Nationality is Belarusian. Belarusian people

Republican state, which is mostly inhabited by - 83.7%, - 8.3%, Poles - 3.1%, - 1.7%, - 0.1%, - 0.1%, Tatars - 0.1 %, Gypsies - 0.1%, - 0.1%, - 0.1%, - 0.1%, - 0.1%, Kyrgyz - 0.1%, - 0.1%, - 0.1 % and other national minorities.

The history of this state developed in such a way that Belarusians were always the main population of rural areas, and Jews lived in towns and big cities, Poles lived in the north-west of the country, Russians “occupied” the east of the Republic. Today, in villages and cities, a motley ethnic composition is clearly visible, and this is even despite the fact that about 80% of the population is the titular nation.

According to the population census conducted back in 2009, 83.7% of the residents of the Republic are Belarusians, while in the country there are about 0.1%, - 1.7%, Russians - 8.3%, Poles - 3.1%.

It is noteworthy that people of 130 nationalities and nations permanently reside on the territory of Belarus, among which the most representative ethnic groups are: representatives of the Russian nation (785,084), Ukrainian (158,723), Jewish (12,926), Azerbaijani (5,567), Tatar (7,316), Gypsy (7,079), Armenian (8,512), Lithuanian (5,087 ). In total, Moldovans, Germans, Georgians, Latvians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Chuvash, Arabs, Turkmen and Chinese in Belarus number about 1-3.5 thousand people.

Data released in 2011 indicate that over 9474.2 thousand citizens live in the Republic.

Belarusians. Belarusians belong to the category of East Slavic peoples. Their total number is over 9 million 400 people. These people live mainly in the Republic of Belarus, where, in fact, they are the dominant nationality. A significant number live in the territories of Poland, Russia, adjacent to the Republic of Belarus. Belarusians also widely inhabit the countries of the former USSR.

The Poleshuks - residents of predominantly Western Polesie - are a special group, and the most unique among them are considered to be the inhabitants of Pinsk Polesie - the Pinchuks.

Regional differences in Belarus have developed despite the general homogeneity of the local culture. In general, experts identify six historical and ethnographic regions: Ponemanye (northwest), Poozerie (north), Dnieper region (east), Eastern, Western Polesie, Central Belarus.

The majority of Belarusians are believers. According to data available to the Catholic Church, in the Republic only 14.5% of citizens are...

Among the traditional occupations of Belarusians are beekeeping, agriculture and animal husbandry. Since ancient times, these people have grown rye, peas, barley, buckwheat, millet, flax, potatoes, and hemp. In their gardens, Belarusians planted cabbage, cucumbers, beets, radishes, onions, garlic, carrots and poppy seeds, and in their gardens - cherries, pears, plums, apple trees, berry bushes (blackberries, gooseberries, raspberries, currants and others).

Belarusians are a people who originated at the merger of East Slavic and Baltic tribes.
The second (considered outdated) name is Litviny (Russian), Litviny, Litviny (Belarusian). Total number There are about 9.4 million Belarusians.
They live compactly in Eastern Europe, mainly on the territory of the Republic of Belarus (area 207.6 thousand km2), where they make up 83.7% of the population (about 8 million people). The rest of the Belarusians are dispersed across the countries of the former USSR (mainly Russia and Ukraine), Poland, the USA, Australia, Canada and other countries of the world.

Belarusians: 200 years of destruction of the nation, name and history

The preservation of Belarusians as a people, and the existence of their own state, can be called a miracle against the backdrop of the disappearance of dozens of European nations and nationalities under the pressure of stronger neighbors. But if in Western Europe when conquering territory, the invader did not destroy national characteristics local population, then the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereinafter GDL - the old name of Belarus) were subjected to two hundred years of continuous destruction of the nation, name and history.

Background

Our Grand Duchy in the era of the XIII-XVIII centuries, perhaps, was not fundamentally different from other European states. A country of castles, a vast empire of Eastern Europe, Magdeburg law, a variety of religious denominations, interstate unions with Poland and Sweden, numerous Lithuanian gentry as the basis of the state, entertainment for the aristocracy, printing houses, its own constitution in the form of three Statutes, the Lithuanian state language (the prototype of Belarusian), courts , army, numerous external wars.

There was everything - victories, defeats, pressure from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and conflicts with the Germans - the usual vicissitudes of European life of that era. Sometimes those times are called the golden age of our people, but let’s not idealize them - rather, it was a stage of normal development of Belarusians.

Destruction of culture and assimilation of Belarusians

Catastrophe (this is the most the right word) began immediately after the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the entry of the territory of our state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Litvin-Belarusian people into Russia. Former enemy and Russia decided to simply wipe out its competitor from the face of the earth, erase everything that would remind of its former greatness and, first of all, its memory, that is, ultimately, gradually turn the Litvins into Russians.

Destruction of the Lithuanian (Belarusian) gentry

To fulfill these plans, it was necessary to act gradually, first to destroy the numerous small and medium-sized Lithuanian gentry - the main bearer of the state and national idea of ​​​​the Grand Duchy. The first blow was dealt to the rights of the nobility; almost thousands of noble families were deprived of all titles and privileges (often property). To retain the rank of gentry (now under the Russian name dvorianin), it was necessary to go through a difficult path of evidence, including humiliating trips to St. Petersburg to see officials from the new occupation administration.

The absolute majority of the gentry were unable to do this; as a result, vast land holdings were transferred from the hands of the Litvins to the Russian ruling class - by right of the conqueror. Only a few wealthy families were able to confirm their nobility, which, due to their small numbers, no longer posed a threat from the point of view of maintaining the Lithuanian (Belarusian) national identity.

Due to the fact that the entire gentry, who had lost their rights and property, at that time played the role of the national intelligentsia, this was an irreparable loss for the people. The beheaded nation lost its memory - the goal was achieved.

Destruction of the self-name of Belarusians - “Litvins”

The second blow fell on the name of the people and their land. After all, even if the peasants continued to call their homeland Lithuania (as it had been for 600 years), then sooner or later the people's memory could lead to independence. But Lithuania was just beginning in Vilna; the conditional center was rather Minsk-Litovsk (the official name of the city during the reign of Russian Empire). The planting of the Russian version of the name, which had never been used before, began - western Russia, northwestern region, etc.

Even a new ideological movement arose - Western Russianism, designed to promote the idea that the former lands of the Grand Duchy are Western Russia. At the same time, among the peasantry, not without the help and propaganda of the remaining Lithuanian gentry, an alternative name was established, which was more regional and less damaging than Western Russia - this is Belarus (Belarus). Many Lithuanians, fearing complete national destruction and transformation into Russians, adopted precisely this self-name - Belarusians. A certain compromise was reached between the occupiers and the population in terms of names and the inculcation of ideology" western Russia"for the Grand Duchy was temporarily suspended. For the sake of preserving at least some kind of originality, the majority of Litvins became Belarusians - this preserved our ethnic characteristics.

