Yotvingians, also called Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians, were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prussians. The linguist Petras Būtėnas once asserted that they were closest to the Lithuanians. The Yotvingians contributed to the formation of the Lithuanian state.
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Sudovians in the context of Baltic tribes
The Balts or Baltic peoples (Lithuanian: baltai, Latvian: balti) are a group of peoples inhabiting the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea who speak Baltic languages. Among the Baltic peoples are modern-day Lithuanians (including Samogitians) and Latvians (including Latgalians) — all East Balts — as well as the Old Prussians, Curonians, Sudovians, Skalvians, Yotvingians and Galindians — the Western Balts — whose languages and cultures are now extinct, but made a large influence on the living branches, especially on literary Lithuanian language.
The Balts are descended from a group of Proto-Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the lower Vistula and southeast shore of the Baltic Sea and upper Daugava and Dnieper rivers, and which over time became differentiated into West and East Balts. In the fifth century CE, parts of the eastern Baltic coast began to be settled by the ancestors of the Western Balts, whereas the East Balts lived in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. In the first millennium CE, large migrations of the Balts occurred. By the 13th and 14th centuries, the East Balts shrank to the general area that the present-day Balts and Belarusians inhabit.
Sudovians in the context of Traidenis
Traidenis (died 1282) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1269 or 1270 until 1282. He is the second most prominent grand duke of Lithuania in the 13th century after Mindaugas. His reign ended a seven-year unrest period after King Mindaugas was assassinated in 1263 and firmly established Lithuania as a pagan state for another hundred years.
Traidenis expanded the Grand Duchy into the territories of Sudovians and Semigalians and strengthened its presence in Black Ruthenia. Unlike Mindaugas, Traidenis did not concentrate on expansion into the east.