Historical ethnic groups of Europe

thumb|Germania Inferior roads and towns thumb|Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which was the most northerly province of the Roman Empire in continental Europe. The original Frankish language was West Germanic. These Frankish tribes lived for centuries under varying degrees of Roman hegemony and influence, but after the collapse of Roman institutions in western Europe, they took control of a large empire including areas that had be

The Alans () were an ancient and medieval Iranic nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today the North Caucasus; some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Alans with the Central Asian Yancai of Chinese sources and with the Aorsi of Roman sources. Having migrated westwards and becoming dominant among the Sarmatians on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Alans are mentioned by Roman sources in the . At that time they had settled in the region north of

thumb|220px|The famous bust of the "Lady of Elche", probably a priestess. thumb|220px|"Warrior of Moixent" Iberian (Edetan) ex-voto statuette, 2nd to 4th centuries BC, found in [[Edeta.]]

historical Baltic tribal group

thumb|230px|The Limes Saxoniae border between the [[Saxons and the Lechites Obotrites, established about 810 in present-day Schleswig-Holstein]] right|230px|thumb|Germaniae veteris typus (Old Germany). Aestui, Venedi, Gythones and [[Ingaevones are visible on the right upper corner of the map. Edited by Willem and Joan Blaeu, 1645.]]

European ethnic group of Rucia

German minority group in Romania, native to Transylvania

ancient people living in the Alps during the 1st millenium B.C.

thumb|upright=1.2|A map of the territory of the Yotvingians and other Baltic tribes

diverse group of tribal societies that established foundations for the Slavic nations

ethnic group

historical ethnical group

thumb|250px|Morlach peasant from the Split, Croatia|Split region (of modern [[Croatia). Théodore Valerio (1819–1879), 1864.]]

The Vends (; ; ) were a Balto-Finnic people that lived between the 12th to 16th centuries in the area around the town of Wenden (now Cēsis) in present-day north-central Latvia.

German ethnic group

Kreevins () were Votes who lived in the proximity of Latvian town of Bauska and spoke their own dialect of Votic. In the middle of the 19th century they merged with the surrounding Latvians, although many traditional aspects of Votic culture are still preserved. The name means "little Russians" (diminutive form) in Latvian due to their equally foreign-sounding language to Latvians.

Latvian cultural group

The Trumpilini were an ancient tribe that settled in Val Trompia, one of three main valleys in the Province of Brescia in Northern Italy.