Slavs

Template:Main other {{#invoke:infobox|infoboxTemplate | bodyclass = vcard

| titleclass = fn org | title = {{#if:Slavs|Slavs|Template:PAGENAMEBASE}}

| aboveclass = nickname | abovestyle = font-size:115%; font-weight:normal;

| above = {{#if: |

{{{native_name}}}

}}

| image1 = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage |upright=|image=|alt=|border={{#ifeq:no|||yes}}}} | caption1 =

| image2 = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage |upright=|alt=|image={{#if:|{{{rawimage}}}| }} }} | caption2 =

| headerstyle = background-color:#b0c4de; color:inherit; | labelstyle = font-weight:normal;

| header1 = {{#if:see Template:Section link |Total population}}

| data2 = see Template:Section link {{#if:|(Template:Comma separated entries)}} {{#if: | (including those of ancestral descent)}} | label3 = {{#switch: |census = (census) |estimate|est = (est.) }} | data3 = | label4 = {{#switch: |census = (census) |estimate|est = (est.) }} | data4 = | label5 = {{#switch: |census = (census) |estimate|est = (est.) }} | data5 =

| header6 = {{#if:Template:Hlist |Regions with significant populations}} | data7 = Template:Hlist | header8 = | data9 =

| label11 = | data11 = | label12 = | data12 = | label13 = | data13 = | label14 = | data14 = | label15 = | data15 = | label16 = | data16 = | label17 = | data17 = | label18 = | data18 = | label19 = | data19 = | label20 = | data20 = | label21 = | data21 = | label22 = | data22 = | label23 = | data23 = | label24 = | data24 = | label25 = | data25 = | label26 = | data26 = | label27 = | data27 = | label28 = | data28 = | label29 = | data29 = | label30 = | data30 = | label31 = | data31 = | label32 = | data32 = | label33 = | data33 = | label34 = | data34 = | label35 = | data35 = | label36 = | data36 = | label37 = | data37 = | label38 = | data38 = | label39 = | data39 = | label40 = | data40 = | label41 = | data41 = | label42 = | data42 = | label43 = | data43 = | label44 = | data44 = | label45 = | data45 = | label46 = | data46 = | label47 = | data47 = | label48 = | data48 = | label49 = | data49 = | label50 = | data50 = | label51 = | data51 = | label52 = | data52 = | label53 = | data53 = | label54 = | data54 = | label55 = | data55 = | label56 = | data56 = | label57 = | data57 = | label58 = | data58 = | label59 = | data59 = | label60 = | data60 = | header61 = {{#if:Slavic languages |Languages}} | data62 = Slavic languages | header63 = {{#if:Mostly Christianity
(OrthodoxTemplate:·CatholicTemplate:·ProtestantTemplate:·Spiritual)
Minorities:
IrreligiousTemplate:·IslamTemplate:·JudaismTemplate:·Slavic paganism (neopaganism) |Religion}} | data64 = Mostly Christianity
(OrthodoxTemplate:·CatholicTemplate:·ProtestantTemplate:·Spiritual)
Minorities:
IrreligiousTemplate:·IslamTemplate:·JudaismTemplate:·Slavic paganism (neopaganism) | header65 = {{#if:Other European peoples |Related ethnic groups}} | data66 = {{#if:Other European peoples |Other European peoples Template:Main other }}

| belowstyle = padding-top:0.5em;text-align:left;

| below = {{#if: |

---

{{{footnotes}}} }}

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox ethnic group with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | caption | flag |flag_alt | flag_border | flag_caption | flag_upright | footnotes | genealogy | group | image |image_alt | image_caption | image_upright | langs | languages | native_name | native_name_lang | pop | pop_embed | pop1 | pop10 | pop11 | pop12 | pop13 | pop14 | pop15 | pop16 | pop17 | pop18 | pop19 | pop2 | pop20 | pop21 | pop22 | pop23 | pop24 | pop25 | pop26 | pop27 | pop28 | pop29 | pop3 | pop30 | pop31 | pop32 | pop33 | pop34 | pop35 | pop36 | pop37 | pop38 | pop39 | pop4 | pop40 | pop41 | pop42 | pop43 | pop44 | pop45 | pop46 | pop47 | pop48 | pop49 | pop5 | pop50 | pop6 | pop7 | pop8 | pop9 | popplace | population | rawimage | ref1 | ref10 | ref11 | ref12 | ref13 | ref14 | ref15 | ref16 | ref17 | ref18 | ref19 | ref2 | ref20 | ref21 | ref22 | ref23 | ref24 | ref25 | ref26 | ref27 | ref28 | ref29 | ref3 | ref30 | ref31 | ref32 | ref33 | ref34 | ref35 | ref36 | ref37 | ref38 | ref39 | ref4 | ref40 | ref41 | ref42 | ref43 | ref44 | ref45 | ref46 | ref47 | ref48 | ref49 | ref5 | ref50 | ref6 | ref7 | ref8 | ref9 | region1 | region10 | region11 | region12 | region13 | region14 | region15 | region16 | region17 | region18 | region19 | region2 | region20 | region21 | region22 | region23 | region24 | region25 | region26 | region27 | region28 | region29 | region3 | region30 | region31 | region32 | region33 | region34 | region35 | region36 | region37 | region38 | region39 | region4 | region40 | region41 | region42 | region43 | region44 | region45 | region46 | region47 | region48 | region49 | region5 | region50 | region6 | region7 | region8 | region9 | regions | related | related_groups | related-c | religions | rels | tablehdr | total | total_ref | total_source | total_year | total1 | total1_ref | total1_source | total1_year | total2 | total2_ref | total2_source | total2_year | total3 | total3_ref | total3_source | total3_year }}Template:Main other

