Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/70

 SLAVS

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SLAVS

From a philological point of view the following fundamental principles must be taken for guidance. The Slavonic world in its entire extent presents philologically a homogeneous whole without sharply defined transitions or gradations. When the Slavs settled in the locahties at present occupied by them they were a mass of tribes of closely alhed tongues that changed slightly from tribe to tribe. Later historical development, the appearance of Slavonic kingdoms, the growth of literary languages, and var- ious civilizing influences from without have aided in bringing about the result that sharper distinctions have been drawn in certain places, and that distinct nationalities have developed in different locahties. Where these factors did not appear in sufRcient number the boundaries are not settled even now, or have been drawn only of late. The Slavonic peoples can be separated into the following groups on the basis of philological differences: (1) The eastern or Russian group; in the south this gi'oup approaches the Bul- garian; in the north-west the White Russian dialects show an affinity to Polish. The eastern group is subdivide d into Great Russian, that is, the prevail- ing Russian nationahty, then Little Russian, and White Russian. (2) The north-western group. This is subdivided into the Lechish languages and into Slovak, Bohemian, and Sorb tongues. The first sub- division includes the Poles, Kasubes, and Slovintzi, also the extinct languages of the Slavs who formerly ex-tended across the Oder and the Elbe throughout the present Northern Germany. The second sub- division includes the Bohemians, Slovaks, and the Lusatian Sorbs. The Slavs in the Balkans and in the southern districts of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy are divided philologically into Bulgarians; Stokauans, who include all Serbs, the Slavonic Mohammedans of Bosnia, and also a large part of the population of Croatia; the Cakauans, who hve partly in Dalmatia, Istria, and on the coast of Croatia; the Kajkauans, to whom must be assigned three Croatian countries and all Slovene districts. According to the common opinion that is based upon a combination of philolo- gical, political, and religious reasons the Slavs are divitled into the foUowing nations: Russian, Polish, Bohemian-Slovak, Slovenes, Serbs, Croats, Bul- garians.

IV. Present Condition — A. Russians. — The Rus- sians live in Russia and the north-eastern part of Austria-Hungary. They form a compact body only in the south-western part of the Russian Empire, as in the north and east they are largely mixed with Finnish and Tatar populations. In Austria the Little Russians inhabit Eastern Galieia and the northern part of Bukowina ; in Hungary they live in the ea.stern part on the slopes of the Carpathians. Scattered colonies of Little Russians or Ruthenians are also to be found in Slavonia and Bosnia among the southern Slavs, in Bulgaria, and in the Dobrudja. In Asia Western Siberia is Russian, Central Siberia has num- erous Russian colonies, while Eastern Siberia is chiefly occupied by native tribes. There are Rus- sians, however, living in the region of the Amur River, and on the Pacific as well as on the Island of Saghalien. Turkestan and the Kirghiz steppes have native populations with Russian colonies in the cities. There are large numbers of Russian emigrants, mostly members of sects, in Canada and elsewhere in America. Brazil, Argentina, and the United States have many Little Russian immigrants. There are small Rassian colonies in Asia Minor and lately the emigration has also extended to Africa. According to the Russian census of 1S07 (here were in the Rus- sian Empire SS.O.'jH.riCw Russians, (hat is, (57 per cent of the entire population of the empire. Allowing for natural increase, at the jirosent (1011) time there are about 89 millions. In 1900 (here were in Austria 3,375,576 Ruthenians, in Hungary 429,447. Con-

sequently in 1900 the total number of Russians could be reckoned at about 93 million persons. This does not include the Russian colonists in other countries; moreover, the numbers given by the oflicial statistics of Austria-Hungary may be far below reality. Classi- fied by religion the Russian Slavs are divided as follows: in Russia Orthodox Greeks, 95.48 per cent; Old BeUevers, 2.59 per cent; Cathohcs, 1.78 per cent; Protestants, .05 per cent; Jews, .08 per cent; Mohammedans, .01 per cent; in Austria- Hungary Uniat Greeks, 90.6 per cent, the Orthodox Greeks, 8 per cent. In the Russian Empire, excluding Finland and Poland, 77.01 per cent are illiterates; in Poland, 69.5 per cent; Finland and the Baltic prov- inces with the large German cities show a higher grade of literacy.

The Russians are divided into Great Russians, Little Russians or inhabitants of the Ukraine, and White Russians. In 1900 the relative numbers of these three divisions were approximately: Great Rus- sians, 59,000,000; White Russians, 6,200,000; Little Russians, 23,700,000. In addition there are 3,800,- 000 Little Russians in Austria-Hungary, and 500,000 in America. The Russian official statistics are naturally entirely too unfavourable to the White Russians and the Little Russians; private computa- tions of Little Russian scholars give much higher re- sults. Hrusevskij found that the Little Russians taken altogether numbered 34,000,000; Karskij cal- culated that the White Russians numbered 8,000,000. A thousand years of historical development, different influences of civiUzation, (UfTerent religious confes- sions, and probably also the original philological dif- ferentiation have caused the Little Russians to de- velop as a separate nation, and to-day this fact must be taken as a fixed factor. Among the White Rus- sians the differentiation has not developed to so ad- vanced a stage, but the tendency exists. In classify- ing the Little Russians three different types can be again distinguished: the Ukrainian, the Podolian-Gali- cian, and the Podlachian. Ethnographically interest- ing are the Little Russian or Ruthenian tribes in the Carpatliians, the Lemci,Boici, and Huzuh (Gouzouh). The White Russians are divided into two groups; ethnographically the eastern group is related to the Great Russians; the western to the Poles.

B. Poles. — The Poles represent the north-western branch of the Slavonic race. From the verj' earliest times they have lived in their ancestral regions be- tween the Carpathians, the Oder, and the North Sea. A thousand years ago Bolcslaw the Brave united all the Slavonic tribes living in these territories into a Polish kingdom. This kingdom, which reached its highest jirosperity at the close of the Middle Ages, then gradually declined and, at the close of the eigh- teenth century, was divided by the surrounding powere — Russia, Prussia, and .\ustria. In Austria the Poles form (he population of Western Galieia and are in a large minority throughout Eastern Galieia; in Eastern Galieia the population of the cities particu- larly is preponderantly Polish, as is also a, large part of the po])ulation of a section of Austrian Silesia, the district of Teschin. The Poles are largely represented in the County of Zips in Hungarj' and less largely in other Hungarian counties which border on Western Galieia. There is a small Polish population in Bu- kowina. In Prussia the Poles live in Upper Silesia, form a large majority of the inhabitants of the Prov- ince of Posen, and also inhabit the districts of Dantzic and Marienwerder in ^\'est Prussia, and the southern ])arts of East Prussia. In Russia (ho Poles form 71.95 per cent of the population in the nine provinces formed from the Polish kingdom. In addi- tion they live in the neighlxiuring distric( of the Province of Grodno and form a rchUively large mi- nority in Lithuania and in the provinces of White and Little Russia, where they are mainly owners of large