Dregovichs

The Dregowitschen (Russian Дреговичи, Belarusian Дрыгавічы ), also Draguwiten were a ostslawischer tribe, who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries along the Pripyat and Dnieper in the upper area. Its name comes from the old Slavic word dregwa, which means swamp. You will be taken by some researchers with the Sarubinzy culture in conjunction. Your neighbors to the east were the Radimitschen, in the north- east, the Kriwitschen or Polo Tschanen, in the west the Baltic and to the south the Drevlianians.

Archaeological excavations show remnants of agriculturally oriented settlements, grave hills and small fortified towns. The chronicles tell very little about the Dregowitschen. We know that they had their own principality on the Pripyat with the center in Turow. In the 10th century, their lands part of Kievan Rus, later these areas were the core of the Principality of Turov. The northeastern part of the area inhabited by the Dregowitschen territory became part of the Principality of Polotsk. It is assumed that the Dregowitschen together with the Radimitschen, polo Tschanen and part of the Kriwitschen are among the ancestors of Belarusians.