File:Slavic europe (Kosovo unshaded).svg

Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Northern Asia, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.<ref name="msu" />

Early Slavs lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th century AD), and came to control large parts of Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe between the sixth and seventh centuries. Beginning in the 7th century, they were gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of a number of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in the Kievan Rus', South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia and the Banate of Bosnia, and West Slavs in the Principality of Nitra, Great Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Poland.

Beginning in the mid-19th century, a pan-Slavic movement has emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus of the movement was in the Balkans, whereas the Russian Empire was opposed to it.

The Slavic languages belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Present-day Slavs are classified into three groups:<ref name="Slav (people) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia" /><ref name="palgrave">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="CPotSN">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="belgrade">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael, Language and Nationalism in Europe, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 199, Template:ISBN</ref>

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

Though the majority of Slavs are Christians, some groups, such as the Bosniaks, mostly identify as Muslims. Modern Slavic nations and ethnic groups are considerably diverse, both genetically and culturally, and relations between them may range from "ethnic solidarity to mutual feelings of hostility" — even within the individual groups.<ref name="Psychology Press">Template:Cite book</ref>

Ethnonym

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The oldest mention of the Slavic ethnonym is from the 6th century AD, when Procopius, writing in Byzantine Greek, used various forms such as Sklaboi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Sklabēnoi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Sklauenoi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Sthlabenoi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), or Sklabinoi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}),<ref name="procopius"/> and his contemporary Jordanes refers to the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Latin.<ref name="jordanes"/> The oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic, dating from the 9th century, attest the autonym as Slověne ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Those forms point back to a Slavic autonym, which can be reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as Template:Wikt-lang, plural Slověne.Template:Citation needed

The reconstructed autonym {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is usually considered a derivation from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("word"), originally denoting "people who speak (the same language)", meaning "people who understand one another", in contrast to the Slavic word denoting "German people", namely Template:Wikt-lang, meaning "silent, mute people" (from Slavic Template:Wikt-lang "mute, mumbling"). The word slovo ("word") and the related slava ("glory, fame") and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("hearing") originate from the Proto-Indo-European root Template:Wikt-lang ("be spoken of, glory"), cognate with Ancient Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Grc-tr "fame"), as in the name Pericles, Latin Template:Wikt-lang ("be called"), and English Template:Wikt-lang.Template:Citation needed

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

History

File:The origin and dispersion of Slavs in the 5-10th centuries.png

The origin and migration of Slavs in Europe between the 5th and 10th centuries AD: Template:Legend Template:Legend

Origins

First mentions

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:See also

File:Bolgari sclavi teracota Vinitza FYROM.jpg

Terracotta tile from the 6th–7th century AD found in Vinica, North Macedonia, depicting a battle scene between the Bulgars and Slavs, with the Latin inscription BOLGAR and SCLAVIGI<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ancient Roman sources refer to the Early Slavic peoples as "Veneti", who dwelt in a region of central Europe east of the Germanic tribe of Suebi and west of the Iranian Sarmatians in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD,<ref>Coon, Carleton S. (1939) The Peoples of Europe. Chapter VI, Sec. 7 New York: Macmillan Publishers.</ref><ref>Tacitus. Germania, page 46.</ref> between the upper Vistula and Dnieper rivers. Slavs - called Antes and Sclaveni - first appear in Byzantine records in the early 6th century AD. Byzantine historiographers of the era of the emperor Justinian I (Template:Reign), such as Procopius of Caesarea, Jordanes and Theophylact Simocatta, describe tribes of these names emerging from the area of the Carpathian Mountains, the lower Danube and the Black Sea to invade the Danubian provinces of the Eastern Empire.Template:Citation needed

Jordanes, in his work Getica (written in 551 AD),<ref>Curta 2001: 38. Dzino 2010: 95.</ref> describes the Veneti as a "populous nation" whose dwellings begin at the sources of the Vistula and occupy "a great expanse of land". He also describes the Veneti as the ancestors of Antes and Slaveni, two early Slavic tribes, who appeared on the Byzantine frontier in the early-6th century.

