THE INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATION OF NATIONS

THE SORB/WENDISH PEOPLE

THE HISTORY OF THE SORBS/WENDS

THE SMALLEST OF THE SLAVIC PEOPLES

In the south-east corner of Germany today you can see bilingual inscriptions on signposts. About 60,000 Sorbs/Wends live in this area called Lusatia. Where does their history begin? Where do they come from? How has this small group of people preserved its own culture, despite being oppressed and persecuted throughout its history and surrounded by a foreign-speaking environment?

The Slavs constitute one of the main branches of the Indo-European migration of nations. They were a vigorous people and at one time came close to possessing almost all of northern and eastern Europe. They have today grouped themselves into twelve nationalities

1. Russian,
2. Ukranian,
3. White Russian,
4. Polish,
5. Czech, Slovak,
6. Serb,
7. Croatian,
8. Slovene,
9. Macedonian
10. Bulgarian
11. Wends or Sorbs, who now form the smallest of the Slavic nationalities.
12. All Slavic people were originally called Wends. A number of place names seem to indicate the presence of these ancient Slavs or Wends throughout Europe.

Suddenly emerging from the mists of antiquity as one of the great phenomena of history, wave on wave of related tribes moved westward into Europe to possess the rich but vacant lands awaiting settlement. From this parent stock called Indo-European stem practically all the

Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig are Wendish names. The Baltic Sea was in Latin called Wendile Mare (Wendish Sea). Saxony was once known as Wendland. Wendyssel in Denmark, Wendland near Hanover in Germany, Windisch in Switzerland, Inda or Winda in East Franconia, and possibly the Venetians in Italy, lead one to conclude that colonies of these people at certain times occupied widely separated areas. Most villages in the eastern parts of Germany to this day bear Slavic names. Inhabitants change, but place names mostly remain...

In the year 631 a Frankish monk named Fredegar mentioned the Sorbs for the first time in his chronicle. At this time they had settled in the region west of the rivers Oder and Neisse to the rivers Elbe and Saale and partly beyond, from Bohemia in the south to present-day Berlin in the north. The contemporary Lusatian Sorbs are immediate descendants of Milzener and Lusatian tribes belonging to the Sorbian ethnic community.

The Slavic tribes were still in an early feudal stage of development when they were confronted with the eastwards expansion of the Germans beginning with the Frankish feudal lords. Forts and fortifications were constructed along the Saale and Elbe. Here the Sorbs once defended themselves against the expansion of German feudal rulers in the 10th century and later Saxon commanders sought refuge from the insurgent Slavonic inhabitants.

The Slavic tribes were still in an early feudal stage of development when they were confronted with the eastwards expansion of the Germans beginning with the Frankish feudal lords. Forts and fortifications were constructed along the Saale and Elbe. Here the Sorbs once defended themselves against the expansion of German feudal rulers in the 10th century and later Saxon commanders sought refuge from the insurgent Slavonic inhabitants.

With the creation of the German state under Henry I and its further consoli-
dation by the end of the 10th century, political conditions had been created with the secular power of the sword and the spiritual power of the cross which from then on firmly wove the fate of the Sorbs into German history.

European peoples, including the Greek, Roman, Frank, Celtic, Teutonic, Gothic, Scandinavian and Slavic nations.They came from a common ancestral home in the region of the Caspian and Black Sea, beginning their great trek possibly more than 4000 years ago.

In consequence of the early loss of independence the Sorbs belong to the group of peoples which have not developed into nations. German commanders, electors and kings ruled them for centuries. In the course of historical development the land was increasingly settled by a German population.

But in the midst of the interests of the imperial crown of Saxon and Prussian kings there were the Sorbian people, a quarter of a million strong, who at the beginning of the sixteenth century over an area of 16000 square kilometres constituted about 85% of the population. The overwhelming majority of the Sorbs belonged to the masses of dependent and exploited classes. The main social class of the Sorbian population was peasantry.

Capitalist industrialisation since the end of the 19th century set working power free. The Sorbian rural population also became industrial workers. When they migrated from the countryside to the industrial cities they were assimilated as a rule by the second or third generation. Accompanied by Germanisation first and by the superior force of the environment later the proportion of Sorbs in this population has been continously decreasing until at present it amounts to about one quarter.

Wends

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Wends are partly a term by some held equivalent to Vandals through a latinized form of Wendland, and partly a German abbreviation (also often used in English) for some Slavic people from north-central Europe. The term has not historically enjoyed consistent usage, but is most employed specifically for one or two Slavic groups and as an over-arching term. The Franks referred to most Slavs living between the Odra and Laba as either Wends or Sorbs, while in Slavic literature these people are called Polabian Slavs.

As a result, it is still difficult today to present a coherent picture of the Wends as a people. For the Slavic interpretation, the term Wends was presumably used in the history in the following meanings:

1. In general - a German name for West Slavic people formerly inhabiting teritories of present day Pomerania and Eastern Germany. The term Wends was used in connection to all Slavs inhabiting west of Poland and north of Bohemia - Polabians, Pomeranians and Sorbs.

2. German and English name for Sorbs, a Slavic people who moved into Central Europe during the great migration, most likely in response to pressure by the westward movement of warlike peoples such as the Huns and Avars. Some of their descendants, also called Wends or Lusatian Sorbs (Lužički Srbi), still live in Lusatia today, where the Sorbian language is maintained in schools. Many Wends were driven out of Prussia during the revolutions of 1848. The Prussian (German Imperial) government insisted that Wends living in the area give up their language in schools and other public arenas. Moreover, the Wends who wished to continue living in the Empire were compelled to practice Lutheranism. A large part of the Wendish population of Prussia emigrated to countries that welcomed immigrants as a source of cheap labor, including the United States and Australia. In the United States, the majority of Wends landed in Texas, where they became some of the earliest members of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran church. A notable settlement of Wends in Texas is the town of Serbin, in Lee County, where a church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, stands as a typical example of Wendish architecture. In St. Paul's, the pulpit is located in the balcony of the church.

3. German name for Kashubians.

4. Some Finnish historians claim that the words Wends or Vandals used in Scandinavian sources occasianally meant all peoples in Eastern coast of Baltic from Pomerania to Finland, including some Finnic peoples. The existence of these supposed Finnic Wends is far from clear. In 13th century there was indeed a people called Wends or Vends living as far as in Northern Latvia around the city of Wenden and it is not known if they were indeed Slavs as their name suggests. Some researchers think they were related to Finnic speaking Votians.

The term Wends was used formerly by Germans also in connection to Slavs in general.

Related articles

· Kashubians

· Wendland

· Sorbs

· Polabian

· Venedes

· Sorbian Cultural Information (http://www.sorben.com/ski/)

· "Domowina" (http://home.t-online.de/home/320051871311/dom.html) Sorbian umbrella organization

· Sorbian internet portal (http://www.sorben-wenden.de/)

· The Painted Churches of Texas (http://www.klru.org/paintedchurches/serbin.html)

· Texas Wends (http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/publications/texansoneandall/wendish.htm)

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WENDS. The Wends (also known as Sorbs or Lusatian Serbs) are a Slavic people concentrated in East Germany near Bautzen and Cottbus in the upper Spree River valley, an area long known as Lusatia. They speak Sorbian, which is divided into two dialects, Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. The language was originally written with Gothic letters, although since 1937 the Latin alphabet has been used. Wends have never had an independent nation, and their homeland has always been surrounded by Germans. During the Middle Ages the Wends survived the raids and massacres of German Eastland horsemen; especially during the Nazi years they were pressured to assimilate the German culture, and gradually they have adopted the German language and many customs, although they still retain a separate identity. In 1840, before overseas migration began, there were about 164,000 Wends in Lusatia. In the 1980s there were only 60,000. Outside Germany, most of the Wends settled in two areas, Australia and Texas. The desire for better economic opportunity was probably the main reason for Wendish immigration to Australia and to Texas a few years later. Although scholars dispute the role of social and religious factors in the process, Texas Wends commonly express the belief that their forefathers came here solely for religious freedom. Around 1848 small groups of Wends began immigrating to Australia, where many Germans^qv had already settled. These pioneers sent letters home, many of which were published in local newspapers, and which influenced Wends still in Europe. A small group of Wends came to Austin County around 1849-50 and were quickly absorbed into the German community. In 1853 a group of thirty-five Wends left Bremen for Texas. They were shipwrecked off the coast of Cuba, but eventually made their way to Galveston, and from there to the communities of New Ulm and Industry.

In the fall of 1854 a newly established congregation of nearly 600 conservative Lutheran Wends, led by John Kilian,^qv left Germany to join their countrymen in Texas. The group constituted the only mass exodus of Wends. Traveling first by railway and steamship to Liverpool, England, the Wends embarked on an English ship, the Ben Nevis, for the journey to Texas. While in Liverpool, however, a number of Wends contracted cholera, and seventy-three of them died on board the ship. After a three week stop in Queenstown, Ireland, to remove the sick and fumigate the ship, the Ben Nevis sailed for Galveston, where it arrived on December 15, 1854. Galveston was having a yellow fever epidemic. From December to January the Wends walked the eighty-five miles to New Ulm and Industry. Two lay leaders of the congregation, Johann Dube and Carl Lehmann, went on ahead thirty miles and purchased a league of land in what is now Lee County. At first services were held in one room of Kilian's two-room house, but the group set aside ninety-five acres for a church and school, later called St. Paul's. This was the first Missouri Synod Lutheran church founded in Texas and is thus the mother church not only of the Wends, but of all conservative Lutherans in Texas. After their first tiny log church was erected, individuals purchased farm acreage and town lots, built crude dugout^qv houses for shelter, and established what became the community of Serbin. In 1860 Serbin had a post office. After 1871, however, a new railroad connection made nearby Giddings the business and commercial center of the region, and Serbin declined in both population and influence.

Over the years, due to religious dissension and economic pressures, the Wends spread throughout south central Texas. Today the leading Wendish centers are in Lee, Fayette, Williamson, Coryell, and Bell counties, especially in the towns of Serbin, Warda, Giddings, Fedor, Manheim, Loebau, Lincoln, Winchester, La Grange, Thorndale, Walburg, Copperas Cove, The Grove, Vernon, Swiss Alp, New Ulm, Industry, Noack, and Aleman. Substantial numbers of people of Wendish descent also live in Houston, Austin, and Port Arthur. While most Wends consider themselves Germans, they have maintained an ethnic identity. Early restrictions against intermarriage have relaxed over the years. Nevertheless, many individuals still claim there have been no intermarriages in their families since the arrival of the Ben Nevis. Early Wends practiced many distinctive customs, of which perhaps the most noticeable to outsiders was the German Lutheran custom of wearing black wedding dresses by Wendish brides to represent the grief and hardship of marriage. This custom died out by the 1890s. Religious conservatism militated against wearing bright colors, dancing, secular singing, or any other kind of frivolity. The Wends valued education, and today St. Paul's still has an accredited parochial school. Church congregations regularly paid for the higher education of promising young men who wanted to become pastors or teachers. In the 1980s Concordia Lutheran College in Austin still received considerable Wendish support.

The proximity of German neighbors eventually resulted in cultural assimilation and adaptation. At the time of their migration, most of the Wends spoke Wendish and German, and those who spoke only Wendish learned German after they moved to Texas. Most of the Wends in Serbin and all of the Wends who settled elsewhere had adopted German as their primary language by the time of World War I.^qv The shift from Wendish to German is documented in the Giddings Deutsches Volksblatt,^qv the principal German-language paper in the area. The newspaper, although largely written in German, also contained articles or letters in Wendish. Wendish, however, was gradually supplanted, reflecting the general shift to German language. By the 1930s the language had begun to die out in Texas, and few people remained who were still completely fluent. In the 1980s only a few people could still speak the language. In rural Wendish areas German continued to be used for church services until after World War II,^qv but today it has also largely died out. The Texas Wendish Heritage Society, founded in 1971, actively seeks to preserve and, whenever possible, revive remnants of the Wendish culture. One project involves an attempt to translate and publish all early Wendish documents. The society, which had about 350 members in 1994, maintains a Wendish museum at Serbin and annually participates in the Folklife Festival of the University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures^qv at San Antonio. The art of Easter egg painting has been maintained as a Wendish tradition. Wendish Fest, an annual festival held at Serbin in September, celebrates the Wendish heritage of the area.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Anne Blasig, The Wends of Texas (San Antonio: Naylor, 1954; rpt., Brownsville: Springman-King Printing, 1981). George Charles Engerrand, The So-called Wends of Germany and their Colonies in Texas and in Australia (University of Texas Bureau of Research in the Social Sciences 7 [Austin, 1934]). Daphne Dalton Garrett, The Art of Decorating Wendish Easter Eggs (Warda, Texas: Garrett Historical Research, 1987). Sylvia Ann Grider, The Wendish Texans (San Antonio: University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures, 1982). H. T. Kilian, Kurzgefasster Auszug aus der Geschichte der ev. luth. St. Pauls Gemeinde N.A.C. zu Serbin (Giddings, Texas: Giddings Deutsches Volksblatt, 1904). John Kilian, Baptismal Records of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Serbin, Texas, 1854-1883, ed. and trans. Joseph Wilson (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1985). George R. Nielsen, In Search of a Home (University of Birmingham [England] Department of Russian Language and Literature, 1977; rev. ed., College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989). Gerald Stone, The Smallest Slavonic Nation: The Sorbs of Lusatia (London: Athlone Press of the University of London, 1972). Stephan Thernstrom, ed., Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1980).

Sylvia Grider

Wends

Wends or Sorbs,Slavic people (numbering about 60,000) of Brandenburg and Saxony, E Germany, in Lusatia. They speak Lusatian (also known as Sorbic or Wendish), a West Slavic language with two main dialects: Upper Lusatian, nearer to Czech, and Lower Lusatian, nearer to Polish. The towns of Bautzen (Upper Lusatia) and Cottbus (Lower Lusatia in modern Silesia) are their chief cultural centers.

