Wends

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/wends

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the ethno-linguistic group?West Slavic tribes, including the Obotrites, Veleti, and Polabians
2. What is the modern cultural descendants?The Sorbian minority in Lusatia (Upper and Lower Lusatia)
3. What were the Wends and where did they live?The Wends were ancient West Slavic tribes who first lived in the Vistula River basin and later spread into parts of modern Germany and Poland.
4. How did the Wends organize their society?They were led by chieftains and warrior elites and built fortified settlements called "burgs" to protect their communities.

Ethno-linguistic Group: A population sharing common ethnicity, language, and cultural characteristics.
Migration Period: A historical era (roughly 4th to 8th centuries CE) marked by large-scale movements of peoples across Europe.
Ostsiedlung: The medieval German eastward colonization and settlement of lands in Central and Eastern Europe.
Burg: A fortified settlement or stronghold, common among Slavic and Germanic peoples in the early Middle Ages.