SLAVES, or SLAVONIANS (native name Slotcene or Slowane, derived by some from eatra, fame, but better from slowo, a word; thus meaning "speaking," or "articulate," as distinguished from other nations,whom they called niemetz, or "mutes"), the general name of a group of nations belonging to the Aryan family whose settlements extend from the Elbe to Kamtchatka, and from the Frozen sea to Ragusa on the Adriatic, the whole of eastern Europe being almost exclusively occupied by them. They were settled in these regions before the dawn of history, and are comprehended by ancient writers under the designations of Sarmatians and Scythians. The original names of the Slavic tribes seem to have been Winds or Wends ( Venedz) and Serbs. The former of these names occurs among the Roman writers, and later, in Jornandes, in connection with the commercial peoples of the Baltic sea; the latter is spoken of by Procopius as the ancient name common to the whole Slavic stock. The earliest historical notices extant represent the Slaves as having their chief settlements about the Carpathians, from which they spread northward to the Baltic, westward as far as the Elbe and the Saal, and later, after the overthrow of the kingdom of the Huns southward beyond the Danube, and over the whole peninsula between the Adriatic and the Black sea. These migrations ceased in the 7th c.; the division of the Slavic stock into separate branches became now more complete, and gradually they began to form into independent states. The various sections of the stock may he divided into two groups—the south-eastern and the western; the first comprehends (1), Russians; (2), Bulgarians; • (3), Illyrians (Serbs, Croats, Winds): the second (1), Lechs (Poles, Silesians, Pomeranians); (2), Czechs or Bohemians (Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks; (3), Polabians, comprising the Slavic tribes of n. Germany, who are
fast disappearing, by being absorbed in the Teutonic population. With the exception of Russia and, since the Berlin congress of 1878. of Servia and Montenegro, the once numerous Slavic kingdoms (Bohemia, Bulgaria, Moravia, Poland, etc.), have lost their independent and been incorporated in other states—chiefly Turkey, Austria, Prussia, and Saxony. The Polabians never attained any distinct political footing. The whole of the Slavic populations are estimated at upward of 80,000,000.
The Slaves are represented by ancient writers as an industrious race, living by agri culture, and the rearing of flocks and herds; as hospitable and peaceful, and making war only iu defense. The feeling of nationality was strong among them. The govern ment had a patriarchal basis, and chiefsor princes were chosen by assemblies. But con tact with the feudal institutions of the Roman-German empire gradually altered this primitive constitution. The Slavic princes strove after unlimited power like that of the emperors; and the chiefs sought to dominate over the people like the feudal nobility. In the course of the 11th, 12th, and 13th c. nobility became a hereditary privilege through out the Slavic states. The worst kind of feudalism fairly took root, and the people sank into the condition of serfs. Between them and the nobles there was no third or middle class, as the peculiar privileges of the nobility prevented the growth of cities. See