In the Middle Ages the term Wends was applied by the Germans to all the Slavs inhabiting the area between the Oder River in the east and the Elbe River and the Saale River in the west. German conquest of their land began in the 6th cent. and was completed under Charlemagne (8th cent.). A coalition of Wendish tribes in the 10th cent. and again in the early 12th cent. temporarily halted German expansion. A crusade against the pagan Wends was launched in 1147 under the leadership of Henry the Lion of Saxony and Albert the Bear of Brandenburg. The crusade itself was, on the whole, a failure, but in subsequent years Henry the Lion, aided by Waldemar I of Denmark, Albert the Bear, and other princes, carried out a systematic campaign of conquest. By the end of the 12th cent. nearly all Germany except East Prussia had been subjected to German rule and was Christianized. However, a group of Slavic-speaking Wends has maintained itself to the present day in Lusatia. They call themselves Srbi and hence are known also in English as Lusatian Sorbs or Serbs.

See G. Stone, The Smallest Slavonic Nation: The Sorbs of Lusatia (1972).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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See more Encyclopedia articles on: Peoples (except New World)

Wends The Wends are partly a term by some held equivalent to Vandals through a latinized form of Wendland, and partly a German abbrevation (also often used in English) for some Slavic people from north-central Europe. The term has not historically enjoyed consistent usage, but is most employed specifically for one or two Slavic groups and as an over-arching term. The Franks referred to most Slavs living between the Odra and Laba as either Wends or Sorbs, while in Slavic literature these people are called Polabian Slavs . As a result, it is still difficult today to present a coherent picture of the Wends as a people. For the Slavic interpretation, the term Wends was presumably used in the history in the following meanings: 1. In general - a German name for West Slavic people formerly inhabiting teritories of present day Pomerania and Eastern Germany. The term Wends was used in connection to all Slavs inhabiting west of Poland and north of Bohemia - Polabians, Pomeranians and Sorbs. 2. German and English name for Sorbs, a Slavic people who moved into Central Europe during the great migration, most likely in response to pressure by the westward movement of warlike peoples such as the Huns and Avars. Some of their descendants, also called Wends or Lusatian Sorbs (Lužički Srbi), still live in Lusatia today, where the Sorbian language is maintained in schools. Many Wends were driven out of Prussia during the revolutions of 1848. The Prussian (German Imperial) government insisted that Wends living in the area give up their language in schools and other public arenas. Moreover, the Wends who wished to continue living in the Empire were compelled to practice Lutheranism. A large part of the Wendish population of Prussia emigrated to countries that welcomed immigrants as a source of cheap labor, including the United States and Australia. In the United States, the majority of Wends landed in Texas, where they became some of the earliest members of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran church. A notable settlement of Wends in Texas is the town of Serbin , in Lee County, where a church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, stands as a typical example of Wendish architecture. In St. Paul's, the pulpit is located in the balcony of the church. 3. German name for Kashubians. The term Wends was used formerly by Germans also in connection to Slavs in general. Related articles § Kashubians § Wendland § Sorbs § Polabian § Venedes External link § Sorbian Cultural Information § "Domowina" Sorbian umbrella organization § Sorbian internet portal § The Painted Churches of Texas § Texas Wends da:Vender de:Wenden pl:Słowianie połabscy

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Wends (580-1218 AD)
(DBA III-1a)

The Wends (a.k.a. Lusatians or Sorbs) were a western Slavic people who occupied the southern Baltic region bounded at various periods by the Elbe and Saale Rivers in the west and the Oder and Neisse Rivers in the East. They were famous for their hospitality and for their staunch resistance to Christianity. They are treated here as a northern subset of the Slavic peoples, although many historians argue that the term "Wend" originally applied to all Slavic people throughout Europe. Characteristic is the Roman Latin name for the Baltic Sea--Wendile Mare (or Wendish Sea).

Although the list starts in 580 AD, the first mention of the Wends or Sorbs as a distinct Slavic people was by the Frankish monk Fredegar in 631 AD. The next significant record is from the period of Charlesmagne's campaigns in Eastern Saxony and Thuringia circa 804 AD, and his establishment of the so-called Saxon March. During his campaign to subdue the Saxons, which was largely completed by 810 AD, Charlesmagne's armies pushed the Wends east beyond the River Elbe. Thereafter, the Wends faced steady pressure throughout the 10-12th centuries from Saxon, Thuringian, Frankish, and Flemish raiders, who seized the pastoral Wendish as slaves, and by colonists, who moved east to carve out new settlements in Wendish territory.

The next major milestone in Wendish history can be traced to 965 AD, when the Viking Harald Gormsson (a.k.a. Bluetooth) married a Wendish princess and built a stronghold at Jomsborg on the Baltic Coast near the Wendish trading center of Wollin. Here a famous brotherhood of Vikings (i.e., the Joms-Vikings) founded by Harald's son, Svein Forkbeard, is supposed to have collected, fighting with the Wends against foreign invaders on land and sea. The Joms-Vikings were essentially a warrior cult (a sort of Pagan Knights Templar) who lived in barracks under harsh discipline and trained constantly in hopes that they would die in battle so as to join Woden in Valhalla.

Later, after Harald was forced from his Scandanavian kingdom by Jarl Hakon in 985 AD, he again took refuge among the Wends. It is said that Harald Bluetooth taught the Wends to be sea raiders in order to annoy his foes, and if so, he was certainly effective, since they took to Baltic piracy with a vengeance. In 983 AD, King Mistivoj of Wendland invaded Brandenburg and Holstein, burning Hamburg, while the Frankish emperor Otto was distracted by a crusade against Saracens in Italy. The period of 1020-1040 AD then saw heavy Wendish raids by land and over sea into Denmark and Skane (southern Sweden).

In 1043 AD, the Scandanavian Magnus the Good sought to end the Wendish threat to his new kingdom and descended with his army on Jomsburg, destroying the Joms-Viking garrison and burning the Wendish city of Wollin. Meanwhile, a large Wendish army had raided its way deep into Denmark. Magnus (the son of St. Olaf) landed a Danish and Norwegian army at Hedeby in the rear of the Wendish force in order to link up with Saxon allies under Orduff. Fighting on Michaelmas day, the Christian allies joined battle with the Wends on the flat plain of Lyrskov Hede (near modern Schlesig). Despite being heavily outnumbered, and bolstered by the righteousness of their cause, they cut down the pagan Wends in waves according to Adam of Bremen, leaving 15,000 of them dead on the field. The battle of Hedeby marked the end of serious Wendish raiding in Denmark and the beginning of a Danish campaign to seize the Baltic coast from Rugia to Estonia, which denied the Wends access to the sea and effectively ended their piratical expeditions.

In 1147 AD, St. Bernard preached a crusade among the Saxons and Danes, who preferred to attack their pagan Slavonic neighbors rather than setting out to save the Holy Land as Bernard intended. Bowing to necessity, Bernard obtained a Papal Bull blessing the endeavor and a crusading army led by Henry the Lion of Saxony and Albert the Bear of Brandenburg set forth to convert the Wends by sword, but were stopped cold that same year. Set against the backdrop of the "Northern Crusades," the Wendic Crusade continued for nearly 30 years. Waldimar I of Denmark joined forces with Henry and Albert against the Wends. Eventually, persistent pressure by the Christian Saxons, Danes and the expansionistic Poles broke down Wendish resistance. Pagan idols were destroyed and Catholicism was introduced throughout Lusatia. After1185 AD, the Wends fell almost entirely under the sway of Poland.

