Map 2: Eastern Europe in 3-4th century CE with archeological cultures identified as Baltic-speaking in purple, Slavic-speaking in light brown, and Finno-Ugric-speaking in green.Map 3: During the Migration Period in 5-6th century CE, the area of archeological cultures identified as Baltic and Slavic is becoming more fragmented.
Sclaveni: Ancestors of the Western South Slavs. Their name was adopted by the Byzantines in the 600s as a catch-all for all Balkan Slavs, regardless of origin
Map 4: By the 7-8th century CE, the Slavic territory was greatly increased after Slavic migration and expansion (in the context of Migration period).
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2022)
East Slavs
Map 6: Maximum extent of European territory inhabited by the East Slavic tribes - predecessors of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state[9] - in the 8th and 9th century.
Southwestern group (roughly in a large part of the hypothesized region of Proto-Slavs origin)
Dulebes (Dulebi), ancestors of Ukrainians, Belarusians, part of Czechs and Poles. Assimilated into several East Slavic tribes or were the ancestors of them: the Volhynians, Drevlians, Polans, Dregoviches, and possibly Buzhans, eventually to become part of the Kievan Rus'.
Kozelians / Kozelian Vyatichians, in Kozelsk Land (roughly in today's Kozelsk town and Kaluga and Tula regions, later part of the Chernigov Principality by conquest)
Map 7: West Slav tribes in 9th and 10th centuriesMap 8: Slavic Bohemian tribes shown in various colors and Moravians in red, on a map of modern Czech Republic
Dudlebi (Doudlebi / Doudlebové) (Bohemian Dulebes), a group of Dulebes assimilated as a Slavic Bohemian or Czech tribe. (they lived in most of the southern half of Bohemia)
Khébané (Chébané / Hbané)
Khodove (Chodové) ("Walkers", "Patrollers" or "Rangers") (formed from recruited people originating in the western Carpathian Mountains) (in Tuhošt' Land)
Slovaks* (more appropriately Sloveni[14] for time period of this article), also called Nitran Slavs / Váh Slavs / Hungarian Slavs / MoravianSlovenes[15]/Sloväni / Slověniny), tribal confederation, in Slovakia and northern parts of Hungary, possibly western Hungary as well. Ancestors of Slovaks, mayhaps were part of broader Slavic group sharing the same name (notice similarities with the south Slavic Slovenians). Sometimes referred to as Slovieni,[16] although this word is generally incorrect, being a contracted term from 19th century.[17]Note: While today the male member of Slovak nation is called Slovák, the original name for such person would be approx. Sloven.[18] This is evident from the endonym of the country (Slovensko), and also the name for Slovak female (Slovenka) or language (slovenský jazyk). This change, purely linguistical, occurred starting in 14th century, applying the newer suffix -ák/-ak/-iak to the stem word Slov. This change most likely originated in neighbouring Bohemia, which is probably the reason why it never completely permeated Slovak language (compared to the Moravian region of Slovácko, so called Moravian Slovakia).
Lechites (Lechitic group) Lechitic tribes are ancestors of Poles/Polish people, Lechia was the pre-Christian name of Poland.
Wends also spelled as Wenedi, Veneti, Vendi, Vindi, Vinden, includes Northern Polabian and Southern Polabian tribes. The former are linguistically grouped with Lechitic, while the latter with Sorbian languages.
Belesem / Byelozem = "White Earth" or "White Earth Tribe", they lived scattered in Oster Walde / Osterwalde - "Eastern Woods" in the Old Mainland Saxon view, west banks of the Elbe river
Drevani = "Wood" or "Wood Tribe", they lived scattered in Oster Walde / Osterwalde - "Eastern Woods" in the Old Mainland Saxon view, west banks of the Elbe river) (Osterwalde and Luneburg Heath also matched the land where the Langobards lived for a time before migrating towards South) (mostly in today's Lower Saxony, in the Hanoverian Wendland, Lechitic tribes in modern -day Germany)
Approximate location of South Slavic tribes, per V. V. Sedov 1995.
South Slavic tribes descend mainly from two Slavic tribal confederations, Sclaveni and Antes. To reach the Balkans, the two groups took two different paths. While the Sclaveni came from Central Europe north of the Danube and migrated south around the eastern edges of the Alps and across the western part of the Pannonian Plain, the Antes came from the steppe between the Dniester and the Dnieper, penetrating into the Balkans throuhgh Transylvania or, alternatively, the mouth of the Danube.[19]
A number of historians have attributed the early split between Eastern and Western South Slavs to the different origins of Sclaveni and Antes.[20] While Western South Slavs were closely linked to the Western SlavicVeneti, Eastern South Slavs originated from the Eastern Slavic Antes. This is confirmed by both historical records and the duplication of tribal names between West Slavs and Western South Slavs and East Slavs and Eastern South Slavs, respectively. For example, the Polabian White Serb confederation is generally thought to be the ancestor of both Western Slavic Sorbs and South Slavic Serbs, while the Dunabian Abodriti, also known as Praedenecenti, are generally associated with the Polabian Obotrites.[21]
The same is true for Antes and Eastern South Slavs. For example, part of the East Slavic Severians are known to have migrated to present-day northeastern Bulgaria, becoming foederati of the First Bulgarian Empire under the name Severi, while some PripyatDregoviches are assumed to have migrated to the valley of the Vardar, establishing themselves as the Drougoubitai.[22] The Seven Slavic tribes are also hypothesized to be Antes hailing from the lands of modern Ukraine, but missing records of their tribal names makes the hypothesis unverifiable.
