View source for Balts

{{Short description|Group of peoples in northern Europe}}
{{About||the Visigothic rulers|Balt dynasty|the ethnic German inhabitants of the Baltics|Baltic Germans}}
{{Redirect|Baltic tribes|the 2018 documentary film|Baltic Tribes (film)}}
{{pp-pc1}}
{{about-distinguish-text|the Baltic-speaking peoples, an ethnic group|the similarly named ethnic group inhabiting Kashmir, the [[Balti people]]}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=April 2022}}
{{Expand Latvian|Balti|date=November 2023}}
{{Expand Lithuanian|Baltai|date=November 2023}}
}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Balts
| native_name = 
| native_name_lang = 
| image = [[File:Balts.svg|300px]]
| image_caption = {{leftlegend|#F5BD43|Countries with a predominantly Baltic population|outline=grey}}
| population = '''c. 5.4 million'''<br />(including the diaspora)<ref>{{citation|url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/1704467/15_Lietuviai_pasaulyje.pdf|title=Lietuviai Pasaulyje|website=osp.stat.gov.lt}}</ref><ref>Latvian at ''[[Ethnologue]]'' (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)</ref> <!-- sum of Lithuanian and Latvian populations per country-->
| region1 = {{Flaglist|Lithuania}}
| pop1 = 2,397,418<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://osp.stat.gov.lt/en/statistiniu-rodikliu-analize?hash=66b3091a-c738-4d87-b961-ecefdc2613ca|title=Rodiklių duomenų bazė - Oficialiosios statistikos portalas|website=osp.stat.gov.lt}}</ref>
| region2 = {{Flaglist|Latvia}}
| pop2 = 1,182,008<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.stat.gov.lv/pxweb/lv/OSP_PUB/START__POP__IR__IRE/IRE010/table/tableViewLayout1/?displaypanel=savequery1|title = Iedzīvotāji pēc tautības gada sākumā 1935 - 2025|website=data.stat.gov.lv| access-date=2025-06-02}}</ref>
| langs = [[Baltic languages]]
| rels = Predominantly [[Roman Catholicism]] and [[Protestantism]]; minority [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] and [[Baltic neopaganism]]
| related = [[Slavs]]
}}
{{Indo-European topics|283}}
The '''Balts''' or '''Baltic peoples''' ({{langx|lt|baltai}}, {{langx|lv|balti}}) are a group of peoples inhabiting the eastern coast of the [[Baltic Sea]] who speak [[Baltic languages]]. Among the Baltic peoples are modern-day [[Lithuanians]] (including [[Samogitians]]) and [[Latvians]] (including [[Latgalians (modern)|Latgalians]]) — all East Balts — as well as the [[Old Prussians]], [[Curonians]], [[Sudovians]], [[Skalvians]], [[Yotvingians]] and [[Galindians]] — the Western Balts — whose [[West Baltic languages|languages]] and [[Western Baltic culture|cultures]] are now extinct, but made a large influence on the living branches, especially on literary [[Lithuanian language]].

The Balts are descended from a group of [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Indo-European]] tribes who settled the area between the lower [[Vistula]] and southeast shore of the Baltic Sea and upper [[Daugava]] and [[Dnieper]] rivers, and which over time became differentiated into West and East Balts. In the fifth century CE, parts of the eastern Baltic coast began to be settled by the ancestors of the Western Balts, whereas the East Balts lived in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. In the first millennium CE, large migrations of the Balts occurred. By the 13th and 14th centuries, the East Balts shrank to the general area that the present-day Balts and Belarusians inhabit.

Baltic languages belong to the [[Balto-Slavic language|Balto-Slavic]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages]]. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number of conservative or archaic features retained.<ref>Bojtár page 18.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Current reference is unclear.|date=March 2024}}

==Etymology==
Medieval German chronicler [[Adam of Bremen]] in the latter part of the 11th century AD was the first writer to use the term "Baltic" in reference to the [[Baltic Sea|sea of that name]].<ref name=Bot_9>Bojtár page 9.</ref><ref>Adam of Bremen reports that he followed the local use of balticus from baelt ("belt") because the sea stretches to the east "in modum baltei" ("in the manner of a belt"). This is the first reference to "the Baltic or Barbarian Sea, a day's journey from [[Hamburg]]. Bojtár cites ''Bremensis'' I,60 and IV,10.</ref> Before him various ancient places names, such as Balcia,<ref>Balcia, Abalcia, Abalus, Basilia, Balisia. However, apart from poor transcription, there are known {{sic}} linguistic rule whereby these words, including Balcia, might become "Baltia."</ref> were used in reference to a supposed island in the Baltic Sea.<ref name=Bot_9/>

In Germanic languages there was some form of the toponym East Sea until after about the year 1600, when maps in English began to label it as the Baltic Sea. By 1840, German nobles of the [[Governorate of Livonia]] adopted the term "Balts" to distinguish themselves from Germans of Germany. They spoke an exclusive dialect, Baltic German, which was regarded by many as the language of the Balts until 1919.<ref>Bojtár page 10.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The New Eastern Europe|url=https://archive.org/details/neweasterneurop00unkngoog|first=Ralph|last=Butler|year=1919|pages=[https://archive.org/details/neweasterneurop00unkngoog/page/n13 3], 21, 22, 2 24|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.|location=London}}</ref>

In 1845, [[Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann]] proposed a distinct [[language group]] for [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], and [[Old Prussian]], which he termed [[Baltic languages|Baltic]].<ref>{{cite journal|first=William R. |last=Schmalstieg |title=A. Sabaliauskas. Mes Baltai (We Balts) |journal=Lituanus |volume=33 |date=Fall 1987 |publisher=Lituanus Foundation Incorporated |url=http://www.lituanus.org/1987/87_3_09.htm |access-date=2008-09-06 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907231232/http://www.lituanus.org/1987/87_3_09.htm |archive-date=7 September 2008 |url-status = live}} Book review.</ref> The term became prevalent after Latvia and Lithuania gained independence in 1918. Up until the early 20th century, either "Latvian" or "Lithuanian" could be used to mean the entire language family.<ref>Bojtár page 11.</ref>

==History==
===Origins===
[[File:Baltic cultures 600-200 BC SVG.svg|thumb|275px|right|Baltic archaeological cultures in the Iron Age from 600 BC to 200 BC
{{legend|#4E9A06|{{Interlanguage link|Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture|lt|Dulokaimio-Kovrovo kultūra|ru|Культура Доллькайм-Коврово}}  ([[Sambians]] and [[Natangians]])}}
{{legend|#73D216|{{Interlanguage link|Olsztyn culture|de|Olsztyn-Kultur|pl|Grupa olsztyńska|ru|Культура Доллькайм-Коврово}} ([[Galindians#Galindians|Galindians]]?)}}
{{legend|#8AE234|{{Interlanguage link|Sudovian culture|lt|Sūduvių kultūra|pl|Kultura sudowska}} ([[Yotvingians]])}}
{{legend|#729FCF|[[Neman culture]] ([[Curonians]])}}
{{legend|#FCAF3E|[[Brushed Pottery culture]] ([[Lithuanians]], [[Selonians]], [[Latgalians]] and [[Semigallians]])}}
{{legend|#F57900|[[Milograd culture]] ([[Neuri]]?)}}
{{legend|#CE5C00|{{Interlanguage link|Dnieper-Dvina culture|lt|Dniepro-Dauguvos kultūra|ru|Днепро-двинская культура}}}} ([[Dnieper Balts]])
{{legend|#EDD400|[[Pomeranian culture]] ([[Pomeranian Balts]])}}
{{legend|#FCE94F|{{Interlanguage link|Bell-shaped burial culture|lt|Varpinių kapų kultūra|ru|Культура подклёшевых погребений}}}}]]
The Balts or Baltic peoples, defined as speakers of one of the [[Baltic languages]], a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the lower [[Vistula]] and southeast shore of the [[Baltic Sea]] and upper [[Daugava]] and [[Dnieper]] rivers. The Baltic languages, especially Lithuanian, retain a number of conservative or archaic features, perhaps because the areas in which they are spoken are geographically consolidated and have low rates of immigration.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=PIECHNIK |first1=IWONA |date= 22 December 2014|title=FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSERVATISM AND PURISM IN LANGUAGES OF NORTHERN EUROPE (NORDIC, BALTIC, FINNIC) |url=https://core.ac.uk/reader/229233000 |journal= Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis |volume=2014 |issue=131, 4 |pages=395–419 |doi=10.4467/20834624SL.14.022.2729 |access-date=April 21, 2024}}</ref>

