Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechitic (West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The approximate territory stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae in the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes in the south, and medieval Poland in the east.

The Polabian Slavs, largely conquered by Saxons and Danes from the 9th century onwards, were included and gradually assimilated within the Holy Roman Empire. The tribes became gradually Germanized and assimilated in the following centuries; the Sorbs are the only descendants of the Polabian Slavs to have retained their identity and culture.

The Polabian language is now extinct. However, the two Sorbian languages are spoken by approximately 22,000–30,000 inhabitants of the region. The government of Germany regards Upper and Lower Sorbian as official regional languages.

The Bavarian Geographer, an anonymous medieval document compiled in Regensburg in 830, contains a list of the tribes in Central Europe to the east of the Elbe. Among other tribes it lists the Uuilci (Veleti) with 95 civitates, the Nortabtrezi (Obotrites) with 53 civitates, the Surbi (Sorbs) with 50 civitates, the Milzane (Milceni) with 30 civitates, the Hehfeldi (Hevelli) with 14 civitates and so on. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia classifies the Polabian Slavs in three main tribes, the Obotrites, the Veleti, and the Lusatian Sorbs.

The main tribes of the Obotritic confederation were the Obotrites proper (Wismar Bay to the Schweriner See); the Wagrians (eastern Holstein); the Warnabi (Warnower) (the upper Warnow and Mildenitz); and the Polabians proper (between the Trave and the Elbe). Other tribes associated with the confederation include the Linones (Linonen) near Lenzen, the Travnjane near the Trave, and the Drevani in the Hanoverian Wendland and the northern Altmark.

The Veleti, also known as the Liutizians or Wilzians, included the Kessinians (Kessiner, Chyzzini) along the lower Warnow and Rostock; the Circipani (Zirzipanen) between the Recknitz, Trebel, and Peene Rivers; the Tollenser east and south of the Peene along the Tollense River; and the Redarier south and east of the Tollensesee on the upper Havel. The Redarier were the most important of the Veleti tribes. The Rani of Rügen, not to be confused with the older Germanic Rugians, are sometimes considered to be part of the Veleti. South of the Rani were the Ucri (Ukranen) along the Ucker and the Morici (Morizani, Müritzer) along the Müritz; the former gave their name to the Uckermark. Smaller tribes included the Došane along the Dosse, the Zamzizi in the Ruppin Land, and the Rěčanen on the upper Havel. Along the lower Havel and near the confluence of the Elbe and the Havel lived the Nelětici, the Liezizi, the Zemzizi, the Smeldingi (Smeldinger), and the Bethenici. The middle Havel region and the Havelland were settled by the Hevelli, a tribe loosely connected to the Veleti. East of the Hevelli lived the Sprevane of the lower Dahme and Spree rivers. Small tribes on the middle Elbe included the Morizani and the Zerwisti.

The Sorbs confederation in the Elbe-Saale region included Citici, Serimunt, Colodici, Siusler, Nizici, Glomaci (Daleminzier) and Nisanen who lived along the upper Elbe, while the Chutici, Plisni, Gera, Puonzowa, Tucharin, Weta, and groups of Nelětici lived near the Saale. Joachim Herrmann considered that the core Sorbian tribes surely were Colodici, Siusler and Glomaci, and that they also settled and influenced around Magdeburg, Havelland, Thuringia and northeast Bavaria. To the East possibly later included the Lusici of Lower Lusatia and the Milceni of Upper Lusatia, while to the East of them were the Selpoli and the Besunzanen, and on the middle Oder the Leubuzzi who were associated with medieval Poland.

Small groups of West Slavs lived on the Main and the Regnitz near Bamberg, in northeastern Bavaria.