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

Jordanes describes the Sclaveni as having swamps and forests for their cities.<ref name="jordanes1" /> Another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly-impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes.<ref name="strategikon" />

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

Migrations

File:Slavic tribes in the 7th to 9th century.jpg

Slavic tribes from the 7th to 9th centuries AD in Europe

According to eastern homeland theory,Template:Cn prior to becoming known to the Roman world, Slavic-speaking tribes formed part of successive multi-ethnic confederacies of Eurasia – such as the Sarmatian, Hun and Gothic empires. The Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germanic tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (thoughtTemplate:Cn to be in conjunction with the movement of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, and later Avars and Bulgars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes who had fled from the Huns and their allies. Slavs, according to this account, moved westward into the country between the Oder and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present-day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river. It has also been suggested that some Slavs migrated with the Vandals to the Iberian Peninsula and even to North Africa.<ref name="encyclopedia"/>

Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in large numbers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Byzantine records note that Slav numbers were so great, that grass would not regrow where the Slavs had marched throughTemplate:Citation needed. Military movements resulted in even the Peloponnese and Asia Minor being reported to have Slavic settlements.<ref>Tachiaos, Anthony-Emil N. 2001. Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica: The Acculturation of the Slavs. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.</ref> This southern movement has traditionally been seen as an invasive expansion.<ref name="hri"/> By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had settled the Eastern Alps regions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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

Latin: Et quidem de Sclavorum gente, quae vobis valde imminet, et affligor vehementer et conturbor. Affligor in his quae jam in vobis patior; conturbor, quia per Istriae aditum jam ad Italiam intrare coeperunt.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Template:ErrorTemplate:Main other{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Middle Ages

File:Great moravia svatopluk.png

Great Moravia during Svatopluk I (Template:Reign), according to Štefanovičová (1989)

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

The oldest of them was Carantania; others are the Principality of Nitra, the Moravian principality (see under Great Moravia) and the Balaton Principality. The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681 as an alliance between the ruling Bulgars and the numerous Slavs in the area, and their South Slavic language, the Old Church Slavonic, became the main and official language of the empire in 864 AD. Bulgaria was instrumental in the spread of Slavic literacy and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. Duchy of Croatia was founded in 7th century and later became Kingdom of Croatia.<ref>During the reign of Heraclius (r. 610–641). De Administrando Imperio chapter 30.</ref> Principality of Serbia was founded in 8th, Duchy of Bohemia and Kievan Rus' both in the 9th century.

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

Modern era

File:Pan-Slavic postcard "Dědictví otců, zachovej nám, Pane".jpg

Pan-Slavic postcard depicting Cyril and Methodius, with the text "God/Our Lord, watch over our grandfatherland/
heritage" in 8 Slavic languages.

Pan-Slavism, a movement which came into prominence in the mid-19th century, emphasized the common heritage and unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires: the Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice. Austria-Hungary envisioned its own political concept of Austro-Slavism, in opposition of Pan-Slavism that was predominantly led by the Russian Empire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As of 1878, there were only three majority Slavic states in the world: the Russian Empire, Principality of Serbia and Principality of Montenegro. Bulgaria was effectively independent but was de jure vassal to the Ottoman Empire until official independence was declared in 1908. The Slavic peoples who were, for the most part, denied a voice in the affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were calling for national self-determination.<ref name=":1" />

During World War I, representatives of the Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes set up organizations in the Allied countries to gain sympathy and recognition.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1918, after World War I ended, the Slavs established such independent states as Czechoslovakia, the Second Polish Republic, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

The first half of the 20th century in Russia and the Soviet Union was marked by a succession of wars, famines and other disasters, each accompanied by large-scale population losses.<ref name=":2">Mark Harrison (2002). "Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945". Cambridge University Press. p.167. ISBN 0-521-89424-7</ref> The two major famines were in 1921 to 1922 and 1932 to 1933, which caused millions of deaths mostly around the Volga region, Ukraine and the Northern Caucasus.<ref>Rudnytskyi, Omelian et al. “The 1921–1923 Famine and the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine: Common and Distinctive Features.” Nationalities Papers 48.3 (2020): 549–568. Web.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The latter resulted from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's collectivization of agriculture in Ukraine.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

During the war, Nazi Germany used hundreds of thousands of people for slave labor in their concentration camps, the majority of whom were Jewish or Slavic.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite journal</ref> Both groups were a part of what Germans claimed to be a "vast racially subhuman surplus population" that they "intended to eliminate in time from their new empire",<ref name=":4" /> their term for "racial subhumans" being Untermensch.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Thus, one of Adolf Hitler's ambitions at the start of World War II was to exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all West and East Slavs from their native lands, so as to make "living space" for German settlers.<ref name=":2" />

In early 1941, Germany began planning Generalplan Ost, the genocide of Slavs in Eastern Europe which was supposed to start after a major expansion of German concentration camps in occupied Poland and the fall of Stalin's regime.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This plan was to be carried out gradually over 25 to 30 years.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref> After an approximate 30 million<ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Slavs would be killed through starvation and their major cities depopulated, the Germans were supposed to repopulate Eastern Europe.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref> In June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, Hitler paused the plan to focus on the extermination of the Jews.<ref name=":8" /> However, some of the plan was nonetheless implemented. Millions of Slavs were murdered in Eastern Europe;<ref name=":8" /> this includes victims of the Hunger Plan, Germany's intentional starvation of the region,<ref name=":7" /> as well as the murders of 3.3. million Soviet prisoners of war.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Germany's Heinrich Himmler also ordered his subordinate Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben to start repopulating Crimea, and hundreds of ethnic Germans were forcibly moved to cities and villages there.<ref>Berkhoff, Karel C. Central European History, vol. 39, no. 4, 2006, pp. 728–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20457191. Accessed 23 May 2024.</ref> The Soviet Red Army took back their land from the Germans in 1944.<ref name=":8" /> Stephen J. Lee estimates that, by the end of World War II in 1945, the Russian population was about 90 million fewer than it could have been otherwise.<ref>Stephen J. Lee (2000). "European dictatorships, 1918–1945". Routledge. p.86. ISBN 0-415-23046-2.</ref>