Some of the major authorities on Balts, such as [[Kazimieras Būga]], [[Max Vasmer]], [[Vladimir Toporov]] and [[Oleg Trubachyov]],{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} in conducting etymological studies of eastern European river names, were able to identify in certain regions names of specifically Baltic provenance, which most likely indicate where the Balts lived in prehistoric times. According to [[Vladimir Toporov]] and [[Oleg Trubachyov]], the eastern boundary of the Balts in the prehistoric times were the upper reaches of the [[Volga]], [[Moskva (river)|Moskva]], and [[Oka (river)|Oka]] rivers, while the southern border was the [[Seym (river)|Seym river]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ramat |first1=Anna Giacalone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7a5CAAAQBAJ |title=The Indo-European Languages |last2=Ramat |first2=Paolo |date=2015-04-29 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-92186-7 |page=456 |language=en}}</ref> This information is summarized and synthesized by [[Marija Gimbutas]] in ''The Balts'' (1963) to obtain a likely proto-Baltic homeland. Its borders are approximately: from a line on the [[Pomerania]]n coast eastward to include or nearly include the present-day sites of [[Berlin]], [[Warsaw]], [[Kyiv]], and [[Kursk]], northward through [[Moscow]] to the River Berzha, westward in an irregular line to the coast of the [[Gulf of Riga]], north of [[Riga]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} 

However, other scholars such as Endre Bojt (1999) reject the presumption that there ever was such a thing as a clear, single "Baltic ''[[Urheimat]]''":<ref name="Bojt">{{Cite book |last1=Bojt |first1=Endre |date=1999 |title=Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Er1_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |location=Budapest |publisher=Central European University Press |pages=81, 113 |isbn=978-963-9116-42-9 |access-date=1 April 2022}}</ref> <blockquote>'The references to the Balts at various ''Urheimat'' locations across the centuries are often of doubtful authenticity, those concerning the Balts furthest to the West are the more trustworthy among them. (...) It is wise to group the particulars of Baltic history according to the interests that moved the pens of the authors of our sources.'<ref name="Bojt" /></blockquote>

===Proto-history===
[[File:Rus-10c-ethn.png|thumb|275px|[[Eastern Europe]] at the end of 9th century to beginning of 10th century with the last remaining [[Dnieper Balts|Dnieper Baltic]] ([[Eastern Galindians|Eastern Galindian]]) inhabited area around the modern-day [[Moscow]] cut off from the rest of the Baltic people by [[Krivichs]]]]
The area of Baltic habitation shrank due to assimilation by other groups, and invasions. According to one of the theories which has gained considerable traction over the years, one of the western Baltic tribes, the [[Galindians]], Galindae, or Goliad, migrated to the area around modern-day Moscow, Russia around the fourth century AD.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/37147068|title=Балты в миграциях Великого переселения народов // Исторический формат. № 3-4 (11-12). 2017. С. 95-124.|first=Илья Тарасов Ilia M.|last=Tarasov|date=January 1, 2017|journal=Исторический формат, №3-4|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref>

Over time the Balts became differentiated into West and East Balts. In the fifth century AD parts of the eastern Baltic coast began to be settled by the ancestors of the Western Balts: [[Old Prussians|Brus/Prūsa]] ("Old Prussians"), [[Sudovians]]/[[Jotvingians]], [[Scalvians]], [[Nadruvians]], and [[Curonians]]. The East Balts, including the hypothesised [[Dniepr Balts]], were living in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

