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Origins

Main article: Theories on the origin of Croats

The origin of the Croatian tribe before the great migration of the Slavs is uncertain. According to the most widely accepted[23] Slavic theory of the 7th century, the Croatian tribe moved from the area north of the Carpathians and east of the river Vistula (referred to as White Croatia) and migrated into the western Dinaric Alps. White Croats formed the Principality of Dalmatia in the upper Adriatic. Another wave of Slavic migrants from White Croatia subsequently founded the Principality of Pannonia.

According to the autochthonous model, mostly promoted by Illyrian Movement in the 19th century and abandoned[23] by the mid-19th century, the homeland of Slavs is actually in the area of southern Croatia, and they spread northwards and westwards rather than the other way round. A revision of the theory, developed by Ivan Muzić [24] argues that Slav migration from the north did happen, but the actual number of Slavic settlers was small and that the Illyrian ethnic substratum was prevalent for formation of Croatian ethnicity.

The Iranian origin of the Croats suggests that they are descendants of ancient Iranians (cf. Alans), these are perceived appearances of the name for Croatia or Croatians. The earliest claimed mention of the Croatian name, Horouathos, can be traced on two stone inscriptions in the Greek language and script, dating from around the year 200 AD, found in the seaport Tanais on the Azov sea, located on the Crimean peninsula (near the Black Sea). Both tablets are kept in an archaeological museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Whether the term Hourathos is related to the Croat ethnonym is open to conjecture, as the two words may have separate origins.

Genetically, on the Y chromosome line, a majority (>87%) of Croats belong to one of the three major European Y-DNA haplogroups -- Haplogroup I (38%), Haplogroup R1a 35% and Haplogroup R1b 16%[25]All three groups migrated to Europe during the upper paleolithic around 30,000-20,000 BC.

Croat Haplogroups

Croat Haplogroups

Later, neolithic lineages, originating in the Middle East and that brought agriculture to Europe, are present in surprisingly low numbers. The haplogroups J, E and G constitute together less than 10% - significantly lower than other populations in the region.[26] Furthermore the dominant presence of haplogroup I is rather interesting. This group exists in Europe only and is fairly wide-spread, but in relatively small percentages. Its frequency in the Balkans is high, but the only populations that have similar levels of the I group are the Scandinavians.[27] Haplogroup I is believed to have weathered the last glacial maximum in the southern Balkan peninsula itself, migrating north (including straight to modern day Croatia) as the ice sheets retreated.

There are a number of relevant conclusions that can be drawn from the genetic data.

First of all it gives strong support to the theory that the region of modern day Croatia served as a refuge for northern populations during the last glacial maximum (LGM). After the LGM there was a migration to the north of the people whose offspring today form a significant portion of the three aforementioned Scandinavian populations. Those who decided to stay are the ancestors of about 38 per cent of modern day Croats.[25][27]

The second conclusion that can be drawn is that the theory of an Iranian origin has little genetic support. Modern-day Iranians have a significantly different haplogroup distribution, although millennia ago Persia may have been home to altogether different peoples. Only a relatively small percentage of the Croats belong to one of the haplogroups that is common in the Middle East. The low frequency of these groups is consistent with the minor migration of Neolithic farmers from the Middle East that occurred around 10,000 years ago.[28]

And the third conclusion is that modern-day Croats may not have that much genetically in common with the Croats of the proto-Slavic origin. The R1a haplogroup that is usually at 40-60% levels in most Eastern European countries is at 35% within the Croat population. Genetic evidence points to the fact that there was a high degree of mixing of the newly arrived Croat tribes with the indigenous populations that were already present in the region of the modern day Croatia.[29] Hence, most modern day Croats are descended from the original European population of the region and have lived in the territory by other names, such as Illyrians and their forebears. These original inhabitants also served an important role in re-populating Europe after the last ice age.[26]