Sorbian Ethnography, History, and Geography
The aim of this chapter is to provide a general overview of the Sorbian people and its origins, as well as the usage of geographical access points.
1. General Overview
The Sorbs of today are the descendants of two West Slavic tribes that resided since about 600 AD in what is known today as the geographical region of Lusatia, or Lausitz in German. Lusatia is located in eastern Saxony and southeastern Brandenburg, Germany. Lusatia itself is subdivided into Upper Lusatia and Lower Lusatia. The terms “Upper” and “Lower” refer to the elevation, rather than latitude of the respective lands. In fact, Upper Lusatia is located to the south of Lower Lusatia. The Sorbs of Upper Lusatia are descended from the Milzane tribe, while the Sorbs of Lower Lusatia are descended from the Luzici tribe (both are Latinized names).
The large majority of the Upper Sorbs reside in the highland area between the cities Bautzen, Kamenz, and Wittichenau. The Lower Sorbs live in and near the famous Spree Forest (German: Spreewald) northwest of Cottbus which is flat marshland with once thick forests.
Historically, the Slavic tribes west of the Poles and north of the Czechs were called the Wendish tribes. The originally twenty-one main Wendish tribes resided on what is today eastern Germany, the western edge of Poland, and in parts of northwest Germany. The divisional border ran from Thuringia (in the south) to Hamburg on the North Sea, separating the Wends (on the east) from the Germanic tribes (on the west). Since these Wendish tribes failed to form any type of common political structure, the invading Germanic tribes, starting in about 800 AD, conquered them. Only the two aforementioned tribes survived to the present day. Presently, the term Sorbs is preferred.
Map of the present settlement areas of the Sorbs within Germany
(Source: Wikipedia article with map on Sorbian settlements: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Sorben_Siedlungsgebiet_Karte.jpg; English geographical terms added)
There are under 20,000 Upper and under 5,000 active Sorbian speakers. All Sorbs today grow up bilingual, German being the 2nd mother tongue.
The religious affiliation of the Sorbs shifted from pagan worship to Catholicism, and after the Reformation to Lutheranism. The Catholic counter-reformation within Saxony caused the majority of the Sorbs in Upper Lusatia to convert back to the Catholic faith, while the Sorbs in Lower Lusatia remained Lutheran.
Three large groups of Sorbs immigrated overseas to new homelands. All of these Sorbian immigrants began speaking English and eventually lost their Sorbian language. The descendants of these Sorbian immigrants are mainly found in the US states of Iowa and Texas, and in the country of Australia.
For further and more detailed information on the Sorbs and its history, please consult various printed materials and/or online sources, such as Wikipedia.
2. Access Points for Sorbian Lands
• Descriptive usage: refers to Lower Lusatia as a jurisdictional unit.
• Subject usage: refers to Lower Lusatia as a jurisdictional and cultural/geographic region throughout its history. Subdivision form is --Germany--Lower Lusatia.
Please note: The Library of Congress is in the process of changing this name authority heading into a geographical subject heading. When this change goes through, Lower Lusatia (Germany) will no longer be able to be employed in descriptive usage.
• Descriptive usage: cannot be used as a descriptive access point.
• Subject usage: refers to Lusatia as a jurisdictional and cultural/geographic region throughout its history. Subdivision form is --Germany--Lusatia.
• Descriptive usage: cannot be used as a descriptive access point.
• Subject usage: refers to Upper Lusatia as a jurisdictional and cultural/geographic region throughout its history. Subdivision form is --Germany--Lusatia.
• Descriptive usage: refers to the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia as a jurisdictional unit in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
• Subject usage: can be used as a subject heading. Subdivision form is --Germany--Upper Lusatia (Margraviate).
3. Subject Headings for Sorbian Ethnography and History
Established subject headings for Sorbian history, ethnography, and geography are found in ClassWeb (https://classweb.org/Auto/). The following are presently authorized headings:
Sorbs
Sorbs–Education
Sorbs–United States
Lusatia (Germany)
Lusatia (Germany)--History
Lusatia (Germany)--History–Revolution, 1848-1849
[submitted by Milan Pohontsch, July 2023]