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76-649: The Zarubintsy culture is possibly connected to the pre-Slavic ancestors of early Slavs ( proto-Slavs ), with possible links to the peoples of the Dnieper basin . The culture was influenced by the La Tène culture and the nomads of the steppes (the Scythians and the Sarmatians ). The Scythian and Sarmatian influence is evident especially in pottery , weaponry , and domestic and personal objects. The bearers of

152-641: A Slavic "ethnic badge". In the Carpathian foothills of Podolia , at the northwestern fringes of the Chernyakov zone, the Slavs gradually became a culturally-unified people; the multiethnic environment of the Chernyakhov zone presented a "need for self-identification in order to manifest their differentiation from other groups". The Przeworsk culture , northwest of the Chernyakov zone, extended from

228-553: A larger drainage basin . Nonetheless, for historical reasons the river retains the name Elbe, also because at the confluence point it is the Elbe that flows through the main, wider valley while the Vltava flows into the valley to meet the Elbe at almost a right angle, and thus appears to be the tributary river. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice , the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře . Thus augmented, and swollen into

304-655: A narrow sense, refers to western Slavic material grouped around Bohemia, Moravia and western Slovakia, distinct from the Mogilla (southern Poland) and Korchak (western-central Ukraine and southern Belarus) groups further east. The Prague and Mogilla groups are seen as the archaeological reflection of the 6th-century Western Slavs . Previously, the 2nd-to-5th-century Chernyakhov culture encompassed modern Ukraine, Moldova and Wallachia . Chernyakov finds include polished black-pottery vessels, fine metal ornaments and iron tools. Soviet scholars, such as Boris Rybakov , saw it as

380-512: A process less understood and documented than that of the Germanic ethnogenesis in the west. Yet the effects of Slavicization were far more profound. Beginning in the 7th century, the Slavs were gradually Christianized (both by the Greek and pre-Schism Roman Orthodox Catholic Churches). By the 12th century, they formed the core populations of a number of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in

456-471: A separate language during the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The Proto-Slavic vocabulary, which was inherited by its daughter languages, described its speakers' physical and social environment, feelings and needs. Proto-Slavic had words for family connections, including svekry ("husband's mother"), and zъly ("sister-in-law"). The inherited Common Slavic vocabulary lacks detailed terminology for physical surface features that are foreign to mountains or

532-411: A southerly course, emerging from the mountain glens at Jaroměř , where it receives Úpa and Metuje . Here the Elbe enters the vast vale named Polabí (meaning "land along the Elbe"), and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové (where Orlice flows in) and then to Pardubice , where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres (27 mi) further on, it bends gradually towards

608-546: A stream 140 metres (460 ft) wide, the Elbe carves a path through the basaltic mass of the České Středohoří , churning its way through a picturesque, deep, narrow and curved rocky gorge. Shortly after crossing the Czech-German frontier, and passing through the sandstone defiles of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains , the stream assumes a north-westerly direction, which on the whole it preserves right to

684-762: A type of cable ferry that uses the current flow of the river to provide propulsion. Humans first lived in the northern Elbe region before about 200,000 years ago, during the Middle Paleolithic . Ptolemy recorded the Elbe as Albis ( Germanic for "river") in Germania Magna, with its source in the Asciburgis mountains ( Giant Mountains ), where the Germanic Vandalii then lived. The Elbe has long served as an important delineator of European geography. The Romans knew

760-638: Is inhabited by 24.4 million people; its biggest cities are Berlin , Hamburg , Prague , Dresden and Leipzig . First attested in Latin as Albis , the name Elbe means "river" or "river-bed" and is nothing more than the High German version of a word ( *albī ) found elsewhere in Germanic; cf. Old Norse river name Elfr , Swedish älv "river", Norwegian elv "river", Old English river name elf , and Middle Low German elve "river-bed". The Elbe (Labe) rises on

