The process of formation of the Belarusian ethnic group is quite complex and contradictory. There is no consensus among scientists about the time of the appearance of Belarusians as an ethnic group, or about the ancestors of modern Belarusians. It is believed that the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians took place on the territory of the Upper Dnieper, Middle Podvina and Upper Ponemonia. Some researchers (Georgy Shtykhov, Nikolai Ermolovich, Mikhail Tkachev) believe that the Belarusian ethnic group existed already in the 13th century. Archaeologist Valentin Sedov believed that the Belarusian ethnic community developed in the 13th-14th centuries, Moses Greenblat - in the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries.

The emergence of Belarus as an ethnic territory and its East Slavic population is an integral part of the process of formation of the Belarusian people (ethnogenesis). It is impossible to answer numerous questions about the origin of Belarus without considering a number of problems of Belarusian ethnogenesis, without answering the question about the ancestors of Belarusians, the historical roots of our people.

Today, unfortunately, there is no common point of view among scientists in Belarus regarding the ethnogenesis of Belarusians. There are many different versions about where the Belarusians came from, where their ethnic roots are, within which state formations the formation of our nationality, our nation took place. The presence of several concepts of the emergence of Belarus and the origin of the Belarusian people is due to the complexity of the very process of formation of an ethnic territory and the methods of its study, the variety of sources, which very often are fundamentally different from each other.

There are several fundamentally different concepts of the ethnogenesis of Belarusians:

Krivichi theory of the origin (ethnogenesis) of the Belarusian people

One of these theories of the origin of the Belarusian people is the Krivichi theory, formulated in basic terms in the second half of the 19th century and received significant development at the beginning of the 20th century in the works of a number of scientists, in particular the famous Belarusian historian and public figure Vaclav Lastovsky (1883-1938). V. Lastovsky argued that the formation of the Belarusian people is based on the traditional culture of one of the first East Slavic ethnic communities - the Krivichi tribe, which are the ancestors of the Belarusians. The scientist proceeded from the fact that the Krivichi were the most numerous community among the tribes on the territory of modern Belarus and occupied some lands beyond its borders. Moreover, it was on the territory of settlement of the Krivichi that such a state entity as the Principality of Polotsk was formed, which had a significant influence on the development of the rest of the Belarusian lands. V. Lastovsky also expressed the idea that it is more correct to call Belarusians “Krivichi”, and Belarus - “Krivia”. Despite a number of facts that testify in favor of this theory, its main position that the ancestors of the Belarusians are the Krivichi, and the ethnic territory of the Belarusian people was formed on the ethnic territory of the Krivichi, contradicts reality. The Krivichi and their ethnic territory (Krivia) disappeared in the middle of the 12th century, and the Belarusian ethnos and its ethnic territory had not yet been formed at that time. The controversy of this concept is also revealed in the fact that it cannot convincingly explain the emergence of the ethnic traits of the southern Belarusian population, since the Krivichi lived only in the northern and central parts of modern Belarus.

Famous Belarusian scientists Ya.F. Karsky and V.I. Pichet, who included in the ancestors of the Belarusians not only the Krivichi, but the Radimichi and Dregovich, to some extent overcame the one-sidedness of the Krivichi theory. However, they did not take into account the important factor that between Slavic tribes, on the one hand, and Belarusians, on the other, there is no direct continuity. The Dregovichi, Krivichi and Radimichi disappeared in the 12th century, and the all-Belarusian complex of language and culture had not yet been formed at that time.

Baltic theory of the origin (ethnogenesis) of the Belarusian people

There is another quite interesting and well-reasoned theory of the origin of the Belarusian people. This is the Baltic theory, which took shape in the 60s - early 70s of the XX century and connects the origin of the Belarusians with living on the territory of modern Belarus in the pre-Slavic Baltic period. One of the authors of this theory was a Moscow archaeologist, Dr. historical sciences V. V. Sedov. He expressed the idea that the mixing of Slavs and Balts resulted in the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group, the originality of its culture and language. At the same time, the scientist argued, the Balts played the role of a substrate (substratum) in the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians. His theory V.V. Sedov argued with data from archaeological excavations that he conducted on the territory of Belarus and the Smolensk region. He found a whole range of jewelry, tools, and weapons that were characteristic of the Baltic culture and did not belong to the Slavs. Based on archaeological data, V.V. Sedov came to the conclusion that at the end of the Bronze Age and during the Iron Age on the territory of the southeastern coast Baltic Sea to the upper reaches of the Don, including the Oka basin, and from the Dnieper region to the Kiev region, the Balts lived. From the middle of the first millennium, the migration of the Slavs began. But they could not displace the Balts; moreover, the Balts took an active part in the ethnogenesis of the Slavic tribes, became part of them and adopted various dialects of their language. Thus, the main determining factor in the formation of the Belarusian ethnos, according to the Baltic theory, is considered to be the colonization by the Slavs of the territory located north of Pripyat, including the Upper Poneman region, the Upper Podvina region and the Dnieper region, their assimilation of the Balts, the impact of the Balts on the language and culture of the Slavic tribes. Proof of this is the fact that many elements of the language and culture of Belarusians have Baltic roots, for example, the worship of snakes and stones in traditional religion Belarusians, straight-weave bast shoes, housing construction techniques, a number of sounds of Belarusian phonetics (hard “r”, “akanie”, etc.).

Despite the significant argumentation of the Baltic concept, a number of scientists have found many controversial points in the statement that the separation of the Belarusian ethnic group from other groups of the Slavic population is mainly due to the influence of the Balts. The significant influence of the Balts on the formation of the Belarusian people, their culture, language, and the isolation of Belarusians from other East Slavic peoples - Russians and Ukrainians are raised.

Old Russian concept of the origin (ethnogenesis) of the Belarusian people

Another concept of the ethnogenesis of Belarusians is also controversial - the Old Russian concept. One of its theorists was our fellow countryman - associate professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy M. O. Koyalovich (1828-1891), who defended the pan-Slavist concept of Russian history and believed that the Russian people consisted of three parts: Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians. According to this theory, the Krivichi, Radimichi, Dregovichi, as well as other East Slavic tribes changed ethnically even before the formation of the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Initially, the East Slavic ethnic communities were replaced by a common East Slavic community, and their ethnic territories formed Kievan Rus, which was the predecessor of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

Today this theory is disputed by many scientists, a minority of whom deny the existence in the past of a common East Slavic community - the Old Russian people. Indeed, there are many questions that this theory does not answer. Essentially not supported by factual material chronological framework the existence of such a nationality (formed in the 9th-10th centuries, disintegrated in the 12th century) on the territory of Belarus. In a simplified way, the theory also explains the path of the emergence of Belarus from an ethnic territory Ancient Rus', the complexity of the methods and paths for the formation of a new ethnic territory, the impact on this process not only of evolution, but also of diffusion phenomena of culture and language, and name are not taken into account. The statement that the collapse of the Old Russian people was influenced by the process of disappearance from the political map of Kievan Rus and the formation on its territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Muscovite state, as well as the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and the Crusaders, is also not convincing. But after all, the ancestors of modern Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians lived together in one state, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, during the 13th-18th centuries, but the process of completing the formation of the ancient Russian nationality was never carried out. This may mean that each of the peoples identified above followed its own historical path. What brought them together, of course, was the Old Russian language, common cultural features, a common ethnic self-name (Russians, Rus, Rusyns), and a single Orthodox religion.

.“Finnish” concept

There is also a “Finnish” concept put forward by the writer Ivan Laskov. According to it, the ancestors of the Belarusians were the Finno-Ugrians. The concept was formed on the basis of the presence of a significant number of ancient Finno-Ugric hydronyms on the territory of Belarus (for example, Dvina, Svir). Nowadays, however, it is believed that the Finno-Ugrians were the substrate not of the Belarusians, but of the Balts.

.“Polish” and “Great Russian” concepts

Chronologically, the first to emerge were the “Polish” (L. Galembovsky, A. Rypinsky) and “Great Russian” (A. Sobolevsky, I. Sreznevsky) concepts, according to which the ethnic territory of the Belarusians was considered as primordially Polish or primordially Great Russian, respectively, the argument for which was the lack of Belarusians have a separate language. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the 20th century, Evfim Karsky, in his fundamental work “Belarusians,” proved the independence of the Belarusian dialect from both the Polish language and the Great Russian dialect of the Russian language, thereby refuting the main argument of the supporters of these concepts.

The Slavs separated from the Indo-Europeans by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The first Slavs came from the south (6-7 centuries AD). There was an opinion that the Slavs moved to Belarus only from the south, but Karsky proved that the main mass of the Slavs moved from the south and west. Hypotheses about the appearance of the Slavs: 1) Most researchers consider the homeland of the Slavs to be from the Carpathians to the headwaters of the Dniester in the south to the headwaters of Pripyat and Vistula in the north. 2) The Oder and Vistula basin. The Slavs settled next to the Balts, often subjugating them and occupying their strongholds. They surpassed the Balts in terms of social level. Economic development, they were engaged in agriculture, they knew a two-field system, they used an iron tip. In the 8th-9th centuries. Great groups of Slayans advanced and settled in all regions, establishing close contacts with the Baltic population. The bulk of the Slavs of B. were: - Dregovichi, - Krivichi, - Radimichi.

The Dregovichi settled the land between Pripyat and the West. Dvina. The chronicler of the place derives the name of the tribes from the word drygva (swamp). But Nikolai Ermolovich believes that the name has a patronomic character and comes from the Slavic name dregovit. Slavic elements predominated in their culture, their language was Slavic. Women wore temple rings, on the cat. They wore copper beads, ceramics, spiral rings, and star buckles.

Radimichi - to the east of the Dregovichi lived the Radimichi. The main area of ​​the population is the basin of the Sozh and Iput rivers. The culture was dominated by Slavic elements. The language was Slavic. Slavic elements: ceramics, rings. Baltic: bracelets with a snake The name comes from the mythical personality Radim.

Krivichi - to the north from the Radimichi and Dregovichi lived the Krivichi, they occupied the vast expanses of the subdvinia, and the upper Dnieper region their tribal center was Polotsk. The Krivichi culture was divided into 2 groups: Polotsk-Smolensk and Pskov. Language – Slavic. There are several hypotheses about the names of the tribes: 1) from the Balt priest Krive Kreveiteny 2) on behalf of the ancestor Krive-Krivate 3) from the mountainous terrain (Krivuny) 4) similarity with the word krovny (krainy)

Basic concepts of the origin of the Belous ethnic group. Contemporary discussions on this topic.

In the 19th century The Polish and Great Russian concept appeared. They denied noun. Independent white Ethnicity based on the fact that the population of Belarus would not exist. independent language. Supporters of the Polish concept - Galimbovsky and Repinsky considered Belarusians to be part of the Polish ethnic group and Belarus to be part of Poland. The Belarusian language is an adverb of the Polish language. The Great Russian concept (Sobolevsky and Radnevsky) is based on the idea that Belarus is part of Russia. Bel.yaz. is an adverb of the Russian language. The scientist Karsky in his work “Belarusians” proved that the Belarusian language is an independent Slavic language, which in its lexical composition is included in the group of East Slavic languages ​​on an equal footing.

Krivichi concept (20th century): based on the idea that almost all the features that distinguish Belarusians from Ukrainians and Russians were perceived by them from Krivichi. The authors identified Belarusians and Krivichi, and suggested calling Belarusians Krivichi, and Belarus – Krivia. The precariousness of this concept lay in the fact that the Krivichi and the territory of Kriviya disappeared until the mid-century. 12th century, and Belarusians as an ethnic group were not formed at that time; there was no common Belarusian language.