Litvin-Belarusian uprisings

At the beginning and mid-19th century, the Lithuanians made three armed attempts to restore their independence, an alliance with Napoleon and two gentry uprisings. During the last uprising, led by Kalinouski, the rebels began to use a new name for their people in their ideological tactics - Belarusians. After the suppression of the uprising and the reprisal of the remnants of the gentry of the Grand Duchy, the Russian authorities were afraid that the name “Belarusians” contained hidden potential for independence, so a second attempt was made to inculcate Western Russianism - but, fortunately, it ended unsuccessfully.
There were also funny incidents in this story; censors began to correct the names of Litvins into Belarusians in many books, because no one knew that Belarus would one day gain independence, the Internet would emerge and all the fakes would come to light.

Ban of the Belarusian Church

A separate black page is the ban on the Uniate Church on our lands - the national church of the Litvins. Thousands of Uniate churches were transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the invasion of chauvinistic and great-power priests began, whose goal was the Russification of the new flock. From now on, Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus became a conductor of the tsarist ideology of autocracy, and Orthodoxy for Belarusians began to mean belonging to the Russian world.

IN late XIX century, when the Russian authorities realized that it was impossible to completely Russify the lands of the Grand Duchy, and when the Belarusians began to be recognized as a separate nationality, the question of Belarusian history arose. It was important element in consolidating the achieved successes in the assimilation of Belarusians. The main task of the Russian version of Belarusian history was to turn the concept of Belarusian statehood upside down, that is, to say that this statehood simply never existed and that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is not the Homeland of the Belarusians, but their invader. Considering that our intelligentsia (gentry) practically no longer existed, and there was no one to oppose such a historical libel from Russian historians, this humiliating version of our history existed until recently.

The main idea and goal of such a story is to prevent Belarus and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Belarusians and Litvinians - the names of one people - from being linked together. And this was the correct calculation of Russia: after all, as soon as any information or relationship between Belarus and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania arises, the danger of the revival of Belarusians and the independence of Belarus immediately arises.

Attempts at a retaliatory strike by the Belarusians in a new capacity were not long in coming. The former Lithuanian nobleman Grenivitsky kills the Russian Tsar, the former Lithuanian rebel Bogushevich creates a new independent Belarusian ideology directly related to the Grand Duchy. This gives rise to the Belarusian political parties the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to which both the BPR and the BSSR arose.

The rise of Belarusian national consciousness in the first half of the 20th century

In 1918, the Belarusians managed to restore their statehood for only a few months in the form of the Belarusian People's Republic and in 1919, the prototype of the BSSR arose - a semi-state formation within the USSR.

Taking advantage of the temporary romanticism of communist ideology in the 1920s, the descendants of the Litvins managed to take leading positions in cultural and educational institutions, with an eye on the Bolsheviks and self-censorship, they launched a broad Belarusization that reached all levels of society. At the same time, in western Belarus (Western part of the Grand Duchy), which became part of Poland, Belarusization also began, albeit on a smaller scale, but based on the history of the Grand Duchy and without the ideology of the Bolsheviks.

The period of Belarusization did not last long. Seeing the danger of self-determination of Belarusians, both Poland and the USSR began a policy of anti-Belarusization. And if in Poland everything ended with the closure of our schools and the so-called “sanitation” policy, then in the USSR the Belarusian national intelligentsia and administration were physically destroyed - prisons, camps, executions.

Belarusians and the Second World War
During the Second World War, the role of occupiers was taken over by the Nazis, who used not only the stick, but also the carrot - they allowed limited Belarusianization with the condition that the ideas of German Nazism were mentioned. Many Belarusians, who experienced national oppression both from nationalist Poland and from the USSR, willingly agreed to the cynical conditions of the German administration and in this short period, in 3-4 years, along with the henchmen of Nazism, thousands of young Belarusians were raised in the spirit of the history of the Grand Duchy Litovsky, many of whom died either in the meat grinder of military operations or in Stalin’s camps.

The results of the disappearance of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for Belarusians

Let us summarize without touching on recent history and modernity. It is now clear on what basis and on what prerequisites the emergence of the Republic of Belarus became possible. However, after the destruction of ON and before today our people and our national idea suffered colossal losses. Let's list some of them:
1. Destruction of our country - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
2. Destruction of the Lithuanian gentry as a class. Confiscation of all property, titles and privileges.
3. Destruction of the name of our land and an attempt to plant " Western Rus'".
4. Physical destruction or reference to certain death of our rebels with confiscation of their property.
5. Destruction of the Belarusian Uniate Church.
6. An attempt to ban our second self-name “Belarusians”.
7. Repressions against Belarusians in interwar Poland.
8. Physical destruction or exile to camps of representatives of the Belarusian national intelligentsia and administration in the USSR.
9. Massive losses of Belarusians in the Second World War.

But for each of these losses we had our own victory, as a result of which a unique European people was preserved - the Belarusians, and we will gradually figure out the names ourselves.

– representatives East Slavic nation. Their number is about 10 million people, most of who, of course, live in Belarus. You can often meet Belarusians in neighboring countries: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia. The migration of Belarusians to the West contributed to their settlement in Germany, Canada, and the USA.

Origin of Belarusians

The family tree of Belarusians goes back to the Slavic tribes: Dregovich, Volynians, Radimichi, Krivichi. This is the eastern branch of the Slavic tribes. In the modern classification of ethnic groups, Belarusians belong to the Eastern European type of the Central European race.

Within the state, small subgroups can be distinguished, the inhabitants of which have their own special dialect. Thus, representatives of the Upper Dnieper type settled in the area of ​​the Dnieper River; in swampy areas (Pinsk swamps) they live pinchuks, A poleschuk It is customary to call the inhabitants of Polesie. Depending on the proximity of the neighboring state, the influence on the Belarusian language is felt. In the southwest, the Ukrainian language interferes with the linguistic flavor of Belarusians, and Russian words pop up in the northeast of the country, where the border with Russia lies. The formation of the culture of Belarus was influenced by Poland, Lithuania, the culture of Rus' and Jewish traditions. Wars, raids and feuds with other states not only caused damage, but also left their mark on the culture of Belarusians. Imprints of Tatar, Mongolian and Scandinavian traditions can be traced in cultural heritage Belarus.

Ancient traditions that have survived to this day

The culture of the Belarusian people as a whole has many common features with their brothers: Ukrainian and Russian traditions. It is no coincidence that residents of neighboring countries are well aware of such holidays as Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala Day or Christmas carols. Elements of ancient pagan beliefs formed the basis of customs: farewell to winter, weaving flower wreaths, Christmas dressing and festivities.

The hardworking Belarusian people devoted a lot of effort and labor to working in the fields, which is why many traditions are associated with sowing and harvesting. Dozhinki- an interesting rite dedicated to the end of the harvest. The symbols of the festivities are ears, sheaves, and wreaths of wheat. At this celebration, many rituals were performed (decorating the last sheaf, “curling the beard”). Mother Earth was treated with special respect, so bread and salt covered with ears of corn were left on the field. The centuries-old traditions of Belarusians have reached the present day, which is why “Dozhinki” fairs and festivities are held annually in Belarus.

History in souvenirs

Traveling through the towns of the Belarusian land, you will notice souvenirs folk art: wickerwork made of wicker, embroidered shirts, glass figurines painted with intricate patterns. All these works - echoes of the handicraft creations of Belarusian craftsmen - today have more aesthetic appeal. And in ancient times, folk crafts were highly valued in practice: wicker baskets were used in everyday life, clay pots, cast iron cauldrons were in every kitchen.

