Wends

Wends, name given by the Germans in medieval times to all the Slavic peoples occupying the territory roughly between the Elbe and Saale rivers on the west and the Oder River on the east. From about the 6th century onwards German rulers waged war against the powerful Wends, conquering and converting them to Christianity in the 12th century. A descendant group of the Wends, who call themselves Sorbs, has survived to the present day. The Sorbs number about 155,000 and live largely in the valley of the upper Spree River in Lusatia, a former region of eastern Germany and south-western Poland. Their language, Wendish, or Lower Sorbian, is a West Slavic language, from the Indo-European family, similar to Polish and Czech.