why is western Balkans more Slavic than eastern Balkans?

[Noble Cuman]

And also it is known that Byzantines settled Armenian and Anatolian soldiers in Balkans especially Thrace. Macedonian dynasty of Byzantines was one of them. They were mixed with natives for sure.

[War Chef]

Because it was easier to cross the Pannonian plain than the Carpathian mountain ranges, especially with herds of cows, like Slavs used to do.

Slavs were mostly agrarian. They weren't known to heard livestock, that's why the Vlachs dominate the Carpathian highlands because sheep like grassy side hills. Balkan Slavs lived in fertile farm valleys between mountains - usually there is a good run off from the mountains and there's rivers + soil rich in minerals etc.

Why is western Balkans more Slavic than eastern?
Discuss.

By the time Slavs arrived, western Balkans was completely open and vacant, the Avars were on the decline (mostly because they began assimilating into Yugoslav culture). Eastern Balkans was part of Byzantium and they could muster Levy to fend off the Slavs each time, easily. Western Balkans was ripe for the taking.

[Dirdepo]

Use Feichy calculators

Target: Croat
Distance: 0.0333% / 0.03327195
5.4 Croat_Croatia_Istria_&_Kvarner
5.4 Croat_Croatia_Lika-Senj
4.8 Polish
4.8 Serb_B&H_Krajina
4.6 Slovenian
4.0 Croat_Croatia_Slavonia
4.0 Russian_Smolensk
4.0 Serb_Serbia_Vojvodina
3.8 Ukrainian_Belgorod
3.4 Croat_Croatia
3.2 Croat_B&H_Herzegovina
3.2 Croat_Croatia_Central
3.0 Torbeshi_North-Macedonia-Central
2.8 Pomak_Nevrokopi
2.6 Sorb_Lusatia
2.4 Greek_Northern-Thrace
2.4 Lithuanian
2.4 Norwegian
2.4 Serb_B&H_Herzegovina
2.2 Latvian
2.0 MacedonianNorthWest
2.0 Vlach_Central-Macedonia
1.8 Croat_Croatia_Zagorje
1.6 Masurian
1.4 Croat_B&H_West_Bosnia
1.4 Swiss_German2
1.4 Welsh
1.2 Austrian
1.2 Belorussian
1.2 IT_Trentino
1.2 South_Polish
1.0 Slovak
0.8 Bosniak_Sandzak
0.8 German_East
0.8 IT_Piedmont
0.8 MacedonianNorthEast
0.8 Ukrainian_Lviv
0.8 Vlach_North-Macedonia
0.6 Croat_Croatia_Gorski_Kotar
0.6 English_North
0.6 Pomak_Komotini
0.6 Serb_Croatia_Dalmatia
0.6 Vlach_North-Macedonia-Highlander
0.4 IT_Aosta_Valley
0.4 Bosniak_Krajina
0.4 Pomak_Xanthi
0.4 Sardinia
0.2 FRA_Alsace
0.2 FRA_Aquitania
0.2 French_Basque
0.2 FrenchCorsica
0.2 Georgian_imereti
0.2 Greek_Istanbul
0.2 IT_Marche
0.2 IT_Emilia_ovest
0.2 North_German
0.2 Pomak_Plovdiv
0.2 Serb_Croatia_Kordun&Banija
0.2 Swiss_French



