The Jatviags in 900-1100 A.D.: "the Baltic tribe" or "the coastal brotherhood"?
The paper deals with the processes of ethnic constructions in the Upper Nieman river basin and neighbor regions in the 10th-11th cent. The most significant conclusion is that the Jatviags were not "the Baltic tribe" but this name evolved in the time: in the 10th-11th cent. this name signified a river trade and warrior bands in the basin of the Upper Nieman, but from sources of the 13th cent. appears the image of mental geography structuring a difficult political situation in Baltic societies of the region.