a study by Battaglia et al. (2009) showed a variance peak for I2a1 in the Ukraine and, based on the observed pattern of variation, it could be suggested that at least part of the I2a1 haplogroup could have arrived in the Balkans and Slovenia with the Slavic migrations from a homeland in present-day Ukraine... The calculated age of this specific haplogroup together with the variation peak detected in the suggested Slavic homeland could represent a signal of Slavic migration arising from medieval Slavic expansions. However, the strong genetic barrier around the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, associated with the high frequency of the I2a1b-M423 haplogroup, could also be a consequence of a Paleolithic genetic signal of a Balkan refuge area, followed by mixing with a medieval Slavic signal from modern-day Ukraine..
46. PhD . O.M. Utevska . 2017 . Генофонд українців за різними системами генетичних маркерів: походження і місце на європейському генетичному просторі . The gene pool of Ukrainians revealed by different systems of genetic markers: the origin and statement in Europe . National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. uk. 219–226, 302.
47. Neparáczki . Endre . Maróti . Zoltán . 1 . 2019 . Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin . . . 9 . 16569 . 16569 . 10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 . 6851379 . 31719606 . 2019NatSR...916569N . Hg I2a1a2b-L621 was present in 5 Conqueror samples, and a 6th sample form Magyarhomorog (MH/9) most likely also belongs here, as MH/9 is a likely kin of MH/16 (see below). This Hg of European origin is most prominent in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, especially among Slavic speaking groups..
48. Book: Horolma. Pamjav. Tibor. Fehér. Endre. Németh. László. Koppány Csáji. Genetika és őstörténet. 2019. Napkút Kiadó. hu. 978-963-263-855-3. 58. Az I2-CTS10228 (köznevén "dinári-kárpáti") alcsoport legkorábbi közös őse 2200 évvel ezelőttre tehető, így esetében nem arról van szó, hogy a mezolit népesség Kelet-Európában ilyen mértékben fennmaradt volna, hanem arról, hogy egy, a mezolit csoportoktól származó szűk család az európai vaskorban sikeresen integrálódott egy olyan társadalomba, amely hamarosan erőteljes demográfiai expanzióba kezdett. Ez is mutatja, hogy nem feltétlenül népek, mintsem családok sikerével, nemzetségek elterjedésével is számolnunk kell, és ezt a jelenlegi etnikai identitással összefüggésbe hozni lehetetlen. A csoport elterjedése alapján valószínűsíthető, hogy a szláv népek migrációjában vett részt, így válva az R1a-t követően a második legdominánsabb csoporttá a mai Kelet-Európában. Nyugat-Európából viszont teljes mértékben hiányzik, kivéve a kora középkorban szláv nyelvet beszélő keletnémet területeket..
49. Book: Sabrina P. Ramet. Sabrina P. Ramet. Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics. 1989. Duke University Press. 978-0-8223-0891-1. 380–.
50. Goldblatt. Harvey. Orthodox Slavic Heritage and National Consciousness: Aspects of the East Slavic and South Slavic National Revivals. Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. 336–354. December 1986. 10. 3/4. 41036261.
51. Book: Zdravkovski. Aleksander. Morrison. Kenneth. The Orthodox Churches of Macedonia and Montenegro: The Quest for Autocephaly. 240–262. Religion and Politics in Post-Socialist Central and Southeastern Europe. January 2014. 10.1057/9781137330727_10. 978-1-349-46120-2.
52. Web site: Sparrow. Thomas. Sorbs: The ethnic minority inside Germany. BBC. 16 June 2021. 3 April 2022.
53. Vučković . Marija . 2008 . Savremena istraživanja malih etničkih zajednica . Contemporary studies of small ethnic communities . sh . XXI Vek . 3 . 2–8 . 1 March 2019.
54. Lopasic. Alexander. Bosnian Muslims: A Search for Identity. British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. 8. 2. 1981. 115–121. Taylor & Francis. 10.1080/13530198108705319. 194542.
55. Book: Hugh Poulton. Suha Taji-Farouki. Muslim Identity and the Balkan State. January 1997. Hurst. 978-1-85065-276-2. 33.
56. Book: Kowan, J. . 2000 . Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference . London . Pluto Press . 0-7453-1594-1 . 111 .
57. https://www.academia.edu/98572077 Tarasov I.M. On the Mention of the Dnieper Varangians in the Context of the Legend of the Beginning of Kiev. 2023. P. 59–60
58. The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond,, 1992, page 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long being supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin."
59. Florin Curta's An ironic smile: the Carpathian Mountains and the migration of the Slavs, Studia mediaevalia Europaea et orientalia. Miscellanea in honorem professoris emeriti Victor Spinei oblata, edited by George Bilavschi and Dan Aparaschivei, 47–72. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 2018.
60. Web site: Simmonds . Lauren . May 11, 2023 . Croatian Language – The Difference between Dalmatic and Dalmatian .
61. Book: Klyuchevsky, Vasily . 1987 . http://www.kulichki.com/inkwell/text/special/history/kluch/kluch16.htm . The course of the Russian history . 1: Mysl . ru . 5-244-00072-1 . 9 October 2009.
62. Web site: ch 1 . Lewis . 1994 . https://web.archive.org/web/20010401012040/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/lewis1.html . 1 April 2001.