Time for a snack!

By the way, about the kitchen. Belarusian cuisine is easy to prepare food, but always tasty and healthy. Culinary masters can prepare many different dishes from the same products. Verashchaka, borscht, broth with sorcerers, kulesh, cold-blooded, potato pancakes, zrazy, rebake, roulades– It’s simply impossible to leave hungry! Vegetable dishes and baked goods are considered traditional. Popular additives include flaxseed, horseradish, coriander, mustard and cumin.

In a Belarusian house

Both men and women in the Belarusian family considered it their tradition to feed their family and treat loved ones. A man is a breadwinner, a woman is a housewife. Traditionally, Slavic families had many children, so families were large. Both seniors and juniors gathered at the common table. By their example, parents showed how to honor people old age and take care of children. Family foundations are the main thing in the life of every Belarusian. The house is always clean, tidy, and smells fresh. Traditional colors– white, blue, red – used in textiles and home decoration.

Research by Russian and Belarusian scientists has shown that Belarusians and Russians are completely different genetically and anthropologically ethnic groups. And the closest relatives of Belarusians are not Russians and Ukrainians, but Masurians and Lusatian Serbs.

Many Russian politicians and political scientists repeat the Soviet myth that supposedly “Belarusians and Russians are almost the same people,” and on this basis they consider it necessary for Belarus to become part of Russia. However, experts know very well that Belarusians and Russians have different ethnic origin, different anthropology, different languages, different ways of life, different traditions, different religions (Belarusians have Uniate and Catholic), different national characters. And recent studies by geneticists in Russia and Belarus have shown that the peoples have completely different genes.

ABOUT THE RUSSIAN GENE POOL

Who are ethnic Russians? This question was recently posed by the Russian Academy of Sciences - and received a clear answer (we talked about this in more detail in our publication “Face of Russian Nationality”, No. 15, 2006). The Russian magazine “Vlast” (supplement to the publication “Kommersant”) published an article by Daria Laane and Sergei Petukhov “The Face of Russian Nationality” (No. 38, September 26, 2005, pp. 54-60), which reports: “Russian scientists have completed and are preparing for publication the first large-scale study of the gene pool of the Russian people. The publication of the results could have unpredictable consequences for Russia and the world order.” (Another story about these studies in NEWSWEEK magazine, 2005, No. 27 (57).)

It was said that in 2000, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research awarded a grant to scientists from the laboratory of human population genetics of the Medical Genetics Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. For the first time in Russian history, scientists were able to fully concentrate on studying the gene pool of the Russian people for several years. The molecular genetic results of the first Russian study of the gene pool of the titular nationality are being prepared for publication in the form of a monograph “Russian Gene Pool”.

The magazine “Vlast” provides some research data. So, it turned out that the Russians are not “Eastern Slavs” at all, but Finns. Thus, according to the Y chromosome, the genetic distance between Russians and Finns in Finland is only 30 conventional units (close relationship). And the genetic distance between a Russian person and the so-called Finno-Ugric peoples (Mari, Vepsians, Mordovians, etc.) living on the territory of the Russian Federation is 2-3 units. Simply put, genetically they are IDENTICAL.

The results of mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that another closest relative of Russians, besides the Finns of Finland, are the Tatars: Russians from the Tatars are at the same genetic distance of 30 conventional units that separates them from the Finns.

An analysis of the gene pool of Belarusians showed that they are very far genetically from Russians and are actually identical to the northeastern Poles - that is, the Masurians of Mazova. That is, the study of the gene pool only confirmed historical realities: Belarusians are Western Balts (with some admixture Slavic blood), and Russians are Finns.

Head of the study E.V. Balanovskaya points out that it was necessary to “consider data from many systems - anthropology (somatology, dermatoglyphics, odontology), classical genetics (blood groups, blood proteins), thousands of surnames, data on different systems of DNA markers (autosomal, Y-chromosome, mitochondrial DNA).

...We have brought together two huge amounts of information about the Russian people, accumulated over many decades by anthropology and genetics. We conducted two new studies - DNA and surnames. And they came up with a way to compare these four very different systems of traits - anthropology, classical genetics, molecular genetics, surnames. We built computer genogeographic maps for each trait. For example, for anthropology - a map of beard growth; for classical genetics - maps of the occurrence of blood group genes; for molecular genetics - a map of the AIDS resistance gene; for surnames - a map of the occurrence of Ivanovs in all parts of the Russian range. Four such different systems, and each has many signs. A map has been created for everyone. And then we got “generalized” maps for each feature system. And after that, for the first time, they could compare all the data on the Russian gene pool.”

She also noted: “Our “discovery” is that completely different sciences and characteristics - anthropology, genetics, surnames - completely agree with each other and, complementing each other, paint a general portrait of the Russian gene pool. Moreover, the Russian gene pool, fortunately, is not alone here. Even before studying the Russian gene pool, we made a similar sketch of a portrait of the gene pool of peoples of Eastern Europe, including in it the peoples of the “near abroad” (from the Black Sea to the Baltic), and the Caucasus, and the Urals. And we found again the unanimity of the witnesses! Although the portrait of the gene pool of the peoples of Eastern Europe turned out to be completely different - the waves of the gene pool in Eastern Europe followed not along the “north-south” axis, as in the Russian gene pool, but along the “west-east” axis. Therefore, for the Russian gene pool - which occupies a huge part of Eastern Europe - we expected to see the same Eastern European pattern. But no! The Russian gene pool has discovered its own structure associated with its own history. However, all gene pools are equally important and interesting. For us, the Russian gene pool is not important in itself. This is an extremely complex, but remarkably interesting model object for population geneticists, which we are. For us, the Russian gene pool is a gene pool with a Russian face and in Russian clothes. It is important for us to discern in it the common features of gene pools and to find tools for studying them.”

THE END OF THE MYTH ABOUT THE “EASTERN SLAVS”

The results of the research really shocked many in Russia - after all, the Russians turned out to be genetically and anthropologically Finns, not Slavs. To reassure indignant and dissenting fellow citizens (mainly ideologists, historians and publicists), E.V. Balanovskaya explains that we should not engage in myths, but remember that these territories used to be originally Finnish:

“We always put the term “original” Russian area in quotation marks, remembering that the history of the pre-Slavic population in this territory is an order of magnitude longer than the Slavic one. Genetic memory permeates all layers of the gene pool, all layers that came from different inhabitants of Eastern Europe. Therefore, when analyzing the “original” area, we never talk about the “original” Russian gene pool, about “original” Russian genes. The authors believe that they simply do not exist. There is a gene pool that is spread out in this area and has absorbed (like all other gene pools) the genes of many populations that have left their genetic trace over many millennia. And any linking of a gene to a people is incorrect - this is different systems coordinates Belonging to a people is determined by a person’s self-awareness. The gene pool is determined by the concentration of genes in a historically defined area. Therefore, when we say “Russian gene pool,” we mean all the genes collected by the course of history in the “original” Russian area and imprinted in it.”

