White Croats

Under the name of White Croats (Croatian: Bijeli Hrvati, Polish: Biali Chorwaci, Czech: Bílí Chorvati, Russian: Белые хорваты) is considered a group of Slavic tribes who lived among other West and East Slavic tribes in the area of Bohemia, Lesser Poland, Galicia (north of Carpathian Mountains) and Western Ukraine.

They were documented primarily by foreign medieval authors, and have managed to preserve their ethnic name to the early 20th century. In the 7th century, part of White Croats migrated from their homeland White Croatia to the territory of modern-day Croatia.

Origin

It is generally considered that the name of Croats - Hrvat/Horvat/Harvat, etymologically is not of Slavic origin, yet a borrowing from Iranian languages. It is considered that the ethnonym Hrvat is first attested on the two Tanais Tablets, founded in the Greek colony of Tanais in the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD, at the time when the colony was surrounded by Iranian-speaking Sarmatians. First Iranian tribes who lived on the shores of Sea of Azov were Scythians, who arrived there c. 7th century BCE. Around 4th century BCE they withdrew before the incursions of Sarmatians. In that area happened extensive Early Slavic and Iranian cultural and linguistical contacts.

Croats

Croats (/kroʊæt, kroʊɑːt/; Croatian: Hrvati, pronounced [xrʋăːti]) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Croats mainly live in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but are an officially recognized minority in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have migrated throughout Europe (especially Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy) and the Americas (particularly the United States, Canada, Chile, and Argentina), establishing a diaspora.

Croats are noted for their cultural diversity, which has been influenced by a number of other neighboring cultures through the ages. Croats are mostly Roman Catholics. The Croatian language is official in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in the European Union, and is a recognised minority language within Croatian autochthonous communities and minorities in Montenegro, Austria (Burgenland), Italy (Molise), Romania (Caraşova, Lupac) and Serbia (Vojvodina).

Croats (military unit)

The Croats or Crabats (Croatian Hrvatsko konjaništvo) , (German: Crabatten) were a 17th-century skilled mobile light military forces. The Croats were initially irregular units loosely organized in bands. The first regular Croat regiment was established in 1625. The most notable engagement of the Croats was their participation on the side of the Catholic League in the Thirty Years' War. Besides Croatian and Hungarian recruits from the territories of Habsburg Monarchy, the Croats were composed of soldiers recruited all over Eastern Europe.

Etymology

All 17th-century soldiers who had first served at the south-east European Habsburg Military Frontier toward the Ottoman Empire and then joined the war theatre of Central Europe were arbitrarily referred to as "Croats". However, the Croats comprised men recruited all over Eastern Europe including Croats, Hungarians, Serbs, Albanians, Transylvanians, Poles, Cossacks, Wallachians and Tatars. Because of the reputation of the Croats, some authors often used the term "Croat" as reference to the military unit or cavalry.