1218 AD marks the end of the DBA Slav list and has been applied to the Wend list for convenience, although the significance of that date for the Wends is not clear. The Polish domination of the Wends after 1185 AD is another appropriate ending date. Another possible date is the final annexation of Lusatia by Germany and formation of margravates circa 1360 AD, although by that time there was no organized Wendish resistance. As a historical aside, although christianized and long subjected to German rule, the Wends have been able to maintain a distinct identity and language as Sorbs to the present day. There are approximately 150,000 Wends still gathered in Lusatia, in the upper Spree valley which lies within eastern Germany and southwestern Poland. Groups of Wends have also migrated to Texas, Australia and other locations over the past century to escape "germanization."

Allies and Enemies

The Wends find themselves at odds with their Germanic neighbors - the Old Saxons, Frisians, Thurigians (II/73) as well as with the Swedes, Danes and Norwegians (III/40abcd), the East Franks (III/52), the Early Poles (III/62ab) and the early Medieval Germans (IV/13a). The limited references available to this author seem to indicate that inclusion of the Early Polish as enemies is somewhat dubious as the Wends didn't seem to resist Polish expansion (i.e. fellow Slavs) as heartily as they did the Germans, and may have viewed Polish occupation as preferrable to German conquest.

The Wends only Big Battle ally are the Old Saxons (II/73).

Army Composition

1x 3Cv (Gen)	Wendish chieftain and retinue
1x 3Cv	Wendish nobles.
7x 3Aux	Wendish foot armed with javelins and hand axes or knives.
1x 3Bd or 3Cv or 3Kn	According to DBM Early Slav list, these represent Viking (Bd) allies after 804 AD, or Danish, Saxon or Thuringian merceniaries (Cv or Kn) after 1057 AD. What do you do for the period 580-804 AD? There should probably be an additional 3Aux option.
2x 2Ps or 3Bw	Bow should be used after 1056 AD only. They were also trained by Saxons to shoot in groups and deploy with shield bearers after 1170 AD.

Camps and BUAs

Your typical Dark Ages camp such as an A-frame log dwelling is suitable for the Wends. Since they also made their mark as sea raiders, a beached longboat is also appropriate.

Good subjects for BUAs include the Viking stronghold at Jomsborg or a timber pallisaded village.

Miniatures

You won't find a specific "Wendish" range of miniatures, but suitable Slavic, early Saxon and Viking figures are available from various sources including Essex, Two Dragons, Irregular and others. Any Dark Age European "barbarian" foot can be put to good use. Gripping Beast offers "JomsVikings" as part of its 28mm Viking range.

Tactics

Historically, the Wends were known for Viking-like raids along the Baltic coasts, transporting horses to increase their range in-land. As the German marches hemmed in their landward territory, the Wends turned increasingly to sea "piracy." When on the defensive, they tended to avoid pitched battles, preferred ambushes and hit and run attacks. Cavalry was common but not particularly effective; the riders eschewing close formation and shock tactics to ride rings around their opponents, showering them with javelins. In the later periods, as Saxon levies gave way to imperial German armies as their primary foes, the Wends were forced to become more disciplined, beefing up their ranks with mercenaries and employing Saxon archery coaches.

As a littoral, primarily bad going DBA army with relatively low aggression, the Wends make for an interesting mix of troop types and options. Effective use of bad going terrain and their mobility advantage is obviously important when facing Knight-heavy German armies and Blade-heavy Scandinavians. Wendish archers can also help against the Frankish, Polish and German mounted. The littoral option encourages steathly end-runs to get at exposed enemy flanks and camps.

Notes on Resources

In addition to the DBM rules, I relied on bits and pieces of information gleaned from the Hammond Atlas of World History, Gwyn Jones' "A History of the Vikings," Skip Knox's Thesis on The Destruction and Conversion of the Wends and other web sources in preparing this piece. I am not familiar with any books specifically on the Wends, although there are numerous resources on the Slavs available in print and a web search for Wends, Sorbs and Lusatia produced hundreds of links, although few with significant historical details. The story of the Joms-Vikings is recorded in the famous Jomsburg Saga.

Because my sources for this piece were so sketchy, I invite your inputs providing additions or corrections to the historical and other notes above, as well as any comments you may have about the list itself.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/W/We/Wends.htm

Migratory routes

Within the period of 2000 years that had passed before the Indo-Europeans go into the annals of history, the success of the agricultural revolution brought about a population explosion in the Indo-European community. This pressure of the demographical growth was going to impel the emigration of successive wave of Indo-Europeans in search of fertile areas to cultivate. The linguistic shifting of the Indo-European home from northern Europe down to Asia Minor requires the review of the theories about the migratory routes by which the Indo-European languages were spread through Eurasia.

Thus, the Indo-Iranians --by following the more probable route-- would have come out of Asia Minor. Then, by going round the spurs of the Himaalaya-s, the Indo-Iranians would have gone through Afghanistan until they took up residence in India. Europe is, according to this statement, the destination and not the origin of the Indo-European migration. People who spoke Hittite, Luwian and other Anatolian languages did short migrations without coming out of their native land. Therefore, their language died with them. Within the third millenium BC, the main Indo-European idiomatic community is fragmented. Thus, the longest-ranged migrations, formed from people speaking Greek-Armenian-Indian-Iranian dialects, started. Within the second millenium BC, two groups of Indo-Iranian-speaking people went to the East.

Here we can see the different migrations. There are three Eastern branches: toward Central Asia, India and Iran. There are mainly two Western branches: one going directly toward Greece and the other surrounding the Caspian Sea. This surrounding branch has given rise to the most of Western languages.

One of them was formed from people who spoke Kafiri languages, which are still spoken in Nuristan --a territory situated near the sides of Hindu Kush, in northeastern Afghanistan-- (*I do not know how to translate exactly this name into English properly, sorry. If you know, tell me). The second group went into the Ganges valley. It was formed from people who spoke a dialect from which are derived the historical languages of India. Its most primitive literary background is contained in the hymns of Rigvedá, which has been written in an ancient variant of Sanskrit. The indigenous populations of the Ganges valley, which are known by the archaeological findings in their capital city Mohenjo-Daro, were displaced by the Indo-Iranians.

After the separation of the Indo-Iranians and their departure to the East, the Greek-Armenian community stayed in its native country for some time. There, it kept in touch with those who spoke Kartvelian language, Tocharian and the old Indo-European languages that subsequently would evolve and become the historical European languages (**I do not know how to translate exactly this name into English properly, sorry. If you know, tell me).

Recent archaeological discoveries confirm the Greeks' belief about their forefathers: that they had come from western Asia, which is referred to in the Legend of Jason and the Argonauts who fetched the Golden Fleece near the Black Sea. The confimation of that the Greeks would have come from there sheds new light on the study of the Greek colonies on the Black Sea's northern shores. Those colonies were very primitive settlements that the Greeks were establishing at the beginning of their migrations which would lastly lead them to their final country on the banks of the Aegean.

The historical European languages (those that left literary legacy) have many indications that the dialects from which they are derived travelled along with the Tocharians through the inside of Central Asia. The migration toward Central Asia of the populations who spoke some primitive Indo-European dialects has been proven by means of the words taken from the linguistic group Finno-Ugric, which gave rise to the modern Finnish and Hungarian languages, respectively. The Tocharian --influenced by the Finno-Ugric-- transformed completely its consonantal system.

Words of the old European languages that have been taken from some languages of Central Asia confirm that the people who spoke those languages actually lived there. The ancient European people, by going around toward the West, settled on the Black Sea's northern banks for some time. They formed a little compact federation. Since 2000 BC up to the beginning of the Christian Era, the populations who spoke the old European languages spread throughout Europe. The archaeology demonstrates this coming by the arrival of a seminomadic culture. People belonging to this culture used to bury their deceaseds in tombs covered with stones (which were known as "funeral tumuli"). The languages of the former inhabitants of Europe, except the Basque (a non-Indo-European language), were displaced by the Indo-European dialects.

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Iranian group

The Iranian group is almost as vast and important as the Indian group. It produced a religious language known as Zend, and two great vulgar languages known as Sogdian and Parsee (the latter will eventually develop and become the modern Persian language). They served as civilizing languages in a part of Asia, for centuries.

The history of the Iranian language is a difficult-to-trace one. Only isolated documents without any continuity are left of the ancient period in which this language evolved quickly. Besides, a large quantity of dialects were only known at the present time and by means of fragmentary news.

In more ancient times, the Iranian language appeared in two forms, both of them belonging to the Western Iranian branch. Their names are as follows: the ancient Persian and Zend languages.

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Ancient Persian language

It is the dialect of Persis, in the southwestern area of the Iranian territory. It is only known through the inscriptions of kings Darius (522-486) and Xerxes (486-466), which were written by using cuneiform characters. The subsequent inscriptions are rare and not very interesting. It is neither a literary language established previously nor a vulgar language, nor even a diplomatic one. It is simply a dialect that was the mother tongue of the sovereigns and the members of their families. They wanted to get the texts establishing their power and celebrating their heroic feats to be transcribed into this dialect.

The inscriptions of kings Darius and Xerxes are bilingual or even trilingual ones. Besides the ancient Persian language (which belonged to the conquering aristocracy), they are written in Elamitic language (which belonged to the Cyrus' kingdom -Cyrus was the founder of the dinasty-) and Babylonian language (an ancient Asian language). These inscriptions may be found in various zones of the empire: in Persepolis, in Nakhs-i-Rustem (Darius' tomb), in Suez, in Elvend, etc. The largest inscription is a trilingual one and is engraved on the foothill of a mountain located in Behistun (northeastern Kermanshah).

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Zend or Avesta language

It is the language of a religious text known as Avesta, whose origin in time and space is difficult to be traced. This work belonging to Mazdaism was finished approximately at the Sassanian period. The Sassanian people, with the object of giving a better support to their official religion, got a liturgical text written with literary passages of different times which sometimes were not properly linked to each other. On some occasions those very passages were completed by using additions. Thus, there are now two series of texts differing from one another in spelling, grammar and size (which is nos homogeneous at all).

On one hand, the "gaathaas" (chants) --sometimes even more archaic than Rigvedá--; and on the other hand, the Avesta itself, a large compendium written in a language lacking in perfect unity. The Avesta's text was firstly written by using a Semitic alphabet (Aramaic), and it was then transcribed by people without a definite tradition into the special writing that we can see nowadays. So, the scripture requieres a constant interpretation which is not safe sometimes. However, a meticulous examination of Zend language shows that this language stands for a dialectal form which is not far from ancient Persian language.

Media is the birthplace of Zoroaster --the founder of Mazdaism-- according to the legend. Zend language is considered to be born from a Northern dialect with respect to the ancient Persian language, but both of them are really joined together and belong to the Western Iranian group. Apart from the ancient Persian and Zend languages, there is no documentation on some other ancient Iranian language. A pity indeed, because the few words or names transmitted by the Greek from the Scythian language, reveal a very different linguistical state with regard to Persian and Median languages. In effect, Scythian language belonged to the Northern Iranian group (it was actually northwestern Iranian group though).

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Parsee language

Several centuries later, in the Christian Era, Iranian language reappears in a very evolved way which is called "middle Iranian language", of which Parsee is its most well-known form. Parsee language belongs to the Persian group and is a direct predecessor of the modern Persian language. Between ancient Persian, Parsee and Persian languages there are no differences but those that are the natural outcome of the linguistical development. Although ancient Persian language has some dialectal characteristics that are not in Parsee language, it is lastly the same language. Thus, the texts written in ancient Persian language may be also considered to be written in recent Parsee language. Nowadays we can only find a few inscriptions in Parsee language by Artachir (the founder of the Sassanian dinasty).

Parsee was the official language during Sassanian Empire (226-652 A.D.). Its writing is of Semitic origin (Aramaic); and the Semitic influence is also perceived in its pronunciation. Parsee language is known from Mazdaist texts which were kept by Indian and Persian followers of Zoroaster, as well as from Manichean texts found in Central Asia. The latter may be traced to Mani himself (3rd century A.D.) and were written in a language which is closer to everyday language than to Sassanian Parsee language. Semitic equivalents do not exist in the aforesaid Manichean texts. These Semitic equivalents may be easily found (disguised) in the Sassanian inscriptions. That is why those texts have proven a crucial means to understand Parsee language. The documents written in Northern Parsee and Sogdian languages belong to middle Iranian language too. The name "Northern Parsee language" is to be applied to two series of texts:

Handwritten texts	They are of Manichean origin, but they have a dialectal form that differs from those previously referred to.
Epigraphic texts	They are at the side of the official Parsee language on the Sassanian inscriptions. The language used in these texts, which are sometimes erroneously named Chaldean-Parsee, is a form of Parthian language which was not utilized in the official epigraphy (written in Aramaic or Greek languages).

By means of Parthian language, the Iranian one had influence on the Armenian language.

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Sogdian language

This language is known from discoveries in Central Asia. The deciphered texts (they are mostly Buddhist texts, although there are some Christian ones) use a writing of Aramean origin, which is different from that of Parsee language. Most of them date from 8th century A.D., even though some texts dating from the beginning of Christian Era have been found too.

Sogdian language play an important role as civilized language, from Sogdia itself to Manchu. In fact, the trilingual inscription in Kara --Balgasun-- (9th century A.D.) is partly written in Sogdian language.

Sogdian language is really northeastern Iranian language. Certain discoveries in Turkestan have revealed a language belonging to Iranian group which is used by buddhists living in Khotan. This language belongs to the Shaka-s, and it is sometimes vaguely designated "Eastern Iranian language".

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Models-of-migration-to-the-New-World

Human migration denotes any movement of groups of people from one locality to another, rather than of individual wanderers. Over the course of prehistoric time and in history, humans have been known to make large migrations. This can be compared with periodic passages of groups of animals such as some birds and fishes; see entry Migration.

Migration and population isolation is one of the four evolutionary forces (along with natural selection, genetic drift, and mutation). The study of the distribution of and change in allele (gene variations) frequencies under such influences is the discipline of Population genetics.

The movement of populations in modern times has continued under the form of voluntary immigration/emigration and involuntary forced migration. There's also seasonal human migration related to agriculture. Daily human commuting can be compared to the diurnal migration of organisms in the oceans. See Phototropia.

This article concentrates on the historical human migrations.

Human migration has taken place at all times and in the greatest variety of circumstances. It has been tribal, national, class and individual. Its causes have been climatic, political, economic, religious, or mere love of adventure. Its causes and results are fundamental for the study of ethnology, of political and social history, and of political economy.

