East European ethnicity indicates genetic origins in East Europe, which is not an easily defined geographical area, as it enfolds multiple layers of geopolitical, cultural, and socioeconomic connotations. Despite the modern understanding of the area that includes countries from other distinct geographical regions — such as some Baltic, Balkan, and Caucasus states — people of Eastern European descent trace their roots to Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Hungary. The majority of Russians, Ukrainians, and Poles are Slavs: an Indo-European people who form the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe. Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are not Slavs, but rather a unique ethnic group, related to Finns and Estonians.
To say the Eastern European diaspora is substantial would be an understatement. Between 1891 and 1910 alone, some 12.5 million Eastern Europeans migrated to the U.S. in search of economic opportunities. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the two world wars, millions more made their way to the U.S. and Western Europe. Recently, the formation of the European Union has prompted a new wave of economic migration from Eastern to Western Europe.
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East European history
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During the Migration Period and Early Middle Ages (the fifth to the tenth centuries), a diverse group of Slavic tribal societies inhabited Eastern Europe. Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, the area was ruled by the Kievan Rus’: a loose federation of East Slavic and Finnic peoples. Modern Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim the Kievan Rus’ as their cultural ancestors, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it. Christianity was introduced to the Kievan Rus’ by Vladimir the Great in the early eleventh century. The decline and dissolution of the Kievan Rus’, exacerbated by the Mongol invasion of the Rus’ in the Thirteen century, resulted in considerable population shifts, marking the coalescing and emergence of the Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian people.
Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish identities developed under the political and cultural influence of the Lithuanian-Polish Union, whereas Russian identities were formed in the lands of Muscovy, the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Established in 1283 as a Mongol vassal state, by the Sixteen century, Muscovy extended its influence over most of Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic region. In 1547, Ivan IV — also known as Ivan the Terrible — proclaimed himself tsar, establishing the Tsardom of Russia.
From 1551 to 1700, Russia grew by 35,000 square kilometers per year. Having conquered the Ukrainian lands and Siberia, its territory spanned from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. In 1721, Peter the Great established the Russian Empire, transforming the Tsardom into a major European power. At its peak in the Nineteen century, the Russian Empire stretched over three continents — Europe, Asia, and North America — making it the third-largest empire in history. The empire was heavily embroiled in geopolitical conflicts, including successive wars against the Ottoman Empire and a political and diplomatic confrontation with the British Empire over territories in Central Asia. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, a result of civil unrest due to political discontent and economic failures.
The history of Eastern Europe between 1922 and 1991 is essentially the history of the Soviet Union: a highly-centralized communist federal sovereign state. In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union overran Poland, sparking the Second World War. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, opening the “Eastern Front” — one of the most extensive and brutal theaters of war in history. Following the conclusion of the war, Europe was divided into 2 separate areas of control marked by the Iron Curtain: a physical and symbolic border spanning 7,000 kilometers. What followed was the Cold War, a period of geopolitical tension between the communist and authoritarian Soviet Union and the capitalist and democratic U.S. and Western Bloc. Despite attempts to reform the U.S.S.R.’s sagging economy, in 1991, the union was dissolved, precipitating the independence of the former Soviet states, including Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
East European culture
The cuisine of Eastern Europe is a mix of hearty peasant dishes, including dumplings, sauerkraut, and beet soup, and elegant gourmet dishes such as intricate appetizers and fancy tortes. The Slavic countries of Eastern Europe (and, to a lesser degree, Scandinavia) are known as the “Vodka Belt”: the main producers and consumers of the beverage in the world. A heated debate rages between Poles and Russians as to who invented vodka: Poles have been drinking vodka at every celebratory occasion since the fourteen century, while Russians claim they have been producing vodkas since the ninth century.
Bridging Europe and Asia, the region has been the epicenter of rich cultural fusion. East Slavs at the heart of the Eastern Orthodox world developed a unique artistic tradition, while Polish culture was influenced by its interweaving ties with Germanic, Hungarian, and Western European cultures. Eastern Europe has long been considered an important center for major trends in the performing arts, such as the Russian ballet and nineteenth century Realism in theater. The golden age of Russian literature is inseparable from the European canon, featuring literary giants such as Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Though they did not invent it, Eastern Europeans have elevated chess to an art: the famed Soviet school of chess has produced hundreds of grandmasters and dozens of world champions.
Science and technology in Eastern Europe have developed rapidly since the Age of Enlightenment, when Tsar Peter the Great founded the first Russian universities. The Russian Empire, and later the U.S.S.R., brought together the brightest minds of Eastern Europe, allowing them to achieve extraordinary engineering, scientific, and technological feats. These accomplishments include the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the world’s longest railroad, and sending the first human into outer space. Eastern European scholars have made invaluable contributions in fields such as physics, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, electrical engineering, economic theory, earth sciences, and more.
East European languages
The Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish languages are distinct Slavic languages, thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, which belongs to the Indo-European language family.
See also
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
- MyHeritage DNA
- Ethnicities around the world at MyHeritage
- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base