It is believed that the ancestors of such peoples as Russians, Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosnians, etc., were the Slavs. But how the forefathers of so many peoples appeared and where the long history of the origin of the Slavs goes, historians still do not fully know.
The first mention of the Slavs
The question of the appearance of the Slavs on earth has haunted historians for almost a thousand years. The first to raise this question was Nestor, the author of The Tale of Bygone Years. In his descriptions of events, one could find references to how the Slavs were forced to leave the Roman province. They began to live in new places in different parts of Europe. There was no information about the dates of their migrations in the annals.
Theories of the origin of the Slavs
In Byzantine sources, the first mention of the Slavs was in the first half of the 6th century. This people turned out to be a powerful force and occupied the lands from Illyria to the Lower Danube. Later, Slavic settlements spread along the Elbe River, reached the coasts of the Baltic and North Seas, and even penetrated into northern Italy.
Anyone who delved even a little into the history of the origin of the forefathers met with the theory according to which the ancestors of the Slavs were the Wends. This was the name of the tribes who lived near the Baltic Sea. However, this theory has insufficient evidence.
Russian historians presented an interesting point of view. They are convinced that the Slavs did not have a single original pranarode. In their opinion, the Slavic people, on the contrary, was formed as a result of the union of many different ancient tribes.
The biblical legend says that after the "Great Flood" the sons of Noah got different lands. The countries of Europe were under the auspices of Aoret. The Slavs appeared on this land. Initially, they settled near the Vistula River, now it is the territory of Poland. Then the settlements expanded along such rivers as the Dnieper, Desna, Oka, Danube. This theory, put forward by the chronicler Nestor, has a lot of archaeological evidence.
Who was before the Slavs?
There is no consensus among archaeologists about the earlier cultures of the Slavs, and it is not known how the continuity among generations occurred. However, according to the existing scientific versions, it is assumed that the Proto-Slavic language stood out from the Proto-Indo-European. This development of the language took place in a very wide time frame from the second millennium BC to the first centuries of our era.
The data obtained by scientists using linguistics, written sources and archeology indicate that initially the Slavs lived in the territory of Central and Eastern Europe. From different sides they were surrounded by Germans, Balts, Iranian tribes, ancient Macedonians and Celts.
It becomes clear that today it is impossible to answer with certainty the question "How did the Slavs appear on earth?", And to this day it remains open to many minds.