In its natural origins, it includes the separate migrations first of Homo erectus then of Homo sapiens out of Africa across Eurasia, doubtless using some of the same available land routes north of the Himalayas that were later to become the Silk Road, and across the Strait of Gibraltar.

The pressures of human migrations, whether as outright conquest or by slow cultural infiltration and resettlement, have affected the grand epochs in history (e.g. the fall of the Western Roman Empire); under the form of colonization, migration has transformed the world (e.g. the prehistoric and historic settlements of Australia and the Americas). Population genetics studied in traditionally settled modern populations have opened a window into the historical patterns of migrations, a technique pioneered by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza.

Forced migration (see population transfer) has been a means of social control under authoritarian regimes, yet under free initiative migration is a powerful factor in social adjustment (e.g. the growth of urban populations).

Earliest migrations

The evolution of Homo sapiens occurred in Africa, where, it seems, the first anatomically modern humans developed. Our most recent common ancestor, whom all living human beings share, lived some 150.000 years ago. It is thought that a part of the Homo sapiens population then migrated into the Near East, spreading east to Australasia some 60.000 years ago, northeastwards into Europe and eastwards into Asia some 40.000 years ago, and further east to the Americas ca. 30.000 years ago. Oceania was populated some 15.000 years ago.

Spread of Agriculture

Agriculture is believed to have first been practiced some 10.000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent (see Jericho). From there it propagated as a "wave" across Europe, presumably coupled with migrations, a view supported by Archaeogenetics, reaching northern Europe some 5.000 years ago.

Indo-European migration into Europe

In comparison to later ages, relatively little is known about the Pre-Indoeuropean inhabitants of "Old Europe". The Basque language remains from that era, as does the indigenous language in Caucasian Georgia. The speakers of Indo-European languages seem to have originated somewhere in the steppes north of the Black Sea or the Caspian Sea and to have penetrated into Europe, into the Aegean basin and into the Iranian plateau in several separate waves (see Kurgan hypothesis). The Scythians and Sarmatians were Indo-European peoples whose homeland remained the steppes.

The Indo-European migration has variously been dated to the end of the Neolithic (, Marija Gimbutas: Corded ware, Yamna, Kurgan), the early Neolithic (Colin Renfrew: Starčevo-K?, Linearbandkeramic) and the late Palaeolithic (Marcel Otte, Paleolithic Continuity Theory).

The Great Migrations

Western historians refer to the period of migrations that separated Antiquity from the Middle Ages in Europe as the Great Migrations or as the Migrations Period. This period is further divided into two phases.

The first phase, from 300 to 500 AD, saw the movement of Germanic and other tribes and ended with the settlement of these peoples in the areas of the former Western Roman Empire, essentially causing its demise. (See also: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Burgundians, Suebi, Alamanni Marcomanni).

The second phase, between 500 and 900 AD, saw Slavic, Turkish and other tribes on the move, re-settling in Eastern Europe and gradually making it predominantly Slavic. Moreover, more Germanic tribes migrated within Europe during this period, including the Langobards (to Italy), and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (to the British Isles). See also: Avars, Huns, Arabs, Vikings, Varangians. The last phase of the migrations saw the coming of the Hungarians to the Pannonian plain.

German historians of the 19th century referred to these Germanic migrations as the V?rwanderung, the migrations of the peoples.

Other Old World migrations

Other migrations that happened later in the history of Europe generally did not give rise to new states, but disrupted and, to some extent, dominated policy within Europe. Examples are the invasion of the Arabs into Spain - only as late as 1492 the Spanish completed their Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula - or the settlement of Muslims in south-eastern Europe, as a result of European armies fighting back the Turks in the Balkan, and the unsuccessful attempt to reconquer Palestine during the Crusades, despite the enormous amount of people, pilgrims and huge armies, that participated in them. (At the end of the Reconquista, the King and Queen of Spain also expelled the Jews from their country, thus triggering a migration to places such as Eastern Europe and the New World.)

The Jewish diaspora across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East formed from voluntary migrations, enslavement, threats of enslavement and pogroms. After the Nazis brought the Holocaust upon Jewish people in the 1940s, there was a vast migration to Palestine, which became home to the nation of Israel as a result.

At the end of the Middle Ages, the Gypsies arrived in Europe (to Iberia and the Balkans) from the Middle East, originating from the Indus river.

Polynesian migration

With the art of open-sea navigation involving the most confident and courageous use of the available technologies of boat-building, combined with the most sophisticated understanding of currents and prevailing winds, the Polynesians, starting with the Lapita culture, have proven to be the most successful in the art of navigation, as the Norse adventurers in the North Atlantic and the Arab traders in the Indian Ocean did not create permanent settlements. The Lapita people, which got their name from the archological site in Lapita, New Caledonia, where their characteristic pottery was first discovered, came from Austronesia, probably New Guinea. Their navigation skills took them to the Solomon Islands, around 1600 BC, and later to Fiji and Tonga. By the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, most of Polynesia was a loose web of thriving cultures who settled on the islands' coasts and lived off the sea. By 500 BC Micronesia was completely colonized.

Polynesian migration patterns also have been studied by linguistic analysis, and recently by analyzing characteristic genetic alleles of today's inhabitants. Both methods resulted in supporting the original archaeological findings, while adding some new and surprising insights.

Migrations to the New World

Other descriptions of Models of migration to the New World

When did people first enter the New World and how did they get there? This has been a question that has been debated for centuries and will probably continue for many more years to come in the anthropological community. A number of theories have been proposed over the years that explain the migration into the Americas, but as new data is recovered, these theories are continuously restructured. The following is a basic look at two of the more popular theories of migration models in the New World.

Starting with the Basics

To start things off with a simple and broad approach, the variety of models have fallen in place between two different camps. One school of thought believes in a “short chronology,” believing that the first movement into the New World occurred no earlier than 14,000 – 16,000 years ago. On the other hand, the “long chronology” camp assumes that people entered the hemisphere at a much earlier date, theorizing the possibility of 20,000 years or earlier.

Understanding the Debate

Part of the problem that arises between these opposing views is the relationship of archaeological evidence between North and South America. North American sites usually take a uniform techno-complex pattern known as Clovis. Their South American counterparts, on the other hand, don’t share this consistency and have a large diversity in cultural patterns. Therefore, South American archaeologist didn’t believe the Clovis model applied in the Southern Hemisphere. This brought about new theories that were developed to explain prehistoric sites that didn’t fit into the Clovis tool techno-complex in South America. However, there is now a growing effort to develop a Pan-American colonization model that integrates both North and South American archaeological records.

Land Bridge theory

Many people have been familiar with the “short chronology” theory, which was widely accepted in the 1930’s up until recently. This model of migration into the New World focuses on people wandering from Siberia into Alaska, tracking big game animal herds. They were able to cross between the two continents by a land bridge called the Bering Strait. During the Wisconsin, the last major stage of the Pleistocene beginning at 50,000 years ago and ending some 10,000 years ago, ocean levels were 200 feet lower than today. This information is gathered using oxygen-isotope records from deep-sea cores. An exposed land bridge that was at least 1,000 miles wide opened up between Siberia and the western coast of Alaska. From the archaeological evidence gathered, this culture of big game hunters crossed the Bering Straight around 12,000 years ago and eventually reached the southern tip of South America 11,000 years ago.