63. Eigeland, Tor. 1976. "The golden caliphate". Saudi Aramco World, September/October 1976, pp. 12–16.
64. Web site: Wend . https://web.archive.org/web/20080507201210/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639735/Wend . 2008-05-07 . Britannica.com . 13 September 2013 . 4 April 2014.
65. Web site: Polabian language . Britannica.com . 4 April 2014.
66. . 2013. Contemporary paternal genetic landscape of Polish and German populations: from early medieval Slavic expansion to post-World War II resettlements. European Journal of Human Genetics. 21. 4. 415–22. 10.1038/ejhg.2012.190. 3598329. 22968131.
67. . 2006. Y-chromosomal STR haplotype analysis reveals surname-associated strata in the East-German population. European Journal of Human Genetics. 14. 5. 577–582. 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201572. 16435000. free.
68. Web site: Wołoscy pasterze w Ochotnicy oraz tutejsze nazwy pochodzenia wołoskiego . 2024-03-29 . skansen-studzionki.pl . pl-PL.
69. Web site: Redakcja . 2017-11-23 . Skąd pochodzą górale? Inwazja Wołochów zmieniła historię polskich gór . 2024-03-29 . Nasza Historia . pl-PL.
70. Book: Magocsi, Paul Robert . With their backs to the mountains: a history of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns . 2015 . Central European University Press . 978-615-5053-46-7 . Budapest.
71. Nandriș . Grigore . The Relations between Toponymy and Ethnology in Rumania . 4204755 . 34 . 83 . June 1956 . 490–494 . . Modern Humanities Research Association.
72. Encyclopedia: Slaven . . 1993–2002 . Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum . nl.
73. Loginova . Nina N. . Radovanović . Milan M. . Yamashkin . Anatoliy A. . Vasin . Goran . Petrović . Marko D. . Demirović Bajrami . Dunja . 2020-12-31 . Analysis of the population dynamics in the "Slavic World" with a special focus on Russia . Indonesian Journal of Geography . 52 . 3 . 317 . 10.22146/ijg.51202 . 2354-9114. free .
74. Web site: Changes in the populations of the majority ethnic groups . https://web.archive.org/web/20160728160107/http://www.belstat.gov.by/en/perepis-naseleniya/perepis-naseleniya-2009-goda/main-demographic-and-social-characteristics-of-population-of-the-republic-of-belarus/changes-in-the-populations-of-the-majority-ethnic-groups/. 28 July 2016 . belstat.gov.by. 2016-07-28.
75. Web site: Socio-Economic Audit of Sarajevo Macro Region . March 2004 . 8 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070227125845/http://www.eured-bih.org/publikacije/SERSEA_SWOTeng.pdf . 27 February 2007 .
76. This number is derived from the 2022 total population estimate of 3,816,459, multiplied by 0.501 based on the 2013 50.1% Bosniak share estimate. It is not certain that the Bosniak share was still 50.1% in 2022. The Factbook notes: "Republika Srpska authorities dispute the methodology and refuse to recognize the results." Web site: Bosnia and Herzegovina - the World Factbook. 18 August 2022.
77. https://books.google.com/books?id=buOgAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%B1%D1%8A%D0%BB%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5+%D0%B2+%D1%87%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0+1945 Kolev, Yordan, Българите извън България 1878 – 1945, 2005, р. 18
78. Book: The Report: Bulgaria 2008. Oxford Business Group. 2008. 978-1-902339-92-4. 7–8. 26 March 2016.
79. Book: Ethnic Groups of Europe: An Encyclopedia. google.bg. 978-1-59884-303-3. Cole. Jeffrey E.. Jeffrey Cole. 2011-05-25. Abc-Clio .
80. Book: Native Peoples of the World . google.bg. 978-1-317-46400-6 . Danver . Steven L. . 2015-03-10 . Routledge .
81. Book: Palermo, Francesco. https://books.google.com/books?id=cDm-lw2nQ7IC&pg=PA11. National Minorities in Inter-State Relations. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Natalie Sabanadze. 2011. 978-90-04-17598-3. Francesco Palermo. 11. National Minorities in Inter-State Relations: Filling the Legal Vacuum?.
82. Web site: Hrvatski Svjetski Kongres. https://web.archive.org/web/20030623031342/http://www.crowc.org/english/about.asp?subcat=general. 2003-06-23. 1 June 2016., Croatian World Congress, "4.5 million Croats and people of Croatian heritage live outside of the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina"
83. An estimated 57.3% ethnic Czechs (2021) on an estimated 10,705,384 total population (2022) makes about 6.1 million. However, 31.6% was unspecified, so this may be far off the real figure. Web site: Czech Republic. CIA - The World Factbook. 16 August 2022.
84. Web site: Tab. 6.2 Obyvatelstvo podle národnosti podle krajů. 2011. Czech Statistical Office. cs. Table. 6.2 Population by nationality, by region. https://web.archive.org/web/20120131022340/http://notes2.czso.cz/cz/sldb2011/cd_sldb2011_11_12/index_html_files/PVCR062.pdf. 31 January 2012.
85. Web site: Program političke stranke GIG. Do Nato intervencije na Srbiju, 24.03.1999.godine, u Gori je živelo oko 18.000 Goranaca. U Srbiji i bivšim jugoslovenskim republikama nalazi se oko 40.000 Goranaca, a značajan broj Goranaca živi i radi u zemljama Evropske unije i u drugim zemljama. Po našim procenama ukupan broj Goranaca, u Gori u Srbiji i u rasejanju iznosi oko 60.000..
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