Yes, we can agree that “Belonging to a people is determined by a person’s self-awareness.” And if the Finnish peoples of Russia consider themselves Russians, this is their full right. But the problem is not this at all, but the fact that diplomatically E.V. Balanovskaya leaves out of discussion: that the concept of “one origin of the Eastern Slavs Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians” is an exposed myth. There are no “Eastern Slavs”, because they are “Slavs” only because they are Slavic-speaking. And in terms of genes and anthropology, Russians are pure Finns (even if they are Slavic-speaking Orthodox). On the research maps, the influence of the Russian gene pool is still noticeable in the Vitebsk and Mogilev regions, but further in Central and Western Belarus (the historical Lithuania of the Litvins) it is NO LONGER, where the genetically closest neighbor is Mazovia of Poland.

This puts bold point in the lie invented by tsarism about the “single origin of Belarusians and Russians.” As it turned out, these are genetically and anthropologically two completely different ethnic groups - and even different ethnic groups, because Belarusians are Indo-Europeans, and Russians are not.

STABILITY OF THE GENE POOL

As E.V. admits Balanovskaya, what surprised Russian scientists most of all was the STABILITY of the gene pool: they expected to see a mixture of local Finns with Turks and Slavs in Central Russia. However, they did not find any significant Slavic or Turkic influence.

In my opinion, there is nothing strange about this. With a population ratio of 80% of the local ethnic group and 20% of migrants, over several generations, due to marriages with the local majority, newcomer ethnic groups dissolve in it like sugar in boiling water, losing their language, surnames, genes, culture, and mentality . That is, they COMPLETELY disappear, and traces of the original non-local traits can no longer be found in their descendants. So, for example, in the descendants of the Arab Pushkin, no signs of Ethiopian genes are detected today by any research - they have completely disappeared.

In Central Russia (historical Muscovy), this stability manifested itself in the fact that the entire rural population (70-80% of the total until the second half of the twentieth century) were genetically Finns (Moksha, Mordovians, Erzya, Murom, Meshchera, etc.). This absolute majority of the population dissolved all the newcomers (who, at most, only had noble, non-local surnames remaining). In Lithuania-Belarus, similarly, throughout history, Lithuanian-Belarusians made up about 80% of the population and easily, for several generations, ethnically and genetically “digested” all migrants (except for Jews who resisted this dissolution).

A typical example: the family of a Russian officer with two children comes to Belarus in 1946, in the 1960s, two children with an 80% probability should marry Belarusians, and their children (half-Russian-half-Belarussian) with an 80% probability will marry in exactly the same way with Belarusians, giving birth to offspring who will already be three-quarters ethnically Belarusian. In this way, over several generations, newcomers completely dissolve into the Belarusian ethnic group and, during marriages, lose their surnames, acquiring Belarusian ones. The same is true in Central Russia. Russian scientists were surprised by this STABILITY of primordial ethnic groups, but, as we see, there is nothing surprising in it.

This stability proves that Belarus (historical Lithuania) and Central Russia (historical Muscovy) for many centuries have been and remain, figuratively speaking, MACHINES for assimilation of migrants into their ethnic groups. Where their original content is preserved: Slavic-Baltic in Belarus and Finnish in Central Russia.

To call these gene pool reproduction MACHINES, which are completely different in content, “similar to the degree of brotherhood” is simply ridiculous.

BELARUSIAN GENE POOL

Complement the picture and modern research Belarusian scientists who studied the anthropology of Belarusians. It is Western Baltic, and not Finnish, like the Russians. I refer readers, for example, to the most interesting work by Victor Veras “At the Origins historical truth", where it is shown that anthropologically modern Belarusians are the Yatvingians (the original inhabitants of all Western and Central Belarus).

The question, therefore, is seen retrospectively and genetically in the following content: the people of the Western Balts, the Yatvingians, are supposedly the “brother” of the Mordovian people Moksha - this is the original population of the Moscow region (Moscow: Moks moksha + Va Finnish “water”).

That is, this is complete absurdity, if we abstract from the mythical, seemingly “similar” names “Belarusians” and “Russians”. For the Belarusians have the gene pool and anthropology of the Yatvingians (more broadly, a mixture of Western Balts and Slavs), and the Russians have the gene pool and anthropology of the Finns (more broadly, a mixture of Finns and Slavs).

In 2005 (that is, simultaneously with the completion of work by Russian scientists on the Russian gene pool), the results of similar studies were published in Belarus. The publishing house “Tehnalogiya” published A. Mikulich’s book “Belarusians in the genetic space. Anthropology of ethnos" (Mikulich A.I. Belarusians are geneticists: Antrapology of ethnicity. - Mn.: Tekhnalogiya, 2005.). Here are excerpts from Z. Sanko’s successful, in my opinion, review of this book (in my translation into Russian):

“As rightly noted in the introduction to the book by the Ukrainian anthropologist S.P. Szeged, there have never been such publications in Belarusian anthropological literature. The monograph summarizes the results of more than thirty years of expeditionary research conducted by the famous anthropogeneticist Alexei Mikulich in the Republic of Belarus and in the adjacent territories of neighboring countries - the Russian Federation, the Republic of Lietuva, Ukraine. Their object was primarily the rural population as the bearer of the most characteristic genetic and constitutional characteristics of populations. The study covered about 120 selected groups. They were formed from representatives who had ancestors of local origin up to the 4th-5th generation. A study of the gene pool of indigenous local populations showed integrity Belarusian ethnic group, its homeostasis in time and space, as well as the evidence of the genogeographical component in ethnic history.

The map of genetic distance from the average Belarusian gene frequencies in the population of Eastern Europe, created on the basis of DNA marker values, clearly shows the peculiarity of the gene pool of Belarusians, who are adjacent to the indigenous inhabitants of the Pskov region, Novgorod region, Smolensk region, Bryansk region, Vilna region and Ukrainian Polesie. The compact range of the Belarusian gene pool on this map in general outline corresponds to the sphere of settlement of Belarusians in historical retrospect. The author draws attention to the evidence of the multi-vector divergence of this area, which shows further directions of migration. It is known that the “Europeanization” of the Russian population stopped under Tatar-Mongol invasion. The study of the gene pool of Belarusians showed practically no presence of signs of the Mongolian race in it. This confirms historical evidence that Belarus did not know the Tatar-Mongol yoke. It is also interesting to note that the general trend of variability within the boundaries of the Belarusian area has a meridional direction, while for the Russian area its direction is perpendicular – latitudinal.

Each of the three East Slavic ethnic groups, according to anthropological data, has its own uniqueness. They were formed in different geographical spaces, on special substrate foundations. The graphic interpretation of the generalized characteristics of their gene pools included in the book allows you to clearly see the degree of similarity and difference. The “ethnic clouds” of Belarusians and Ukrainians are quite compact and partially overlap in the attached diagram. The Russian “cloud” is very blurry, and only a small part of it overlaps with the first two. While the Ukrainian “ethnic cloud” does not border the Finno-Ugric ones at all, and the Belarusian one only touches them, the center of the “ethnic cloud” of Russian populations is in the same cluster with the Finno-Ugric, and not Slavic, ethnic groups.

Alexey Mikulich reasonably refutes the judgments of his Moscow colleagues that the core of the Russian gene pool has been located in the north-west of the Russian ethnic area (Pskov region, Novgorod region) with the involvement of part of the lands that today are part of the Republic of Belarus. He notes that the indigenous inhabitants of the Pskov and Novgorod, as well as the Smolensk regions are genetically very close to the Belarusians of the Dvina region (and this fact is historical explanation- This is ethnically the territory of the Krivichi). But this does not at all give a reason to exclude them from the Belarusian ethnic area.

