Overshadowed by the spectacular conquests of the nomads and by the sophisticated civilization of the coastal cities, the obscured population of Ukraine’s northern forests, meadows, and river banks seemed for ages to be little more than a human backdrop for the fast-moving developments in the south.

By the 6th century AD, however, these agrarian peoples began to make their presence felt more forcefully as the focal point of historically significant activity in Ukraine shifted slowly, yet inexorably, from the sea coast and the steppe to the wooded flatlands. As the agriculturalists made their way to the center of the historical stage, their linguistic, ethnic, and cultural features became more discernible to modern historians, who established that these people were Slavs, the direct ancestors of Ukraine’s current population.

More on the topic Overshadowed by the spectacular conquests of the nomads and by the sophisticated civilization of the coastal cities, the obscured population of Ukraine’s northern forests, meadows, and river banks seemed for ages to be little more than a human backdrop for the fast-moving developments in the south.:

1. Backdrop as foreground: environment and histories of imperialism