836-693: Is one of the major rivers of Central Europe . It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven , 110 kilometres (68 miles) northwest of Hamburg . Its total length is 1,094 km (680 mi). The Elbe's major tributaries include the rivers Vltava , Saale , Havel , Mulde , Schwarze Elster , and Ohře . The Elbe river basin, comprising

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912-652: The Bavarian Geographer 's list of Slavic tribes contains a note: "Suevi are not born, they are sown ( seminati )". A similar description of the Sclavenes and Antes is found in the Strategikon of Maurice , a military handbook written between 592 and 602 and attributed to Emperor Maurice . Its author, an experienced officer, participated in the Eastern Roman campaigns against the Sclavenes on

988-669: The Chernoles culture theory, the pre-Proto-Slavs originated in the 1025–700 BC culture located in northwestern Ukraine and the 3rd century BC–1st century AD Zarubintsy culture . According to the Lusatian culture hypothesis, they were present in northeastern Central Europe in the 1300–500 BC culture and the 2nd century BC–4th century AD Przeworsk culture . The Danube basin hypothesis, postulated by Oleg Trubachyov and supported by Florin Curta and Nestor's Chronicle , theorises that

1064-861: 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 . The oldest known Slavic principality in history was Carantania , established in the 7th century by the Eastern Alpine Slavs, the ancestors of present-day Slovenes . Slavic settlement of

1140-632: The Prague-Korchak , Penkovka , Ipotești–Cândești , and the Sukow-Dziedzice group cultures. With evidence ranging from fortified settlements ( gords ), ceramic pots, weapons, jewellery and open abodes. The Proto-Slavic homeland is the area of Slavic settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the first millennium AD, with its precise location debated by archaeologists, ethnographers and historians. Most scholars consider Polesia

1216-582: The Proto-Indo-European , the reconstructed language from which originated a number of languages spoken in Eurasia . The Slavic languages share a number of features with the Baltic languages (including the use of genitive case for the objects of negative sentences ,the loss of Proto-Indo-European kʷ and other labialized velars ), which may indicate a common Proto-Balto-Slavic phase in

1292-591: The U.S. Army . In 1945, as World War II drew to a close, Germany came under attack from the armies of the western Allies advancing from the west and those of the Soviet Union advancing from the east. On 25 April 1945 these two forces linked up near Torgau , on the Elbe. The victorious countries marked the event unofficially as Elbe Day . From 1949 to 1990 the Elbe formed part of the Inner German border between East Germany and West Germany . During

1368-746: The United Kingdom , was signed on 14 February 1929, ending in 2028. Since 1993 the Czech Republic holds the former Czechoslovak legal position. Before Germany was reunited, waterway transport in Western Germany was hindered by the fact that inland navigation to Hamburg had to pass through the German Democratic Republic. The Elbe-Seitenkanal (Elbe Lateral Canal) was built between the West German section of

1444-672: The Volga River . In the 8th century during the Early Middle Ages , early Slavs living on the borders of the Carolingian Empire were referred to as Wends ( Vender ), with the term being a corruption of the earlier Roman-era name. The earliest, archaeological findings connected to the early Slavs are associated with the Zarubintsy , Chernyakhov and Przeworsk cultures from around the 3rd century BC to

1520-466: The Wendish Crusade of 1147. The Elbe delineated the western parts of Germany from the eastern so-called East Elbia , where soccage and serfdom were more strict and prevailed longer than westwards of the river, and where feudal lords held bigger estates than in the west. Thus incumbents of huge land-holdings became characterised as East Elbian Junkers . The Northern German area north of

1596-422: The lower Danube at the end of the century. A military staff member was also the source of Theophylact Simocatta 's narrative of the same campaigns. Although Martin of Braga was the first western author to refer to a people known as "Sclavus" before 580, Jonas of Bobbio included the earliest lengthy record of the nearby Slavs in his Life of Saint Columbanus (written between 639 and 643). Jonas referred to

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1672-676: The migration period , the early Slavs were known to the Byzantine writers as Veneti, Antes and Sclaveni . The 6th century historian Jordanes referred to the Slavs ( Sclaveni ) in his 551 work Getica , noting that "although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti, Antes and Sclaveni" ( ab una stirpe exorti, tria nomina ediderunt, id est Veneti, Antes, Sclaveni ). Procopius wrote that "the Sclaveni and

1748-413: The 5th century AD. However, in many areas, archaeologists face difficulties in distinguishing between Slavic and non-Slavic findings, as in the case of Chernyakhov and Przeworsk, since the cultures were also attributed to Iranian or Germanic peoples and were not exclusively connected with a single ancient tribal or linguistic group. Later, beginning in the 6th century, Slavic material cultures included

1824-538: The Ante actually had a single name in the remote past; for they were both called Sporoi in olden times". Possibly the oldest mention of Slavs in historical writing Slověne is attested in Ptolemy 's Geography (2nd century) as Σταυανοί (Stavanoi) and Σουοβηνοί (Souobenoi/Sovobenoi, Suobeni, Suoweni), likely referring to early Slavic tribes in a close alliance with the nomadic Alanians , who may have migrated east of

1900-673: The Bavarians of Styria and Carinthia called their Slavic neighbours "Windische". The unknown author of the Chronicle of Fredegar used the word "Venedi" (and variants) to refer to a group of Slavs who were subjugated by the Avars . In the chronicle, "Venedi" formed a state that emerged from a revolt led by the Frankish merchant Samo against the Avars around 623. A change in terminology,

1976-793: The Dniester to the Tisza valley and north to the Vistula and Oder . It was an amalgam of local cultures, most with roots in earlier traditions modified by influences from the (Celtic) La Tène culture , (Germanic) Jastorf culture beyond the Oder and the Bell-Grave culture of the Polish plain. The Venethi may have played a part; other groups included the Vandals , Burgundians and Sarmatians . East of

2052-571: The Dniester, the Dnieper and the Don). A connection between Proto-Slavic and Iranian languages is also demonstrated by the earliest layer of loanwords in the former; the Proto-Slavic words for god (*bogъ) , demon (*divъ) , house (*xata) , axe (*toporъ) and dog (*sobaka) are of Scythian origin. The Iranian dialects of the Scythians and the Sarmatians influenced Slavic vocabulary during

2128-718: The Eastern Alps comprised modern-day Slovenia , Eastern Friul and large parts of present-day Austria . The early Slavs were known to the Roman writers of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD under the name of Veneti . Authors such as Pliny the Elder , Tacitus and Ptolemy described the Veneti as inhabiting the lands east of the Vistula river and along the Venedic Bay ( Gdańsk Bay ). Later, having split into three groups during

2204-516: The Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres (57,247 sq mi), the twelfth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries; however, it lies almost entirely just in two of them, Germany (65.5%) and the Czech Republic (33.7%, covering about two thirds of the nation's territory). On its southeastern edges, the Elbe river basin also comprises small parts of Austria (0.6%) and Poland (0.2%). The Elbe catchment area

2280-517: The Elbe is subject to the tides , the tidal Elbe section is called the Unterelbe (Low Elbe). Soon the Elbe reaches Hamburg. Within the city-state the Unterelbe has a number of branch streams, such as Dove Elbe , Gose Elbe , Köhlbrand , Norderelbe (Northern Elbe), Reiherstieg , Süderelbe (Southern Elbe). Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the main stream by dikes. In 1390

2356-719: The German Twelfth Army located to the west of Berlin to guard against the advancing American and British forces. But, as the Western Front moved eastwards and the Eastern Front moved westwards, the German armies making up both fronts backed towards each other. As a result, the area of control of Wenck's army to his rear and east of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for Germans fleeing from

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2432-572: The Gose Elbe (literally in English: shallow Elbe ) was separated from the main stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme . The Dove Elbe (literally in English: deaf Elbe ) was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort. These hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg . After

