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The Ilmen Slavs (; the northernmost tribe
Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups ....
 of the Early East Slavs, which inhabited the shores of the Lake Ilmen
Lake Ilmen

Ilmen is a historically important lake in the Novgorod Oblast of Russia, formerly a vital part of the Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks....
 and the basin
Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean....
 of the rivers of Volkhov
Volkhov River

Volkhov is a river in Novgorod Oblast and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia....
, Lovat, Msta
MSTA

The 2S19 Msta is a conventional self-propelled 152 mm howitzer designed by Russia/Soviet Union and entering service in 1989. It is based on the T-80U tank hull, but powered by the T-72's diesel engine....
, and the upper stream of the Mologa River
Mologa River

Mologa River is a river in Tver Oblast, Novgorod Oblast and Vologda Oblasts of Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga River, flowing into the Rybinsk Reservoir....
 in the 8th to 10th centuries.

The Ilmen Slavs seem to have been different from other Slavic tribes colonizing what is now Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 in that they were closely related to the Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs is a collective term applied to a number of largely extinct West Slavs tribes who lived along the Elbe, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and Limes Saxonicus to the west, the Sudetes and Franconia to the south, and History of Poland to the east....
 in language and traditions (see old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect

Old Novgorod dialect is a term introduced by Andrey Zaliznyak to describe the astonishingly diverse linguistic features of the Old East Slavic language birch bark writings from the 11th to 15th centuries excavated in Novgorod and its surroundings....
 and Gostomysl
Gostomysl

Gostomysl is a legendary 9th-century posadnik of Novgorod who was introduced into the historiography by Vasily Tatishchev, an 18th-century historian....
 for examples).






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The Ilmen Slavs (; the northernmost tribe
Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups ....
 of the Early East Slavs, which inhabited the shores of the Lake Ilmen
Lake Ilmen

Ilmen is a historically important lake in the Novgorod Oblast of Russia, formerly a vital part of the Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks....
 and the basin
Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean....
 of the rivers of Volkhov
Volkhov River

Volkhov is a river in Novgorod Oblast and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia....
, Lovat, Msta
MSTA

The 2S19 Msta is a conventional self-propelled 152 mm howitzer designed by Russia/Soviet Union and entering service in 1989. It is based on the T-80U tank hull, but powered by the T-72's diesel engine....
, and the upper stream of the Mologa River
Mologa River

Mologa River is a river in Tver Oblast, Novgorod Oblast and Vologda Oblasts of Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga River, flowing into the Rybinsk Reservoir....
 in the 8th to 10th centuries.

The Ilmen Slavs seem to have been different from other Slavic tribes colonizing what is now Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 in that they were closely related to the Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs is a collective term applied to a number of largely extinct West Slavs tribes who lived along the Elbe, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and Limes Saxonicus to the west, the Sudetes and Franconia to the south, and History of Poland to the east....
 in language and traditions (see old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect

Old Novgorod dialect is a term introduced by Andrey Zaliznyak to describe the astonishingly diverse linguistic features of the Old East Slavic language birch bark writings from the 11th to 15th centuries excavated in Novgorod and its surroundings....
 and Gostomysl
Gostomysl

Gostomysl is a legendary 9th-century posadnik of Novgorod who was introduced into the historiography by Vasily Tatishchev, an 18th-century historian....
 for examples). They settled Northern Russia, moving along the major waterways, until they met the southward expansion of the Krivichs in the modern-day Yaroslavl Oblast
Yaroslavl Oblast

Yaroslavl Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia , which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver Oblast, Moscow Oblast, Ivanovo Oblast, Vladimir Oblast, Kostroma Oblast, and Vologda Oblasts....
.

They left a few archaeological monuments of the 6th–8th centuries, such as agricultural settlements
Town

A town is a type of human settlement ranging from a few to several thousand inhabitants, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas; the precise meaning varies between countries and is not always a matter of legal definition....
 and tall conelike kurgan
Kurgan

Kurgan is the Russian language word for a tumulus, a type of burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, often of wood.The distribution of such tumuli in Eastern Europe corresponds closely to the area of the Pit Grave or Kurgan culture in South-Eastern Europe....
s with incinerated bodies in the Ladoga
Lake Ladoga

Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the list of lakes by area in the world....
 region. The most ancient settlement is dated back to the 7th or 8th century. Numerous archaeological finds, such as a metal tip for a wooden plough
Plough

The plough is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture....
, indicate that the Ilmen Slavs had a well-developed agriculture. They were not a particularly warlike state, but evidence of their unique weaponry, dated back to mid-8th Century, has been found around the city of Novgorod. The weaponry consisted of spears, maces, swords, bows, javelins and even some war hammers. It would seem that they fought rather aggressive warfare designed to push their enemies out of their lands, rather than destroy them utterly.

The principal cities of the Ilmen Slavs were Staraya Russa
Staraya Russa

Staraya Russa is an old Russian town located 99 km south of Veliky Novgorod. It is the administrative center of Starorussky District of Novgorod Oblast in Russia and a wharf on the Polist River ....
 and Novgorod, which had appeared in the 9th–10th centuries. The land of the Ilmen Slavs would later become the center of the Novgorod Republic
Novgorod Republic

The Novgorod Republic was a large medi?val Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod....
.

Modern archeology does not consider Slav settlements around lake Ladoga older than 10th century, which makes theories of Ilmen Slavs early precence non tenable.