The ultra-nationalist, fascist Ustaše committed genocide against Serbs during World War II.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Serbian nationalist Chetniks committed genocide against Croats and Bosniaks.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Also during World War II, fascist Italy sent tens of thousands of Slavs to concentration camps in mainland Italy, Libya, and the Balkans.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and many former Soviet republics became independent countries.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9">Template:Cite news</ref> Currently, former Soviet states in Central Asia such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have very large minority Slavic populations, with most being Russians.<ref name=":9" /> Kazakhstan has the largest Slavic minority population.<ref>Russians left behind in Central Asia, by Robert Greenall, BBC News, 23 November 2005.</ref>

Languages

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Lenguas eslavas orientales.PNG

East Slavic languagesTemplate:Imagefact Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

File:South Slavic dialect continuum.svg

South Slavic dialect continuum with major dialect groups

File:Lenguas eslavas occidentales.PNG

West Slavic languagesTemplate:Imagefact
Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

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

Proto-Slavic is defined as the last stage of the language preceding the geographical split of the historical Slavic languages. That language was uniform, and on the basis of borrowings from foreign languages and Slavic borrowings into other languages, it cannot be said to have any recognizable dialects, which suggests that there was, at one time, a relatively-small Proto-Slavic homeland.<ref name="kortlandt5" /> However, from a historical and archaeological point of view, the existence of a homogeneous Proto-Slavic people is judged improbable.Template:Sfn

Slavic linguistic unity was to some extent visible as late as Old Church Slavonic manuscripts which, though based on local Slavic speech of Thessaloniki, could still serve the purpose of the first common Slavic literary language.<ref>J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World (2006), pp. 25–26.</ref>

Standardised Slavic languages that have official status in at least one country are: Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, and Ukrainian. Russian is the most spoken Slavic language, and is the most spoken native language in Europe.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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

Ethno-cultural subdivisions

West Slavs originate from early Slavic tribes which settled in Central Europe after the East Germanic tribes had left this area during the migration period.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They are noted as having mixed with Germanics, Hungarians, Celts (particularly the Boii), Old Prussians, and the Pannonian Avars.<ref name="Stocki1950">Template:Cite book</ref> The West Slavs came under the influence of the Western Roman Empire (Latin) and of the Catholic Church.Template:Citation needed

East Slavs have origins in early Slavic tribes who mixed and contacted with Finns, Balts<ref name="ZickelDivision1991">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and with the remnants of the people of the Goths.<ref>Tarasov I.M. On the Mention of the Dnieper Varangians in the Context of the Legend of the Beginning of Kiev. 2023. P. 59–60</ref> Their early Slavic component, Antes, mixed or absorbed Iranians, and later received influence from the Khazars and Vikings.Template:Sfn The East Slavs trace their national origins to the tribal unions of Kievan Rus' and Rus' Khaganate, beginning in the 10th century. They came particularly under the influence of the Byzantine Empire and of the Eastern Orthodox Church.Template:Citation needed

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

Genetics

Consistent with the proximity of their languages, analyses of Y chromosomes, mDNA, and autosomal marker CCR5 delta 32 shows that East Slavs and West Slavs are genetically very similar, but demonstrating significant differences from neighboring Finno-Ugric, Turkic, and North Caucasian peoples. Such genetic homogeneity is somewhat unusual, given such a wide dispersal of Slavic populations.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Together they form the basis of the "East European" gene cluster, which also includes non-Slavic Hungarians and Aromanians.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

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

File:Mapa de R1a.png

Global distribution of the R1a haplogroup, which is the most frequently found haplogroup among the Slavic peoples of Europe

The 2006 Y-DNA study results "suggest that the Slavic expansion started from the territory of present-day Ukraine, thus supporting the hypothesis placing the earliest known homeland of Slavs in the basin of the middle Dnieper".<ref name="Rębała et al. 2007">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to genetic studies until 2020, the distribution, variance and frequency of the Y-DNA haplogroups R1a and I2 and their subclades R-M558, R-M458 and I-CTS10228 among South Slavs correlate with the spread of Slavic languages during the medieval Slavic expansion from Eastern Europe, most probably from the territory of present-day Ukraine and Southeastern Poland.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Utevska">Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref name="Neparaczki">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="HorolmaTibor2019">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Fóthi">Template:Citation</ref><ref name="Kassian2020">Template:Citation</ref>

