The Polans (Поляне-Polyane in Russian; Поляни-Polyani in Ukrainian), were a tribe of Early East Slavs 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. The name derives from the Old Ruthenian word поле or поляна (polye or polyana, which means “field”) due to the fact that the Polans used to settle in the open fields.
The land of the Polans was at the crossroads of territories, belonging to different Eastern Slavic tribes, such as Drevlians, Radimichs, Drehovians and Severyans and connected them all with water arteries. An important trade route called the Road from the Varangians to the Greeks passed through the land of the Polans and connected Europe with the Black Sea and the Byzantine Empire.
In 9th and 10th century the Polans had a well-developed arable land farming, cattle-breeding, hunting, fishing, wild-hive beekeeping and various handicrafts such as blacksmith, casting, pottery, jewelers art etc. Thousands of kurgans, found by the archaeologists in the Polan region, indicate that the land of the Polans had a high population density. They lived in small families in semi dug-outs (“earth-houses”) and wore homespun clothes and modest jewelry. Before converting to Christianity, the Polans used to burn their dead and erect kurgan-like embankments over them.
In the 9th century, the Polans were ruled by the Khazars and had to pay tribute to them. In the 860s, the Varangians arrived and organized a few successful military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, the Pechenegs and the Polochans . In the 880s, the land of the Polans was conquered by the Prince of Novgorod Oleg and would become the nucleus and the centripetal force of the Rus statehood.
The biggest cities of the Polans were Kiev, Pereyaslavl-Russky, Rodnia , Vyshhorod , Belgorod, Kaniv. In the 10th century, the term "Polans" was virtually out of use and exchanged for "Rus". The Polans as a tribe were last mentioned in a chronicle of 944.
Chronicles repeatedly note that socio-economic relations in the Polan communities were highly developed compared to the neighboring tribes. The chronicalized legends name the Polans as the precursors of the Kievan Rus' and founders of Kiev (see Kyi, Schek and Khoriv), making them the tribe that had contributed the most to the development of the Rus statehood.
See also
Last updated: 05-23-2005 12:28:56
