SOUTH SLAVS AND THE SURROUNDING NATIONS

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South Slavic tribes, moving to the south and the settlement of the Balkans, came into contact with a variety of non-Slavic nations. Some have been there since the ancient times, and some were later moved to the surroundings inhabited by Slavs. Well, whom the South Slavs met and what the relationships established with each other?
- Southern Slavs were, romanized natives of the Balkans, forced to remove themselves in the mountains, where they continued to live. They were called Vlachs and eventually are slavonized. - The Slavs. in the settlement, arrived to the south of the Balkans and near Constantinople. What are more separated from the main body of the tribe and went deeper into Greek landscape and population, they experienced, over time, to transform into Greeks (Helens). The process of receiving the Greek language, culture and customs, called hellenization.

Slavs and Avars, VII - IX century

- Slavs met and romanized Dacians, ancient tribe on the territory of today Romania. Over time the Slavs influenced the Dacians and the merging of these two nations created today Romanians.
- Pre-populating the Balkans, the Slavs were ruled by Avars tribe. In Pannonia they formed Avars kaganat. These nomads on horseback ruled over Slovenian farmers. Together they attacked the Byzantine Empire, and Avars always came back across the Danube, but the Slavs began to stand. Avars is stopped only the Frankish ruler Charlemagne The Great, beginning IX century. Avars nation disappeared from the hostory scene as well as the Huns. One of the reasons was non-acceptance of the agriculture and non-receipt of Christianity.

- All the way north to the Balkans, in the Eastern Alps, the Slavs met Germanic nations-Lombards, Bavarians, and Franks. They forced them to retreat to the mountains, and they did not gave them to spread further west.
- At the end of IX century, Pannonia, on the site of former nations Huns and Avars, settled by Hungarians. As horsemen, they easily dominated the local Slavs and create their own state. Their expansion to the west was blocked by the German Emperor in the 10th century. From the Slavs learn farming, from Rome receive christianity, and over time assimilate (hungarianized) the local Slavs. These are the reasons which have survived, unlike the Huns and Avars; they adapted to the circumstances. It is important to mention that is settlement of Hungarians separated the Western and Southern Slavs, and thus prevent the creation of one high, strong Slavic states in Europe.

Hungarian settlement