Editing History of Lithuania (section)

===Baltic tribes===
[[File:East europe 3-4cc.png|thumb|Map of the ancient Baltic homelands at the time of the Hunnish invasions (3rd-4th c. AD). Baltic cultural areas (identified archaeologically) are in purple. The Baltic sphere originally covered Eastern Europe from the Baltic Sea to modern Moscow.]]
[[File:Baltic Tribes c 1200.svg|thumb|[[Balts|Baltic tribes]] around 1200, in the neighbourhood about to face the [[Teutonic Knights]]' conversion and conquests; note that Baltic territory extended far inland.]]
The first [[Lithuanian people]] were a branch of an ancient group known as the [[Balts]].{{efn|Historically, there has been a scholarly dispute concerning the origin of the [[Balts]]. According to one major point of view, the Baltic peoples descend directly from the original [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] arrivals, who might have settled this part of Europe possibly as far back as about 3000 BC as the archeological [[Corded Ware culture]]. The linguistic argument has been the most "archaic" status of the [[Lithuanian language]] among the existing [[Indo-European languages]] of Europe. The competing idea takes into account the many words common to both the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] and [[Slavic languages]] and postulates a shared, more recent Balto-Slavic ancestry. There has been no agreement regarding which archeological formation such hypothetical Proto-Balto-Slavic community would correspond to.<ref name="Ochmański 24-29">Ochmański (1982), pp. 24–29</ref>}} The main tribal divisions of the Balts were the West Baltic [[Old Prussians]] and [[Yotvingians]], and the East Baltic [[Lithuanians (tribe)|Lithuanians]] and [[Latvian people|Latvians]]. The Balts spoke forms of the [[Indo-European languages]].<ref name="Baczkowski 55-61">[[Krzysztof Baczkowski]] – ''Dzieje Polski późnośredniowiecznej (1370–1506)'' [History of Late Medieval Poland (1370–1506)], pp. 55–61; Fogra, Kraków 1999, {{ISBN|83-85719-40-7}}</ref> Today, the only remaining Baltic nationalities are the Lithuanians and Latvians, but there were more Baltic groups or tribes in the past. Some of these merged into Lithuanians and Latvians ([[Samogitians]], [[Selonians]], [[Curonians]], [[Semigallians]]), while others no longer existed after they were conquered and assimilated by the [[State of the Teutonic Order]] (Old Prussians, Yotvingians, [[Sambians]], [[Skalvians]], and [[Galindians]]).<ref name="Bumblauskas 23">Eidintas et al. (2013), p. 23</ref>

The [[Baltic tribes]] did not maintain close cultural or political contacts with the [[Roman Empire]], but they did maintain trade contacts (see [[Amber Road]]). [[Tacitus]], in his study ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', described the [[Aesti]] people, inhabitants of the south-eastern [[Baltic Sea]] shores who were probably Balts, around the year 97 AD.<ref name="Bumblauskas 22">Eidintas et al. (2013), p. 22</ref> The Western Balts differentiated and became known to outside chroniclers first. [[Ptolemy]] in the 2nd century AD knew of the Galindians and Yotvingians, and [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] chroniclers mentioned Prussians, Curonians and Semigallians.<ref name="Bumblauskas 26">Eidintas et al. (2013), p. 26</ref>

Lithuania, located along the lower and middle [[Neman River]] basin, comprised mainly the culturally different regions of [[Samogitia]] (known for its early medieval skeletal burials), and further east [[Aukštaitija]], or Lithuania proper (known for its early medieval cremation burials).<ref name="Ochmański 37">Ochmański (1982), p. 37</ref> The area was remote and unattractive to outsiders, including traders, which accounts for its separate linguistic, cultural and religious identity and delayed integration into general European patterns and trends.<ref name="Baczkowski 55-61"/>

[[File:Lietuvos vardas. The first name of Lithuania in writing 1009.jpg|thumb|Lithuania's name first written in 1009, in the annals of the [[Quedlinburg Abbey]], Germany.]]
The [[Lithuanian language]] is considered to be very [[Conservative (language)|conservative]] for its close connection to Indo-European roots. It is believed to have differentiated from the [[Latvian language]], the most closely related existing language, around the 7th century.<ref name="Bumblauskas 13">Eidintas et al. (2013), p. 13</ref> Traditional [[Lithuanian mythology|Lithuanian pagan customs and mythology]], with many archaic elements, were long preserved. Rulers' bodies were cremated up until the [[Christianization of Lithuania]]: the descriptions of the cremation ceremonies of the grand dukes [[Algirdas]] and [[Kęstutis]] have survived.<ref name="Bumblauskas 24-25">Eidintas et al. (2013), pp. 24–25</ref>

The Lithuanian tribe is thought to have developed more recognizably toward the end of the first [[millennium]].<ref name="Bumblauskas 26"/> The first known reference to Lithuania as a nation ("Litua") comes from the [[Annals of Quedlinburg|Annals of the Quedlinburg monastery]], dated 9 March 1009.<ref>{{cite journal | title=On the Origin of the Name of Lithuania | journal=Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences | volume=55 | issue=3 | date=Fall 2009 | first=Tomas | last=Baranauskas | issn=0024-5089}}</ref> In 1009, the missionary [[Bruno of Querfurt]] arrived in Lithuania and baptized the Lithuanian ruler "King Nethimer."<ref name="Bumblauskas 22, 26-28">Eidintas et al. (2013), pp. 22, 26–28</ref>