Comparison of genetic geography data with archaeological materials gives very interesting results. The geographical structure of the modern Belarusian gene pool largely corresponds to ancient archaeological cultures. ...This is an important argument in favor of genetic continuity of generations. Analysis of anthropogenetic and genodemographic material leads the author to conclusions about the extreme antiquity of the Belarusian ethnic group. The modern picture of the Belarusian gene pool was formed both through long-term adaptation as a result of natural selection, and in the process of ethnic consolidation.

Using the “genetic calendar,” the author established that the populations of the indigenous inhabitants of Belarus trace their ancestry continuously for at least 130-140 generations, which means at the latest from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. According to the author, the origin, peculiarities of language, material and spiritual culture, the existence for many centuries of their own state - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the preponderance of emigration processes over immigration - contributed to the consolidation and formation of the ethnic content of Belarusians.”

BELARUSIAN ETHNOS

“In the process of formation and development, the Belarusian people went through stages from the unification of tribal unions through nationality to the nation, many stages social structure society,” writes the Encyclopedia “Belarus”, Minsk, 1995, p. 517. “In the 13th-16th centuries, the Belarusian ethnos was formed” (p. 107).

That is, it was formed even before the aggressions of Tsars Ivan the Terrible and Alexei Mikhailovich - and therefore even those attempts by the Muscovites to convert their western neighbor into “their ethnic group” were pure violence. And by the time of the Russian occupation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795, it was a long-established ethnic group with its own centuries-old history national statehood. For in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had all the attributes of a state: its power (chancellors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, not a single Zhemoit - almost all Belarusians, several Poles), its national Belarusian army, its laws of the country (the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - in the language of Belarusians, have not yet been translated into language of the Zhemoits and Aukštayts), its national currency(this is a Belarusian thaler, minted for several centuries until 1794, when the last Belarusian thaler was minted by the Grodno mint) etc.

At the same time, speaking today about the Belarusian ethnic group, we must first of all understand what we are talking about. Belarusians (as an ethnic group with this name) appeared only in 1840, when they were renamed by tsarism from Litvins to “Belarusians” after the uprising of 1830-1831. After the uprising of 1863-1864, when the Litvins were already “Belarusians,” Governor-General Muravyov banned the very idea “Belarus” invented by the ideologists of tsarism and the Secret Chancellery, introducing instead the “Western Russian Territory.” Therefore, the term “Belarus” and “Belarusians” is extremely conditional; it is a product of tsarism, which is prohibited by it. And, for example, all the villagers of the Minsk region continued to call themselves Litvins or Tuteish (locals) even in the early 1950s, according to surveys of ethnographers.

By 1840 followed whole line repressions of tsarism against the captured people who dared to rebel a second time. By decree of the tsar, the Uniate Church in Belarus was destroyed, worship in the Belarusian language and book publishing were prohibited, the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was abolished (which, by the way, was valid only in Belarus, not in Zhemoitia - now the Republic of Lietuva), and the word “Lithuania” itself was prohibited. Although earlier Pushkin wrote specifically about the Belarusians in his poems about the uprising of 1830-1831. “To the slanderers of Russia”: “Who should Lithuania be with – the eternal dispute of the Slavs.”

Encyclopedia “Belarus” (p. 529): “The processes of consolidation of the Belarusian people into the Belarusian Nation began in the 16th – early 17th centuries, intensified in the 19th century and reached their highest rise in 1910-20.”

That is, from the point of view of science, when speaking about Belarusians and Russians, we are no longer talking about peoples and ethnic groups, but about the NATIONS of our neighbors. This is a completely different category, where thoughts about the “merger of peoples” allegedly under the pretext of some kind of “ethnic community” are no longer inappropriate. NATIONS can never merge with each other, because by definition they are not capable of this.

The final point in this issue was put by gene pool research: for Belarusians, Russians turned out to be genetically and anthropologically not a related people at all, but rather a very distant one. But the only blood-related peoples for Belarusians are the Poles of Northern Poland (Masurians) and the Lusatian Serbs of present-day Germany. And the history of the creation of ON fully confirms this.

A huge “forgotten” layer of the history of the Slavs and Balts is that in Polabian Rus' and Pomerania the peoples fled from German expansion, moving further and further to the east, the Slavs and Western Balts fought together against the Germans, and won - as on June 15, 1243 at Lake Reizen under the leadership of the Pomeranian prince Svyatopolk, the governor of the Prussian king Mindaugas. As a result, everyone gathered under the crown of the father of Mindaugas, the Prussian king Ringold, as the Great Polish Chronicle writes, and went to the east, creating the Grand Duchy of Lithuania there. And Ringold's son Mindovg, the king of Prussia, tried to recapture it from the territory of present-day Belarus many times and even reconquered it for a while, executing all the collaborators there. But the occupiers still prevailed.

This chronicle history shows that the Slavic content and cultural influence came to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania historically during its creation not at all from distant Kiev or, especially, from the still non-existent Finnish Moscow, but was a huge civilizational influence from the Slavs of Polabian Rus' and Pomerania (Obodrits, Lutich- Lutvins, Rusyns of the island of Rusin-Rügen and Starogorod (now Oldenburg), Lusatians of Lusatian Serbia, etc., Pomeranian Western Balts, among whom the main ones were the Porussians (Prussians), as well as the Mazurs Mazovs). It is clear that the ethnic groups of now Western and Central Belarus, and then the Yatvingians and Dainova - like brothers, gave them all a place to hide from German expansion, like the Promised Land. This is what created the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a country of migrated peoples of Central Europe.

They brought here not only their surnames with “-ich”, which fundamentally could not have arisen in the languages ​​of Poles, Ukrainians and Russians (and did not exist in the Polotsk State), but also brought their European mentality and Slavic-Baltic technological modernization. Yuri Brezan, a writer of the Lusatian Serb ethnic group, winner of two State Prizes of the GDR, in the book “Favorites” (M., Raduga, 1987) calls his Lusatian characters with the “Belarusian” names Jakub (Jakub Kushk) or Jan (Jan Serbin), etc. d. But are these “Belarusian” names and surnames? Who should be considered Yakub Kolas and Yanka Kupala? Or are these the historical and original names of the Lusatians? That is, the Lusatian Serbs.

It is obvious that the Belarusian language and the ethnic group itself are generated by the language and ethnic group of the Polabian and Pomeranian Slavs and the Balts - and have no fundamental relation to the language and ethnic groups of Kyiv and Moscow. And the ancient cultural origins of the Belarusians must be sought among the Lusatian Serbs. There have been no serious studies in this direction, although it is here that there is complete similarity and complete ethnic coincidence in detail, and not something “remotely similar” to other neighbors.

