 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Polans" eastern – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
ThePolans orPolians (Ukrainian:Поляни,romanized: Poliany;Russian:Поляне,romanized: Polyane;Polish:Polanie;Old East Slavic:Полѧне,romanized: Poljane), also known asPolanians,Polianians, andEastern Polans, were anEast Slavictribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of theDnieper river fromLiubech toRodnia and also down the lower streams of the riversRos',Sula,Stuhna,Teteriv,Irpin',Desna andPripyat.
The distinctwestern Polans of the EarlyMiddle Ages were aWest Slavic tribe, ancestors of thePoles.
The name derives from theOld East Slavic wordполе(romanized: pole), which means "field", because, according to thePrimary Chronicle they lived in the fields (занеже в поле седяху).[1][2] At one stage the Polanians were subjugated by theKhazars.[3]
The land of the Polans was at the crossroads of important trade and territories inhabited by different Eastern Slavic tribes (such as theDrevlians,Radimichs,Drehovians andSeverians) and connected them all with water arteries. An importanttrade route, theRoad from the Varangians to the Greeks, passed along the Dnieper through the land of the Polans and connected NorthernEurope with theBlack Sea and theByzantine Empire. Geographic location of the Polans allowed them to play an organisational role in consolidation of the East Slavic tribes.[4] In the 9th and 10th centuries the Polans conducted well-developedarable landfarming,cattle-breeding,hunting,fishing, wild-hivebeekeeping and varioushandicrafts such asblacksmithing,casting,pottery,goldsmithing, etc. Thousands of (pre-Polan)kurgans, found byarchaeologists in the Polan region, indicate that that land could support a relatively highpopulation density. The Polans lived in small families in semi dug-outs ("earth-houses") and wore homespun clothes and modest jewellery. Before converting toChristianity, the inhabitants used to burn their dead and to erect kurgan-like embankments over them.[citation needed]
In the 860s, theVarangians (Vikings) arrived and organized a few successful military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, which eventually defeated them and made peace with them, thePechenegs and thePolochans.[citation needed] From 9th century Polans began to be known as Rus',[4] and the region they inhabited as Rus' land,[5] a name they presumably adopted from Varangians.
The chronicles repeatedly note that socio-economic relations in the Polan communities were highly developed compared to the neighboring tribes. According to the Primary Chronicle, the Polan tribe was headed by three brothers -Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv, who laid the foundation of Kyiv, which will become a tribal centre.[6] TwoVarangiansAskold and Dir are considered to be the firstrulers of Kiev. In the 880sOleg the Wise conquered the land of the Polans, from this point the territory they inhabited becomes the political, cultural and economic centre ofKievan Rus'.[5][7]
According to chronicalized legends, the largest cities of the eastern Polans wereKyiv,Pereiaslav,Rodnia,Vyshhorod,Bilhorod Kyivskyi (nowBilohorodka village at theIrpin river) andKaniv. 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.[8]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)After conquering Kiev in 882 and establishing control over the Polianians, [Oleh] forcefully extended his authority [...] over the surrounding tribes [...]