I.

Introduction

Slavic Peoples, most numerous of European peoples, with a population of more than 250 million, distributed principally in Eastern and Central Europe, most in the Balkan Peninsula, and beyond the Ural Mountains in Asia. The Slavic language group, with its many dialects, is part of the Indo-European language family. Linguistically, the group can be divided into: the East Slavic branch, consisting of Russian, Belorussian, and Ukrainian; the West Slavic branch, including Polish, Czech, and Slovak; and the South Slavic branch, including Slovenian, Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian.