A snapshot of the Balkans after the Romans stabilized the Danube frontier in 602 CE.

Though the Avars controlled lands from the Alps to Crimea, they had mostly settled their families on the Pannonian Plain (the grasslands on either side of the Middle Danube, basically where the river takes a sharp bend north of Sirmium).

Inside the Avars’ huge realm lived dozens of different peoples; among others, there were Slavic communities along the Danube in the West, Gepid and Romance villages on the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains in the centre, and Bulgar clans on the steppes to the East.

It’s important to note that there were also hundreds of Slavic communities living inside the Roman empire at this point. Settled in the rough, mountainous terrain of the central Balkans, these bands ruled themselves independently, though they were in constant conflict with Roman troops who sought to reestablish imperial control over the region.