Tribes of Yotvingians

The name Sudovia (Sudovians) was mentioned in the written sources for the first time in the 1st-2nd century. It is possible to find it in the famous ‘Geography’ of Claudius Ptolemaeus. Sudovians were called Yotvingians in the Polish and Russian sources. The oldest notes come from the 10th century (The Primary Chronicle of Nestor). In the oldest Polish sources their northern-east neighbours are called Podlasianie (the region Podlachia, Podlesia - Polexa). In the Lithuanian sources some parts of Yotvingia are named Dainava. The article describes the exact area inhabited by Yotvingian tribes

Balts in historical sources

The author presents the names of the tribes who inhabited the major part of the coast of the Baltic Sea. At the end of the 19th century the terms Latvians, as well as Lithuanians and the Lithuanian tribes were used in the linguistic sources. Some authors called these tribes Lithuanian- Latvian (litu-lettisch). G. H. Nesselman (in his work dated 1845) used the term Balts, which became the most popular. Lithuanian linguists Kazimieras Jaunius and Kazimieras Būga used the term ‘Aesti’ following the work of Tacitus ‘Germania' who called these tribes ‘Aestorium gentes’. The author analyses ancient historical sources of Herodotus, Euripides, Pytheas, Tacitus, Ptolemy, Jordan and others. They present descriptions of the journeys by the Baltic Sea and the encounters with local inhabitants. These sources were of interest among scholars from different countries, thus the author of the article presents their interpretations as well as conclusions