2508-835: The Low Elbe's two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona -Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunite, the Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel (Neuer Elbtunnel) , the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe (here now

2584-451: The Lower Elbe used to be called North Albingia in the Middle Ages. When the four Lutheran church bodies there united in 1977 they chose the name North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church . Other, administrative units were named after the river Elbe, such as the Westphalian Elbe département (1807–1813) and Lower Elbe département (1810), and the French département Bouches-de-l'Elbe (1811–1814). On 10 April 1945, General Wenck of

2660-516: The Mittellandkanal and the Lower Elbe to restore this connection. When the two nations were reunited, works were begun to improve and restore the original links: the Magdeburg Water Bridge now allows large barges to cross the Elbe without having to enter the river. The often low water levels of the Elbe no longer hinder navigation to Berlin. The Elbe is crossed by many ferries, both passenger and car carrying. In downstream order, these include: Many of these ferries are traditional reaction ferries ,

2736-400: The North Sea. The Elbe has always been navigable by commercial vessels, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague . The river is linked by canals ( Elbe Lateral Canal , Elbe-Havel Canal , Mittellandkanal ) to the industrial areas of Germany and to Berlin . The Elbe-Lübeck Canal links the Elbe to the Baltic Sea , as does the Kiel Canal , whose western entrance is near

2812-423: The North Sea. The river rolls through Dresden and finally, beyond Meissen , enters on its long journey across the North German Plain passing along the former western border of East Germany , touching Torgau , Wittenberg , Dessau , Magdeburg , Wittenberge , and Hamburg on the way, and taking on the waters of the Mulde and Saale from the west, and those of the Schwarze Elster , Havel and Elde from

2888-644: The Przeworsk zone was the Zarubinets culture , which is sometimes considered part of the Przeworsk complex. Early Slavic hydronyms are found in the area occupied by the Zarubinets culture, and Irena Rusinova proposed that the most prototypical examples of Prague-type pottery later originated there. The Zarubinets culture is identified as proto-Slavic, or an ethnically mixed community that became Slavicized. Elbe The Elbe ( German: [ˈɛlbə] ; Czech : Labe [ˈlabɛ] ; Low German : Ilv or Elv ; Upper and Lower Sorbian : Łobjo , pronounced [ˈwɔbʲɔ] )

2964-400: The Sclavenes and Antes spoke the same languages but traced their common origin not to the Venethi but to a people he called "Sporoi". Sporoi ("seeds" in Greek; compare "spores") is equivalent to the Latin semnones and germani ("germs" or "seedlings"), and the German linguist Jacob Grimm believed that Suebi meant "Slav". Jordanes and Procopius called the Suebi "Suavi". The end of

3040-467: The Slavic homeland in the Pripet Marshes of Polesia , which lack those plants. Common Slavic dialects before the 4th century AD cannot be detected since all of the daughter languages emerged from later variants. Tonal word stress (a 9th-century AD change) is present in all Slavic languages, and Proto-Slavic reflects the language that was probably spoken at the end of the 1st millennium AD. Jordanes , Procopius and other Late Roman authors provide

3116-468: The Slavic states of the Early and High Middle Ages . The Slavs' original homeland is still a matter of debate due to a lack of historical records; however, scholars generally place it in Eastern Europe , with Polesia being the most commonly accepted location. It is generally agreed that ancient Roman writers referred to the ancestors of Slavs as Venedi . The proto-Slavic term Slav shares roots with Slavic terms for speech , word , and perhaps

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3192-435: The Slavs as "Veneti" and noted that they were also known as "Sclavi". Western authors, including Fredegar and Boniface , preserved the term "Venethi". The Franks (in the Life of Saint Martinus , the Chronicle of Fredegar and Gregory of Tours ), Lombards ( Paul the Deacon ) and Anglo-Saxons ( Widsith ) referred to Slavs in the Elbe-Saale region and Pomerania as "Wenden" or "Winden" (see Wends ). The Franks and

3268-503: The Slavs originated in central and southeastern Europe. Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Proto-Slavic began to evolve from

