Samo - Extent of His Empire

Extent of His Empire

Archaeological findings indicate that the empire was situated in present-day Moravia, Slovakia, Lower Austria and Slovenia. According to Slovak historian Richard Marsina, it is not very probable that the center of Samo's tribal union was in the territory of present-day Slovakia. The settlements of the later Moravian and Nitrian principalities (see Great Moravia) are often identical with those from the time of Samo's Empire. Since we have no direct documentation about the Slavonic tribes and their names or their political organization between the 6th and 7th centuries, furthermore, because we don't have any concrete records from the following 150 years long period, there is no historical evidence to suppose or to prove any connection between Samo's kingdom and the ethnogenesis of the Slovaks.

Probably present-day Bohemia, Sorbia at the Elbe, and the state of Karantania became parts of the empire later (in the 630s), as well. Although the Slavs, led by King Samo, managed to defeat all Avar attacks, Slav conflicts with Frankish merchants, in which merchants were killed and goods stolen, forced them to fight against the Franks as well.

The history of the empire after Samo's death in 658 or 659 is largely unclear. It is generally assumed that it disappeared with Samo's death. Archaeological findings show that the Avars returned to their previous territories (at least to southernmost part of present-day Slovakia) and entered into a symbiosis with the Slavs, whereas territories to the north of the Avar empire were purely Slav territories. The first specific thing that is known about the fate of these Slavs and Avars, is the existence of the Moravian and Nitrian principalities in the late eighth century which were attacking the Avars, and the defeat of the Avars by the Franks under Charlemagne in 799 or 802–3, after which the Avars quickly ceased to exist.