According to a 2017 study, Slavic speakers like Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians have similar genetic components. Ukrainians and Belarusians have near-equal amounts of two "European components", which are commonly found in North Europe and Caucasus respectively. There is also no evidence of Asian admixture. However, samples of Novosibirsk residents and Old Believers in Siberia have 5-10% Central Siberian ancestry despite being genetically close to European Slavs.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Religion

File:"Swiatowid (cult statue)", Kraków 2013.2.jpg

The "Zbruch Idol" preserved at the Kraków Archaeological Museum

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

Among Slavic populations who profess a religion, the majority of contemporary Christian Slavs are Orthodox, followed by Catholic. The majority of Muslim Slavs follow the Hanafi school of the Sunni branch of Islam.<ref name="Ramet1989">Template:Cite book</ref> Religious delineations by nationality can be very sharp; usually in the Slavic ethnic groups, the vast majority of religious people share the same religion.Template:Citation needed

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Mainly Eastern Orthodoxy:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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

Template:Col-break Mainly Catholicism:Template:Citation needed

• Poles
• Silesians
• Kashubians
• Gorals
• Czechs (largely irreligious)
• Slovaks
• Croats
• Slovenes
• Sorbs<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• RusynsTemplate:Efn
• Banat Bulgarians<ref name="VučkovićXXI">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Template:Col-break Mainly Islam:

• Bosniaks<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Pomaks<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Gorani<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• Torbeši<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Ethnic Muslims

Relations with non-Slavic people

Template:See also Throughout their history, Slavs came into contact with non-Slavic groups. In the postulated homeland region (present-day Ukraine), they had contacts with the Iranian Sarmatians and the Germanic Goths. After their subsequent spread, the Slavs began assimilating non-Slavic peoples. For example, in the Northern Black Sea region, the Slavs assimilated the remnants of the Goths.<ref>Tarasov I.M. On the Mention of the Dnieper Varangians in the Context of the Legend of the Beginning of Kiev. 2023. P. 59–60</ref> In the Balkans, there were Paleo-Balkan peoples, such as Romanized and Hellenized (Jireček Line) Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians, as well as Greeks and Celtic Scordisci and Serdi.<ref>The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, Template:ISBN, 1992, page 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long being supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin."</ref> Because Slavs were so numerous, most indigenous populations of the Balkans were Slavicized. Thracians and Illyrians mixed as ethnic groups in this period.

A notable exception is Greece, where Slavs were Hellenized because Greeks were more numerous, especially with more Greeks returning to Greece in the 9th century and the influence of the church and administration,Template:Sfn however, Slavicized regions within Macedonia, Thrace and Moesia Inferior also had a larger portion of locals compared to migrating Slavs.<ref>Florin Curta's An ironic smile: the Carpathian Mountains and the migration of the Slavs, Studia mediaevalia Europaea et orientalia. Miscellanea in honorem professoris emeriti Victor Spinei oblata, edited by George Bilavschi and Dan Aparaschivei, 47–72. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 2018.</ref> Other notable exceptions are the territory of present-day Romania and Hungary, where Slavs settled en route to present-day Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and East Thrace but assimilated, and the modern Albanian nation which claims descent from Illyrians and other Balkan tribes.Template:Citation needed

The status of the Bulgars as a ruling class and their control of the land nominally left their legacy in the Bulgarian country and people, but Bulgars were gradually also Slavicized into the present-day South Slavic ethnic group known as Bulgarians. The Romance speakers within the fortified Dalmatian cities retained their culture and language for a long time.Template:Sfn Dalmatian Romance was spoken until the high Middle Ages, but, they too were eventually assimilated into the body of Slavs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the Western Balkans, South Slavs and Germanic Gepids intermarried with invaders, eventually producing a Slavicized population.Template:Citation needed In Central Europe, the West Slavs intermixed with Germanic, Hungarian, and Celtic peoples, while in Eastern Europe the East Slavs had encountered Finnic and Scandinavian peoples. Scandinavians (Varangians) and Finnic peoples were involved in the early formation of the Rus' state but were completely Slavicized after a century. Some Finno-Ugric tribes in the north were also absorbed into the expanding Rus population.Template:Sfn In the 11th and 12th centuries, constant incursions by nomadic Turkic tribes, such as the Kipchak and the Pecheneg, caused a massive migration of East Slavic populations to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north.<ref name="The course of the Russian history2">Template:Cite book</ref> In the Middle Ages, groups of Saxon ore miners settled in medieval Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria, where they were Slavicized.Template:Citation needed