Baltskaya. According to which the appearance of Belarusians is explained by the fact that the Balts lived on the territory of Belarus before the appearance of the Slavs. According to this theory, the merger of the Slavs with the Balts allegedly led to the emergence of the Belarusian ethnic group and language. (Sedov). Many elements of the language and culture of the Belarusians have Baltic roots. Opponents believed that the main position was not confirmed either factually or theoretically. The elements of culture and culture shown above are characteristic of both the Slavs and the Bats,

Finnish. (Laskov) Draws attention to the fact that in Belarus there are names of rivers and lakes of Fminian origin.

Old Russian concept. (Mavrodin, Tokarev). According to which, the origins of the White, Ukrainian and Russian people are the Old Russian people - East Slavic ethnic communities that formed as a result of mixing, K, R, D, Drevlyans and Northerners. However, this concept has many opponents (Ermolovich, Shtykov). They completely deny the very fact of the existence of the Old Russian people.

Mikhas Pilippenko formulated a new concept in the 90s of the 20th century. He denies the role of the Balts as the ancestors of the Belarusians. As a result of the widespread settlement and mixing of the Slavs with the eastern Balts, communities were formed - K, D, R,. Then, together with other communities, K, D, R consolidated into a new community - the Russian people

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Formation of the Belarusian ethnic group VI - XX centuries

1. The main stages of the ethnic history of Belarus. Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs

The ethnic history of Belarus can be divided into several periods. The first is pre-Indo-European. Its chronological framework: 40 thousand years BC. - boundary of 3-2 thousand years BC. The pre-Indo-European period is characterized by the dominance of such forms of management as hunting, fishing, and gathering. It coincides with the Stone Age, when humans settled the territory of modern Belarus.

The second Indo-European period of the ethnic history of Belarus began in the Bronze Age from the time of settlement of Indo-European tribes on its territory (between 3-2 thousand years BC). Within the framework of the Indo-European period, a number of stages are distinguished. The Baltic stage lasted from 3-2 thousand years. yes AD until IV-V centuries. AD The Slavic stage began in the 5th century. n. e., which is associated with the assimilation of the Balts by the Slavs who came here. Further periodization of ethnic history is usually associated with the time of existence of the main state formations on the Belarusian lands. Period late IX - beginning of XIII V. this is the time of the existence of the Old Russian state (Kievan Rus) and early feudal principalities on the territory of Belarus. The formation of the Belarusian nation took place within the framework of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the first half of the 13th century - 1569). From 1569 to the end of the 18th century. Belarusian lands became part of a new multi-ethnic state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The formation of the Belarusian nation took place as part of Russian Empire(end of the 18th century - 1917). At the beginning of the 20th century. national Belarusian statehood was realized. Since 1922 The Belarusian people developed as part of the USSR. In 1991 The modern Republic of Belarus was formed.

Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs. IN VI-V2nd century. begins Slavic stage ethnic history Belarus, which was associated with the penetration of Slavic tribes into Belarusian lands from the vast territories between the Carpathians and the Baltic Sea. This is explained by the fact that the early historical Slavs expanded their area of ​​residence in the eastern part of the European region due to the events of the Great Migration of Peoples (IV-VII centuries), the cessation of the existence of the Western Roman Empire, due to demographic growth and pressure from Germanic tribes that created their own states.

There are several versions of the location of the ancestral home of the Slavs and the history of their ethnogenesis. First, " Danube"The version is based on the ancient chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" of the 12th century. monk Nestor. Nestor puts forward a mythological version of the origin of the Slavs from the youngest son of the biblical Noah - Japheth, who, after dividing the lands with his brothers, received the Northern and Western countries as his inheritance. Nestor settles the Slavs in the Roman province of Noricum, located between the upper reaches of the Danube and Drava. From here, pressed by the Volokhs (i.e., the Romans), the Slavs were forced to move to new places - the Vistula and the Dnieper. In the 20th century Other versions of the ancestral home of the Slavs, which were located much further north, became popular: in Middle Dnieper and Pripyat, or its location was sought in the area of ​​rivers Elbe, Oder, Vistula and Neman. Currently in Belarusian Polesie As a result of excavations, a cultural and everyday set was obtained, dating back to middleIVV. n. uh., which is earlier in comparison with the antiquities of the Slavs of the Prague culture of Europe. Therefore, it can be assumed that the formation and initial settlement of the early historical Slavs, known as “Sklavins,” took place in this territory.

In the middle of the 1st millennium AD. The Slavs, under the pressure of the warlike tribes of the Goths and Huns, began to actively settle. IN VII-VIII centuries they populated the Balkan Peninsula and, as a result of the assimilation of the local population, appeared South Slavs (modern representatives are Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, Bulgarians, etc.). Some of the Slavs expanded their ancestral home, occupying the entire Vistula-Oder basin, forming a branch Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Lusatian Serbs). The third part of the Slavs in the VI-VII centuries. in the territory of the west and southwest of Belarus, the Middle Dnieper region and Ukrainian Volyn, as a result of the assimilation of local Baltic tribes by aliens, it formed the core of another branch of the Slavs - eastern.

East Slavic community. During the Iron Age and early Middle Ages The population on the territory of Belarus had wide contact not only with neighboring territories, it was also under the cultural influence of more distant lands and peoples. This means that historical processes in the Belarusian lands developed in a pan-European way. Archaeological materials of the 2nd-8th centuries speak about the common development of the material and spiritual culture of the East Slavic peoples. Mogilev Dnieper region and antiquity from the territory of Ukraine and Russia.

Inclusion of the lands of the Belarusian Ponemania and the upper reaches of the river. Pripyat in the area of ​​​​the formation of the East Slavic community is proven by the wide distribution of ancient Slavic hydronyms here - Styr, Stubla, Svorotovka, Rubcha, etc. Initially, the Balts and Slavs lived side by side, often engaging in armed conflicts with each other, but then they gradually began to mix and the Slavicization of the Dnieper Baltic population took place . At the same time, the Balts also had a significant influence on the Slavs, which noticeably affected the appearance of the Slavs. From the 8th century The Slavic population moved en masse to the north of Belarus; large groups of Slavs settled in areas north of Pripyat, namely in the upper reaches of the Sluch and Oresa rivers, on the right bank of the Dnieper and along the Berezina. In the 9th century. they settled Posozhye and Podvinye and began to develop vast territories of Eastern Europe, becoming the basis for the formation of modern Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian ethnic groups.

As a result of the Slavic-Baltic synthesis, which lasted until the 13th century, they were formed in the 8th-10th centuries. large Slavic tribal associations - Dregovichi, Krivichi, Radimichi, existed until the middle of the 12th century.

Krivichi- this is a large association of tribes that assimilated the Balts and Western Finns, with characteristic long mounds and burials according to the ritual of corpse burning, which lived in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina, Volga, in the south Lake Peipsi. They are distinguished by temporal bracelet-like wire decorations with tied ends, which were worn on leather straps one at a time or two or three in a headdress by Krivichi women, and by amulets-pendants in the form of skates (today it is believed that these are lynxes). The Krivichi culture is clearly represented by the Gnezdovo burial mound of the 9th-10th centuries. Historians derive the name “Krivichi” in different ways: from the name of the oldest Krivo family, from the word “kreўnyya” (close by blood), from the pagan high priest Krivo-Kriveyte, from the hilly terrain, the “curvature” of its surface. From chronicle sources it follows that at the end of the 1st millennium the Krivichi union split into three groups - Polotsk, Smolensk and Pskov(by the name of their main breeding centers). At the end of the 10th century. On the basis of the tribal reign of the Krivichi-Polotsk residents, the large Principality of Polotsk was formed, which owned the cities of Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, Lukoml, Braslav, Izyaslavl, Logoisk, Orsha, Kopys, Borisov. The name “Krivichi lands” in some cases remained in the territory of northern Belarus until the first quarter of the 14th century, which is reflected in medieval maps.

Dregovichi lived between Pripyat and the Western Dvina, next to the Drevlyans, their mounds contain ashes and coals above the burial layer of the dead. This is due to the fact that the ritual fire was lit after the burial. Mounds of the 11th-12th centuries. contain types of jewelry characteristic only of Dregovichi in the form of large metal necklaces covered with coarse grains, ring-like temple rings, neck torcs and chest pendants are virtually absent. It is believed that the name Dregovichi comes from the word “drygva” (swamp). The Dregovichi remained independent for a long time, but the northern regions of the Dregovichi lands, where they lived next to the Krivichi, early became part of the Polotsk land and later the Principality of Minsk was formed here. On the territory of settlement of the Dregovichi there were the cities of Turov, Pinsk, Brest, Minsk, Slutsk, Kletsk, Rogachev, Mozyr.

Radimichi occupied Posozhye, the lands of the southeastern part of Belarus (east of the Gomel and Mogilev regions), as well as the western regions of the Bryansk and southwestern regions of the Smolensk regions. Coming from the Upper Dniester region, where a large number of similar hydronyms were preserved, here they encountered the Dnieper Balts and gradually assimilated them over three centuries. That is why the Radimichi burial mounds are so rich in ritual objects with Baltic elements, even in comparison with the Krivichi ones. They are characterized by seven-rayed temporal rings, loop-like and brush-shaped pendants, neck torcs, star-shaped radiant buckles, bone pendants in the form of ducks, bronze spirals, and snake-headed bracelets. The Radimić mounds have a layer of coal at their base from large fires, the so-called “rings of fire,” lit before filling the mounds during the burial process. According to legendary versions, the name of this tribal association comes from the word Radim, the name of the man led by the Radimichi who came from the pro-Polish (Lash) lands. However, linguists are inclined to believe that the ethnonym “Radimichi” is of Baltic origin and means “being” (here, in this area). Radimichi almost until the end of the 10th century. lived independently, but paid tribute to the Khazars, and then to Kyiv. From the 11th century the territory of the Radimichi became part of the Chernigov principality, and from the beginning of the 12th century. her Northern part came under the authority of Smolensk. Information about the cities on the lands of the Radimichi - Gomel, Krichev, Slavgorod, Chechersk - dates back to the 12th century.

The Baltic tribes of Lithuania and the Yatvingians (Dainova or Sudina) also lived in Belarus as unique islands, with whom they fought back in the 13th century. There was no clear ethnic border between the Balts and the Slavs; Slavic territory was more often designated by cities as border points.

The integration of the diverse Slavic population and the Slavicized Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes led to the formation of a single druzhina class, which was supra-tribal in nature, the formation of an early medieval city on an inter-tribal basis, which in turn influenced the village and contributed to the growth of crafts and trade. The establishment of the first political associations of the Slavs - tribal principalities created for the purpose of joint defense of their own territory, other activities that had a squad, a council of elders and a general veche, led to the strengthening of these proto-state formations. Before this, power was in the hands of the leader and the general meeting of male warriors of a given tribe. This type of management and early forms political organization society, known since the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age, is usually called "military democracy", it is characteristic of the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system and the transition to an early class society.

2. Basic concepts of the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group

The process of formation of the Belarusian ethnic group is long-term, complex and multifaceted and is closely intertwined with the processes of formation of the Russian and Ukrainian ethnic groups. In the scientific literature, various concepts of the origin of the Belarusians are given, and there are different ideas about the time of completion of the process of the main stages of the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group. Some researchers argue that the process of formation of the Belarusian nation began in the 7th-8th centuries. and Belarusians as an ethnic group existed already in the 13th century. (G. Shtykhov, N. Ermolovich, M. Tkachev, etc.). V. Sedov believes that the formation of the Belarusian nation occurred in the XIII-XIV centuries, M. Greenblat attributes the formation of the Belarusian nation to the XIV-XVI centuries. There are other opinions.

