Archaeological findings of the 20th century in Silesia confirm the existence of an early settlement inhabited by
Celtic tribes. Until the 2nd century some parts of Silesia were populated by Celtic
Boii, predecessors of the states of
Bohemia and
Bavaria and subsequently until the 5th century, by the
Germanic Silingi, a tribe of the
Vandals, which moved south and west to invade
Andalusia. Silesia remained depopulated until the second phase of the
migration period. The
Slavs, predominantly
White Croats entered the depopulated territory of Silesia in the first half of the 6th century. The Slavic territories were mostly abandoned, because the Celtic and Germanic tribes that lived there before had moved west. Chronologically, the first group of Slavs were those that dwelt by the
Dnieper River, the second was the Sukov-Dzidzice type Slavs, and the last were groups of
Avaro-Slavic peoples from the
Danube river areas. In the early 9th century, the settlement stabilized. Local West Slavs began to erect a series of defensive systems, such as the
Silesian Przesieka and the
Silesia Walls to guard them from invaders. The north-eastern border with
Western Polans was not reinforced, due to their common culture and language. The 9th-century
Bavarian Geographer records the tribal names of the
Opolanie,
Dadosesani,
Golenzizi, Lupiglaa, and the
Ślężanie. The 1086
Prague Document, which is believed to document the 10th-century settlements, The reason for this classification was the "fundamentally common culture and language" of Silesian,
Polan,
Masovian,
Vistulan, and
Pomeranian tribes that "were considerably more closely related to one another than were the Germanic tribes." According to
Perspectives on Ethnicity, written by
anthropologist V. I. Kozlov and edited by R. Holloman, the Silesian tribes, together with other Polish tribes, formed what is now
Polish ethnicity and
culture. This process is called ethnic consolidation, in which several ethnic communities of the same origin and cognate languages merge into one. The names of the smaller tribes disappeared from historical records, as well as the names of some prominent tribes. However, in some places, the names of the most important tribes transformed into names representing the whole region, such as Mazovians for
Mazovia, and Silesians for
Silesia. As a result of the
fragmentation of Poland, some of those regions were again divided into smaller entities, such as the division of Silesia into
Lower Silesia and
Upper Silesia). However, the tribal era was already over, and these divisions reflected only political subdivisions of the Polish realm. Within Poland, from 1177 onward, Silesia was divided into many smaller duchies. In 1178, parts of the
Duchy of Kraków around Bytom,
Oświęcim,
Chrzanów and
Siewierz were transferred to the
Silesian Piasts, although their population was of Vistulan and not of Silesian descent. Parts of those territories were bought by the
Polish kings in the second half of the 15th century, but the Bytom area remained in the possession of the Silesian Piasts, even though it remained a part of the
Diocese of Kraków.
Modern history In 1742, most of Silesia was seized in the
War of the Austrian Succession by King
Frederick the Great of
Prussia, who named himself a 'Piast prince' (he was actually a remote descendant) in his first declaration. The remainder of Silesia, known as
Cieszyn Silesia, remained in the Austrian Empire. The Prussian part of Silesia constituted the
Province of Silesia until 1918. Later, the province was split into the Prussian provinces of
Upper and
Lower Silesia. Owing to the development of education, a rebirth of Polish culture took place in the second half of the 1800s in Silesia, which was connected with the emergence of a Polish national movement of a clearly Catholic character. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the fact that Silesians were part of the Polish nation was not questioned. German and later by Moravian neighbors called the Slavic Upper Silesians
Wasserpolen. This name has been known since at least the 17th century and seems to refer to the Polish population in a German-Polish border region. On the other hand, Germans in Upper Silesia were called
Rajchy (those from the Reich). As the result of the division of Silesia between Prussia and Austria, the terms
Prusocy (the Prussians) and
Cesarocy (the Imperial) also appeared. Prusocy referred to the inhabitants of Prussian Silesia, Cesarocy to those of
Austrian Silesia. The latter referred both to the inhabitants of Cieszyn Silesia and, in part, to the western, Austrian partition of Poland, i.e. the western part of the Krakow region. Older people still know on these terms, which reflect a border that ceased to exist after World War I. The name Prusocy was later replaced by Hanysy, and is often used by Upper Silesians to refer to themselves, although the term sounds offensive to the ears of Polish newcomers (przybyszy) who arrived after 1945. After the conflicts termed
Silesian Uprisings, which also involved intervention of the Polish government, the eastern minor, but richer, part of Upper Silesia became part of the newly restored
Poland; most of the land that had been ruled by the Habsburgs following the
1742 war went to
Czechoslovakia, while Lower Silesia and most of
Upper Silesia remained in Germany. The ethnic situation of the region became more complex as the division of Upper Silesia into Polish and German parts led to ethnic polarization. The people that lived in the western part of Upper Silesia were subject to a strong German
Ostsiedlung, where those living in the eastern part of Silesia started to identify with the Polish culture and statehood. The reasons for these transitions were boundary shifts and population changes that came after World War II. As a result, the vast majority of the former German Silesia, even
Lower Silesia, which did not have sizeable Polish-speaking population, was incorporated into Poland, with smaller regions remaining under the control of the
German Democratic Republic (which later became a part of unified Germany).
Czechoslovakia obtained most of Cieszyn Silesia. Millions of Silesians, mostly of
German ethnicity, were subsequently
forcibly expelled, but after being sifted out from the ethnic Germans by a process of "national verification", the Silesians classified as "
autochthons" by the Polish communist authorities were allowed to remain, and they were intensely
polonized. Between 1955 and 1959, under the supervision of the
Red Cross, some of the remaining Silesians were able to emigrate to West and East Germany to
reunite with their families there. But some had to wait for years. Until 1989, nearly 600,000 Silesians emigrated to Germany. Between 1945 and 1949, millions of ethnic Poles from the former (pre-1939) eastern Poland (especially
Lviv,
Volhynia,
Podolia,
Vilnius, etc.) and central Poland moved into Silesia, particularly in Lower Silesia. Since the end of
Communist rule in Poland, there have been calls for greater political representation for the Silesian ethnic minority. In 1997, a
Katowice court of law registered the Union of People of Silesian Nationality (ZLNS) as the political representative organization of the Silesian ethnic minority, but after two months, the registration was revoked by a regional court. According to M.E. Sharpe, Silesians inhabiting Poland are considered to belong to a Polish ethnographic group, and they speak a dialect of Polish. United States Immigration Commission also counted Silesian as one of
the dialects of Polish. As a result of German influence, Silesians have been influenced by German culture. Many German and their descendants who inhabited both Lower and Upper Silesia
have been displaced to Germany in 1945-47. ==Language==