Moravian tribe The
Moravians (
Old Slavic self-designation , , ) were a
West Slavic tribe in the
Early Middle Ages. Although it is not known exactly when the Moravian tribe was founded, Czech historian
Dušan Třeštík claimed the tribe was formed between the turn of the 6th century to the 7th century, around the same time as the other Slavic tribes. In the 9th century, Moravians settled mainly around the historic Region of
Moravia and
Western Slovakia, but also in parts of central-southern
Poland, and
Lower Austria (up to the
Danube) The first known mention of the Moravians was in the
Annales Regni Francorum in 822 AD. The tribe was located by the
Bavarian Geographer between the tribe of the
Bohemians and the tribe of the
Nitrans. In the 9th century, Moravians gained control over neighbouring
Nitra and founded the Realm of
Great Moravia, ruled by the
Mojmír dynasty until the 10th century. At times, the empire controlled even other neighboring regions, including
Bohemia and parts of present-day
Hungary,
Poland and
Ukraine. It emerged into one of the most powerful states in
Central Europe. After the breakup of the Moravian Realm, the Moravian tribe was under the rule of the new state of
Bohemia. Moravians were assimilated by the Czechs and presently identify as
Czechs. The modern nation of the
Slovaks was formed out of the nitran tribe within the
Kingdom of Hungary.
Moravians within the Czech lands Bretislaus I, Duke of Bohemia, in solving the succession question in his will (he had five sons) decided to completely reorganize Moravia, so that it should be governed by the younger sons of the royal family. It was still considered one country, but from an objective standpoint it was weakened, and Moravia could not lead to the formation of the medieval "nation" as quickly as in Bohemia. The way leading to the differentiation of the Moravians from the Czechs was caused by political and economic changes of the late 12th and early 13th century. Czech historical tradition was grown in Moravia during the Middle Ages, for example Czech Chronicles was reread and distributed. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Slavic-speaking inhabitants of Moravia publicly identified themselves as Moravians, not Czechs. Then, for fear of
Germanization, Moravians would begin to publicly refer to themselves as Moravian Czechs — joining a stronger neighbour. But internally they still felt their nationality (for example, here). Slovaks (and by extension,
Rusyns) were considered as Czechs by politicians, too. In the Czechoslovak and communist eras, Moravian nationality would be banned, so for the first time since the fall of the dangers of Germanization (1945), Moravian nationality appeared in the 1991 census. After the
Velvet Revolution a strong political movement to reinstate the Moravian-Silesian land ( in Czech, since it was one of the four lands of Czechoslovakia between 1928 and 1939, was active in Moravia. Accordingly, the officially-united Czech ethnicity was split in line with the historical division of the Czech Republic into
Bohemia, Moravia and
Czech Silesia (the
Czech lands). Some of the Czech-speaking inhabitants of Moravia declared Moravian ethnicity, and some of the Czech speaking inhabitants of Czech Silesia declared Silesian ethnicity. There were 1,363,000 citizens of the Czechoslovakia who declared Moravian ethnicity in 1991. However, the number dropped to 380,474 in the 2001 census: many persons previously declaring themselves as Moravians declared themselves again as
Czechs in this census. In 2011, the number increased again to 630 897. The strongest sense of patriotism towards Moravia is found in the environs of
Brno, the former capital of Moravia. However, the results of the census are skewed by the fact that most Moravians do not know that they can sign up for the Moravian nationality, but would use the option, according to a 2011 survey. Only in the first years after the
Velvet Revolution in 1989 did a few Moravian political parties seem to be able to gain some success in elections. However, they lost much of their strength around the time of the
dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993 when
Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the
Czech Republic and
Slovak Republic. According to the 2011 census, the percentage of people without religion was the lowest in the Moravian
Zlín Region, followed by the partly-Bohemian, partly-Moravian,
Vysočina Region; the
South Moravian Region; the
Moravian-Silesian Region; and the predominantly-Moravian
Olomouc Region. == See also ==