Clovis Culture

This big game hunting culture was known as Clovis, which is identified with fluted projectile points. It received its name from Clovis artifacts found near Clovis, New Mexico, the first evidence of this tool complex, excavated in 1932. Clovis ranged over much of North America and even appeared in South America. Pictured at the bottom is an example of a Clovis point. Notice the notched flute where a shaft was inserted. This flute is one characteristic that defines the Clovis point complex.

Problems with Clovis migration models

However, there are some real problems with the Clovis migration model. If Clovis people radiated south after entering the New World and eventually ended up at the southern tip of South America by 11,000 years ago, this leaves only a short time span to populate the entire hemisphere. Frustrating matters more, in 1997 a panel of authorities inspected the Monte Verde site in Chile concluding that the radiocarbon evidence predates Clovis by at least 1,000 years. This makes it difficult to defend the theory of a north to south population movement. It is also worth noting that many excavations have uncovered evidence that early hunters also consumed less glamorous foods, such as turtles, shellfish, and tubers. This is quite a change of diet from the big game mammoths, long-horn bison, horse, and camels that early Clovis hunters apparently followed east into the New World.

Coastal Migration

This leads to a pre-Clovis culture theory and a variety of differing migration models to explain the problems associated with the Clovis-based theory. Moving into a “long chronology” model requires a new way of looking at the Americas. One method is to look toward an entirely different continent, Australia. There have been well-dated stratigraphic studies that point to people entering Australia some 40,000 years ago. At this period Australia was not connected to another continent, which leads to the assumption that it was reached by watercraft. If Australia was reached in this fashion, it only seems reasonable that the same could be applied to migration models in the New World. This school of thought has developed a coastal migration route of pre-Clovis culture.

Pacific coastal model

The Pacific coastal model stresses that South America was actually reached by people before North America following a pacific route of water travel. Support for this argument is based on sites such as Monte Verde and Tiama-Tiama. Monte Verde consists of two cultural components. The youngest layer is radiocarbon dated at 12,500 years, while the older component possibly dates back as far as 33,000 B.P. However, the older dates associated with the site are still debated.

Atlantic coastal model

Archaeologists Denis Stranford and Bruce Bradley champion the coastal Atlantic route. However, their theory still bases evidence off of the Clovis complex, but associates it with the Europeans’ Solutrean tradition. They have hypothesized that Solutrean hunters and fishers may have worked their way along the southern margins of the Atlantic sea ice into the New World. Their argument is based on the similarities between the Solutrean and Clovis flint napping techniques.

Problems with coastal migration models

The coastal migration models have provided a new look at migration in the New World, but they are not without their own problems. One of the biggest problems is collecting data for these theories. The coastline of the Pleistocene is now under 60 meters of water. This makes excavation rather difficult and probably unreachable until the utilization of underwater technology advances. If there was an early pre-Clovis coastal migration, there is always the possibility of a “failed colonization.” Of course as mentioned, evidence of this would be under 60 meters of water. Another problem that arises is the lack of hard evidence found for a “long chronology” theory. No sites have been able to produce a consistent date that is older than 12,000 years. When you consider the amount of academic and CRM projects constantly producing radiocarbon dates, this becomes a staggering blow to the theory. There is also the possibility that archaeologists aren’t even identifying the tool technology of pre-Clovis sites. Early tools might have been crude stone flakes, edge-trimmed cobble tools, and tools of perishable bone that North and South American archaeologists could easily overlook.

Conclusion

Although, it may seem that there is still a great deal of guesswork associated with these migration models, the theories are constantly being revised and a greater emphasis in using New Archaeology has been applied. North and South American archaeologists now have a greater exchange of ideas and even look toward their European peers for new insight into this topic. However, there will probably always be debate surrounding this issue until more evidence is gathered. In conclusion, the point is not favoritism towards any one particular model, but awareness of the possibility of the antiquity of people in the New World and a continuing need for future archaeologists to further investigate the matter.

Migrations and climate cycles

The modern field of climate history suggests that the successive waves of Eurasian nomadic movement throughout history have had their origins in climatic cycles, which have expanded or contracted pastureland in Central Asia, especially Mongolia and the Altai. People were displaced from their home ground by other tribes trying to find land that could be grazed by essential flocks, each group pushing the next further to the south and west, into the highlands of Anatolia, the plains of Hungary, into Mesopotamia or southwards, into the rich pastures of China.

Polabian

The Polabian language was a group of Slavic dialects spoken in present-day northern Germany: Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, eastern parts of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. They became extinct in the 18th century. There are known Polabian texts written in Hanover Wendland (Luechow-Dannenberg) in 17th and 18th centuries. Polabian was one of the Lekhitic languages.

The name derives from the name of Polabian Slavs , which in its turn derives from name of the Elbe river in Slavic languages: Labe in Czech language and Łaba in Polish language, see Wends.

bg:Полабски език cs:Polabština de:Polabische Sprache nl:Polabisch pl:Języki połabskie

Wendland

Throughout history, there have been different usage of the term (ON.) Wendland, Vendland, Ventheland or (lat.) Vandalia. The latinized form is usually associated with the germanic tribe Vandals, althought Wendland or Vandalia is the land inhabited by the Wends (today considered to be a Slavic people). The most common interpretions:

1. According to the Finnish historian Klinge, an earlier name for Finland, especially Finland proper. The strongest evidence is old maps, who place Wendland in the far north or European Russia, and term Gulf of Finland as 'Mare Vendicus'.

2. Essentially after the 16th century, interpreted to be the region inhabited by West Slavic groups.

3. The region Lüchow-Dannenberg.

Kashubians

Kashubians (also "Kassubians," or "Cassubians," in Kashubian: "Kaszëbi") are a Slavic ethnic group living in modern-day northwestern Poland.

They are the direct descendants of an early Slavic tribe of Pomeranians, who took their name from the fact that they settled down in Pomerania (from Slavic: Pomor'e - the land along the sea). It is believed that the ancestors of the Kashubians came into the region between the Oder and Vistula rivers over 1500 years ago. The oldest known mention of the name dates from the 13th century (a seal of prince Barnim I of Pomerania ), when they ruled areas around Szczecin (Kashubian: Szczecëno).

Kashubians living in the territories of the former Duchy of Pomerania, among them Slovincians, were almost entirely Germanised between the 14th and 20th centuries and lost their ethnic identity. Some of those living in Eastern Pomerania have survived and today regard themselves as Kashubians in the modern Poland.

The number of Kashubians depends in fact on definitions. A common estimate is that over 300,000 people in Poland are of the Kashubian ethnicity. The most extreme estimates are as low as 50,000 or as high as 500,000.

In the Polish census of 2002, only 5,100 people declared Kashubian nationality, although 51,000 declared Kashubian as their native language. Most Kashubians prefer to declare Polish nationality and Kashubian ethnicity, i.e. considering themselves both Poles and Kashubians. However, there was no option to declare different nationality and ethnicity or more than one nationality. Some claim that the census was falsified and many people were not allowed to declare their Kashubian nationality. However, barely a few such cases have been confirmed.

Their 'capital' city is Gdansk (Gdunsk) in Pomerania. Among the larger towns, Gdynia (Gdiniô) contains the biggest percentage of people of Kashubian origins. The main occupation of the Kashubians was fishing in the past and now it's mainly tourism.