[[Germanic peoples]] lived to the west of the Baltic homelands; by the first century AD, the [[Goths]] had stabilized their kingdom from the mouth of the Vistula, south to [[Dacia]]. As Roman domination collapsed in the first half of the first millennium CE in Northern and Eastern Europe, large migrations of the Balts occurred — first, the [[Galindae]] or Galindians towards the east, and later, East Balts towards the west. In the eighth century, Slavic tribes from the Volga regions appeared.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Engel |first1=Barbara Alpern |last2=Martin |first2=Janet |title=Russia in World History |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023943-5 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uMEfCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 |language=en |quote=Slavic tribes had reached the territories of the Finns and Balts in the eighth century.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gleason |first1=Abbott |title=A Companion to Russian History |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-73000-3 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXxBAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |language=en |quote=moved ... to the Baltic in the eighth-ninth centuries}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gimbutas |first1=Marija |title=The Slavs (Ancient Peoples and Places, Vol. 74) |date=1971 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |isbn=0-500-02072-8 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CC07UaXfR74C |language=en |quote=no finds of Slavic character can be identified before the eighth century}}</ref> By the 13th and 14th centuries, they reached the general area that the present-day Balts and Belarusians inhabit. Many other Eastern and Southern Balts either assimilated with other Balts, or Slavs in the fourth–seventh centuries and were gradually slavicized.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bell-Fialkoff |first=Andrew |title=The Slavs |date=2000 |work=The Role of Migration in the History of the Eurasian Steppe: Sedentary Civilization vs. "Barbarian" and Nomad |pages=133–149 |editor-last=Bell-Fialkoff |editor-first=Andrew |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-61837-8_8 |access-date=2024-08-31 |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-61837-8_8 |isbn=978-1-349-61837-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Baltic Tribes c 1200.svg|thumb|275px|right|Baltic tribes before the coming of the [[Teutonic Order]] ({{Circa|1200 AD}}). The East Balts are shown in brown hues while the West Balts are shown in green. The boundaries are approximate. Baltic territory was extensive inland.]]
In the 12th and 13th centuries, internal struggles and invasions by [[Ruthenians]] and [[Polish people|Poles]], and later the expansion of the [[Teutonic Order]], resulted in an almost complete annihilation of the Galindians, Curonians, and Yotvingians.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} Gradually, Old Prussians became [[Germanization|Germanized]] or Lithuanized between the 15th and 17th centuries, especially after the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in [[Prussia]].{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} The cultures of the Lithuanians and Latgalians/Latvians survived and became the ancestors of the populations of the modern-day countries of [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct [[Western Baltic languages]], [[Curonian language|Curonian]], [[Galindian language|Galindian]] and [[Sudovian language|Sudovian]]. It is more distantly related to the surviving [[Eastern Baltic languages]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]]. Compare the Prussian word ''seme'' (''zemē''),<ref name="Lie">Mikkels Klussis. ''Bāziscas prûsiskai-laîtawiskas wirdeîns per tālaisin laksikis rekreaciônin'' [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081218125558/http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/Lie.pdf Donelaitis.vdu.lt] (Lithuanian version of [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081218125908/http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/Engl.pdf Donelaitis.vdu.lt).]</ref> Latvian ''zeme'', the Lithuanian ''žemė'' (''land'' in English).{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

===Modern era===
[[File:Ethnographic map of Lithuanians and Latvians in 1847 by Heinrich Berghaus.jpg|thumb|275px|Ethnographic map of Balts in 1847 by Heinrich Berghaus. Lithuanians (''Littauer'') and Latvians (''Letten'').]]
[[File:Baltu vienības diena Palangā (37412893275).jpg|thumb|275px|[[Baltic Unity Day]] in [[Palanga]], 2017.]]
In the modern era, the Balts — primarily Lithuanians and Latvians — have sustained a unique cultural and linguistic identity along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, speaking the only surviving [[Eastern Baltic languages]], Lithuanian and Latvian, which are among the most conservative Indo‑European tongues and retain archaic features from their Proto‑Indo‑European roots. Following nearly five decades of [[Occupation of the Baltic states|Soviet rule]], Lithuania and Latvia restored their independence in 1990–1991 and subsequently pursued integration with Western institutions, culminating in accession to both the [[European Union]] and [[NATO]] in 2004. In the 21st century, these two Baltic nations have established stable democracies with parliamentary systems, preserved local languages and traditions, and address common economic, political and cultural priorities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Latvijos ryšiai ir santykiai su Lietuva |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/latvijos-rysiai-ir-santykiai-su-lietuva/ |website=VLE.lt |access-date=9 July 2025 |language=lt-LT}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{Baltic religion}}
{{Further|Baltic mythology}}
The Balts originally practiced [[Baltic religion]]. They were gradually Christianized as a result of the [[Northern Crusades]] of the [[Middle Ages]]. Baltic peoples such as the [[Latvian mythology|Latvians]], [[Lithuanian mythology|Lithuanians]] and [[Old Prussians]] had their distinct mythologies. The Lithuanians have close historic ties to Poland, and many of them are [[Roman Catholic]]. The [[Latvians]] have close historic ties to [[Northern Germany]] and [[Scandinavia]], and many of them are irreligious. In recent times, the Baltic religion has been revived in [[Baltic neopaganism]].<ref>Hanley, Monika. (2010-10-21). [https://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/27265/ "Baltic diaspora and the rise of Neo-Paganism"]. ''The Baltic Times''.</ref><ref>Naylor, Aliide. (May 31, 2019). [https://religionnews.com/2019/05/31/with-soviet-power-gone-baltic-countries-historic-pagan-past-re-emerges/ "Soviet power gone, Baltic countries' historic pagan past re-emerges"]. ''Religion News Service''.</ref>