I draw attention to this for the reason that in Russia there is a different and absolutely unsubstantiated version of the ethnocultural origin of Belarusians (moreover, now refuted by genetics as false). They say that Belarusians are Eastern Slavs who originally lived on the territory of the Dnieper (and the Russians allegedly “came from there”). This concept allowed tsarism to present the Belarusians as a “younger” and “originally related” ethnic group to Russians, and tsarism explained its actual dissimilarity with Russians as a result of “Polonization.” In fact, we see that Belarusians in their ethnic and cultural content are not so much similar to the Poles, but rather to the Masurians and Lusatian Serbs and other Slavs and Western Balts of Polabia. Which is not surprising, because the Belarusians did not arise at all on the “island of the Eastern Slavs” - the “Slavic Triangle”, as Russian historians absurdly depict, but were open to powerful influence from Polabye - which (look at the map) is many times closer geographically to Central and Western Belarus, than Kyiv and Moscow, which are very far from it.

Artem Denikin, based on materials from the analytical newspaper “Secret Research”

Basic concepts of the origin of Belarusians: history and modernity

Introduction

From time immemorial, the Belarusian tribe occupied the very territory on which it lives to this day, with very few exceptions. No other peoples have ever occupied this territory. Thus, the Belarusian tribe has retained the greatest purity of the Slavic type, and in this sense, the Belarusians, like the Poles, are the purest Slavic tribe. In the historical past of Belarus there are no elements of interbreeding, because no peoples en masse settled in this area. In this sense, Belarusians are very different from Ukrainians and Great Russians. Although northern Ukraine is also the place of the original settlement of the Slavs, it was a country of frequent ebb and flow of alien people, which greatly contributed to the change in the Slavic type of Ukrainians. It contains a lot of admixtures of Turkic blood, remnants of the Pechenegs, Black Klobuks, Torks, Polovtsians and, finally, Tatars. Polish colonization subsequently developed en masse here. The Great Russian tribe was largely the result of crossing the Slavic tribe with Finns and Turks.

Even those tribes that, for historical reasons, fell among the Belarusians in more or less significant numbers, were not subject to assimilation and did not themselves assimilate the Belarusians. Such are the Jews and Tatars. From the 14th century Jews settled in different areas of Belarus in more or less significant groups. At the same time, significant groups of Tatars were settled on the borders between the Belarusian and Lithuanian tribes, but they have not lost their everyday and ethnographic features to this day. From the end of the 14th century. Belarus was in continuous relations with the Poles. But this was not a mass migration of the Polish nation; In addition, the Poles constituted and continue to constitute a separate part of the population. That is why even the appearance of a typical Belarusian coincides with those descriptions of the appearance of the Slavs that we encounter in ancient writers. This is the type of blond-haired and blue-eyed people.

Relevance of the topic under consideration

Nowadays, in the conditions of a new historical, political science and philosophical understanding of the past, people’s interest in historical knowledge. This is understandable, since love for the Motherland is based on knowledge of the past of one’s people, on the desire to reveal and comprehend in its entirety the life of one’s ancestors, which in many ways is already hidden in the depths of past eras. One of the problems that is at the center of the current heated socio-political discussions is the understanding of the past, present and future of Belarusian statehood. Therefore, the question of the origin of the Belarusians, the ancient times of their existence, the tribes that existed on the territory of Belarus and their settlement is extremely relevant.

1. The most ancient and ancient population of Belarus

Primitive society On the territory of modern Belarus, as well as on the territory of other countries, the development of the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages passed. Stone Age divided into Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone Age). The Paleolithic, in turn, is divided into early, middle and late. The Stone Age corresponds in time to the existence of a primitive communal herd and the flourishing of clan society.

The first people appeared on the territory of Belarus 100 - 40 thousand years ago, i.e. in the Middle Paleolithic. Material evidence of this was found near Svetilovichi in the Gomel region, the villages of Kleevichi, Kostyukovichi and Obidovichi, Bykhov districts, Mogilev region.

On the territory of Belarus (near the villages of Berdyzh in the Chechersk region and Yurovichi in the Kalinkovichi region), Late Paleolithic human sites dating back 26-24 thousand years have been discovered. Flint implements, bones of a mammoth, wild horse, bull, woolly rhinoceros, brown bear, and reindeer were found here. People lived in a maternal-clan community. They shared hunting, fishing, and gathering.

During the Mesolithic era, which for our territory dates back to the 9th-5th millennia BC, further settlement of the current territory of Belarus took place from the south, mainly along river basins. From the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th millennium BC. The Neolithic era began, which lasted more than 2 thousand years. In Belarus, over 600 Neolithic sites are known, discovered in the Pripyat, Sozh, and Neman basins. Small settlements consisted of above-ground and semi-earth dwellings. Tools were improved. Grinding, drilling, axes, and chisels appeared. Pottery was made.

By the end of the 3rd millennium BC. In the north of Belarus, Finno-Ugric tribes appeared, who began to engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. By the end of the 2nd millennium AD. Indo-Europeans began to penetrate into the territory of Belarus - numerous tribes of nomadic pastoralists who originally lived in Asia Minor. During the settlement in Europe, as a result of the mixing of Indo-Europeans with local tribes, three peoples emerged - the Germans, the Slavs and the Balts. The Baltic tribes began to gradually develop at the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. territory of Belarus. In the south and southeast, the Balts bordered on the Scythians and Sarmatians; in the north and northeast, their neighbors were Finno-Ugric tribes; in the west, the Slavs and Germans.

At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Bronze Age began, which lasted for one and a half millennia. New era brought changes to the development of the economy. Agriculture and cattle breeding become the leading occupations of people. Spinning and weaving became more common. With the emergence and establishment of productive types of economy, the clan community is transformed. In the family and society, the man has taken a dominant position, the woman passes into her husband’s clan, kinship is counted through the male line, and pair marriage is spreading. A tribal nobility is singled out (a council of male warriors, military leaders), the former equality of rights is violated, and private property.

In the 7th century BC. The Iron Age began on the territory of Belarus. This was a revolution in human history. There are significant changes in business activities, ethnic composition population, social relations and people's worldviews. In the Iron Age, the territory of Belarus was inhabited by tribes, which scientists attribute to different archaeological cultures and are distinguished by the peculiarities of the construction of dwellings, funeral rites, the shape and ornamentation of dishes, jewelry, the location of settlements, etc. South-east of Belarus and the adjacent part modern Ukraine occupied by the Milograd culture (VII-III centuries BC from the name of the village of Milogrady, Rechitsa district, Gomel region). The monuments are represented by unfortified (settlements) and fortified (fortified) settlements. They had well-developed processing of iron and bronze. The dead were buried in mounds or ground graves according to the ritual of cremation. The ethnicity of the “Milogradians” remains controversial: either Slavs or Balts, there are also versions about their closeness to the Scythian population. In the III-II centuries. BC. Monuments of Zarubenets culture are spreading in the region occupied by the “Milogradites”. Central and northwestern part In the early Iron Age, Belarus was occupied by tribes of line ceramics (VII-VI centuries BC - IV-V centuries AD). The population lived in settlements, in large above-ground dwellings. To the east of the line ceramics culture there are groups of monuments called the Dnieper-Dvina culture (8th century BC - 4th-5th centuries AD).

In the V-II centuries. BC. On the territory of Belarus, tribal associations of the Yatvingians and Dainova (in the west of Belarus), Lithuania (in the north), Golyad and Letygola (in the east) were formed. Late Lusatian tribes of the East Pomeranian culture moved from the west to the territory of the Brest region. Some researchers consider them the first Slavs in Belarus. In some cases, populations of different cultures mixed.