Equally diverse are the concepts that consider the very process of ethnogenesis of Belarusians. Some of them are clearly political. Thus, in the 19th century, to substantiate the claims of neighboring states to Belarusian lands, Polish And Great Russian concepts that denied the existence of the Belarusian ethnic group on the grounds that, according to their ideas, Belarusians did not have an independent language. Supporters of the Polish concept (L. Golembovsky, A. Rypinsky, etc.) They considered the Belarusian language a dialect of Polish, and Belarusians as part of the Polish ethnic group. Representatives of the Great Russian concept (A. Sobolevsky, I. Sraznevich and others) argued that the Belarusian language is a dialect of Russian, and Belarusians are the same Russians.

Currently there are a significant number of supporters Baltic concept of ethnogenesis of Belarusians (V. Sedov). According to it, the emergence of Belarusians, in contrast to Russians and Ukrainians, is explained by the fact that the Balts lived on the territory of Belarus before the Slavs. The process of assimilation of the Balts by the Slavs, their influence on the language and culture of the Slavs who settled in the Baltic lands, lead to the emergence of the Belarusian ethnic group. Evidence from the point of view of representatives of this concept is that many elements of Belarusian culture (worship of snakes and stones, the hard sound “r”, softened “d”, “akanie”, women’s headdress “namitka”, a very wide range of Baltic hydronyms and geographical names, etc.) are of Baltic origin. Critics of the Baltic concept emphasize that many cultural phenomena that V. Sedov considers Baltic are both Baltic and Slavic - they are of Indo-European origin. Thus, the Balts are a substratum not of the Belarusians directly, but of the formed East Slavic communities - Dregovichi, Krivichi, Radimichi. In the XI-XII centuries. On the territory of Belarus, only separate areas of Baltic residence remained, the assimilation of which did not express the main direction of ethnic processes, since by this time it had been determined by the East Slavic population. In addition, the self-names Krivichi, Radimichi, Dregovichi replaced the Baltic ones.

M. Pogodin And V. Lastovskiy was developed Krivichi concept. It is based on the assertion that the Krivichi are the direct and only ancestors of the Belarusians. Proponents of this theory proposed calling Belarusians Krivichi, and Belarus - Krivia. But the Krivichi occupied only northern and central Belarus, and it turns out that the southern Belarusian population falls out of the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians; moreover, the Great Russian people later formed on part of the Krivichi range. The ethnonym Krivichi disappeared by the middle of the 12th century, and the Belarusian ethnic group had not been formed by this time.

E. Karsky, V. Picheta, M. Grinblat, M. Dovnar-Zapolsky offered Krivichi-Radimich-Dregovich concept origin of Belarusians, according to which Belarusians are formed on the basis of the unification of the Krivichi, Radimichi and Dregovich tribes. The main drawback of their constructions remains the same - the ethnonyms Dregovichi, Radimichi, as well as Krivichi, disappeared by the middle of the 12th century. These tribes were formed as a result of the Slavic-Baltic synthesis in the 8th-10th centuries. Slavic and Baltic elements were mixed in the culture and language of the Krivichi-Polotsk, Dregovich, and Radimichi. These were qualitatively new proto-Belarusian formations. Having absorbed a number of Baltic elements into their culture, they were distinguished by the specific features of Slavic culture. The Krivichi-Polotsk residents, Dregovichi, and Radimichi were gradually drawn into the formation of the Belarusian nation.

All R. XX century appeared Old Russian concept emergence of Belarusians (M. Artamonov, M. Tikhomirov, V. Mavrodin, S. Tokarev). Its supporters believe that the Krivichi, Dregovichi, Radimichi, like other original East Slavic ethnic communities, served as the basis for the formation of the Old Russian people. The Old Russian nationality was formed during the existence of Kievan Rus (IX - mid-XII centuries). As a result of political disunity, the collapse of Kievan Rus and the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Old Russian people were also separated, which led to the emergence of three East Slavic peoples: Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. This concept in 1950-1970 became the main one in educational and scientific literature, but in 1980-1990. she had many opponents (G. Shtykhov, N. Ermolovich, M. Tkachev, etc.). They believed that the connections between the individual lands of Kievan Rus were not so significant, and the period of existence was not so long that the Old Russian people had time to take shape. And, if the ancient Russian nationality did not exist, then the formation of the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian ethnic groups, and then the corresponding nationalities, depended on which ethnic group (substrate) lived in the territory occupied by the newcomer Slavs. Thus, the Russian ethnos was formed on the basis of the Finno-Ugric substrate, the Ukrainian - Turkic, the Belarusian - Baltic.

In the early 90s. XX century Belarusian ethnographer and historian M. Pilipenko its own concept origin of Belarusians. He believes that in the 9th-10th centuries. As a result of the settlement of the Slavs and their mixing with the Dnieper Balts, not Belarusians, but the original ethnic communities of Krivichi, Dregovich and Radimichi were formed. Then at the end of the X - beginning of the XI century. together with other East Slavic communities, the Krivichi, Radimichi, and Dregovichi consolidated into the Old Russian people. It is characterized by the Old Russian language, common material and spiritual culture. The territory of the Old Russian people became a common ethnic territory called “Rus”. This name was also used on the territory of Belarus, and its population began to be called Rus, Ruthenians, Rusichs, Russians. The ethnic territory of “Rus” was not homogeneous. It consists of ethnic characteristics separate regions are identified that no longer coincide with the ethnic territories of the original communities of Dregovichi, Radimichi, Krivichi. On the territory of modern Belarus, two dialect-ethnographic zones were formed - Polesie and Podvino-Dnieper. In addition to the general name “Rus”, the name “Polesie” was assigned to southern Belarus, and “White Rus'” to central and northern Belarus. In Polesie, based on the transformation of the Dregovichi, Drevlyans and the southern part of the Radimichi, the process of forming a new ethnic communities of Poleshuks. In the Podvino-Dnieper region, as a result of the transformation of the Krivichi, Vyatichi and northern Radimichi, ancient Belarusians. It is the Poleshuks and ancient Belarusians that will become the basis that, interacting with individual groups of the West Slavic, Baltic and Turkic (Tatar) population, will lead to the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group. By the middle of the 16th century. The Belarusian nation, its language and culture will be formed.

Origin of the name "Belaya Rus" is also explained in different ways. It was associated with the beauty of the land (Makariy, 16th century), the abundance of snow (S. Herberstein, 16th century), freedom (V. Tatishchev, 18th century), independence from the Tatar-Mongols (M. Lyubavsky, 19th century) , with a light-pigmented and light-eyed anthropological type of inhabitants (M. Yanchuk, early twentieth century). Later, the name “White Rus'” began to be associated with the earlier adoption of Christianity in comparison with “Black Russia” (Ya. Juho), with the widespread use of names with the word “white” in toponymy.

The term "White Rus'" is older than its use to designate the territory of Belarus. For the first time, the term “White Rus',” as the Russian historian V. Tatishchev wrote, was mentioned in chronicles in 1135 and refers to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. In the 15th century the term “White Rus'” was used to designate Moscow or Great Rus' and was in no way connected with modern Belarus. Under Grand Duke Ivan III term"White Rus'" was included in the title of the Grand Duke of Moscow. In most written sources of the XIV-XVI centuries. ideas about “White Rus'” are reflected as a territory that covers all or part of Russian lands (North-Eastern Rus', Novgorod-Pskov lands, etc.). Since the middle of the 16th century, sources have increasingly clearly traced the idea of ​​“White Rus'” as a separate Belarusian or Belarusian-Ukrainian and partially Russian territory. The secretary of the Polish royal chancellery, Martin Kromer, in his historical work (circa 1558), not only notes that White Rus' borders on the Moscow state, but also draws its northern border. To the north of White Rus', Kromer writes, is Livonia, in the south it borders with Volyn and Red Russia (lands that at that time were classified as Kiev region. Matej Stryjkowski in the Chronicle describes White Rus' within the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as part of White Rus' , in ancient times covering all East Slavic lands.

The first use of the name “White Rus'” by the Belarusians themselves in relation to the ethnic territory of the Belarusians was documented in 1592. At an audience with King Zhigimont, the clerk of the grand ducal chancellery Yarosh Volovich, speaking out against the candidacy of the new Vilna bishop from the Poles, referred to the fact that from ancient times this place was occupied by a nobleman from White Rus'. In the official documents of the Warsaw Sejm of 1623, in the legal acts of King John Sobieski of 1675, concepts such as “Belarusian Orthodox diocese” and “Belarusian bishop” already appeared.

Belarus ethnicity Slavic

3. Ideas of the Belarusian national revival at the beginning of the 20th century

Belarusian national movement at the beginning of the 20th century. developed in the context of the Belarusian lands being part of the Russian Empire and the absence of their own statehood. In the economic aspect, the Belarusian lands were characterized by significant backwardness determined by the presence of feudal remnants in agriculture, the development of the market on the national territory is subordinated to non-national interests, parts of this market are less connected with each other than with external markets, the national bourgeoisie is almost completely absent.

A major role in the genesis of the national revival was played by the fact that the Belarusian ethnic group had an incomplete social composition. This led to the fact that the consolidation of the ethnic group encountered quite a lot of difficulties and had less dynamics. The predominant part of the ethnic group was the peasantry. The Belarusian ethnic group did not have its own national urban centers, with a predominance of the indigenous population and an intense cultural movement, which caused the emergence of national organizing centers outside the main ethnic territory of the people. For Belarusians, St. Petersburg became such a center. An inadequate social structure led to the fact that national oppression was more severe and partially manifested itself in forms that threatened the preservation of the identity of the ethnic group. Thus, in Belarus, in addition to Russian imperial oppression and 1831, there was a process of Polishization.

The assimilation processes were facilitated by the confessional heterogeneity of the ethnic group, as well as the commonality of religion with the “oppressive people” (Belarusian Catholic - “Pole”, Belarusian Orthodox - “Russian”). On the other hand, an ethnic group with incomplete social structure, existing primarily as a peasant, as well as socially full-fledged, almost did not lose its cultural self-identity. For Belarusians, who did not have a strong national culture in the cities, the village became such a support. That is why the period of “gentry revolutionism” was not as significant as in Poland. The peasantry, to whom ethnic self-awareness was inherent, nevertheless mainly saw the “lord's cause” in the national movement. Therefore, the active force of national revival was the democratic intelligentsia, which quickly lost the illusion of winning over the gentry and increasingly focused on the broad masses of the people, trying to instill in them a sense of national dignity.

Unlike the gentry, who fought for the ideals of the past (for the restoration of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - in the uprisings of 1830-31, 1863-64), the intelligentsia sought to become the creator of the national idea of ​​the corresponding modernity and the founder of the national movement in general. Thus, the Belarusian populists called specifically for a supra-ethnic, non-confessional unification of all working and intelligent people of Belarus to work for the benefit of the Belarusian people. The ideological basis for the revival was the propaganda of political and cultural traditions, interpreted not only realistically, but also in a romantic context (idealization of the past). Thus, the national basis (naturalness) of the nation was affirmed.

Manifestation development historical knowledge in the Belarusian context became “ Short story Belarus" by V. Lastovsky (Vilna, 1910), which had a pronounced popular, propaganda character.

Simultaneously with the search for the place of the ethnic group in time, there was a process of delineating its place in space. The definition of the spatial dislocation of an ethnos, its ethnic territory was necessary basis for cultural and then state-political construction. (“Homonovtsy”: “... our people constitute the overwhelming majority of the population of the entire region”).

Renaissance situation of the 19th - early 20th centuries. among Belarusians, when two main forces can be distinguished in national life: a peasantry that retained its ethnic identity, but was politically passive, and a small nationally conscious intelligentsia, which led to the coloring of the entire national movement with peasant values. Hence, entirely peasant values ​​(hard work, diligence, non-conflict, etc.) acquire the status of national values.

The main feature of the national Renaissance of Belarusians is the linguistic nature of its first stage. Although it was natural that at the first stage the national idea was reflected in a foreign language expression. Weak political formation and the quantitative weakness of national forces led to the cultural nature of the Renaissance, while the maximum political task was the creation of cultural-national autonomy (the latter idea dominated in Belarus until 1918).

Formation of a national literary language(one of the factors of the existence of a nation) required overcoming numerous obstacles (for example, a long-term ban on the publication of national newspapers). At the same time, there was a struggle for education in primary and secondary educational institutions in the native language, for its introduction into social and political life - into legislation, management, etc.

The fact that the genesis of the national idea was ahead of the development of the socio-economic soil of the nation led to the following form of consolidation of the nation (Renaissance) in Belarus: a common state - a common language - a common identity - a national community. At the same time, the creation of statehood in this case was not the result of a local national movement, but rather a consequence of a number of internal and external factors and contradictions aggravated by World War I, which collapsed the Russian Empire.

On the issue of the existence of the Belarusian ethnic group and the embodiment of Belarusian statehood at the beginning of the twentieth century, the following main directions in political thought were formed: regionalism, Western Russianism, autonomism, independence.

The revival of the Belarusian national liberation movement began in the late 1870-1880s. and it was connected with the populist movement. In 1884, student members of the “Narodnaya Volya” from the Belarusian faction A. Marchenko, H. Ratner, U. Krupsky, M. Statskevich, S. Kostyushko, L. Nosovich, B. Rynkevich and others published two issue of the magazine “Gomon”, where the idea of ​​the need for nation-state building was quite clearly voiced: “We are Belarusians and must fight for the local interests of the Belarusian people and the federal autonomy of the country.” In their ideas, the “Homanians” were close to the future “Nashans”; the numbers of their publications reached Belarus and were known to the Belarusian populists. In addition to “the political ideal, the populists also wrote on their banner a social ideal - labor... so these ideals turned out to be inextricably linked,” wrote A. Lutskevich about the Belarusian populists. And here it does not matter what language those who fought against the Polonization and Russification of Belarusians spoke in; they all belonged to the Belarusian national movement.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, another new division appeared in the Belarusian socio-political movement, which was a powerful factor in the consolidation of the Belarusian nation. Some, representatives of the national democratic movement, spoke from national Belarusian positions, defending the possibility of self-determination of Belarus on the basis of autonomy in the future democratic federal Russian state. Others are supporters of Western Russianism (a social phenomenon of the 19th century, which signifies the orientation of part of the intellectual circles of Belarus towards Russia and their almost complete denial of the identity of Belarusians in national dimension), considered Belarus as a part of Russia, since they believed that for various reasons it could not be independent, and the Belarusians were classified as one of the Slavic tribes of the united Russian people. There were also supporters of the “krajovasci” (they advocated the revival of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the basis of the “civil nation of Litvins” based on Polish culture), who sought to promote the formation of a nation of a civil (political) type, which is based on historical memory, and not nations of an ethnolinguistic (ethnocultural) type based on language.

Regionalism (regional movement) as a phenomenon of the socio-political life of Belarus and the Polish national movement took shape during the revolution of 1905-1907. (the main role was played by R. and K. Skirmunt, L. Abramovich, B. Yalovetsky, N. Romer). It is based on the idea of ​​a political nation. The inhabitants of the region argued that all indigenous inhabitants of historical Lithuania, regardless of their ethnocultural affiliation, are “citizens of the region” and thus belong to one nation. Different ethnic and cultural flows, mixing, gave birth to a unique type of “regional resident”, who felt himself a citizen of the region and could simultaneously belong to two or three ethnic groups. The history of regionalism refutes the thesis about the peasant origin of Belarusians. The example of R. Skirmunt shows that the gentry cannot be considered completely lost to the Belarusian movement. All residents of the Belarusian-Lithuanian region, regardless of ethnicity and social origin, must unite to work together for the benefit of their region and all its peoples. The people of the region, taking into account the national-cultural, economic, religious and historical features of the Belarusian-Lithuanian region, the presence of local (regional) interests, during the revolution of 1905-1907. put forward the idea of ​​​​autonomy for Lithuania and Belarus, believing that this is the only real opportunity to maintain the position of the Polish socio-political movement in the region. In 1907 in Vilna, at a congress of landowners of six Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces, the Regional Party of Lithuania and Belarus of the liberal-democratic, cadet direction was created. In its program, the party called for self-determination of the region, equality of all nations, and the introduction of education in their native language. A. Lutskevich identified among the Kraevites in Belarus the currents: nationalist-Polish, class-gentry and the second - liberation-populist. The latter were not limited only to national goals, combining them with social liberation.

They all had the same target social group- non-elite layers of society, and in the conditions of the spread of Marxism, the events of the February Revolution, October 1917 and the protracted World War I, attempts were made to implement both approaches. Further development of the national idea, during the period of national upsurge among the working strata of the Belarusian people, was continued by A. Lutskevich, A. Stankevich, D. Zhilunovich, who connected the process of formalizing the national idea with the process of formation of Belarusian national literature.

The goals were formulated by political parties operating on the territory of Belarus at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Bolsheviks' main slogan on the national question was the right of nations to self-determination, even to the point of secession and the formation of an independent state. This requirement was written down in the party program adopted by the Second Congress in 1903, which was developed and interpreted at the Poronin (1913) meeting of the Bolsheviks. This requirement meant that each nation should freely, without violence or pressure, determine its destiny: whether it should remain on one or another equal basis within the framework of a single democratic state or leave it and form an independent state. However, the Bolsheviks did not confuse the right of nations to secede with the expediency of such secession. The Bolsheviks always emphasized the advantage of large states over small ones, considering the functioning of a multinational state as a union of free and equal peoples to be the best option. In this regard, the Bolsheviks put forward the idea of ​​regional autonomy for those peoples who would prefer to remain within the framework of such a single state. Regional autonomy was to be managed by local governments based on taking into account local economic, national and living conditions.

The right of nations to self-determination was also supported by the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs), but without the right to secede and create an independent state. The Social Revolutionaries are for the widespread use of federal relations and the creation of the Russian Democratic Federative Republic. The right to cultural-national self-determination and the creation of cultural-national autonomies was supported by the Mensheviks (officially since August 1912) and the Cadets. Firstly, within the framework of a single state, such autonomy was granted not to national-territorial units, but to the nation, regardless of the place of residence of its representatives. Secondly, autonomy was not granted in all matters of national life (state structure, economic and political development), but only in matters of culture. Each nation within a multinational state, regardless of the territorial settlement of its members, forms a national parliament, which is in charge of the development of national culture (school, language, press, literature, painting, theater, etc.). At the same time, the functions of political power remained under the jurisdiction of the national parliament and government.

More specific goals of the national Belarusian movement are set out in the guidelines of the Belarusian political parties.

Belarusian Socialist Community - in the first program, national demands were reduced to ensuring that all peoples have as much freedom as possible. Subsequently, additions were made to it - the requirement of autonomy was included for the North-Western Territory with the Sejm in Vilna as part of the Russian democratic republic, demands were put forward for the development of Belarusian culture, schools, language, the elimination of national oppression, and equality of nations. At the 2nd congress of the BSG (1906), a new party program was adopted, in which the immediate task was proclaimed to be the overthrow of the autocracy together with the proletariat of all Russia and the creation of a Russian federal democratic republic with free self-determination of the Belarusian people in the form of national-territorial autonomy and with a local Sejm in Vilna . Since mid-1906, the leadership positions in the BSG were transferred to supporters of the liberal-populist direction, who ceased to focus on the implementation of the idea of ​​​​Belarusian statehood, placing the main emphasis on the need to eliminate all discriminatory royal laws regarding local nationalities, including Belarusians, cultural and educational activities, as well as the preservation and unification of Belarusian national-patriotic forces.

The Belarusian Party of People's Socialists (BPSN), created in 1916 as a Belarusian liberal-bourgeois party of cadet orientation, in its program documents advocated granting the Belarusian lands territorial and economic autonomy and the revival of Belarusian culture. After February revolution In 1917, the party began to set the goals of granting Belarus national-territorial autonomy as part of the Russian Federal Democratic Republic with a legislative body - the Belarusian Regional Rada, and for national minorities living on Belarusian territory - the right to cultural-national autonomy.

The First World War led to the strengthening of the national movement in the Belarusian lands. Its center was the Vilna region occupied by German troops. The war became the boundary that separated the “Nasheniv” period in the formation of the national state idea from the period that began in 1915. Its essence is that, first of all, the Lutskevichs abandoned the idea of ​​​​autonomy within Russia and declared their desire for state independence Belarus. At the 3rd Congress of Peoples in Lausanne (June 1916), Belarusians declared their lack of rights in the Russian state.

For the Belarusian national elite, who found themselves on the Russian side of the front, there was no opportunity to express their ideas regarding Belarusian statehood; military censorship was in effect. Belarusian publishing houses were closed, and the environment of the national movement was reduced to the Belarusian comradeship of victims of the war.

The Belarusian national movement has passed the path from the cultural stage of development to the political stage. The First World War brought the Belarusian issue from the domestic Russian to the international level. It was at this time that the Belarusian issue was finally separated from the Polish and Russian ones and became an independent factor in international relations in the Eastern European region.

Seminar lesson: Formation of the Belarusian ethnic group (VI - XX centuries)

1. The main stages of the ethnic history of Belarus. Ethnogenesis of the Eastern Slavs.

Pre-Indo-European and Indo-European periods of the ethnic history of Belarus, the Slavic stage of the ethnic history of Belarus, concepts of the location of the ancestral home of the Slavs, the East Slavic community, Dregovichi, Krivichi, Radimichi, Slavicization of the Balts.

2. Basic concepts of the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group.

Characteristics of the main concepts of the origin of Belarusians: Balst, Krivichi, Krivichi-Radimich-Dregovichi, Old Russian, Polish, Great Russian, M. Pilipenko’s concept. Origin of the name "White Rus'". The first use of the name “White Rus'” by the Belarusians themselves in relation to the ethnic territory of the Belarusians.

3. Ideas of the Belarusian national revival at the beginning XX V .

Conditions for the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group at the beginning of the 20th century. Characteristics of the social composition of the Belarusian ethnic group. The main directions of political thought: regionalism, Western Russianism, autonomism, independence. Stages of development of the national movement at the beginning of the 20th century.

Abstract topics

Ethnic history of Belarusians.

The process of Slavicization of the territory of modern Belarus.

Formation of ancient East Slavic statehood: Kievan Rus, Polotsk and other principalities on the territory of Belarus.

The struggle for democracy and national revival in Belarus (second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries).

The transition of Belarusians from a feudal nation to a bourgeois nation.

Tests

1. The Krivichi tribes formed in the upper reaches of the rivers:

a) Dnieper, Western Dvina, Volga;

b) Dnieper, Desna, Sulla;

c) Pripyat, Western Dvina;

d) Neman, Vistula, Bug.

2. According to the ideas of most modern scientists, the ancestral home of the Slavs was the interfluve:

a) Oder and Vistula;

b) Volga and Oka;

c) Pripyat and Sozh;

d) Dnieper and Western Dvina.

3. The representative of the Baltic concept of ethnogenesis of Belarusians is:

a) V. Picheta;

b) M. Greenblat;

c) V. Sedov;

d) S. Tokarev.

4. Define the non-existent scientific concept of the origin of Belarusians:

a) Great Russian;

b) Old Russian;

c) Polish;

d) Polesie.

5. The first use of the name “White Rus'” by Belarusians themselves in relation to the ethnic territory of Belarusians is documented in:

a) 1385:

b) 1410:

c) 1569:

d) 1592

6. Representatives of the Krivichi concept of ethnogenesis of Belarusians are:

a) M. Artamonov, M. Tikhomirov, V. Mavrodin;

b) M. Pogodin, V. Lastovsky;

c) E. Karsky, V. Picheta, M. Grinblat;

d) L. Golembovsky, A. Rypinsky.

7. In the beginningXXcenturies Belarusian lands:

a) formed an independent state;

b) were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth;

c) were part of the Russian Empire as its usual administrative-territorial units;

d) were part of the Russian Empire as a single cultural-national autonomy.

8. The magazine “Gomon” in St. Petersburg was published by students:

a) A. Marchenko, H. Ratner, M. Statskevich;

b) A. Lutskevich, I. Lutskevich;

c) B. Yalovetsky, N. Romer;

d) A. Stankevich, D. Zhilunovich.

9. Social view XIX century, whose representatives considered Belarus as part of Russia, and the Belarusians were classified as one of the Slavic tribes of the united Russian people:

a) Western Russianism;

b) autonomy;

c) edgeness;

d) independence.

10. The Bolshevik Party program adopted in 1903 provided for:

a) the right of nations to self-determination;

b) preservation of a unified Russian Empire;

c) the need to create an independent Belarusian state;

d) the need to recreate the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Right answers:

1 .A; 2 .A; 3 . V; 4. G; 5 . G; 6 . b; 7 . V; 8. A; 9 .A; 10 . G.

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First The emergence of human society on Earth is a long and difficult process, which stretched over millions of years. There are several hypotheses about the origin of man on Earth:

Darwinian theory of human animal origin (from the common ancestors of humans and monkeys - humanoids). In the USSR, only it was recognized as scientific

religious(about the creation of man and the universe by God in 6 days).

unearthly origin of man (from space). d/f "Memories of the Future" - about the Inca civilization.

But these are all hypotheses. So far, scientists do not know how people appeared. Scientific research confirms that the most ancient people (archanthropes) appeared approximately 2.5 million years ago in East Africa, where the climate is warm. About 1 million years ago they came to the Mediterranean, and on the territory of modern Europe the first people of the European species appeared about 600 thousand years ago.

When did the primitive population appear on the territory of modern Belarus? Who were our distant ancestors? How did the Belarusian ethnic group arise, what stages did it go through in its development?

The first people came to the territory of Belarus much later - somewhere around 100-40 thousand years BC. (Paleolithic). Why at this time? The territory of our state was covered with glaciers for a long time. There are 3 known icing events that are large and somewhat smaller in scale and duration.

Berezinsky - lasted 150 thousand years (began approximately 500-350 thousand years BC).

Dnieper - lasted 190 thousand years BC. (300 thousand - 110 thousand years BC).

Valdai - lasted 7 thousand years (90 thousand years BC - 83 thousand years BC).

Although warming came after it, the glacier made its presence felt for a long time (it went away and then reappeared). It reached the Pinsk-Mozyr-Rechitsa-Gomel line (along Pripyat). The last glacier left Belarusian territory in Mesolithic. The most ancient sites found on the territory of Belarus date back to approximately 40-30 thousand years BC. in the Gomel region (the villages of Berdyzh and Yurovichi, Kalinkovichi district).

Written history began later (Cyrillic and Glagolitic - 9th century AD) more than 1 thousand years. From this time begins the era of civilization, and before that - the era savagery And barbarism.

Belarusians were not the first to appear civilizations. At this time approximately:

4 thousand years BC civilization appears in Egypt and Mesopotamia

3 thousand years BC - In India

7 thousand years BC - the oldest in the world - Sumerian (the territory of modern Iraq).

What was the ancient population like on the territory of Belarus?

According to the accepted ethnic periodization, 4 main eras are distinguished:

pre-Indo-European ( stone Age 100-40 thousand years to 3-2 thousand years BC)

Indo-European (bronze) (on the border of 3-2 thousand years BC - 8-7 centuries AD)

Baltic (iron) (starting from the 8th century BC - 5-6th century AD)

Slavic (6th century AD in the south, 8-9th century AD - in the north (Vitebsk)).

the creation of the Belarusian people (GDL, 13th century) - this era does not belong to antiquity.

The basis of this ethnographic periodization is the process of formation of the Belarusian ethnic group.

Pre-Indo-European The era occupies the entire Stone Age (100-40 thousand years to 3 thousand years BC). The most ancient sites were discovered in the villages of Yurovichi and Berdizh (Gomel region) - 28-26 thousand BC. The ethnicity of the natives is not clear, but apparently they were Caucasian. They invented the bow, were engaged in gathering, hunting, and fishing. They had matriarchy with exogamy (prohibition of marriage within the same clan) and endogamy (prohibition of marriage within the tribe). There were large families. During the Mesolithic, ceramic products already existed, flint was being mined for polishing stone (By the way! The only mine in Eastern Europe for its extraction was near Volkovysk). Approximately 600 sites from the Neolithic period (5-3 thousand BC) have been found. During this period, a gradual transition to livestock farming and farming began, from gathering to producing farming. The population was approximately 10 thousand people. It was mainly populated by Polesie, Ponemonye and Posozhye.

Among the pre-Indo-Europeans of the Neolithic era on the territory of Belarus in 3 thousand BC. Finno-Ugric (comb-pit pottery culture) can be identified. They walked from the Urals to the north of Belarus due to the presence of a better climate here. According to the anthropological appearance, the Finno-Ugrians were divided into 2 branches: Mongoloid appearance (narrow eyes, round face, black hair. For example, in Russia - Khanty, Mansi) and Caucasian- Finns, Hungarians, Estonians. Evidence of their existence in Belarus is external similarity, hydronymy, toponymy (Zelva, Svir, Dvina).

The Finno-Ugrians are the only people in Europe whose ancestors were not Indo-Europeans. In terms of development, they were no higher than the natives and were probably assimilated among the latter.

Indo-European the era begins at the border of 3-2 thousand years BC. Indo-Europeans are the ancestors of the modern peoples of Europe and partly Asian (Indian, Iranian, Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, Roman, Slavic and others).

Indo-Europeans first lived in Asia Minor and Central Asia. As a result of the “demographic explosion” associated with the technological revolution (the transition to sedentarism (cattle breeding and agriculture), the emergence of surplus food, wealth, social inequality), people began to eat better → transition to patriarchy. The great migration of peoples began, the so-called. migration to free lands, incl. to the territory of Belarus. At that time, researchers identified 2 migration flows:

One wave of Indo-Europeans went to India, where, under the name of the Aryans, they founded their civilization - the ancient Vedas.

The second wave through the Balkans and Ukrainian steppes - to Europe. In southern Europe, the Indo-European tribe of the Achaeans founded Troy and laid the foundation for ancient Greek civilization. From there it's starting education of many European and Asian peoples - Germans, Celts, Iranians, Balts, Slavs (with their own languages ​​and cultures).

In Belarus, with the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, the Stone Age ended and the Bronze Age began. Indo-Europeans settled over vast areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the Rhine to the Volga.

The Indo-Europeans were the first people in history to invent:

metal (first copper, then tin and got bronze (hence the name Bronze Age). This was a new circle of technological revolution.

battle drilled axes

agriculture

livestock farming

created pottery cultures

burial mounds (the dead were sprinkled with red ocher (a symbol of fire and the sun, which the Indo-Europeans worshiped)).

The level of development of the Indo-Europeans was higher than that of the local population, so they assimilated it and formed their own languages. As a result of the mixing of Indo-Europeans with the local population, their single community disintegrated into separate ethnic communities. One of them is pro-Balto-German-Slavic (mid-2 thousand BC). Later it will be divided into Balts, Germans and Slavs.

A number of scientists believe that the most ancient Indo-Europeans on the territory of modern Belarus were the Celts (in the West and South of Belarus). They came from the Middle East and settled in the lands of modern Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, France, Spain, and England.

In 1 thousand years BC. The Balts, who separated from the Indo-Europeans, settled on the territory of Belarus.

Baltskaya The ethnographic era began in the 8th century. BC (Iron Age). There is an opinion among scientists that the Balts are an offshoot of the Gauls (part of the Celtic tribes), their level of development is higher than their predecessors, so they assimilated them.

Peculiarities Balts:

pioneered the production of iron from swamp ore (iron axes)

spinning

weaving

pottery

At this time, the Balts observed the accumulation of surplus production, the division of large patriarchal families into small ones. They build settlements in inaccessible places (they use ramparts, ditches with water, fortifications). The fact that there were Balts in Belarus is evidenced by totems (in the form of a snake, snake (bracelets)), the dead began to be buried in mounds, corresponding toponymy, hydronymy, first and last names.

The first written information about our ancestors (South Belarusian Balts) called neurons found in the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. At the beginning of 1 thousand years AD. in most of our territory lived the following Baltic tribes:

Yatvingians (Grodno and partly Brest lands)

Lotva (Vitebsk region and Northern Minsk region)

Dainova (Narochansko-Molodechno region)

Lithuania (Upper and Middle Panyamonne) and others.

The Baltic period of the ethnic history of Belarus coincided in time with the emergence and flourishing of the Roman ancient civilization. As a result of contacts of our Balts with the Roman Empire, monetary circulation in Belarus began with Roman silver coins - denarii (2-3 centuries AD), found in the Brest and Grodno regions.

Slavic The ethnographic era begins in the 6th century. AD The Slavs, like the Balts, stand out from the general mass of Indo-Europeans and initially settled in Europe (the territory between the Oder and the Vistula (East Germany - West Poland)). The movement of the Slavs through these territories became part of the so-called. "Great Migration" - the settlement of the territory of the Roman Empire by primitive tribes from 4 to 7 centuries. AD In 476 AD The last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus Caesar, was overthrown and the so-called "Barbarian" kingdoms. The expansion of Slavic tribes covered the territory of the Balkans (Yugoslavia) + Central Europe - Northern. Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus.

In the southwest of Belarusian Polesie the Slavs appeared in the 6th century. AD, they began to move north, where the Baltic tribes lived. In the 8th-9th century AD. inhabit Posozhye, in the 9th century. - Podvinye. The Slavs came to the Belarusian lands both from the West and from the south. With their arrival, the era of primitiveness ended and the transition to early feudal relations began.

Several people settled on the territory of Belarus Slavic tribes:

Krivichi (Vitebsk, Smolensk, Vilna and partly Grodno regions)

Dregovichi (Central Belarus and northern Polesie)

Radimichi (Mogilev and Gomel regions).

Other East Slavic tribes lived on the territory of Belarus - the Fool, the Drevlyans. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions their resettlement. Their level of development was higher than that of the Balts who lived here. In particular, they had:

arable farming,

plow with an iron tip,

From the 6th-7th centuries. AD a long process of consolidation of the Slavic tribes and the Baltic population assimilated by them into one ethnic community begins. This will be facilitated by the creation of their first state entities. With the arrival of the Slavs, the primitive system ended and the transition to feudalism began.

