Seven Slavic tribes
The Seven Slavic tribes (Bulgarian: Седем славянски племена, Sedem slavyanski plemena) were a union of Slavic tribes of Moesia (the Danubian Plain in modern Bulgaria) that was established around the middle of the 7th century and took part in the formation of the First Bulgarian Empire together with the Bulgars in 680-681.
In the late 7th century the Seven Slavic tribes moved west and were assigned the defence of the newly-established Bulgarian Empire's western and northwestern border (the Iskar River up to its mouth in the Danube) against Avar raids, as well as some of the passes of the Balkan Mountains, whereas the Severi, whose possible participation in the union is not clear, would guard the eastern part of the mountains.
The Seven Slavic tribes, together with other Slavic tribes of the Bulgarian Empire, gradually formed the Bulgarian ethnicity in the 9th century due to the Christianization of Bulgaria under Boris I and the preceding administrative reforms that deprived them of their autonomy and self-government.
References
- Collective (2002). Balgarska entsiklopediya A-YA (in Bulgarian). Sofia: IK Trud.
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