Thus, the Baltic period of the history of Belarus is the time of the spread of Indo-Europeans on the Belarusian lands with their main occupations - agriculture and cattle breeding, the time of assimilation of the Neolithic population. The local population is gradually transforming into Indo-Europeans-Balts, while simultaneously exerting a certain influence on their language and culture.

Settlement of the Slavs on the territory of modern Belarus. Ethnic communities of the early Middle Ages: Dregovichi, Radimichi, Krivichi

Belarusian ethnic group Slavic

In the first centuries AD, under the pressure of the Goths, who came from Scandinavia and landed at the mouth of the Vistula, the Slavs began their migration. As a result of the “great migration of peoples,” the Slavs were divided into three large groups: southern, western, eastern. Slavic tribes who settled on the Balkan Peninsula became the ancestors of modern Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Montenegrins. They mixed with the local Thracian and Illyrian populations, which had previously been oppressed by Byzantine slave owners. The West Slavic tribes, together with the population living on the banks of the Vistula, became the ancestors of the Polish, Czech, and Slovak peoples. Almost simultaneously with the Western and Southern Slavs, a third group emerged - the Eastern Slavs, the ancestors of modern Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians.

Almost no written sources have survived about how and when the Slavs settled on the territory of Belarus. Therefore, scientific debates have not subsided to this day; there are different points of view and hypotheses on all these issues. Scientists draw their main data, with the exception of brief information about the settlement of the Slavs in the Tale of Bygone Years, from archaeological sources.

Archaeologists distinguish different cultures and identify them with certain ethnic groups. They note that in the south of Belarus monuments of Prague culture have been preserved (the culture of the early Slavic tribes, which in the 5th-7th centuries AD inhabited the territory from the Dnieper and Lake Ilmen to the east and to the Elbe and Danube rivers to the west and south). Or, more precisely, its local variant - a culture like Korczak (by which we mean archaeological culture tribes that in the VI-VII centuries. AD lived in the territory of northwestern Ukraine and southern Belarus). It is considered indisputable that these monuments belong to the Slavs.

On the main territory of Belarus and neighboring regions in the V-VIII centuries. Other tribes settled and left behind monuments of the so-called Bantser culture. It got its name from the settlement of Bantserovshchina on the left bank of the Svisloch. As for the identity of the Bantser culture, there is no consensus among scientists. Some consider it Baltic, others - Slavic. This happens because during excavations in the material culture signs of both Slavic and Baltic culture are discovered.

A supporter of the first hypothesis is the Russian archaeologist V. Sedov. He created the theory of the substrate origin of Belarusians. The Baltic substrate (from the Latin term - base, lining) refers to the ethnocultural population of the Baltic ethnic group, which influenced the formation of the Belarusian people. Supporters of this theory argue that as a result of the Slavicization of the Baltic population, the mixing of the Slavic with it, there was a separation of part of the East Slavic people, which led to the formation Belarusian language and nationalities.

The main occupation of the population of the Belarusian lands was agriculture. The Eastern Slavs brought a more progressive form of agriculture - arable farming, but continued to use shifting agriculture. They sowed rye, wheat, millet, barley, and flax. Important role livestock played a role. Families, united by a common economic life, formed a rural (neighborhood) or territorial community. Cultivated land, forests and reservoirs were the property of the entire community. The family used a separate plot of communal land - an allotment.

In the IX-XII centuries. The Eastern Slavs developed a feudal system. In the beginning, the bulk of the population were free community members who were called “people.” Their social status gradually changed: some fell into a dependent position, while others remained relatively free. Dependent people were called “servants.” The servants included categories of the population deprived of personal freedom - serfs.

The formation of a class society is evidenced not only by the dependent position of a separate category of the population, but also by the presence of a squad. The warriors (or boyars) received from the prince the right to collect tribute from a certain territory. The collection of tribute from the free population of the territory that the prince “owned” was called polyudye. Gradually the tribute becomes feudal rent.

At this time, cities were formed. Some grew out of a fortified rural settlement like Polotsk, others like princely castles - Mensk, Grodno, Zaslavl. Still others arose along trade routes. The city consisted of parts: detinets, fortified with ramparts, ditches, walls; posada - a place where artisans and traders settled; and trading - places of sale and purchase of goods.

The Slavs professed a pagan religion. They believed in the god of the sun, fire, Perun, etc. The dead were buried in pits, with mounds built over them. They believed in an afterlife. Jewelry was worn from bone, copper, and ceramics.

3. Basic concepts of the origin of the Belarusian ethnic group

Almost no written sources have survived about how and when the Slavs settled on the territory of Belarus. Therefore, scientific debates have not subsided to this day; there are different points of view and hypotheses on all these issues.

Russian archaeologist V. Sedov created a theory of the substrate origin of Belarusians. The Baltic substrate (from the Latin term - base, lining) refers to the ethnocultural population of the Baltic ethnic group, which influenced the formation of the Belarusian people. Proponents of this theory argue that as a result of the Slavicization of the Baltic population, the mixing of the Slavic with it, a part of the East Slavic people separated, which led to the formation of the Belarusian language and nationality.

Other researchers argue that, having settled in the territories previously occupied by the Baltic tribes, the Slavs partially pushed them back and partially destroyed them. And only small islands of the Balts, who probably submitted to the Slavs, were preserved in the Podvinya region, the Upper Dnieper region. But the Balts retained the right bank of the middle Poneman region and some parts of the territory between the Neman and Pripyat.

There is no clear generally accepted opinion among researchers on the formation of tribal unions, which formed the basis of the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian ethnic groups. Some suggest that as a result of the intensive development by the Slavs of the territory of Belarus, where the Balts previously lived, in the 8th-9th centuries. were ethnically close to each other tribal unions: Krivichi, Dregovichi, Radimichi, partly Volynians. On their basis, the Old Belarusian ethnos was formed. The Yatvingians and some other Baltic tribes took part in its formation.

The ancestors of the Eastern Slavs, who settled in Pripyat Polesie, assimilated the Baltic tribes. As a result, on the territory occupied by the Dnieper Balts, the East Slavic tribes Dregovichi, Krivichi, Radimichi - the ancestors of modern Belarusians - arose. On the territory where Iranian tribes used to live, the Polyans, Drevlyans, Northerners, and Volynians settled - the ancestors of modern Ukrainians. The assimilation of the Finno-Ugric tribes led to the emergence of the Novgorod Slavs, Vyatichi, and partly the Upper Volga Krivichi - the ancestors of modern Russians.

Proponents of a different point of view imagine this picture somewhat differently. Firstly, they believe that supporters of the above hypothesis exaggerate the role of the Balts in the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians. Another thing, they note, is the Middle Poneman region, where the Balts made up a significant part of the population at the beginning of the 2nd millennium. In the Slavicization of these lands, a significant role belongs to the Volynians, Dregovichs, and, to a lesser extent, the Drevlyans and Krivichi. They recognize that the basis of the Old Belarusian ethnos were the Krivichi, Dregovichi, Radimichi, and to a lesser extent the Volynians, most of whom participated in the ethnogenesis of the Ukrainians. They prove that both part of the Volynians took part in the formation of the Belarusians, and part of the Dregovichi - in the ethnogenesis of the Ukrainians. Radimichi equally participated in the formation of Belarusians and one of the groups of the Russian ethnic group. The Krivichi played a big role not only in the formation of Belarusians, but also in the formation of the northwestern part of the Russian ethnic group.

Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky at the end of the 19th century. formed, and in 1904 published a rather superficial explanation of the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group. The original tribal differences, in his opinion, had already become indistinguishable by the 13th century. when Rus' broke up into two poorly connected regions - the southern (Kyiv) and northeastern. “The Great Russian tribe... was a matter of new diverse influences that began to act after this break in the nationality,” and interaction with the local “foreign” population played a significant role (according to modern terminology- substrate), as well as adaptation to the natural conditions of the Volga-Oka interfluve. The southern center as a result Tatar invasion depopulated, and its surviving population fled to the territory of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the XV-XVI centuries. his descendants repopulated the steppe outskirts, mixing “with the remnants of ancient nomads who wandered here,” which led to the formation of “the Little Russian tribe as a branch of the Russian people.” Origin of Belarusians V.O. Klyuchevsky did not touch upon it at all, but from general scheme we can conclude that it could also be explained only by the “new and varied influences” of the 13th-16th centuries.

The two most developed versions were proposed at the turn of the 20th century. A.A. Shakhmatov and E.F. Karsky. The first of them recognized the division of the tribes of the Tale of Bygone Years into three groups of dialects (northern, middle and southern), but these groups experienced leveling mutual influence in the era Kievan Rus and served only as the basis for the formation of the East Slavic peoples. In general, this process took place after the Tatar invasion, within the framework of the new states - Moscow and Lithuania. In particular, the Belarusian nationality developed on the basis of the western branch of the Central Russian group of dialects, but thanks primarily to political isolation from the eastern and northern dialects, which evolved in the direction of the Russian language.

E.F. Karsky following P.I. Kostomarov saw the origins of ethnic-forming traits in the characteristics of the ancient Slavic tribes. But, since in his time the concept of “Belarus” became much broader, including residents of Polesie and upper Ponemania, a mechanical comparison of Belarusians with Krivichi became impossible. E.F. Karsky pointed to three ancient Russian tribes that gave rise to the Belarusian ethnic group: Krivichi, Dregovich and Radimichi. But he dated the formation of a single nationality on their basis to a later time - the 13th-14th centuries, when the descendants of these tribes became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Thus, secondary influences were still decisive, although E.F. Karsky essentially never specified what they were.

As an example of the evolution of the “tribal concept”, an interesting version was proposed by the figure of the Belarusian national revival V. Lastovsky. It was formulated in the preface to the “Handy Russian-Kriv (Belarussian) Dictionary” he published in 1924. Already in the 10th century, according to V. Lastovsky, the Belarusians were a fully formed people who act under the name “Krivichi”, and a number of tribes in the “Tale of Bygone Years”: Dregovichi, Drevlyans, Radimichi, Vyatichi (as well as those mentioned by him by obvious misunderstanding “Mountains”) - were simply branches of a single “Kriv tribe”. It was the tribal characteristics that, in his opinion, were key in the formation of the Belarusian (“Kriv”) people, and all secondary influences (entering into Rus', the adoption of Christianity, Lithuanian, and then Polish and Russian rule) only eroded the purity of the ancient ethnic group, which should preserve and revive as far as possible. It is interesting that V. Lastovsky did not notice at all the vicious circle underlying his concept: the basis for the inclusion of ancient tribes in the “Kriv tribe” was their localization in the territory, which at the beginning of the 20th century was ethnically Belarusian, while the originality of this territory was explained by the heritage of these same tribes.

In the field of linguistics, the idea of ​​the secondary nature of the distinctive features of the East Slavic languages ​​was developed in the works of F.P. Owl. He justified the addition by the first half of the 12th century. the all-Russian language, in which he distinguished northern and southern ethnographic zones. The formation of three East Slavic languages ​​was, in his opinion, the result of subsequent evolutionary processes. In particular, in the western part of the all-Russian area around the XIV-XVI centuries. such secondary phenomena as hardening of the sound “r”, “dzekanie” and other characteristic features of the Belarusian language developed. Linguists tend to explain the reasons for such innovations by the internal laws of language development (by analogy with biology, they can be called a kind of “mutations”).

Moscow archaeologist V.V. Sedov, relying mainly on archeological and toponymic data, in a number of works formulated a concept that can be conventionally called “substrate”. According to this theory, the initially single Slavic massif, when settling throughout the territory of Eastern Europe, was layered on different ethnic substrates. On the territory of modern Belarus, the Slavs moved with the tribes of the Baltic language group, related to the Lithuanians and Latvians. The assimilated descendants of the ancient Balts introduced original features into the culture and language of the Krivichi, Dregovich and Radimichi, which subsequently did not completely disappear during the era of Kievan Rus and reappeared after its collapse. It was on their basis that the integration of the descendants of these tribes into a single Belarusian ethnic group took place. This concept in Soviet period met with a rather cold reception, mainly for ideological reasons. Firstly, adherents of the official dogma were alarmed by the very emphasis on differences rather than on commonality.

Secondly, the similarity with the “tribal concept”, whose adherents at that time were labeled “bourgeois nationalists,” was too striking.

Apparently, in the XIV-XVI centuries. The phonetic system of the Belarusian language was also formed, constituting its most striking difference from Russian (the combination of “dzekaniya”, “akaniya”, voiceless g, hard p and a number of other features). According to M.F. Pilipenko, most of these features find parallels in the dialects of Lithuania, especially eastern (“Dzukija”). This system clearly developed in the Balto-Slavic contact zone of Upper Ponemania, which became the core of the formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later its political center. Its spread to the territory of the entire modern Belarus occurred, obviously, under the influence of the idea of ​​​​statehood of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in the form of a prestigious “capital” dialect.

Conclusion

New archaeological materials confirm this idea about the prerequisites for the development of the Belarusian ethnic group. There were three stages in the ethnogenetic process that emerged on the territory of Belarus in the second half of the 1st millennium AD.

The first includes archaeological monuments of the Bantsarovskaya culture and the culture of the barrows of northern Belarus of the 6th-7th centuries. The population hid in well-equipped settlements during hostilities, and their defense was organized here. The settlements-shelters were also religious centers. Settlements were also common, which can be considered as a transitional form from a tribal to a rural community.

The second stage dates back to VIII-IX centuries. and is characterized by a more intensive penetration of the Slavs into local tribes. There was peaceful coexistence, military clashes, and assimilation processes between the Slavs and the Balts.

The third stage refers to the 10th-11th centuries, when the number of the East Slavic population greatly increases, cities arise, and the Slavs become the main population of the region. The settlement of the Slavs had enormous progressive significance for the historical fate of Belarus.

Used Books

1. Chigrinov P.G. History of Belarus: educational publication / P.G. Chigrinov. - 2nd ed. - Mn.: Polymya, 2002.S. 432

2. Kastyuk M.P. Narys history of Belarus: U 2 hours. Part 1 / M.P. Kassyuk, W.F. Isaenka, G.V. Shtyhaў - Mn.: Belarus, 1994.P. 527

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