Polovtsian steppe: description, history, population and interesting facts

The term "Polovtsian steppe" was used in the Middle Ages to refer to the vast steppe Eurasian region, on the vast expanses of which the Polovtsians lived. At first this name was fixed in Persia, then it became widespread in other countries, including Russia. The Arabs also used the term "Kypchak steppe", since the Polovtsians were known to them as Kypchaks. These tribes hosted in this region in the XI-XIII centuries. The end of their rule was the Mongol invasion.

In search of a new home

Geographically, the Polovtsian steppe covered vast spaces. It began on the left bank of the Danube, in the territory of modern Romania. The nomad lands occupied the lands of present Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. The extreme eastern point can be called Lake Balkhash. In the south, the border of the steppes was the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea and the semi-deserts of Central Asia. In the north lay a natural boundary in the form of forests in the upper reaches of the Dnieper, lands of North-Eastern Russia, Volga Bulgaria, Kama and Irtysh. Also, the Polovtsian steppe was divided into the western (from the Danube to the Caspian) and the eastern (from the Caspian to Altai).

Until the eleventh century the Kypchaks lived on the banks of the Irtysh. But about 1030 they migrated to the west, being in Eastern Europe. The resettlement was not peaceful. Moving west, the Polovtsi expelled from the occupied places Pechenegs and Hungarians. It was the seizure of new pastures. The nomads hardly knew exactly who they would meet in the distant western lands. But the fact remains: no steppe tribe in Eastern Europe could not contain their onslaught.

Neighbors Polovtsy

At the beginning of the XI century the Polovtsy steppe acquired new masters who lived by the harsh rules of military democracy. The invasions (and hence the resettlement of the entire nation) were led by talented generals, who sought recognition on the battlefield. For nomads, such a device of power was ubiquitous. Most uninvited guests were interested in the region north of which Russia began. The Polovtsian steppe covered the most fertile land here, in addition, the most suitable for grazing cattle and horses, without which the steppe people did not represent their lives. These were the Azov and the Lower Donets. Also to this number is the current Donetsk region of Ukraine (today there is a landscape park "Polovtsian steppe").

Before in these places lived Pechenegs and Bulgarians. Neighboring upper reaches of the Northern Donets were inaccessible and deaf places where it was difficult to reach cavalry cavalry. There remained Alans - the remnants of the former owners of these forest-steppes. Also in the lower reaches of the Volga, the Khazar Khaganate, formerly destroyed by the Slavic army of Svyatoslav of Kiev , existed before. The population of these lands gradually mingled with the Polovtsians and in the process of assimilation somewhat changed their appearance.

Ethnic pot

Having settled in new places, the Kypchaks became neighbors of the Guz and Pecheneg hordes. These nomads played a significant role in the creation of a new Polovtsian community. The influence of Guz and Pechenegs affected the burial customs of the new steppe masters. Living on the banks of the Irtysh, the Polovtsians poured stone mounds. The body of the deceased was head to the east. Nearby necessarily placed the carcass of the horse, in which the legs were severed. At the same time, the Polovtsians had a peculiarity unusual for the steppe people. They with equal honors buried both men and women.

At the new place of residence, these rituals began to blur on the background of the customs of the former local residents. In place of stone mounds came simple earthy. Instead of a horse, his scarecrow was buried. The body was now headlong to the west. Changes in the funeral ritual characterize the permanent ethnic changes experienced by the Polovtsian steppe. The population of this region has always been heterogeneous. The Polovtsy were not even too numerous in number, compared to their neighbors. But it was they who played the first violin in the region for two centuries, since among them were the most active and powerful military leaders who pacified opponents and competitors.

Acquiring Homeland

Modern archaeologists easily determine the territory that the Polovtsians occupied in the Middle Ages, thanks to the characteristic stone statues. The first such statues appeared on the northern coast of the Azov Sea and in the lower reaches of the Seversky Donets. These are flat and stil shaped statues depicting faces and some details of a human figure (arms, chest). Such drawings are either drawn, or made in the form of low reliefs.

Even the invasion of the Mongols into the Polovtsian steppe did not destroy these curious monuments of the era. Statues depicted both men and women, and were mandatory attributes of the sanctuaries of the Gentiles, which, in turn, were already built during the second stage of nomadism. After the first stage (actual invasion and resettlement) the Polovtsian society stabilized. Routes roaming. They have acquired permanent winter and summer parking. Raising religious images, the steppe people stressed: they stay in their new house for a long time.

Polovtsy and Rus

The first evidence of foreigners about the Cumans refers to 1030, when they began to organize the first campaigns against neighbors for the purpose of robbery. The settled inhabitants of Christian countries were not very interested in what was happening in the wild and distant steppe. Therefore, for the first time they talked about the Polovtsians exactly at the moment when they invaded their home.

The nearest neighbor of the new nomads (as in the case with the Pechenegs) was Rus. For the first time the Polovtsy tried to plunder in the rich East Slavic lands in 1060. Then the troops of Chernigov prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavovich came out to meet uninvited guests. It was four times smaller than the horde of steppe people, but this did not stop the Russian squad to defeat the enemy. In that year, many nomads were killed and drowned in the waters of the Snovi River. However, this meeting only preceded further troubles, which were already ready to fall upon Russia.

A long confrontation

Until 1060 in the lands of the Eastern Slavs, no one really knew what the Polovtsian steppe was. With the appearance of wild and ferocious nomads on the border, which were much more terrible than the Pechenegs, the inhabitants of Russia involuntarily had to get used to the new unpleasant neighborhood. For almost another two centuries the Polovtsians constantly invaded their lands.

For Russia, this confrontation was even more dangerous and difficult, because in the eleventh century, before a single state entered a stage of political fragmentation. Previously, the monolithic Kiev state could compete on an equal footing with the threats emanating from the Polovtsian steppe. The peculiarities of the division of Rus led to the fact that several independent princedoms appeared on its territory. Often they not only united their efforts in the struggle against the steppe people, but also fought against each other.

The new threat

Polovtsy often used civil strife in order to plunder and impunise the peaceful population of defenseless southern settlements with impunity. Moreover, the nomads began to be employed by some princes when they fought with their relatives from neighboring areas. So the Cumans freely penetrated deep into Russia and did bloodshed there.

The Polovtsian dominion in the steppes of Eastern Europe disappeared after another wave of nomads came from Asia. They were Mongols. They were even more numerous, ferocious and ruthless. For two centuries on the outskirts of Europe Polovtsians in a certain sense have become closer to civilization. The morals of the Mongols were much more violent and militant.

The disappearance of the Polovtsians

For the first time, a new horde invaded the lands of the Polovtsi in 1220. The latter united with the Russian princes, but suffered a crushing defeat in the battle on the river Kalka. No one expected such a terrible threat, which the Mongols were. In Polovtsy steppes, everything was approaching major changes. After the first raid, the Mongols suddenly turned back. However, in 1236 they returned. Within a few years they conquered the entire Polovtsian steppe up to the borders with Hungary. Moreover, they imposed a tribute to Russia.

The Polovtsi did not disappear from the face of the earth, but they began to live in a servile position. Gradually, this people mingled with Mongolian hordes. From this assimilation there were Tatars, Bashkirs, etc. So in the XIII century the term "Polovtsian steppe" became archaism.