3344-450: The Wars , and Secret History ) during the 550s. Each book contains detailed information on raids by Sclavenes and Antes on the Eastern Roman Empire , and the History of the Wars has a comprehensive description of their beliefs, customs and dwellings. Although not an eyewitness, Procopius had contacts among the Sclavene mercenaries who were fighting on the Roman side in Italy . Agreeing with Jordanes's report, Procopius wrote that

3420-422: The Zarubintsy culture has been linked with the emigration of its population in several directions. Density of settlements in the central region decreases, as late Zarubintsy groups appear radially, especially southward into the forest-steppe regions of the middle Dnieper, Desna, and southern Donets rivers. Influences upon local cultures in the east Carpathian/ Podolia region, as well as, to a lesser extent, north into

3496-414: The approaching Soviet Army. Wenck took great pains to provide food and lodging for these refugees. At one stage, the Twelfth Army was estimated to be feeding more than a quarter of a million people every day. During the night of 28 April, Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his Twelfth Army had been forced back along the entire front. According to Wenck, no attack on Berlin

3572-408: The archaeological reflection of the proto-Slavs. The Chernyakov zone is now seen as representing the cultural interaction of several peoples, one of which was rooted in Scytho-Sarmatian traditions, which were modified by Germanic elements that were introduced by the Goths. The semi-subterranean dwelling with a corner hearth later became typical of early Slavic sites, with Volodymir Baran calling it

3648-405: The auspices of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in Constantinople around 950. In the archaeological literature, attempts have been made to assign an early Slavic character to several cultures in a number of time periods and regions. They are mainly related to the Kiev culture which flourished from the 2nd to the 5th centuries in the "middle and upper Dnieper basin , akin to it sites of

3724-487: The culture engaged in agriculture, documented by numerous finds of sickles. Pobol suggested that the culture experienced a transition from swidden (' slash-and-burn ') to plough-type cultivation. In addition, they raised animals. Remains included sheep, goat, cattle, horses, and swine. There is evidence they also traded wild animal skins with Black Sea towns. Some sites were defended by ditches and banks, structures thought to have been built to defend against nomadic tribes from

3800-404: The cut-off meander Old Southern Elbe) used to reunite, which is why the bay is seen as the starting point of the Niederelbe (Lower Elbe). Leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven . Near its mouth, it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into

3876-461: The development of those two linguistic branches of Indo-European. Frederik Kortlandt places the territory of the common language near the Proto-Indo-European homeland : "The Indo-Europeans who remained after the migrations became speakers of Balto-Slavic ". According to the prevailing Kurgan hypothesis , the original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have been in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Europe. Proto-Slavic developed into

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3952-436: The east. In its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands ( Elbe Marshes ), former flood plains of the Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge , that carries a canal and its shipping traffic over the Elbe and its banks, allowing shipping traffic to pass under it unhindered. From the sluice of Geesthacht (at kilometre 586) on downstream

4028-435: The forest zone are also evident. The movement of Zarubintsy groups has been linked to an increasingly arid climate, whereby the population left the hillforts on high promontories and moved southward into river valleys. This mostly southern movement brought them closer to westward moving Sarmatian groups (from the Don region) and Thracian - Celtic elements. By the 3rd century AD, central late Zarubintsy sites 're-arranged' into

4104-492: The heavy inundation by the North Sea flood of 1962 the western section of the Southern Elbe was separated, becoming the Old Southern Elbe, while the waters of the eastern Southern Elbe now merge into the Köhlbrand, which is bridged by the Köhlbrandbrücke , the last bridge over the Elbe before the North Sea. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel) , both in Hamburg's city centre. A bit more downstream,

4180-403: The homeland of the Slavs with the Zeriuani , which some equate to the Cherven lands . According to historical records, the Slavic homeland would have been somewhere in Central-Eastern Europe. The Prague - Penkova - Kolochin complex of cultures of the 6th and the 7th centuries AD is generally accepted to reflect the expansion of Slavic-speakers at the time. Core candidates are cultures within

4256-416: The homeland of the Slavs. Theories attempting to place Slavic origin in the Near East have been discarded. None of the proposed homelands reaches the Volga River in the east, over the Dinaric Alps in the southwest or the Balkan Mountains in the south, or past Bohemia in the west. One of the earliest mention of the Slavs' original homeland is in the Bavarian Geographer circa 900, which associates

4332-435: The lake called Mursianus to the Danaster [Dniester] and northward as far as the Vistula. They have swamps and forests for their cities. The Antes, who are the bravest of these peoples dwelling in the curve of the sea of Pontus [Black Sea] spread from the Danaster to the Danaper [Dnieper] rivers that are many days' journey apart". Procopius completed his three works on Emperor Justinian I 's reign ( Buildings , History of

4408-418: The lands that the Venethi (a people named in Tacitus 's Germania ) lived during the last decades of the 1st century AD. Pliny the Elder wrote that the territory extending from the Vistula to Aeningia (probably Feningia, or Finland), was inhabited by the Sarmati, Wends, Sciri and Hirri . Jordanes in De origine actibusque Getarum (Ch. 34-35), wrote that "Within these rivers lies Dacia, encircled by

4484-410: The lofty Alps [Carpathian Mountains] as by a crown. Near their left ridge, which inclines toward the north, and beginning at the source of the Vistula, the populous race of the Venethi dwell, occupying a great expanse of land. Though their names are now dispersed amid various clans and places, yet they are chiefly called Sclaveni and Antes. The abode of the Sclaveni extends from the city of Noviodunum and

4560-425: The millennium of contact between them and early Proto-Slavic. A connection between Proto-Slavic and the Germanic languages can be assumed from the number of Germanic loanwords, such as *kupiti ("to buy"), *xǫdogъ ("skillful"), *šelmъ ("helmet") and *xlěvъ ("barn"). The Common Slavic words for beech , larch and yew were also borrowed from Germanic, which led Polish botanist Józef Rostafiński to place

4636-507: The mouth of the Elbe. The Elbe-Weser Shipping Channel connects the Elbe with the Weser . By the Treaty of Versailles the navigation on the Elbe became subject to the International Commission of the Elbe, seated in Dresden. The statute of the commission was signed in Dresden on 22 February 1922. Following articles 363 and 364 of the Treaty of Versailles, Czechoslovakia was entitled to lease its own harbour basin, Moldauhafen in Hamburg. The contract of lease with Germany, and supervised by

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4712-417: The north-west. At the village of Káraný , a little above Brandýs nad Labem , the Jizera enters in. At Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava , a major river which winds northwards through Bohemia . Upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer (434 kilometres (270 mi) against 294 kilometres (183 mi) of the Elbe so far), and has a greater discharge and

4788-435: The probable earliest references to the southern Slavs in the second half of the 6th century AD. Jordanes completed his Gothic History , an abridgement of Cassiodorus 's longer work, in Constantinople in 550 or 551. He also used additional sources: books, maps or oral tradition. Jordanes wrote that "After the slaughter of the Heruli , Hermanaric also took arms against the Venethi. This people, though despised in war,

4864-415: The region's Slavic-speaking population . Over the next two centuries, the Slavs expanded westwards (to the Elbe river and in the Alps ), and southwards (into the Balkans , absorbing Illyrian and Thracian peoples in the process), and also moved eastwards (in the direction of the Volga River ). Between the sixth and seventh centuries, large parts of Europe came to be controlled or occupied by Slavs,

4940-414: The replacement of Slavic tribal names for the collective "Sclavenes" and "Antes", occurred at the end of the century; the first tribal names were recorded in the second book of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius , around 690. The unknown "Bavarian Geographer" listed Slavic tribes in the Frankish Empire around 840, and a detailed description of 10th-century tribes in the Balkan Peninsula was compiled under

