Krivich

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Krivich

The Krivichi (; , ) was one of the tribal

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 ....
unions of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 12th centuries. They inhabited the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper, Western Dvina, areas south of the lower reaches of river Velikaya and parts of the Neman

Neman River

Neman or Nemunas is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipeda....
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....
.

History
At some point in the 6th century the Krivichs left the Carpathian Mountains

Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc of roughly 1,500 km across Central Europe and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe....
and spread northeast, absorbing scanty Finno-Ugric

Finno-Ugric peoples

The Finno-Ugric peoples is a historic linguistic group of peoples in Europe who speak Finno-Ugric languages, such as the Finnic peoples and the Ugric peoples ....
and Baltic

Balts

For the similarly named ethnic group inhabiting northern Pakistani Kashmir, see Balti peopleThe Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European languages family, are descended from a group of Indo-Europeans tribes who settled the area between lower Vistula and upper D...
tribes.

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Encyclopedia

The Krivichi (; , ) was one of the tribal

Tribe

Neman River

Neman or Nemunas is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipeda....
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....
.

Etymology

According to Vasmer, the name of the tribe probably stems from that of their forefather Prince

Prince

Prince, from the Latin root princeps, is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility....
Kriv, whose sobriquet derives from the adjective krivoy ("crooked/twisted") due to some possible birth defect.

History

At some point in the 6th century the Krivichs left the Carpathian Mountains

Carpathian Mountains

Finno-Ugric peoples

The Finno-Ugric peoples is a historic linguistic group of peoples in Europe who speak Finno-Ugric languages, such as the Finnic peoples and the Ugric peoples ....
and Baltic

Balts

Klyazma

Klyazma may refer to:* Klyazma River in central Russia* Klyazma Reservoir in central Russia...
. Together with the Dregovichs

Dregovichs

The Dregovichs were one of the tribe unions of Early East Slavs, and inhabited the territories down the stream of the Pripyat River and northern parts of the right-bank Dnieper river ....
, Radimichs

Radimichs

The Radimichs , were a tribe of Early East Slavs of the last few centuries of the 1st millennium, which inhabited upper east parts of the Dnieper down the Sozh River and its tributaries....
, Polochans

Polochans

Polochans were a tribe of early East Slavs, who inhabited the area in the middle of the Western Dvina in the 9th century. Alternative meaning: inhabitants of Polotsk....
and some Baltic tribes they were the forefathers of the modern Belarusian nation

Belarusians

Belarusians or Belorussians are an East Slavs ethnic group who populate the majority of the Belarus and form minorities in neighboring Poland , Russia, Lithuania and Ukraine....
.

The Krivichs left many archaeological monuments, such as the remnants of agricultural settlement

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....
s with traces of ironworks

Ironworks

An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelting and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e....
, jeweler's art, blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who processess iron or steel by forging the metal; i.e., by using tools to hammer, bend, cut, and otherwise shape it in its non-liquid form....
's work and other handicraft

Handicraft

Handicraft, also known as craftwork or simply craft, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or using only simple tools....
s; long burial mounds of 6-9 centuries with cremated

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing human remains to basic Chemical element in the form of bone fragments through flame, heat, and vaporization....
bodies; burial mounds of rich warrior

Warrior

According to the Random House Dictionary, the term warrior has two meanings. The first Literal and figurative language use refers to "a person engaged or experienced in warfare." The second Literal and figurative language use refers to "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics...
s with weapon

Weapon

A weapon is a tool used to apply or threaten to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack or defense in combat, subduing enemy personnel, or to destroy enemy weapons, equipment and defensive structures....
s; sets of distinctive jewelry (bracelet

Bracelet

A bracelet is an article of jewelry which is worn around the wrist. Bracelets can be manufacturing from leather, cloth, hemp, plastic or metal, and sometimes contain Rock s, wood, and/or Animal shells....
-like temporal rings and glass beads made out of stretched wire). By the end of the first millennium

Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years . The term may implicitly refer to calendar millenniums; periods tied numerically to a particular calendar, specifically ones that begin at the starting point of the calendar in question or in later years which are whole number multiples of a thousand years after it....
, the Krivichs had already had well-developed farming and cattle-breeding. Having settled around the Road from Varangians to Greeks, the Krivichs traded with the Varangians

Varangians

The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were Vikings, Norsemen, who went eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries....
. Their chief tribal centres were Gnezdovo

Gnezdovo

Gnezdovo or Gnyozdovo is an archeological site located near the types of inhabited localities in Russia of Gnyozdovo in Smolensk Oblast, Russia....
, Izborsk

Izborsk

Izborsk is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia. It contains one of the most ancient and impressive fortresses of Western Russia....
, and Polotsk.

The Krivichs as a tribe took part in Oleg

Oleg

Oleg is a Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian given name. It may be transliterated as "Oleh" from Ukrainian and "Aleh" or "Aleg" from Belarusian....
's and Igor's military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire. They are also mentioned in De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio

De Administrando Imperio is the commonly used Latin title of a scholarly work written in Greek language, by the 10th-century Byzantine emperor Constantine VII....
as ???ß?t???. In the 970s, the Principality of Polatsk, ruled by the Varangian chieftain Ragnvald (Rogvolod, in Lithuanian language "rag(a)nvald-ys" means the man who govern/rule/control or manipulate witches), was chronicled for the first time.

Modern uses of the name

Today, in Latvian
Latvian language

Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. Alternative names include Lettish and Lettisch. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad....
, the word "Krievs" means Russian and word "Krievija" - Russia. Through Baltic territories, the word became known in Central Europe. For example, a German chronicler from Duisburg
Duisburg

Duisburg is a Germany city in the western part of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an independent metropolitan borough within D?sseldorf ....
wrote in 1314: “Frater Henricus Marschalcus... venit ad terram Crivitae, et civitatem illam, guae parva Nogardiadicitur cepit”. And in a Polish publication "Kazanie na Pogrzeb Maryanny Korsakywnej" (Lublin
Lublin

Lublin is the largest city in Poland east of the Vistula, and the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 355,954 . It is List of cities and towns in Poland....
, 1687. ?. II, 49) the Polatsk
Polatsk

File:Polatsk Lenin street.JPGPolotsk is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Western Dvina river. It is the center of Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast....
saint Paraxedis was called “Regina Krivitae” (the queen of the Kryvians).

"Kryvich" ("??????") was the name of a magazine that the Belarusian historian Vaclau Lastouski
Vaclau Lastouski

Vaclau Lastouski was a Belarusian critic, historian of literature, and politician.Was a member of Rada of the Belarus National Republic. Has published many books about Belarus, recognized the right of the people of Belarus to self-determination....
published in Kouna from 1923 to 1927.

KRIWI
KRIWI

KRIWI is a Belarusian folk and rock band. The band name literally means "a person belonging to the ancient Belarusian tribe of Kryvians".KRIWI is known for using a variety of European folk instruments and mixing them with modern technology of synthesizer and samples, with powerful vocals of Veranika Kruhlova ....
is the name of a Belarusian folk-rock band.