nomadic tribe, the Sarmatians. Less than twenty-five years after the Sarmatians conquered the Scythians, the Goths superseded the Sarmatians. The Goths were groups of uncivilized people who strengthened their kingdoms by keeping them in a state of terror. They were of Germanic descent, and reached the pinnacle of their strength during the early fourth century. Following the Goths were the Huns and the Avars.Meanwhile, the Slavs in the fifth century CE emerged and moved southward to come in contact with the East Roman Empire. The Slavs were split into three groups, called the Antae, Sclaveni, and the Venedi. Most historical references do not pay much attention to the Antic tribes, probably because of their disappearance in the late sixth century. The Sclaveni and Venedi joined and created a unified East Slavic empire.This Slavic kingdom slowly began to increase during the late 700s. The area that was held by the Avars in the 790s was demolished through Charlemagne’s destruction of their empire. With that, the Slavic people began to migrate down to what is now Kiev. At Kiev, they encountered additional tribes such as the Finno-Ugrians, Bulgars, and Khazars. The Finno-Ugrians could be broken down into smaller less-civilized tribes, though their counterparts, the Bulgars and the Khazars, were much more refined. Through time, the Bulgars and Khazars settled on to the flatlands in Russia, and intermarried with the Slavs. These groups added many cultural changes to the Slavs.Russian historical references such as the Primary Chronicle provide much of the information of the Slavs. It was compiled in the Kiev Monastery of the Caves in 1111-1113 CE. A great deal of information of the later history from 800 CE with the rise of the Russian State to the late 1100s has come from the Russian Primary Chronicle. The Chronicle maintains that in the early 800s, the Slavic people became involved with the Scandinavian Varangians, a group...
