the late 9th century, most of Greece was culturally and administratively Greek again except for a few small Slavic tribes in the mountains such as the Melingoi and Ezeritai. Although they would remain relatively autonomous until Ottoman times, such tribes were the exception, rather than the rule. Apart from military expeditions against Slavs, the re-Hellenization process begun under Nicephorus I involved (often forcible) transfer of peoples. Many Slavs were moved to other parts of the empire, such as Anatolia, and made to serve in the military. In return, many Greeks from Sicily and Asia Minor were brought to the interior of Greece to increase the number of defenders at the Emperor's disposal and to dilute the concentration of Slavs. Even non-Greeks were transferred to the Balkans, such as Armenians. As more of the peripheral territories of the Byzantine Empire were lost in the following centuries, such as Sicily, southern Italy and Asia Minor, their Greek-speakers made their own way back to Greece. The re-Hellenization of Greece by population transfers and cultural activities of the Church was successful, which suggests that Slavs found themselves in the midst of many Greeks. It is doubtful that such large number could have been transplanted into Greece in the 9th century; surely many Greeks had remained in Greece and continued to speak Greek throughout the period of Slavic occupation. The success of re-Hellenization also suggests the number of Slavs in Greece was far smaller than those found in the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. For example, Bulgaria could not be re-Hellenized when Byzantine administration was established over the Bulgarians in 1018 to last for well over a century, until 1186. Eventually, the Byzantines recovered the imperial border north all the way to today's region of Macedonia, which would serve as the northern border of the Byzantine Empire until 1018, although independent Slavic villages remained. As the Slavs supposedly occupied the entire Balkan interior, Constantinople was effectively cut off from the Dalmatian city-states under its (nominal) control. Thus, Dalmatia came to have closer ties with the Italian Peninsula because of ability to maintain contact by sea, but it too was troubled by Slavic pirates)l. Additionally, Constantinople was cut off from Rome, which contributed to the growing cultural and political separation between the two centres of European Christendom. See also Antes people List of medieval Slavic tribes References Sources Further reading Kardaras, Georgios. "Sclaveni and Antes. Some Notes