In modern times around 50,000 Kashubians still speak Kashubian, a West Slavic language belonging to the Lekhitic group of languages in northern Poland. Many Polish linguists consider Kashubian to be a Polish dialect. In some towns and villages Kashubian is the second spoken language after Polish. Kashubian enjoys legal protection in Poland as a minority language, and appears on some streets signs and is also taught at schools.

The main organization that maintains the Kashubian identity is the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association. A young group called "Odroda" is a fervent supporter of a renewal of Kashubian culture.

There are other traditional Slavic ethnic groups inhabiting Pomerania i.e. Kociewiacy, Borowiacy, Krajniacy and others. The dialects spoken by these are between Kashubian and the Polish dialects of Greater Poland and Mazovia. It might indicate that they are not only descendants of ancient Pomeranians but also settlers who arived to Pomerania from Greater Poland and Masovia in the Middle Ages. However this is only one possible explanation.

History

An early mention of the Kashubians is in the 13th century, when the Dukes of Pomerania included "Duke of Kashubia" in their titles. From the peace treaty of Westphalia in 1648, after the Thirty years war, parts of West Pomerania became Swedish, and the Swedish kings titled themselves "Dukes of Kashubia" from 1648 to the 1720s.

The parliament (Landtag) of Prussia in Königsberg in 1843 decided to change the official church language from Polish to German, but this decision was soon repealed, and, starting in 1852, Kashubian was taught at the Gymnasium (high school) of Wejherowo. In the 1830s, several hundred Kashubians emigrated to Upper Canada and created a settlement named Wilno, in Renfrew County, Ontario, which still exists today.

The earliest writing in Kashubian is Luther's catechism in 1643 (new editions in 1752 and 1828). Scientific interest in the Kashubian language was sparked by Mrongovius (publications in 1823, 1828) and the Russian linguist Hilferding (1859, 1862), later followed by Biskupski (1883, 1891), Bronisch (1896, 1898), Mikkola (1897), Nitsch (1903). Important works are S. Ramult's, Slownik jezyka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego, 1893, and F. Lorentz, Slovinzische Grammatik, 1903, Slovinzische Texte, 1905, and Slovinzisches Wörterbuch, 1908.

The first activist of the Kashubian/ Pomeranian national movement was Florian Ceynowa after 1846. He devised a Kashubian alphabet, wrote a Kashubian grammar (1879), published a collection of ethnographic-historic stories of the life of the Kashubians (Skórb kaszébsko-slovjnckjé mòvé, 1866-1868), and wrote several smaller works. Another early writer in Kashubian was Hieronim Derdowski . The next stages were: the Young Kashubian movement led by Aleksander Majkowski and the authors publishing in the nationalist "Zrzësz Kaszëbskô" (the so called "Zrzëszincë" group) who contributed significantly to the development of the Kashubian literary language.

Famous Kashubians

§ Günter Grass - Kashubian-German author

§ Aleksander Majkowski

§ Donald Tusk - politician, leader of Platforma Obywatelska

§ Danuta Stenka - famous actress

§ Gerard Labuda - (1916-) historian.

See also

§ Kashubian language

§ Kashubian alphabet

External links

§ http://www.zk-p.pl (Polish, Kashubian, English)

§ http://www.kaszubia.com (Polish, German)

§ http://www.republika.pl/modraglina/kaszlink.html (Polish, English, German)

csb:Kaszëbë de:Kaschuben et:KaÅ¡uubid no:Kasjuberne pl:Kaszubi

Sorbs

Sorbian national flag

The Sorbs (also Lusatians or Lusatia Serbs) are a relatively small west Slavic people, living as a minority in the region known as Lusatia in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg (in former GDR territory). They belong to the same language group as the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Kashubians, and are also known as Lusatian Serbs or Serbs of Luzice. See also Wends.

Since ethnicity is not a legal category in Germany for German citizens, their number can only be guessed. Current estimates speak of 20,000 to 30,000 active speakers of Sorbian (almost all of them are bilingual) and about 60,000 people who subjectively consider themselves Sorbs.

Historically, the Sorbs are the last remainder of the Slavic peoples living in most of what is now eastern Germany until the high Middle Ages. Most Slavs in the area were Germanized or driven away during the German Drang nach Osten of the 12th and 13th centuries. The Sorbs have been a much-persecuted group of western Slavs, especially in Nazi Germany, which viewed Slavs as a people designed to be slaves for the Aryan race. In today's Germany they have certain minority rights, for example the right to send their children to Sorbian-language schools, the right to use Sorbian in dealings with local government, and the right to bilingual road signs. The fact that almost the whole Sorbian nation lives inside Germany and has German citizenship means that their loyalty to the German nation is not questioned by the German public.

Toponyms

A number of toponyms in Eastern Germany have Slavic names, and some cities in south-eastern part of Germany even have name derived from "Sorbian," witnessing Sorbian ancestry of these territories. (See external link (in Serbian))

Examples:

§ Schrabits

§ Zerbst Zerbst web page

§ Zoerbig Zoerbig web page (near Leipzig)

§ Schrenz Schrenz web page (near Zoerbig)

A lot of cities in the German Lausitz area have city signs with both the German and the Sorbian name.

Famous Sorbs

§ Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz - (1646 - 1716), philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer

§ Ludwig Leichhardt, (1813-1848), explorer

External links

§ Sorbian Cultural Information (also in English)

§ Domowina, Sorbian umbrella organization

§ Sorbian internet portal

§ Project Rastko Lusatia - Electronic library of Sorbian-Serbian cultural ties

§ Lower Sorbian Highschool (also in English)

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Sorbs is also the name of a commune in the Hérault département in France.

SORBS is additionally the Spam and Open Relay Blocking System

cs:Lužičtí Srbové de:Sorben it:Sorbi pl:Serbołużyczanie

Venedes

The term Venedes is used in a number of ancient texts, starting with Tacitus, to describe an ethnic group living (presumably) in Central Europe. The exact identity of the Venedes is hotly debated, and most of the theories put forward surrounding them are controversial.

According to one theory, the Venedes are simply the same as the people now called Slavs. According to another theory, however, the Venedes were a distinct group, either indigenous to the area or simply a separate wave of immigrants. Those who see the Venedes as a separate group generally claim that the Venedes eventually merged with the Slavs, forming the modern Slavic ethnicity. Some, however, believe that the modern Slovenians are the direct descendents of the Venedes, and are not (as commonly claimed) Slavic.

The linguistic study of the term "Venedes" is similarly controversial. Some see it as being linked to the name "Slovenia", and some also claim a link to "Venice" (which is adjacent to Slovenia). Other hypotetically related names or variations are "Wends", "Veneti", "Veneds", "Venetkeni", "Venetkini", "Venedi", "Vinedi", "Vendi", "Venethi", "Sclavi", "Sclavini", "Sclaveni", "Slovonici", "Wenets", "Venets", and "Wenetes".

§ Timeline of Slovene history

§ Talk:Timeline_of_Slovene_history

Related links

§ http://www.niagara.com/~jezovnik/anthony_ambrozic_and_joze_skulj.htm

§ http://www.angelfire.com/country/veneti/

§ http://www.prah.net/europaveneta/augustan/index.htm

§ http://fanaticus.org/DBA/armies/paphlagonians.html