Eastern Europe: medieval era colonizations and reclamation of land
Christian Lübke
Abstract While medieval colonization was controversial in Eastern Europe for a long time, it also built rich heritage. It rather question of national pride concerning the cultural improvements that revolutionized social and economic life from second half 12th century. The main reason struggles 19th 20th centuries is related to seemingly dominating role Germans these processes, which were frequently traced immigration settlers west import spread German law ( ius Teutonicum ). This historic phenomenon used – abused as an argument fights amongst political ascendancy over lands populated mostly by Slavs early Middle Ages, then predominantly Poles modern times. debates began middle century soon seized public's attention (Hackmann &amp; Lübke 2002). Generally speaking, staked claim their ancestors having acted transmitters culture, (and other ethnicities) compelled accept beneficial effects arrival. But neighbors Germans, like Czechs, rejected assertions minimized or totally ignored alleged merits. As result, autochthonous development became basis regional colonization.
The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration