Categories: HISTORY

Indigenous peoples originating from the territory of Ukraine

1. Trypillia culture (5500–2750 BCE)

One of the oldest agricultural civilizations in Europe.
Established large settlements, some with up to 15,000 inhabitants.
Their descendants partially integrated into later Indo-European peoples.

2. Cultural successors of Trypillia – Yamna culture (3300–2600 BCE)

Indo-Europeans who replaced the Trypillians in Ukraine’s steppe zone.
Known for horse breeding and the beginnings of a nomadic lifestyle.
Likely ancestors of most modern European nations, including Slavs.

3. Cimmerians (10th–7th century BCE)

The first people mentioned in historical sources on Ukrainian territory.
Iranian-speaking nomads inhabiting the Black Sea steppes.
Partially assimilated by the Scythians.

4. Scythians (7th–3rd century BCE)

An Iranian-speaking people who developed a powerful culture in Ukrainian steppes.
Some sedentary Scythians may have later mixed with Proto-Slavs.

5. Sarmatians (3rd century BCE – 3rd century CE)

Another Iranian-speaking people closely related to the Scythians.
Likely partially assimilated by the Slavs during the Great Migration Period.

6. Antes and Sclaveni (4th–7th century CE)

The earliest ancestors of modern Ukrainians and other Slavs.
The Antes formed an early Slavic state and lived a sedentary lifestyle.
The uninterrupted lineage of the Ukrainian ethnos begins with them.

7. Polians, Drevlians, Severians, Tivertsi, Ulichi (7th–10th century CE)

East Slavic tribes inhabiting Ukrainian lands.
The Polians formed the foundation of the Kyivan state.
Though culturally distinct, they gradually united into the common Kyivan Rus’ ethnos.

8. Population of Kyivan Rus’ (9th–13th century CE)

Ukrainians, Belarusians, and (originally, Russians did not exist as a unified nation).

Brief chronology

1. 6th–9th century CE – Formation of Slavic tribes

Ukrainians: Polians, Drevlians, Severians.
Belarusians: Krivichs, Dregovichs.
Muscovites (future “Russians”): Slovenes, Vyatichi + Finno-Ugric peoples (Merya, Muroma, Moksha, Ves).

2. 882 CE – Kyivan Rus’ (Capital: Kyiv).

3. 12th–14th century CE:

Ukrainians – Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia.
Belarusians – Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Muscovy (successor of the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality) became a vassal of the Golden Horde.

4. 15th–16th century CE:

Muscovites began their expansion, subjugating Finno-Ugric peoples.
The name “Muscovy” → changed to “Russia” (from “Rus'”) in 1721.

5. 18th–19th century CE:

Russification and the destruction of separate identities of the Moksha, Merya, and other peoples.
Formation of the imperial “Russian” nation.

Conclusion

Ukrainians and Belarusians originate from Kyivan Rus’.
Russians are a mix of Slavic tribes and Finno-Ugric peoples of Muscovy, who were gradually Russified.

This explains the myth of a common heritage from Kyivan Rus’, but Ukrainians have preserved the traditions of their local tribes to a greater extent.

After the Mongol invasion, Ukrainians continued to develop their culture based on the traditions of Kyivan Rus’.

9. The Ukrainian ethnos (14th century – present)

The Ukrainian nation formed as a distinct ethnos under the influence of the Cossack movement, struggles against colonization, and cultural development.
The ethnos is primarily composed of the direct descendants of the Antes, Polians, Drevlians, and other Slavic tribes.

Thus, if we speak about the indigenous population of Ukraine’s territory, the uninterrupted ethnocultural lineage traces back to Trypillians → Yamna Culture → Cimmerians → Scythians → Sarmatians → Antes → Slavic Tribes → Ukrainians (Ruthenians).

Odessa.Ltd