From the 13th century The 5th era of the creation of a single ethnic community begins - Litvins(ON) - Belarusian people.

Thus, the roots of the Belarusian ethnic group go back to the old days. Belarusians belong to one of the ancient peoples of Europe. Our nationality, like many others, was formed as a result of the processes of migration of ancient inhabitants of Asia and Europe, the synthesis of tribes that lived at different times on our territory. These were first the pre-Indo-Europeans + in the northeast - the Finno-Ugric peoples, then the Indo-Europeans came and assimilated the natives. The Balts and Slavs emerged from the Indo-Europeans, but their ethnogenesis is based on the Baltic substrate (base). This is evidenced by archaeological data, names of places and appearance of Belarusians.

As is known, the Slavs were divided into several groups with their own ethnic characteristics:

Western (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Puddles)

southern (Croats, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins)

Eastern (Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians).

As noted above, the Litvins, as a single nationality, were formed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It made up the majority of the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, since the ancestors of today’s Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and Aukštaites also lived there. Name Litvins Over the 500 years of its existence, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania has become a historical ethnonym for Belarusians.

Second The problem of Belarusian ethnogenesis is the most controversial and politicized. There are many concepts about the origin of Belarusians (Latin - a way of understanding the problem), some of them are falsified. Our task is not just to list some of them, but to provide a scientific basis for the real ones and criticism for the falsifications.

Great Russian concept of the origin of Belarusians.

Installed in historical literature from the 19th century - It was falsified and still exists today. Invented by Russian politicians and historians who wanted to justify the annexation of Belarusian lands to Russia at the end of the 18th century. (Her Imperial Majesty Empress Catherine II ordered the casting of the “Rejected Returned” medal). It was beneficial for them to forget the original meaning of the word "Rus", "Rusichi"- this is what the inhabitants of the eastern regions of our country were called. And these names had nothing to do with Muscovy at that time. Later, Muscovy will begin to call itself Russia. Even in the “Tale of Bygone Years” (12th century) it is said: “Initially, Rus' sat along the Varangian (Baltic Sea).” The first Prince Rurik came from Varangians, from the Rus. Koenigsberg was called the capital of Prussia, next to Russia. It was German historians and geographers who served in Russia under Peter I and later who tried to eradicate the name Rus' from the names of the Baltic lands and seize them. Also Ivan IV the Terrible, then Alexei Mikhailovich and other Moscow Tsars, waging wars for access to the Baltic, conquering our lands (after all, it is impossible to bypass them), They considered it necessary to take care of the Belarusians - co-religionists with the Muscovites. After the annexation of the Belarusian lands to the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century, when conducting censuses, religion was considered the main ethnic trait all Orthodox Christians were recorded as Russians, and the Uniate system was eliminated. Since 1840, even the name "Belarus" was prohibited - the North-Western Territory was established. There are no Belarusians, but there are Russians spoiled by Polish influence.

Wielkopolska the concept (invented by the Poles) arose in the 20s. 20th century (some still recognize it). According to it, the Belarusian lands were called the eastern Kresy of Poland (outskirts), and the Belarusians were called Poles, spoiled by Russian influence. The explanation is as follows: they lived in one state for a long time, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth + Krevo Union + 7 dynastic unions were formed. Historically, the struggle between Russia and Poland for Belarusian lands ended in 1921 with the Treaty of Riga, according to which Western Belarus went to Poland. In 1939 (according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), Western Belarus joined the USSR. During World War II, the Akovtsy (Home Army) advocated the return of Western Belarus to them. This concept is also a falsification, beneficial to Poland, and has no scientific basis.

Krivichi and Krivichi-Dregovichi-Radimichskaya concepts. They are also inaccurate. At the beginning of the 20th century. Vaclav Lastovsky opposed the great power aspirations of Russia and Poland and proposed to consider Belarusians as an ethnic group that exists separately from the Russians and Poles. He laid out the independent origin of the Belarusians in the Krivitsa concept (in the science fiction story “Labyrinth”). In particular, he proved that in the 9th-13th centuries. the Krivichi had their own independent state, that they were the direct ancestors of the Belarusians, but then he did not know that the Balts lived on the Belarusian lands. It turns out that before the appearance of the Krivichi there was no one here. He claimed that Belarusians had more than 1000 years of statecraft. The inaccuracy of these concepts lies in the fact that the Slavs came to the Belarusian lands only in the 6th century AD. (To the south), and to the north - in the 9th century AD, it turns out that until now it was as if no one had been in Belarus, but this is not so. Sites near the villages of Yurovichi and Berdyzh indicate that approximately 30 thousand years BC. People already lived here, and not just from the 6th century AD. In addition, it is known that the Krivichi, Dregovichi and Radimichi disappeared from the pages of chronicles in the mid-12th century, and the Belarusians as an ethnic group were formed in the mid-13th century. The chronological lacuna indicates the imperfection of the evidence.

The famous Belarusian scholar J. Karski and the Slavic historian V. Picheta developed the Krivich-Dregovich-Radimich concept. She claims that the ancestors of the Belarusians are the tribal associations of the Eastern Slavs - the Krivichi-Polotsk people who lived along the Western Dvina, the Dregovichi - who lived in the territory of Pripyat Polesie between Pripyat and the Dvina - and the Radimichi who settled on the Sozh River.

Old Russian nationality (KyivRus). Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians come from it. The concept was created by Soviet historians in the mid-50s of the 20th century. (Ethnographer Tokarev, V. Mavrodin) to justify the formation of an artificial single community of people in the USSR - the Soviet people. According to it, the origins of the Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian peoples are the Old Russian people - an East Slavic ethnic community that formed in the 9th-10th centuries. in the Middle Dnieper region as a result of the mixing of the Krivichi, Dregovichi, Drevlyans, Northerners, etc. This concept was based on the fact that from the beginning of colonization by the Eastern Slavs (from the 6th-7th century AD) the lands of modern Ukraine, Belarus and part of Russia were created unified ancient Russian state with a center in Kyiv with a single language, culture, traditions, a single destiny. This means that a single ancient Russian ethnic group was created. After the collapse of Kievan Rus in the 12th century. The united Old Russian people split into many small principalities into 3 (Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians), who, even at the genetic level throughout history, retained the desire for reunification in the new society of the USSR as a single Soviet people. The Bolsheviks were always internationalists, since it was believed that under communism there would be no nations. A N.S. Khrushchev said Belarusians would be the first to come to communism. But, as we know from history, in fact there was no common ancient Russian state of Kievan Rus, which would have permanently included the Principality of Polotsk. In its 500-year history, only for a short time did it become dependent on Kyiv. The arrival of the Eastern Slavs to these lands is associated with mixing with the indigenous, more numerous population. But nations were formed on different ethnic basis:

Belarusians (Slavs + Balts)

Ukrainians (Slavs + Sarmatians (Iranian tribes))

Russians (Slavs + Finno-Ugric).

It was the pre-Slavic populations of Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians that predetermined the difference between the 3 East Slavic peoples, i.e. there was no common cradle, and the anthropological species is also different.

Fifth Slavic (Slavic-Baltic origin) concept. Scientifically proven. According to it, the ancestors of Belarusians are both the Slavs and the Balts, who lived here about 2 thousand years BC. before Slavic colonization. Our ancestors are Slavs on the Baltic substrate (underground). There is a lot of evidence for this:

archaeological data (housing, tools, burials, decoration, totems inherent in the Baltic region)

hydronymy

toponymy

ethnographic data (names and surnames)

linguistics

anthropology ( appearance Belarusians).

It is interesting that the Russian archaeologist Valentin Sedov was the first to speak about the Baltic origin of the Belarusians (in 1970), and published a study in which he substantiated the Baltic basis (substrate) in the process of ethnogenesis (formation) of the Belarusians. Lithuanians call it Baltarusia, Latvians still call it Baltakryvia. Supporters of this theory see the origins of Belarusians in the Slavicization of the Balts. The roots of the Belarusian ethnic group go back to the time when the Slavs settled in the Upper Dnieper region and neighboring regions. As a result of the Slavs' development of the territory of Belarus, where the Balts had previously lived, in the 8th-9th centuries. Ethnically close communities of the East Slavic population emerged: Krivichi, Dregovichi, Radimichi, partly Volynians, Drevlyans and Northerners, who are named in the chronicles. On their basis, an ancient ethnos was formed.

It caused panic in the capital of the BSSR; Minsk historian L. Abetedarsky said about it that it was the work of supporters of American imperialism. At this time, a conference on this topic was even canceled, and scientists who shared this opinion were removed from leadership positions.

Third The difficulties of the historical development of Belarusians (the loss of statehood over the last 2 centuries, the destruction of the national intelligentsia did not interrupt the ethnic consolidation of the people). It managed to form into an independent nation, which has its own language, territory, state, culture, and lives in a single economic space. The Belarusian ethnos is determined by distinctive national features (character, mentality, which distinguishes it from others).

The most important ethnic feature is Belarusian language(according to the 1989 census, 77.7% of Belarusians speak their native Belarusian language, and in 1999 the question of their native language was not raised). The Belarusian language belongs to the Slavic group of the Indo-European language family. It began to take shape in the 10th-13th centuries. (like Old Belarusian), gradually penetrated into church literature and replaced Church Slavonic. Its heyday occurred during the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (F. Skorina published 23 books of the Bible before 1519, where there was a combination of folk speech and Church Slavonic language), and already S. Budny and V. Tyapinsky wrote only in their native language.

The fate of the Belarusian language is difficult: it was banned by Poland (1696), Russia (1840), in 1990 it received state status, and since 1995 bilingualism has been established. As a result of centuries-old Polonization and Russification, the prestige of the Belarusian language has decreased even in the eyes of Belarusians themselves. For a long time, the idea was propagated that the Belarusian language does not exist, that these are dialects of either Polish or Russian. But in fact it is very ancient (belongs to the Indo-European language family of the East Slavic language group). The proximity of the Belarusian language to Indo-European(to its fundamentals) indicates that the Belarusian language:

inherited Indo-European vocabulary

sights: dzekanie, tsekanie, “u” short, j

in white language and Sanskrit there are many words that have the same sound and semantic meaning (dad, mom)

in ancient Indian works there is a mention of the Krivichi, but there are no words “Rus”, “glades”

there are many borrowings from other languages ​​(from Latin - honor, calendar, axe, from Tatar - pumpkin, goat, fool, from German - sugar, brick, from Polish - fork, betrayal, treasure).

Second Statehood

A people cannot exist without its own statehood, and the Belarusians had it.

Anthropological type of Belarusians- Central European version of the European race. Average height, long face, straight nose with a small hump, light skin and hair, and if dark, then they are Finno-Ugric or Celts.

National character. Belarusians have qualities that are highly valued in any human society: hard work, kindness, responsibility, tolerance, patience, hospitality, non-violence and cruelty. At the same time, there are also negative traits: indecision, cunning, conformism, conservatism, inertia (a Belarusian will not tear his shirt).

Olgierd Kwasniewski told Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: “We, the Poles, and you, the Russians, are Slavs, but we have a significant difference: we, the Poles, fight until the first blood, and you, the Russians, until the last.”

Original Belarusian folklore(legends, traditions, fairy tales). One of the most ancient and richest among the East Slavic peoples.

Life(folk calendar, rituals, food, names of places).