Therefore, it has been suggested that the ancestors of medieval Bosnians, Serbs and Croatians were the Sclaveni, wereas the progenitors of the Bulgarian Slavs were the Antes.[23] Nevertheless, there must have been substantial overlap between Sclaveni and Antes, especially in contact zones. For example, the exact origin of White Croats is still shrouded in mystery. Some scholars consider them be an Antes tribal polity that migrated to Galicia in the 3rd–4th century,[24][25][26] while others regard them as early Sclaveni or as a mixture of both Antes and Sclaveni.[27]
Nevertheless, South Slavs over time evolved into a new Slavic ethnolinguistic group. This phenomenon was accentuated by the Bavarian expansion east (as an element in the Ostsiedlung) and by the Magyar settlement and expansion in the Pannonian Plain, which severed the contiguous land or territory between West and South Slavs (in the Middle Danube river basin) and contact between both of them, contributing to greater differentiation.
Carantanians / Carniolan Slavs / Old Slovenes / Southern Slovene (Sloventsi), tribal confederation, in Austria and Slovenia. Ancestors of Slovenes (particularly Carinthian Slovenes). They descend in part from Nitran Slavs (Northern Slovenes) that were also partial ancestors of modern Slovaks.
Merehani / Southern Merehani / Southern Moravians (Moravci / Moravtsi), in (South) Morava river, eastern Serbia. They descend from Moravian / Merehani tribal groups that migrated south of the Danube and over time differentiate themselves and were assimilated into South Slavs.
Seven Slavic tribes (or Seven Slavic Clans) (Heptaradici / Eptaradici - "Seven Roots"?), tribal confederation, in northern Bulgaria and Southern Romania that formed the basis of the Slavic Bulgarians (after later being conquered by the Turkic origin Bulgars that formed much of the Aristocracy and led to the name change of the people and language)
Smolyani, in the Central and Western Rhodopes, the Mesta valley and the adjoining areas of northern Greece. They revolted against Byzantine rule in 837 and after receiving military aid by Khan Presian I of Bulgaria, their territory was annexed by the First Bulgarian Empire. Their name is not mentioned after the mid 800s, which suggests assimilation into Slavic Bulgarians
Strymonites, along the Struma river in southwestern Bulgaria and the adjoining part of northern Greece. Annexed by the First Bulgarian Empire in 840. They were last mentioned in 904 in connection with the Sack of Thessaloniki by the Arabs and were therefore most likely assimilated into Slavic Bulgarians
Sklavenoi / Sclaveni Proper (Slavic tribes of Greece, including Greek Macedonia)
Zerivani / Zeriuani / Zeruiani[31] (same as the Chervyani? Severians? Drevlians? Unlikely, Chervyani, Severians and Drevlians can not be the same tribe, because in Slavic languages: Chervyani - red ones (Red Croats), Severians - northern ones, Drevlians - wood people)
Brodnici, Slavic tribe, inhibiting brod/shallow river areas or areas with brodnica shrubs, type of a wild berry, see place names Brodnica, Bródnica in Slavic speaking countries.
Keramisians or, more likely, Sermesianoi, a mixed population of some 70,000 Bulgars, Pannonian Slavs and Byzantine Christians from Syrmia led by the Bulgar (khan) Kuber,[33][34] who unsuccessfully tried to seize Thessaloniki and then settled in the Keramisian field (a corruption of "Sermesian", i.e., of Sirmium), most likely the Pelagonia plain in North Macedonia, in 680. Since treasures attributed to them have been found at Vrap and Ersekë in Eastern Albania,[35] the Sermesianoi are hypothesized to have migrated west following Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian's campaigns against them in the early 700s.
Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (568 p.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-14818-2
Anthony, David W. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (568 p.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-14818-2
Szmoniewski, B. S. (2012). "The Antes: Eastern "Brothers" of the Sclavenes?". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. Brepols. p.62. ISBN978-2-503-53125-0.
Paščenko, Jevgenij (2006). Nosić, Milan (ed.). Podrijetlo Hrvata i Ukrajina[The origin of Croats and Ukraine] (in Croatian). Maveda. pp.84–87. ISBN953-7029-03-4.
Sedov, Valentin Vasilyevich (2013) [1995]. Славяне в раннем Средневековье[Sloveni u ranom srednjem veku (Slavs in Early Middle Ages)]. Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga. pp.444, 451, 501, 516. ISBN978-86-6263-026-1.
Majorov, Aleksandr Vjačeslavovič (2012). Velika Hrvatska: etnogeneza i rana povijest Slavena prikarpatskoga područja[Great Croatia: ethnogenesis and early history of Slavs in the Carpathian area] (in Croatian). Zagreb, Samobor: Brethren of the Croatian Dragon, Meridijani. pp.85–86, 168. ISBN978-953-6928-26-2.
Marko Vego (1982). "Postanak imena Bosna". Postanak srednjovjekovne bosanske države (in Croatian). Svjetlost. p.20. Retrieved 13 April 2021. Čvrsto sam ubijeđen, na temelju topografije, da je u pradomovrni stanovnika Bosne postojalo, živjelo ime Bosna i kao takvo zabilježeno u izvorima ili je ostalo u toponimima na terenu. Zato nije bilo teško jakom i mnogobrojnom plemenu Bosna da pri dolasku u centralnu Bosnu potisne staro predslavensko ime ili imena na području Gornje Bosne i ujedini srodna slavenska plemena i rodove pod jednim imenom Bosna i za oznaku rijeke Bosne.
Микулчиќ, Иван (1996). Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија[Medieval towns and castles in the Republic of Macedonia] (in Macedonian). Makedonska akademija na naukite i umetnostite. pp.29–33. ISBN9989-649-08-1.