Target: Bulgaria_average
Distance: 0.0072% / 0.00716943
2.2 Albanian_north_Albania
2.2 MacedonianEast
2.0 Albanian_Montenegro
2.0 Greek_Eastern-Thrace
1.8 Baltic
1.8 Greek_West
1.8 Montenegrin
1.6 Albanian_Kosovo
1.6 Croat_B&H_Herzegovina
1.6 MacedonianNorthEast
1.6 Pomak_Xanthi
1.6 Torbeshi_North-Macedonia-Central
1.4 Belorussian
1.4 Greek_Northern-Thrace
1.4 Romania_Banat
1.4 Serb_B&H_Bosnia_proper
1.4 Serb_B&H_Krajina
1.2 Albanian_Macedonia
1.2 Croat_Croatia_Slavonia
1.2 Erzya
1.2 Greek_Central
1.2 Greek_Macedonia_Thrace
1.2 Greek_Western-Thrace
1.2 Pomak_average
1.2 Romania_Maramures
1.2 Serb
1.0 Bosniak_Sandzak
1.0 Bosniak_Sarajevo
1.0 Bulgaria_Northcentral
1.0 Croat_B&H_Bosnia_proper
1.0 Greek_Chios
1.0 Greek_Istanbul
1.0 Latvian
1.0 MacedonianCentral
1.0 Romania_Dobruja
1.0 Sardinia
0.8 Albanian_Albania
0.8 Croat_Croatia
0.8 Greek_Ionia
0.8 Greek_North_Aegean
0.8 IT_Abruzzo
0.8 MacedonianWest
0.8 MacedonianNorthWest
0.8 Moldova_Centre
0.8 Pomak_Komotini
0.8 Serb_B&H
0.8 Serb_Croatia_Kordun&Banija
0.8 Serb_Serbia_South&East
0.8 Turk_Thessaloniki
0.8 Vlach_Central-Macedonia
0.6 Bulgaria_Northeastern
0.6 Bulgaria_Northwestern
0.6 Cossacks_Kuban
0.6 Croat_B&H
0.6 Greek_Caucasus
0.6 Greek_West_Macedonia
0.6 IT_Lazio
0.6 IT_Lombardy
0.6 IT_Marche
0.6 IT_Trentino
0.6 IT_Veneto
0.6 Pomak_Drama
0.6 Russian_Smolensk
0.6 Serb_B&H_Herzegovina
0.6 Serb_Croatia
0.6 Spanish_Valencia
0.6 Torbeshi_North-Macedonia-East
0.6 Turk_Drama
0.6 Turk_Meskhetian
0.6 Ukrainian_Belgorod
0.4 Albanian
0.4 Armenian_West
0.4 Bulgaria_Southcentral
0.4 Croat_B&H_West_Bosnia
0.4 Croat_Croatia_Central
0.4 Croat_Croatia_Istria_&_Kvarner
0.4 Estonian
0.4 FrenchCorsica
0.4 Georgian
0.4 German_East
0.4 Greek_Cappadocian
0.4 Greek_Cyclades
0.4 Greek_Cypriot
0.4 Greek_Dodecanese
0.4 Greek_Peloponnese
0.4 Greek_Trabzon
0.4 IT_Insubria
0.4 IT_Emilia_ovest
0.4 IT_Sannio
0.4 IT_Salento
0.4 Italian_Jewish
0.4 Lithuanian
0.4 MacedonianGreeceNorthWest
0.4 MacedonianSouthEast
0.4 MacedonianSouthWest
0.4 MACEDONIAN_AVERAGE
0.4 Russian
0.4 Southwest_French
0.4 Swiss_French
0.4 Swiss_Italian
0.4 Swiss-Italian2
0.4 Turk_East_Black_Sea
0.4 Turk_N-Macedonia
0.4 Turk_Targovishte
0.4 Ukrainian
0.4 Ukrainian_Lviv
0.2 Abhkasian
0.2 Adygei
0.2 Albanian_central_Albania
0.2 Albanian_south_Albania
0.2 Algerian_Jewish
0.2 Bosniak_Bosnia_proper
0.2 Bulgaria_Southeastern
0.2 Bulgaria_Southwestern
0.2 English_North
0.2 Estonian_Polish
0.2 Finnish
0.2 FRA_Provence
0.2 FRA_Septimania
0.2 Georgian_imereti
0.2 German
0.2 Greek
0.2 Greek_Thessaly
0.2 Hungarian_Alföld
0.2 Hungarian_Budapest
0.2 Hungarian_Transylvania
0.2 Csángó
0.2 Ingush
0.2 Iraqi_Jew
0.2 IT_Calabria
0.2 IT_Campania
0.2 IT_Romagna
0.2 IT_Tuscan
0.2 IT_Orobia
0.2 IT_Puglia
0.2 Kargopol_Russian
0.2 Kurdish_Jewish
0.2 Laz
0.2 Lebanese_Christian
0.2 MacedonianNorth
0.2 Masurian
0.2 Moldova_South_Gagauzia
0.2 North_Ossetian
0.2 Nusayri
0.2 Polish
0.2 Romania_average
0.2 Romania_Crisana
0.2 Romania_Moldavia_North
0.2 Romania_Oltenia
0.2 RU_Pinega
0.2 Serb_Croatia_Dalmatia
0.2 Serb_Croatia_Lika
0.2 Slovak
0.2 Sorb_Lusatia
0.2 South_Polish
0.2 Southwest_Russian
0.2 Spanish_Andalucia
0.2 Spanish_Aragon
0.2 Spanish_Extremadura
0.2 Swiss_German2
0.2 Torbesh_average
0.2 Turk_Alexandroupoli
0.2 Turk_Edirne
0.2 Turk_Kavala
0.2 Turk_Kazanlik
0.2 Turk_Razgrad
0.2 Turk_Xanthi
0.2 Ukrainian_Ivano_Frankivsk
0.2 Vlach(Aromanian)_average
0.2 Vlach_North-Macedonia