5016-450: The river as the Albis ; however, they made only one serious attempt to move the border of their empire forward from the Rhine to the Elbe, and this attempt failed with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, after which they never seriously tried again. In the Middle Ages the Elbe formed the eastern limit of the Empire of Charlemagne (King of the Franks from 769 to 814). The river's navigable sections were essential to

5092-403: The slopes of Mt. Violík at an elevation of 1,386 metres (4,547 ft) in the Giant Mountains on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river. After plunging down the 30 metres (98 ft) of the Elbe Falls , the latter stream unites with the steeply torrential Bílé Labe , and thereafter the united stream of the Elbe pursues

5168-427: The so-called Kyiv culture , whilst the westernmost areas were integrated into the Wielbark culture . Early Slavs The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European dialects who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central , Eastern and Southeast Europe and established the foundations for the Slavic nations through

5244-431: The steppe. Dwellings were either of surface or semi-subterranean types, with posts supporting the walls, a hearth in the middle, and large conic pits located nearby. Inhabitants practiced cremation. Cremated remains were either placed in large, hand-made ceramic urns, or were placed in a large pit and surrounded by food and ornaments, such as spiral bracelets and Middle to Late La-Tene type fibulae . The disintegration of

5320-404: The steppe: the sea, coastal features, littoral flora or fauna or saltwater fish. Proto-Slavic hydronyms have been preserved between the source of the Vistula and the middle basin of the Dnieper . Its northern regions adjoin territory in which river names of Baltic origin ( Daugava , Neman and others) abound. On the south and east, it borders the area of Iranian river names (including

5396-443: The success of the Hanseatic League in the Late Middle Ages , and much trade was carried on its waters. From the early 6th century Slavic tribes (known as the Polabian Slavs ) settled in the areas east of the rivers Elbe and Saale (which had been depopulated since the 4th century). In the 10th century the Ottonian Dynasty (dominant from 919 to 1024) began conquering these lands; a slow process of Germanization ensued, including

5472-480: The territories of modern Belarus , Poland and Ukraine . According to the Polish historian Gerard Labuda , the ethnogenesis of Slavic people is the Trzciniec culture from about 1700 to 1200 BC. The Milograd culture hypothesis posits that the pre-Proto-Slavs (or Balto-Slavs) originated in the 7th century BC–1st century AD culture geographically located in northwestern Ukraine and southern Belarus. According to

5548-477: The type Zaozer´e in the upper Dnieper and the upper Daugava basins, and finally the groups of sites of the type Cherepyn–Teremtsy in the upper Dniester basin and of the type Ostrov in the Pripyat basin". It is recognised as the predecessor of the 6th- and 7th-century Prague-Korchak , Prague-Penkovka and Kolochin cultural horizons that encompass Slavic cultures from the Dniester to the Elbe. "Prague culture" in

5624-709: Was possible as support from Busse's Ninth Army could no longer be expected. Instead, starting April 24, Wenck moved his army towards the Forest of Halbe , broke into the Halbe pocket and linked up with the remnants of the Ninth Army , Hellmuth Reymann 's "Army Group Spree", and the Potsdam garrison. Wenck brought his army, remnants of the Ninth Army, and many civilian refugees across the Elbe and into territory occupied by

5700-471: Was strong in numbers and tried to resist him. [...] These people, as we started to say at the beginning of our account or catalogue of nations, though off-shoots from one stock, have now three names, that is, Venethi, Antes and Sclaveni". His claim was accepted more than a millennium later by Wawrzyniec Surowiecki , Pavel Jozef Šafárik and other historians, who searched the Slavic Urheimat in

5776-542: Was used by early Slavic people themselves to denote other people, who spoke languages similar to theirs . The first written use of the name "Slavs" dates to the 6th century, when the Slavic tribes inhabited a large portion of Central and Eastern Europe . By then, the nomadic Iranian -speaking peoples living in the European Pontic Steppe (the Scythians , Sarmatians , Alans , etc.) had been absorbed by

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