File:Slavic raids on Scandinavia, Nar.Muz.Mor., Gdańsk, Poland.jpg

Map showing Slavic raids on Scandinavia in the mid-12th century

Saqaliba refers to the Slavic mercenaries and slaves in the medieval Arab world in North Africa, Sicily and Al-Andalus. Saqaliba served as caliph's guards.<ref name="fordham2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Eigeland, Tor. 1976. "The golden caliphate". Saudi Aramco World, September/October 1976, pp. 12–16.</ref> In the 12th century, Slavic piracy in the Baltics increased. The Wendish Crusade was started against the Polabian Slavs in 1147, as a part of the Northern Crusades. The pagan chief of the Slavic Obodrite tribes, Niklot, began his open resistance when Lothar III, Holy Roman Emperor, invaded Slavic lands. In August 1160, Niklot was killed, and German colonization (Ostsiedlung) of the Elbe-Oder region began. In Hanoverian Wendland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lusatia, invaders started germanization. Early forms of germanization were described by German monks: Helmold in the manuscript Chronicon Slavorum and Adam of Bremen in Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum.<ref name="britannica2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Polabian language survived until the beginning of the 19th century in what is now the German state of Lower Saxony.<ref name="britannica42">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Eastern Germany, around 20% of Germans have historic Slavic paternal ancestry, as revealed in Y-DNA testing.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Similarly, in Germany, around 20% of the foreign surnames are of Slavic origin.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Cossacks, although Slavic and practicing Orthodox Christianity, came from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, including Tatars and other peoples.Template:Citation needed The Gorals of southern Poland and northern Slovakia are partially descended from the originally Balkan Romance speaking Vlachs, who migrated into the region from the 14th to 17th centuries and were quickly absorbed into the local population, especially since the majority of Vlachs were already slavicized and the term became synonymous with Ruthenians. The populations of Moravian Wallachia, Carpathian Ruthenia and parts of northern Slovakia are also descended partially from the Vlachs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Conversely, some Slavs were assimilated into other populations. Although the majority continued towards Southeast Europe, attracted by the riches of the area that became the state of Bulgaria, a few remained in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe and were assimilated into the Magyar people. Numerous rivers and places in Romania have a name with Slavic origins.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Population

File:Slavic ancestry in the USA and Canada.png

Slavs in the US (1990 census) and Canada (2016 census) by area: Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