==Genetics==
{{See also|Kunda culture#Genetics|Narva culture#Genetics|Pit–Comb Ware culture#Genetics|Zvejnieki burial ground#Archaeogenetics}}

The Balts are included in the "North European" [[gene cluster]] together with the [[Germanic-speaking Europe|Germanic peoples]], some Slavic groups (the [[Polish people|Poles]] and Northern [[Russians]]) and [[Baltic Finnic peoples]].{{sfn|Balanovsky|Rootsi|2008|pp=236–250}}{{Failed verification|date=August 2025}}

Saag et a. (2017) detected that the eastern Baltic in the [[Mesolithic]] was inhabited primarily by [[Western Hunter-Gatherer]]s (WHGs).{{sfn|Saag|2017}} Their paternal haplogroups were mostly types of [[Haplogroup I-M438|I2a]] and [[Haplogroup R1b|R1b]], while their maternal haplogroups were mostly types of [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U5|U5]], [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U4|U4]] and [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U2|U2]].{{sfn|Mathieson|2018}} These people carried a high frequency of the derived [[E3 ubiquitin ligase HERC2|HERC2]] allele which codes for light [[eye color]] and possess an increased frequency of the derived alleles for SLC45A2 and SLC24A5, coding for lighter skin color.{{sfn|Mittnik|2018}}

Baltic hunter-gatherers still displayed a slightly larger amount of WHG ancestry than [[Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer]]s (SHGs). WHG ancestry in the Baltic was particularly high among hunter-gatherers in Latvia and Lithuania.{{sfn|Mittnik|2018}} Unlike other parts of Europe, the hunter-gatherers of the eastern Baltic do not appear to have mixed much with [[Early European Farmers]] (EEFs) arriving from [[Anatolia]].{{sfn|Jones|2017}}

During the [[Neolithic]], increasing admixture from [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer]]s (EHGs) is detected. The paternal haplogroups of EHGs was mostly types of [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a]], while their maternal haplogroups appears to have been almost exclusively types of U5, U4, and U2.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

The rise of the [[Corded Ware culture]] in the eastern Baltic in the [[Chalcolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] is accompanied by a significant infusion of [[steppe ancestry]] and EEF ancestry into the eastern Baltic gene pool.{{sfn|Jones|2017}}{{sfn|Saag|2017}}{{sfn|Malmström|2019}} In the aftermath of the Corded Ware expansion, local hunter-gatherer ancestry experienced a resurgence.{{sfn|Mittnik|2018}}

[[Haplogroup N-M231|Haplogroup N]] reached the eastern Baltic only in the Late Bronze Age, probably with the speakers of the [[Uralic languages]].{{sfn|Mittnik|2018}}

Modern-day Balts have a lower amount of EEF ancestry, and a higher amount of WHG ancestry, than any other population in Europe.{{sfn|Lazaridis|2014}}{{Efn|"Baltic populations carry the highest proportion of WHG ancestry of all Europeans, supporting the theory that the hunter-gatherer population of this region left a lasting genetic impact on subsequent populations."{{sfn|Mittnik|2018}} }}

==List of Baltic peoples==
{{Main|List of ancient Baltic peoples and tribes}}
[[File:Lietuvių giminės senovėje iki XIII amžiaus pradžios.jpg|thumb|Lithuanian tribes in antiquity until the beginning of the 13th century by [[Adolfas Šapoka]]]]
'''Modern-day Baltic peoples'''
*[[Eastern Baltic languages|Eastern Baltic]] peoples<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kessler |first=P. L. |title=Kingdoms of Eastern Europe - Lithuania |url=https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/EasternLithuania.htm#top |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=The History Files |language=en}}</ref>
**[[Latvians]]
***[[Latgalians (modern)|Latgalians]]
**[[Lithuanians]]
***[[Aukštaitians]] ("highlanders")
***[[Samogitians]] ("lowlanders")

==See also==
{{Portal|Latvia|Lithuania}}
* [[Eastern Baltic languages]]
* [[Western Baltic languages]]
* [[Baltic studies]]
* [[Baltic Unity Day]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==

===Lithuanian language===
* {{cite book |last1=Jovaiša |first1=Eugenijus |author1-link=Eugenijus Jovaiša |title=Aisčiai. Kilmė |date=2013 |publisher=Lietuvos edukologijos universiteto leidykla |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-9955-20-779-5 |language=lt-LT}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jovaiša |first1=Eugenijus |title=Aisčiai. Raida |date=2014 |publisher=Lietuvos edukologijos universiteto leidykla |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-9955-20-957-7 |language=lt-LT}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jovaiša |first1=Eugenijus |title=Aisčiai. Lietuvių ir Lietuvos pradžia |date=2016 |publisher=Lietuvos edukologijos universiteto leidykla |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-609-471-052-0 |url=https://www.aisciai.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Ais%C4%8Diai.-Lietuvi%C5%B3-ir-Lietuvos-prad%C5%BEia.pdf |language=lt-LT}}

===French language===
* {{cite journal |last1=Nowakowski |first1=Wojciech |last2=Bartkiewicz |first2=Katarzyna |title=Baltes et proto-Slaves dans l'Antiquité. Textes et archéologie. |journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne |date=1990 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=359–402 |doi=10.3406/dha.1990.1472 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1990_num_16_1_1472 |access-date=18 January 2025 |language=fr-FR}}

===English language===
* {{cite journal |last1=Matthews |first1=W. |title=Baltic origins |journal=Revue des Études Slaves |date=1948 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=48–59 |doi=10.3406/slave.1948.1468 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_1948_num_24_1_1468 |access-date=18 January 2025}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Eppie R. |date=February 20, 2017 |title=The Neolithic Transition in the Baltic Was Not Driven by Admixture with Early European Farmers |journal=[[Current Biology]] |publisher=[[Cell Press]] |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=576–582 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.060 |pmc=5321670 |pmid=28162894|bibcode=2017CBio...27..576J }}
* {{cite journal |date=January 2008 |last1=Balanovsky |first1=Oleg |last2=Rootsi |first2=Siiri |display-authors=etal |title=Two sources of the Russian patrilineal heritage in their Eurasian context |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=82 |issue=1 |pages=236–250 |pmc=2253976 |pmid=18179905 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.09.019}}
* {{cite book |page=9 |title=Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People|first=Endre|last=Bojtár|publisher=Central European University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-963-9116-42-9 |location=Budapest and New York}}
* {{cite book| first = Marija| last = Gimbutas| author-link = Marija Gimbutas| title = The Balts| url = https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.40925| location = London| publisher = Thames & Hudson| year = 1963}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Lithuanians and Letts|volume=16|pages=789–791|first=Peter Alexeivitch|last=Kropotkin|author-link=Peter Kropotkin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lazaridis |first1=Iosif |date=September 17, 2014 |title=Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=513 |issue= 7518|pages=409–413 |arxiv= 1312.6639|bibcode= 2014Natur.513..409L|doi=10.1038/nature13673 |pmc=4170574 |pmid=25230663 |hdl=11336/30563 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Malmström |first1=Helena |date=October 9, 2019 |title=The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society|Proceedings of the Royal Society B]] |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |volume= 286|issue= 1912|article-number= 20191528|doi=10.1098/rspb.2019.1528 |pmc= 6790770|pmid= 31594508}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Mathieson |first1=Iain |date=February 21, 2018 |title=The Genomic History of Southeastern Europe |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=555 |issue=7695 |pages=197–203 |bibcode= 2018Natur.555..197M|doi=10.1038/nature25778 |pmc=6091220 |pmid=29466330 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Mittnik |first1=Alisa |date=January 30, 2018 |title=The genetic prehistory of the Baltic Sea region |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |article-number= 442|bibcode= 2018NatCo...9..442M|doi=10.1038/s41467-018-02825-9 |pmc=5789860 |pmid=29382937 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Saag |first1=Lehti |date=July 24, 2017 |title=Extensive Farming in Estonia Started through a Sex-Biased Migration from the Steppe. |journal=[[Current Biology]] |publisher=[[Cell Press]] |volume=27 |issue=14 |pages=2185–2193 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.022 |doi-access=free |pmid=28712569 |bibcode=2017CBio...27E2185S }}