[Art23]

Because it is not about West or East, it is about North and South. Western Balkans are more northern than eastern Balkans. More northern = more Slavic.

[Ülev]

R1ethelites did it

[ixulescu]

Slavs were mostly agrarian. They weren't known to heard livestock, that's why the Vlachs dominate the Carpathian highlands because sheep like grassy side hills. Balkan Slavs lived in fertile farm valleys between mountains - usually there is a good run off from the mountains and there's rivers + soil rich in minerals etc.

False. Slavs practiced low yield agriculture, typical to populations on the move. They definitely came with cows, they could not depend on the plant cultures they had.

By the time Slavs arrived, western Balkans was completely open and vacant, the Avars were on the decline (mostly because they began assimilating into Yugoslav culture). Eastern Balkans was part of Byzantium and they could muster Levy to fend off the Slavs each time, easily. Western Balkans was ripe for the taking.

I'm not sure how you can come with bullshit like this in this day and age of genetic studies. At least half of South Slavs ancestry comes from native Balkanites. The Balkans was nowhere close to open and vacant.

[Jana]

Because it is not about West or East, it is about North and South. Western Balkans are more northern than eastern Balkans. More northern = more Slavic.

Not really, Romania has same Slavic input like much more southernly Montenegro for example. Moldova has less than more southernly Croatia and Slovenia etc.

[Jana]

Slavs were mostly agrarian. They weren't known to heard livestock, that's why the Vlachs dominate the Carpathian highlands because sheep like grassy side hills. Balkan Slavs lived in fertile farm valleys between mountains - usually there is a good run off from the mountains and there's rivers + soil rich in minerals etc.

Western Balkan isn't very fertile at all and Slavic settlers there adopted Vlach/sheperding way of life. Wallachian plain for example is much more fertile.

[ixulescu]

Not really, Romania has same Slavic input like much more southernly Montenegro for example. Moldova has less than more southernly Croatia and Slovenia etc.

How do you know that Romania has the same amount of Slavic input as Montenegro? It is likely that Montenegro has more.

[Jana]

How do you know that Romania has the same amount of Slavic input as Montenegro? It is likely that Montenegro has more.

Comparing the averages on updated K13 Vahaduo. When I say Romania I mean weighted average of all regions.
Romanians are closest to Montenegrins and vice versa, very similar genetically.

PS Montenegro has real Romance Vlach tribes deep into medieval and possibly until later.