File:Percentage of Russians by region.svg

CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

Winkler Prins (2002) estimated the number of Slavs worldwide to be around Template:Circa 260 million at the time.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>Template:Reliable source Currently it is estimated that there are 300 million Slavic inhabitants in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Ethnicity	Estimates and census data
Belarusians	Template:Circa 8.37 million Belarusians in Belarus (2009 Belarusian census)<ref name='2009census'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> 46,787 Belarusians in Poland (2011 Polish census)<ref name="2011 Polish census"/> 20,710 "Byelorussian" (5,125 Byelorussian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Bosniaks (previously called "Bosnian Muslims")	1,898,963 Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)<ref name="Audit of Sarajevo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp Template:Circa 1.9 million Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013–2022 CIA World Factbook estimate)<ref>This number is derived from the 2022 total population estimate of 3,816,459, multiplied by 0.501 based on the 2013 50.1% Bosniak share estimate. It is not certain that the Bosniak share was still 50.1% in 2022. The Factbook notes: "Republika Srpska authorities dispute the methodology and refuse to recognize the results." {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 153,801 Bosniaks in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>Template:Sfn 58,956 Bosniaks in Montenegro (2023 Montenegrin census)<ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>Template:Sfn 17,018 Bosniaks in North Macedonia (2002 North Macedonia census)<ref name="2002 North Macedonia census"/> 26,740 "Bosnians" (15,610 Bosnian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Bulgarians	Template:Circa 10 million Bulgarians worldwide (Kolev early 2000s estimate)<ref>Kolev, Yordan, Българите извън България 1878 – 1945, 2005, р. 18 Quote:"В началото на XXI в. общият брой на етническите българи в България и зад граница се изчислява на около 10 милиона души./At the beginning of the 21st century, the total number of ethnic Bulgarians in Bulgaria and abroad was estimated at about 10 million people."</ref> Template:Circa 6.5 million Bulgarians in Bulgaria (Jeffreys et al. 2008 estimate)<ref name="Jeffreys 2008">Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Circa 10 million Bulgarian speakers worldwide (Jeffreys et al. 2008 estimate)<ref name="Jeffreys 2008"/> Template:Circa 9 million Bulgarians worldwide, of which nearly 7 million in Bulgaria (Cole 2011 estimate)<ref name=Cole>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Circa 9 million Bulgarians worldwide, of which Template:Circa 7.3 million in Bulgaria (Danver 2015 estimate)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> 12,918 Bulgarians in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/> 34,560 Bulgarians (19,965 Bulgarian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Bunjevci	11,104 Bunjevci in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
Croats	Template:Circa 4.5 million Croats in Croatia and Template:Circa 4 million Croats abroad (1993 estimate by Palermo & Sabanadze 2011)<ref name="PalermoSabanadze2011">Template:Cite book</ref> 759,906 Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)<ref name="Audit of Sarajevo"/>Template:Rp Template:Circa 4.5 million Croats outside Croatia (Winland 2004 estimate)<ref name="diasporas">Template:Citation</ref> Template:Circa 4.5 million Croats and people of Croatian heritage outside Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (HWC 2003 estimate)<ref name="HWC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}, Croatian World Congress, "4.5 million Croats and people of Croatian heritage live outside of the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina"</ref> 39,107 Croats in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>Template:Sfn 5,150 Croats in Montenegro (2023 Montenegrin census)<ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>Template:Sfn 133,965 Croats (55,595 Croatian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Czechs	Template:Circa 6.1 million Czechs in Czechia (2021–22 CIA World Factbook estimate)<ref>An estimated 57.3% ethnic Czechs (2021) on an estimated 10,705,384 total population (2022) makes about 6.1 million. However, 31.6% was unspecified, so this may be far off the real figure. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> 6,732,104 Czechs in Czechia (2011 Czech census)<ref name="2011 Czech census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 28,996 Czechs in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census)<ref name="2021 Slovak census"/> 3,447 Czechs in Poland (2011 Polish census)<ref name="2011 Polish census"/> 104,585 Czechs (23,250 Czech-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Czechoslovaks (a supra-ethnic category of Czechs and Slovaks)	Template:Circa 304,000 people with Czechoslovak ancestry in the United States (2010 American Community Survey)<ref name="FactFinder 2010"/> 40,715 "Czechoslovak, not otherwise specified" (5,075 Czechoslovak-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Gorani	Template:Circa 60,000 Gorani worldwide (2009 estimate by political party Građanska inicijativa Goranaca)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> 7,700 Gorani in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>
Kashubians	Template:Circa 331,000 Kashubs and Template:Circa 184,000 "half-Kashubs" (couldn't speak Kashubian) in the Gdańsk region (Latoszek 1980s)<ref name="Kwidzińska">Template:Cite book</ref> 52,665 inhabitants of Poland spoke Kashubian at home (49,855 of them also spoke Polish at home) (2002 Polish census)<ref name="Modrzejewski"/> 566,737 "Kashubs and people with partial Kashubian ancestry" in Pomerania (Mordawski 2005)<ref name="Modrzejewski">["Polen-Analysen. Die Kaschuben" (PDF). Länder-Analysen (in German). Polen NR. 95: 10–13. September 2011. http://www.laender-analysen.de/polen/pdf/PolenAnalysen95.pdf]</ref> 232,547 Kashubians in Poland (2011 Polish census)Template:Efn
Macedonians	1,297,981 Macedonians in North Macedonia (2002 North Macedonia census)<ref name="2002 North Macedonia census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }} (page 62)</ref> Template:Circa 580,000 Macedonian emigrants (1964 estimate)<ref>Template:Citation</ref> 14,767 Macedonians in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/> 43,110 Macedonians (18,405 Macedonian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Montenegrins	256,436 Montenegrins in Montenegro (2023 Montenegrin census)<ref name="2023 Montenegrin census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Circa 500,000 Montenegrins outside Montenegro (2014 Montenegrin Foreign Ministry estimate)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 20,238 Montenegrins in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>Template:Sfn 4,165 Montenegrins (915 Montenegrin-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Moravians	522,474 Moravians in Czechia (2011 Czech census)<ref name="2011 Czech census"/> 1,098 Moravians in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census)<ref name="2021 Slovak census"/>
Muslims (ethnic group) (a supra-ethnic category of Bosniaks, Gorani, Torbeši)	13,011 Muslims in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>Template:Sfn 10,162 Muslims in Montenegro (2023 Montenegrin census)<ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>Template:Sfn 12,121 Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013 BiH census)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp
Poles	37,393,651 inhabitants of Poland with declared Polish ethnicity (2011 Polish census)<ref>Including 36,522,000 single declared ethnic identity, 871,000 multiple declared ethnic identities (Polish and another ethnic identity, especially 431,000 Polish and Silesian, 216,000 Polish and Kashubian and 224,000 Polish and another identity).{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="2011 Polish census">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Over 20,000,000 Polish diaspora (2015 estimate by wspolnotapolska.org.pl)<ref>Świat Polonii, witryna Stowarzyszenia Wspólnota Polska: "Polacy za granicą" Template:Webarchive (Polish people abroad as per summary by Świat Polonii, internet portal of the association Wspólnota Polska)</ref>Template:Better source needed 1,106,585 Poles (264,415 Polish-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Russians	Template:Circa 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 Winkler Prins estimate)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> 622,445 Russians (120,165 Russian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Rusyns (incl. Boykos, Lemkos, Hutsuls)	Template:Circa 1.2 million Rusyns worldwide (1995 Magocsi estimate)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 23,746 Rusyns in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census)<ref name="2021 Slovak census"/> 11,483 Ruthenians in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/> 10,531 Lemkos in Poland (2011 Polish census)<ref name="2011 Polish census"/>
Serbs	5,360,239 Serbs in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Circa 2.3 million Serbian diaspora (2008 World Bank estimate)<ref name="Baird KvK">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Circa 3.2–3.8 million Serbian diaspora (2006 MARRI estimate)<ref name="Baird KvK"/> Template:Circa 3.9–4.2 million Serbian diaspora broadly defined (2008 Serbian Ministry for Diaspora estimate)<ref name="Baird KvK"/> 1,365,093 Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1991, according to Statistic yearbook of SRBiH 1992)<ref name="Audit of Sarajevo"/>Template:Rp 205,370 Serbs in Montenegro (2023 Montenegrin census)<ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>Template:Sfn 35,939 Serbs in North Macedonia (2002 North Macedonia census)<ref name="2002 North Macedonia census"/> 96,535 Serbs (52,730 Serbian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Silesians	435,750 Silesians in Poland (2011 Polish census)<ref name="2011 Polish census"/> 12,231 Silesians in Czechia (2011 Czech census)<ref name="2011 Czech census"/> Template:Circa 2 million Silesians in Poland (Grabowska 2002 estimate)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp
Slavs (in the United States and Canada)	Template:Circa 137,000 people with "Slavic" ancestry in the United States (2010 American Community Survey)<ref name="FactFinder 2010"/> 4,870 "Slavic, not otherwise specified" (1,470 Slavic-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Slavs in Greece (also a sub-ethnic category of Macedonians and Bulgarians)	Template:Circa 200,000 speakers of "Macedonian" in Greece (Friedman 1985)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Circa 150,000—350,000 "Macedonians in Greek Macedonia" (various estimates around 1995)<ref name="Poulton">Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Circa 20,000—50,000 "Slavic-speakers in northern Greece" (1990 USDoS estimates)<ref name="USDoS 1990">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Circa 5,000—10,000 of them self-identified as "Macedonians" (1990 USDoS estimates)<ref name="USDoS 1990"/> Template:Circa 10,000—50,000 Slavs in Greece (2002 USDoS estimates)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Slovaks	4,353,775 Slovaks in Slovakia (2011 Slovak census)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp 4,567,547 Slovaks in Slovakia (2021 Slovak census)<ref name="2021 Slovak census">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 149,140 Slovaks in Czechia (2011 Czech census)<ref name="2011 Czech census"/> 41,730 Slovaks in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/> Template:Circa 762,000 people with Slovak ancestry in the United States (2010 American Community Survey)<ref name="FactFinder 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 2,294 (1,889 single, 947 multiple ethnic identity) Slovaks in Poland (2011 Polish census)<ref name="2011 Polish census"/> 72,290 Slovaks (20,475 Slovak-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Slovenes	Template:Circa 1,632,000 Slovenes in Slovenia (2002 Slovenian census)<ref name="Zupančič">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Circa 2.5 million Slovenes worldwide (2004 Zupančič estimate<ref name="Zupančič"/>) Template:Circa 1.8 million Slovenes in Slovenia (2004 Zupančič estimate<ref name="Zupančič"/>) Template:Circa 0.7 million Slovene diaspora (2004 Zupančič estimate<ref name="Zupančič"/>) 2,829 Slovenes in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/> 40,470 Slovenes (13,690 Slovenian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/>
Sorbs	Template:Circa 60,000 Sorbs in Germany (20,000 of which still spoke Sorb) (2007 Reuters estimate)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ukrainians	Template:Circa 46.7~51.8 million Ukrainians worldwide (2001 Ukrainian census + various diaspora estimates)<ref name="Magocsi2010">Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Circa 58,693,854 Ukrainians worldwide (1994 Pawliczko estimate<ref name="Satzewich">Template:Cite book</ref>) Template:Circa 37,419,000 Ukrainians in Ukraine (1994 Pawliczko estimate<ref name="Satzewich"/>) Template:Circa 21,274,854 Ukrainian diaspora (1994 Pawliczko estimate<ref name="Satzewich"/>) 1,359,655 Ukrainians (273,810 Ukrainian-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/> 51,001 Ukrainians in Poland (2011 Polish census)<ref name="2011 Polish census"/> Template:Circa 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees recorded in Poland (August 2022 UNHCR figures)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Yugoslavs (a supra-ethnic category of Bosniaks, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and Slovenes)	210,395 Yugoslavs in the United States (2021 American Community Survey)<ref name="2021ACS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> 38,480 "Yugoslavian, not otherwise specified" (8,570 Yugoslav-only) in Canada (2016 Canadian census)<ref name="2016 Canadian census"/> 27,143 Yugoslavs in Serbia (2022 Serbian census)<ref name="2022 Serbian census"/>Template:Sfn 26,883 Yugoslavs in Australia (2011 Australian census)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 2,570 Yugoslavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2013 Bosnian and Herzegovinian census)<ref name="BIH">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> 1,632 Yugoslavs in Montenegro (2023 Montenegrin census)<ref name="2023 Montenegrin census"/>

Historiography

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

See also

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

References

Sources

Primary sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

Secondary sources

• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Curta Florin, The early Slavs in Bohemia and Moravia: a response to my critics
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Lacey, Robert. 2003. Great Tales from English History. Little, Brown and Company. New York. Template:ISBN.
• Lewis, Bernard. Race and Slavery in the Middle East. Oxford Univ. Press.
• Template:Cite journal
• Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou, Maria. 1992. The "Macedonian Question": A Historical Review. © Association Internationale d'Etudes du Sud-Est Europeen (AIESEE, International Association of Southeast European Studies), Comité Grec. Corfu: Ionian University. (English translation of a 1988 work written in Greek.)
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Rębała, Krzysztof, et al.. 2007. Y-STR variation among Slavs: evidence for the Slavic homeland in the middle Dnieper basin. Journal of Human Genetics, May 2007, 52(5): 408–414.
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite book

External links

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