Polans (eastern)

The Polans (Ukrainian: Поляни, Polyany, Russian: Поляне Polyane, Polish: Polanie), also Polianians, were an East Slavic tribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat. In the Early Middle Ages there were two separate Slavic tribes bearing the name of Polans, the other being the western Polans (ancestors of the modern Poles also), a West Slavic tribe. Between the 6th and the 9th centuries the Polans (Ukrainian: Поляни, Polyany, Russian: Поляне Polyane, Polish: Polanie), also Polianians, were an East Slavic tribe which inhabited both sides of the Dnipro river from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat. (In the Early Middle Ages there were two separate Slavic tribes bearing the name of Polans, the other being the western Polans (ancestors of the modern Poles also), a West Slavic tribe.)

Fibula of Eastern Polans (2nd - 3rd-century). Slavic settlement near the village Taymanava district in Mogilev, Belarus.
Fibula of Eastern Polans (2nd - 3rd-century). Slavic settlement near the village Taymanava district in Mogilev, Belarus.
Not to be confused with Polans (western).
European territory inhabited by East Slavic tribes in the 8th and 9th centuries.

The name derives from the Old East Slavic word поле, which means "field", because, according to the Primary Chronicle they lived in the fields (занеже в поле седяху).[1][2] In roughly 862 the Polans were attached to ancient Rus'.

The land of the Polans was at the crossroads of territories inhabited by different Eastern Slavic tribes (such as the Drevlyans, Radimichs, Drehovians and Severians) and connected them all with water arteries. An important trade route, the Road from the Varangians to the Greeks, passed along the Dnieper through the land of the Polans and connected Northern Europe with the Black Sea and the Byzantine Empire. In the 9th and 10th centuries the Polans conducted well-developed arable land farming, cattle-breeding, hunting, fishing, wild-hive beekeeping and various handicrafts such as blacksmithing, casting, pottery, goldsmithing, etc. Thousands of (pre-Polan) kurgans, found by archaeologists in the Polan region, indicate that that land could support a relatively high population density. The Polans lived in small families in semi dug-outs ("earth-houses") and wore homespun clothes and modest jewellery. Before converting to Christianity, the inhabitants used to burn their dead and to erect kurgan-like embankments over them.

In the 860s, the Varangians (Vikings) arrived and organized a few successful military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, which eventually defeated them and made peace with them, the Pechenegs and the Polochans.

The chronicles repeatedly note that socio-economic relations in the Polan communities were highly developed compared to the neighboring tribes. In the 880s Oleg of Novgorod conquered the land of the Polans.[3] The chronicles name the Polans among the (legendary) earlier founders of Kyiv (see Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv).[4]

According to chronicalized legends, the largest cities of the eastern Polans were Kyiv, Pereiaslav, Rodnia, Vyshhorod, Belgorod (now Bilohorodka village at the Irpin river) and Kaniv. In the 10th century, the term "Polans" was virtually out of use, replaced by the name "Rus", with eastern Polans as a tribe being last mentioned in a chronicle of 944.[5]

Sergey Tsvetkov suggests a "Sarmatian"[6][7] origin for the Polans.

At one stage the Polanians were subjugated by the Khazars.[8]

See also

References
  1. Primary Chronicle
  2. Łowmiański, H. (1964). Początki Polski. Vol. 2. Warszawa. pp. 66, 106.
  3. Subtelny, Orest (2009). "The Rise and Decline of Kievan Rus". Ukraine: A History (4 ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442697287. Retrieved 16 April 2022. After conquering Kiev in 882 and establishing control over the Polianians, [Oleh] forcefully extended his authority [...] over the surrounding tribes [...]
  4. Г. Півторак, Українці: звідки ми і наша мова, Київ 1993, p. 77.
  5. П. П. Толочко, "Роль Киева в эпоху формирования Древнерусского государства," [In:] Становление раннефеодальных славянских государств, Киев, 1972, p. 129; Б. А. Рыбаков, Киевская Русь и русские княжества XII–XIII вв., Москва 1982, p. 98, 99; М. Ю. Брайчевский, Восточнославянские союзы племен в эпоху формирования древнерусского государства, [In:] Древнерусское государство и славяне, Минск 1983, p. 102-111.
  6. Цветков С.Э. Русская история: книга первая. М.: ЗАО Центрполиграф, 2003. С. 406, 415.
  7. Цветков С.Э. Начало русской истории. С древнейших времён до княжения Олега. М.: ЗАО Издательство Центрполиграф, 2012. С. 294–297.
  8. Turchin 2009, pp. 191–217; "The Khazars also subjugated East Slavic groups, such as the Polanians, and forced others to pay tribute."
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