First and last names. Approximately 2800 Belarusian names (about 1700 male and 1100 female and their colloquial variants). In 2000, a dictionary of personal names was published. Belarusians have developed a variety of first and last names. Surnames appeared on the territory of Belarus in the 16th and 17th centuries. The glorified Balts added a suffix to their surnames and given names "ich"(Nesterovich, Zhilunovich, Mironovich). Proper names - patronymics, surnames, pseudonyms, nicknames of people, names of animals. The surnames of Belarusians could come from:

names of animals, birds, insects (Hare, Mosquito, Beetle, Shpak)

from the name of the profession that the ancestors were engaged in (Blacksmith, Potter, Bandar, Baker, Shoemaker)

from the name of body parts (arm, head, nose, tooth)

from the name of the area (Mstislavets, Zagorsky, Pinchuk, Oshmyanets)

from nicknames (Bobylev, Kulak, Parosha, Klim)

from the proper names of their ancestors (Antonov - son of Anton, Levanovich, Fomin, Andreyuk, Gavrilyuk)

Baltic origin (Ragoisha, Ablameiko, Domeiko, Korbut)

from the name of specific objects (Kosh, Vine, Fur Coat, Loop, Mushroom)

Names of Belarusians:

actually Belarusian: Yaroslav (Yar-sun), Miroslav (glorifies the world), Nadezhda, Lada.

the desire of parents to emphasize the mental and physical qualities of the child: Dobrynya, Samokhval

the parents’ desire to scare away evil spirits from the child and gave “false names” (Gadysh, Nevpakoy, dead, Krivets)

names borrowed from Poland (Mateusha, Agnieszka, Jane, Jan, Zhanna)

names borrowed from the Scandinavians (Olga, Oleg, Igor)

Orthodox canonical names adapted to the Belarusian language: John - Ivan, Evdokia - Avdotya.

during the USSR, “ideological” names appeared (Traktorina, Oktyabrina, Aurora, Progress, Vilen, Kim, Industry)

changes in shades of the name depending on the situation: Peter, Pyatrak, Petya, Petr, Petrus, Petrasyuk, Pyatrosha.

The Republic of Belarus is a mono-national, multi-ethnic state. According to the 2009 census, Belarusians make up 83.7% - the titular nation.

Ethnic division of Belarus (%)

When covering this topic ideologically, two extremes should be avoided in every possible way: You can neither belittle nor excessively elevate your ethnicity. In the first case, you can completely lose your historical, cultural, linguistic roots. In the second - to “slide” onto the road of nationalism and racism. Therefore, we must adhere to historicism, objectivity, i.e. scientificity in explaining our origin and development.

The formation of Man on Earth begins about 2 million years ago in Africa. About a million years have passed since the settlement of the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and southern Ukraine. He came to the territory of Belarus no longer prehistoric man, and “Homo sapiens” - Homo sapiens about 40 thousand years ago. The harsh climate of our territories, generated by the Ice Age /16-8 thousand years BC/, scared away nomadic primitive people from this region. Two of the oldest human sites on Belarusian territory have been discovered. Near the village of Yurovichi, not far from Mozyr, on the Pripyat River and on the Sozh River, near the village of Berdyzh, near Chechersk. About 50 people lived on them, about 23 thousand. years ago.

As the glacier melted and retreated /8-5 thousand years BC/ and the territory of Belarus was populated more massively by newcomers from different places and directions. In the valleys of the largest rivers, a permanent population was established, as evidenced by the discovered 120 sites of people of that period, with a total population of up to 6 thousand people. A nomadic person, not bound by a permanent household, settled the territories most suitable for gathering, hunting and fishing on a spontaneous basis.

Soviet academician V.Yu. Bromley explained the formation of different ethnic groups this way. A small group of people /family, clan/, living in a limited territory, forms the basis of an ethnic group: language, culture, type of economy and way of life. The increase in its numbers forces us to look for and develop new territories for living, since natural resources are becoming scarce, and agriculture and cattle breeding have not yet appeared. Subject to circumstances, part of this ethnic group left in search of new lands rich in resources, sticking to rivers, lake and sea coasts, which provided a diversity of flora and fauna, a favorable habitat for humans. Rivers played the role of a compass, roads and provided the pioneers with a solution to their problems. If they met indigenous people along the way, they could be conquered and subjugated. However, mutual experience, languages, cultures, mixing and interacting with each other, mutually enriched and improved. This is how related, but different from each other, especially over time, ethnic groups were formed. In the opposite case, when the natives subjugated the newcomers, the cultural and life potential of the latter also did not disappear without a trace, but was integrated, at least partially, into the general culture of the new ethnic entity. If the lands new to the newcomers were not occupied, then in this case their language was enriched, new labor skills, traditions, etc. appeared. The old culture adapted to new conditions and inevitably changed itself.

Concept by V.Yu. Bromley is also very important for understanding the process of formation of the Belarusian ethnic group, especially its Indo-European period. It is associated with the first great migration of peoples, which occurred in the 3-2 millennia BC. Due to the sharp increase in the Earth's population, Europe from the Rhine to the Volga began to flood wave of immigrants from the Indo-European language group. There was no unity on the question of their origin. European localization concept claimed that the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans was Northern Germany and Southern Scandinavia. It was actively supported in Nazi Germany. But science clearly stated that Europe was settled by migrants from south to north, and not vice versa. And cattle breeding and agriculture took hold in northern Europe later than, for example, in the Balkans.

Didn't clarify the situation and Balkan concept their origin. After all, the Indo-Europeans came to this territory from outside.

There was also a concept according to which the Indo-Europeans migrated from the southern steppes of Eastern Europe and large areas of Siberia. This theory also did not survive, mainly because the original homeland of ethnic groups, as science claims, cannot be so vast.

A more deeply grounded concept won and took hold. the Western Asian ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans. Since the 70s of the XX century. this concept prevails. According to it, the Indo-Europeans spread to the west, north and east of Europe from the territory of present-day Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Various sciences /archaeology, toponymy, ethnography/ prove that Indo-Europeans came from the mountainous south. They knew about mountain glaciers, deserts, lions, elephants, etc. As a result of their arrival, on a vast territory covering the basins of such rivers as the Vistula, Neman, Dnieper, Western Dvina, a new ethnic group - the Balts. In it, the local population was assimilated by Indo-Europeans, who brought with them the skills of cattle breeding and agriculture. Iron tools appeared and were improved. The population on our territory has increased to 50-75 thousand people. The type of settlement also changed: these were already fortified settlements, of which there were up to a thousand.

With the arrival of the Slavs/ IV-V centuries. AD/ the modern ethnic stage of the history of Belarus has begun. From the 8th century AD Slavs en masse established themselves on the right bank of the Dnieper, along the Berezina, in the Podvina region, and along the Neman. The Baltic population was partially destroyed, part of it was forced out to the Baltic states, where it contributed to the formation of the ethnic groups of Latvians and Estonians, and the rest were assimilated by the Slavs until the 13th century. and later. As a result of the historical interaction of the Slavs and the Balts, new ethnic communities arose: Krivichi, Radimichi, Dregovichi. The Krivichi lived in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Western Dvina and Volga. In Polesie, between Pripyat and Berezina - Dregovichi, between Sozh and Iput - Radimichi.

In the second millennium AD The tribal organization of our ethnic group is being replaced by a political one. The emergence of cities and principalities unified their life on a political, state basis. Conditions arise for the emergence of a larger community of Belarusians – a nation.

In parallel with the described ethno-demographic processes, others took place that had an impact on the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group. History highlights second great migration. It dates back to the 4th-7th centuries AD, but it began before our era movement of the Scythians and Sarmatians from the territory of modern Central Asia and Kazakhstan from Altai to the Danube. In addition, one of the East German tribes, goths, from the coast of the Baltic Sea / on the territory of modern Poland / moved through our lands to the south of Ukraine, spreading its influence from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Slavs in their settlement from the Elbe to the East European Plain, starting from the 6th century. had a direct influence on the formation of our ethnic group.

As a result of these intensive mass migrations of peoples in the Middle Dnieper region, within the framework of Kievan Rus, the Old Russian people appeared with common name – Rus. But later /from the beginning of the 12th century/ she divided into three related peoples: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Each of them created and experienced their own history, preserving and enhancing their common ties while establishing ethnic and political independence.

On the territory of present-day Belarus, after the collapse of Kievan Rus, two dialect-ethnographic zones clearly emerged: the Poleshuks and the ancient Belarusians, who became the direct ancestors of modern Belarusians. From the end of the 15th century. the dominance of an independent complex was consolidated within the current borders of Belarus ethnic culture with its own language called “White Rus'”. The inhabitants of the territory began to be called “Belarusians”.

The territory of Ancient Rus' was divided into “White Rus'”, “Black Rus'”, “Red Rus'” based on the tradition of indicating the cardinal directions with colors: white is west, blue is east, black is north, red is south. So Belarusians are the western part of the Slavs. In addition, white color also meant purity, independence and freedom from paying tribute.

The formation of the Belarusian ethnic group is ideologically explained not so clearly. Back in the 19th century. the Polish and Great Russian concept appeared, according to which the Polish side /L. Galembovsky, A. Rypinsky/, on the basis that Belarusians supposedly do not have their own independent Slavic language, considered the Belarusian language to be a part, a dialect of Polish, respectively, an integral part of the Polish ethnic group. On the Russian side / A. Sobolevsky, I. Sraznevsky / - on the contrary, on the same basis they considered Belarus to be part of the Great Russian ethnic territory, and the Belarusian language to be a dialect of Russian.

Both approaches generally denied the Belarusian people the right to an independent national existence, much less a state existence. But history has put everything in its place. Now the Belarusian nation, the Belarusian state are real and legally equal subjects of international relations with other nations and states, recognized by the world community. Is it true, The process of formation of the Belarusian nation dragged on until the 20th century for a number of objective reasons. After all, a nation is a historically established community of people who have a common language, a common theory, and a common economic and cultural life. Nations in the world were formed on the basis of industrial production with the victory of bourgeois relations over feudal ones. In Belarus, both came quite late, as well as in the Russian Empire as a whole, in which Belarus existed as a peripheral agricultural northwestern region. Industrial and bourgeois-democratic transformations came here later than in the political and economic centers of Russia, and even in a reduced form.

Frequent wars, redistribution of territory with its subsequent polonization and Russification hindered the formation of territorial stability and integrity of Belarus. This also prevented the consolidation of the national Belarusian language and national identity among the people. The economy of an agricultural region with a rural population and domination of Russian and Jewish capital in the cities also did not contribute to the consolidation of the Belarusian people into a nation with a single culture. This process was also hampered by the division of the population along religious lines into Orthodox and Catholic. The situation was overcome through the socialist revolution and industrialization already in the 20th century.

The Belarusian nation is characterized by such generally recognized stable characteristics as tolerance, i.e. a tolerant attitude towards others (to religion, culture, different opinions, to other people, nations, races). It could not be otherwise in the conditions of multifaceted and active interaction with other ethnic groups and states. We also have such a trait as hard work. Formed mainly as a peasant nation, earning their livelihood through hard work in an area of ​​risky agriculture and far from the best soils, the Belarusians could survive, survive and develop only through hard and systematic work. And in the conditions of industrial development, with very limited natural resources, you can exist and progress only by multiplying hard work by professionalism and high qualifications of labor. Our nation is also characterized by such features as heroism in defense of the Fatherland, obedience to the law, respect for human rights and the pursuit of social justice. The combination of these qualities constitutes a positive image /image/ of Belarusians and the state of Belarus in the world community.

Analyzing the history of the formation and current state of the Belarusian ethnic group, modern science proves that Belarusians are a typical European nation. So, A. Mikulic, anthropologist, geneticist, doctor biological sciences, the State Prize laureate deeply scientifically substantiated this position. His arguments are as follows. The Baltic-Black Sea watershed passes through Belarus. The anthropological division of the northern Caucasian population and the southern one also takes place here. At the turn of the new and previous eras, the Scythian, Germanic, Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes interacted here. And in the middle of the first millennium AD. The Slavs also came here. The question arises: what kind of blood flows in our veins more - Scythian, Baltic, Slavic?

A. Mikulich, as an anthropologist, studied rural population of Belarus, where the basis of the gene pool is still preserved, in contrast to the urban population, where interethnic and even interracial migration is much more significant. Belarusian political scientist Yu. Shevtsov also claims that in our country “migration, as a rule, was not associated with the mass relocation of a foreign population to the countryside. Migrants settled primarily in cities with an almost complete absence of rural areas that would have been completely colonized by foreign migrants.”

A. Mikulich's research showed that the South European admixture is manifested among Poleshuks, and the North European /Fino-Ugric/ admixture is manifested among northeastern Belarusians. But in general, on the world map, the established Belarusian type occupies its own niche, assigned to it by nature and history. On the geographical map of Belarus, the genetic components of the blood of our indigenous population change smoothly from southwest to northeast /as well as changes in flora and fauna, in the type of forest/. As in all of Europe, the hair color of our population also changes: from dark among the Poleshuks to light among the inhabitants of the Podvina region. At the genetic level, it is also confirmed that Belarusians have 5-6 facial types, 6 clearly defined ethnographic regions: Eastern Polesie, Western Polesie, Ponemonie, Central Belarus, Dnieper and Podvinia. They were formed by the beginning of the 17th century. And the general Belarusian genotype, with its local characteristics, was formed 3 thousand years ago, when the Balts lived here. Since then, our ancestors have been similar to you and me.

The ethnographic regions of Belarus, according to A. Mikulich, coincide with the map of Belarusian dialects compiled back in 1903 by the Russian ethnographer E. Karsky and with the latest electronic map compiled on the basis of ethnogenomics (differences between ethnic groups at the DNA level). These same maps also indicate that the borders of the Belarusian ethnic group are wider than the borders of the state of Belarus: they capture the Baltic states, part of Poland and Russia.

Polesie is a special region of our country. Natural conditions contributed to the preservation of the deepest features of our gene pool here. In Polesie, A. Mikulich discovered genotypes of the so-called paleo-European race: they were once present in the ancestors of all Europeans, but are now preserved only in Spain among the Basques and in northern Europe among the Lapps. In general, Belarusians are like all Europeans and therefore, notes A Mikulich, that we are, as it were, “of the same blood.” The first and second blood groups predominate among Belarusians /35-37% each/. The third group is found in 17-20% of the population. There is little (5%, and in the east of the country - up to 9%) type IV blood. The map of blood groups of the Eurasian subcontinent clearly shows a trend: the further to the east, the more people there are with blood groups III and IV. Among Mongoloids, group III generally predominates. And vice versa - the further to the west of this vast territory - the more people there are with blood groups I and II.

Thus, the Belarusian ethnos is an independent, long-formed and stable ethnos that has taken its place in the anthropological, ethnocultural and political life of Europe. Even the bloodiest wars that swept through our territory, destroying up to ¾ of the Belarusian population (Livonian War of 1557-1582, war of 1648-1667, North War 1700-1721, Napoleon's invasion, World War I 1914-1918, Civil War on the ruins of the Russian Empire and World War II) could not destroy the Belarusian people. He survived, asserted himself and took the path of progress and prosperity.

The process of formation of the Belarusian ethnic group is quite complex and contradictory. There is no consensus among scientists about the time of the appearance of Belarusians as an ethnic group, or about the ancestors of modern Belarusians. It is believed that the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians took place on the territory of the Upper Dnieper, Middle Podvina and Upper Ponemonia. Some researchers (Georgy Shtykhov, Nikolai Ermolovich, Mikhail Tkachev) believe that the Belarusian ethnic group existed already in the 13th century. Archaeologist Valentin Sedov believed that the Belarusian ethnic community developed in the 13th-14th centuries, Moses Greenblat - in the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries.

The emergence of Belarus as an ethnic territory and its East Slavic population is an integral part of the process of formation of the Belarusian people (ethnogenesis). It is impossible to answer numerous questions about the origin of Belarus without considering a number of problems of Belarusian ethnogenesis, without answering the question about the ancestors of Belarusians, the historical roots of our people.

Today, unfortunately, there is no common point of view among scientists in Belarus regarding the ethnogenesis of Belarusians. There are many different versions about where the Belarusians came from, where their ethnic roots are, within which state formations the formation of our nationality, our nation took place. The presence of several concepts of the emergence of Belarus and the origin of the Belarusian people is due to the complexity of the very process of formation of an ethnic territory and the methods of its study, the variety of sources, which very often are fundamentally different from each other Kucherenko E.I., Kucherenko M.E. Toponymy in local history work. M., 2008. pp. 131-142..

There are several fundamentally different concepts of the ethnogenesis of Belarusians:

Krivichi theory of the origin (ethnogenesis) of the Belarusian people. One of these theories of the origin of the Belarusian people is the Krivichi theory, formulated in basic terms in the second half of the 19th century and received significant development at the beginning of the 20th century in the works of a number of scientists, in particular the famous Belarusian historian and public figure Vaclav Lastovsky (1883-1938). V. Lastovsky argued that the formation of the Belarusian people is based on the traditional culture of one of the first East Slavic ethnic communities - the Krivichi tribe, which are the ancestors of the Belarusians. The scientist proceeded from the fact that the Krivichi were the most numerous community among the tribes on the territory of modern Belarus and occupied some lands beyond its borders. Moreover, it was on the territory of the Krivichi settlement that such a public education, as the Principality of Polotsk, which had a significant influence on the development of the rest of the Belarusian lands. V. Lastovsky also expressed the idea that it is more correct to call Belarusians “Krivichi”, and Belarus - “Krivia”. Despite a number of facts that testify in favor of this theory, its main position that the ancestors of the Belarusians are the Krivichi, and the ethnic territory of the Belarusian people was formed on the ethnic territory of the Krivichi, contradicts reality. The Krivichi and their ethnic territory (Krivia) disappeared in the middle of the 12th century, and the Belarusian ethnos and its ethnic territory had not yet been formed at that time. The controversy of this concept is also revealed in the fact that it cannot convincingly explain the emergence of the ethnic traits of the southern Belarusian population, since the Krivichi lived only in the northern and central parts of modern Belarus.

Famous Belarusian scientists Ya.F. Karsky and V.I. Pichet, who included in the ancestors of the Belarusians not only the Krivichi, but the Radimichi and Dregovich, to some extent overcame the one-sidedness of the Krivichi theory. However, they also did not take into account the important factor that there is no direct continuity between the Slavic tribes, on the one hand, and the Belarusians, on the other. The Dregovichi, Krivichi and Radimichi disappeared in the 12th century, and the all-Belarusian complex of language and culture had not yet been formed at that time.

Baltic theory of the origin (ethnogenesis) of the Belarusian people. There is another quite interesting and well-reasoned theory of the origin of the Belarusian people. This is the Baltic theory, which took shape in the 60s - early 70s of the XX century and connects the origin of the Belarusians with living on the territory of modern Belarus in the pre-Slavic Baltic period. One of the authors of this theory was the Moscow archaeologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences V.V. Sedov. He expressed the idea that the mixing of Slavs and Balts resulted in the formation of the Belarusian ethnic group, the originality of its culture and language. At the same time, the scientist argued, the Balts played the role of a substrate (substratum) in the ethnogenesis of the Belarusians. His theory V.V. Sedov argued with data from archaeological excavations that he conducted on the territory of Belarus and the Smolensk region. He found a whole range of jewelry, tools, and weapons that were characteristic of the Baltic culture and did not belong to the Slavs. Based on archaeological data by V.V. Sedov came to the conclusion that at the end of the Bronze Age and during the Iron Age, the Balts lived on the territory of the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the upper reaches of the Don, including the Oka basin, and from the Dnieper region to the Kiev region. From the middle of the first millennium, the migration of the Slavs began. But they could not displace the Balts; moreover, the Balts took an active part in the ethnogenesis of the Slavic tribes, became part of them and adopted various dialects of their language. Thus, the main determining factor in the formation of the Belarusian ethnos, according to the Baltic theory, is considered to be the colonization by the Slavs of the territory located north of Pripyat, including the Upper Poneman region, the Upper Podvina region and the Dnieper region, their assimilation of the Balts, the impact of the Balts on the language and culture of the Slavic tribes. Proof of this is the fact that many elements of the language and culture of Belarusians have Baltic roots, for example, the worship of snakes and stones in the traditional religion of Belarusians, bast shoes of direct weaving, housing construction techniques, a number of sounds of Belarusian phonetics (hard “r”, “akanie” etc.).

Despite the significant argumentation of the Baltic concept, a number of scientists have found many controversial points in the statement that the separation of the Belarusian ethnic group from other groups of the Slavic population is mainly due to the influence of the Balts. The significant influence of the Balts on the formation of the Belarusian people, their culture, language, and the isolation of Belarusians from other East Slavic peoples - Russians and Ukrainians Sharukho I.N. are cast into doubt. Belarusians in the anthropological and ethnic space // Pskov regional journal. 2008. No. 6. P. 145..

Another concept of the ethnogenesis of Belarusians is also controversial - the Old Russian concept. One of its theorists was our fellow countryman - associate professor of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy M.O. Koyalovich (1828-1891), who defended the pan-Slavist concept of Russian history and believed that the Russian people consisted of three parts: Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians. According to this theory, the Krivichi, Radimichi, Dregovichi, as well as other East Slavic tribes changed ethnically even before the formation of the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Initially, the East Slavic ethnic communities were replaced by a common East Slavic community, and their ethnic territories formed Kievan Rus, which was the predecessor of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

Today this theory is disputed by many scientists, a minority of whom deny the existence in the past of a common East Slavic community - the Old Russian people. Indeed, there are many questions that this theory does not answer. In essence, the chronological framework of the existence of such a nationality (formed in the 9th-10th centuries, disintegrated in the 12th century) on the territory of Belarus is not confirmed by factual material. In a simplified way, the theory also explains the path of the emergence of Belarus from the ethnic territory of Ancient Rus'; it does not take into account the complexity of the methods and ways of forming a new ethnic territory, the impact on this process not only of evolution, but also of diffusion phenomena of culture and language, and name. The statement that the collapse of the Old Russian people was influenced by the process of disappearance from the political map of Kievan Rus and the formation on its territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Muscovite state, as well as the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and the Crusaders, is also not convincing. But after all, the ancestors of modern Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians lived together in one state, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, during the 13th-18th centuries, but the process of completing the formation of the ancient Russian nationality was never carried out. This may mean that each of the peoples identified above followed its own historical path. What brought them together, of course, was the Old Russian language, common cultural features, a common ethnic self-name (Russians, Rus, Rusyns), and a single Orthodox religion.

There is also a “Finnish” concept put forward by the writer Ivan Laskov. According to it, the ancestors of the Belarusians were the Finno-Ugrians. The concept was formed on the basis of the presence of a significant number of ancient Finno-Ugric hydronyms on the territory of Belarus (for example, Dvina, Svir). Nowadays, however, it is believed that the Finno-Ugrians were the substrate not of the Belarusians, but of the Balts.