===Polish language===
* {{cite web |title=Bałtowie |work=Encyklopedia Internetowa PWN |url=http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/5504_1.html |access-date=May 25, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050426150605/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/5504_1.html|archive-date=April 26, 2005 |language=pl }}
* {{cite book| first = Jerzy| last = Antoniewicz| author-link = Jerzy Antoniewicz|author2=Aleksander Gieysztor | title = Bałtowie zachodni w V w. p. n. e. – V w. n. e.: terytorium, podstawy gospodarcze i społeczne plemion prusko-jaćwieskich i letto-litewskich| location = [[Olsztyn]]-[[Białystok]]| publisher = Pojezierze| year = 1979| isbn = 83-7002-001-1|language=pl| author2-link = Aleksander Gieysztor}}
* {{cite book| first = Marceli| last = Kosman| author-link = Marceli Kosman| title = Zmierzch Perkuna czyli ostatni poganie nad Bałtykiem| location = Warsaw| publisher = Książka i Wiedza| year = 1981|language=pl}}
* {{cite encyclopedia| encyclopedia = Wielka Encyklopedia PWN| edition = 1| year = 2001| article = Bałtowie|language=pl}}
* {{cite book| first = Łucja| last = Okulicz-Kozaryn| author-link = Łucja Okulicz-Kozaryn| title = Życie codzienne Prusów i Jaćwięgów w wiekach średnich| location = Warsaw| publisher = [[Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy]]| year = 1983|language=pl}}
* {{cite book| first = Irena| last = Čepienė| author-link = Irena Čepienė| title = Historia litewskiej kultury etnicznej| publisher = [[Kaunas]], "Šviesa"| year = 2000| isbn = 5-430-02902-5 |language=pl}}

==External links==
* {{cite book|url=http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-contents.html |first=Marija |last=Gimbutas |author-link=Marija Gimbutas |title=The Balts |year=1963 |publisher=Thames & Hudson, Gabriella |location=London, New York |access-date=2008-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820232804/http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-contents.html |archive-date=20 August 2008 }} E-book of the original.
* {{cite web|url=http://forum.istorija.net/category-view.asp |title=Forum of Lithuanian History |first=Tomas |last=Baranauskas |publisher=Historija.net |year=2003 |access-date=2008-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906084330/http://forum.istorija.net/category-view.asp |archive-date=6 September 2008 |url-status = live}}
* {{cite web |url=http://postilla.mch.mii.lt/Kalba/baltai.en.htm |title=We, the Balts |first=Algirdas |last=Sabaliauskas |work=Postilla 400 |publisher=Samogitian Cultural Association |year=1998 |access-date=2008-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402100130/http://postilla.mch.mii.lt/Kalba/baltai.en.htm |archive-date=2008-04-02 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.astro.lt/balts/index.html|title=The Cosmology of ancient Balts|first=Vytautas|last=Straižys|author-link=Vytautas Straižys|author2=Libertas Klimka |year=1997|publisher=www.astro.lt|access-date=2008-09-05|author2-link=Libertas Klimka}}

{{Baltic ethnic groups}}
{{Latvia topics}}
{{Lithuania topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Balts| ]]
[[Category:Indo-European peoples]]