The Ambivariti mentioned by Julius Caesar, are not otherwise known, but may have lived north of Limburg or the east of Noord-Brabant in modern Holland.

The Alamanni or Alemanni (All the People) may have been a confederation of smaller tribes. The Alamanni possibly included the descendants of the Hermunduri and Suebic peoples, from the Danubian region, or more probably from the middle Elbe, the land of the ancient Semnones. First mentioned by Dio Cassius (AD 213) as unsuccessfully assaulting the Romans between the Elbe and the Danube during the reign of Caracalla, some were later settled (Third Century) in upper Italy. By the Fifth Century, they occupied territories on both sides of the Rhine south of its junction with the Main (present Alsace, Baden, and northeastern Switzerland). Swabia is also known as Alamannia, and the High German dialects of south-west Germany and Switzerland are called Alemannic. In French, the name Allemands came to signify all Germans. Juthungi and Lentienses were branches of the Alamanni whose territory bordered on Rhaetia.

The Angles (German: Angeln) were one of the Germanic peoples who migrated from continental Germany to Britain. So the land was later called Angelland, thus England. Thanks to the major influence of the Angles, the people of England are also known as Anglo-Saxons and their main area of settlement is now known as East Anglia. A part of the Jutland Peninsula where the Angles originated is still called Angeln today. It includes Bundesland and Schleswig-Holstein.

The Bastarnae were one of the easternmost people of the Germanic race and the first to come into contact with the ancient world and the Slavs. Originally settled in Galicia and the Bukovina, they appeared on the lower Danube about 200 BC, and were used by Philip V. of Macedon against his Thracian neighbors. Defeated by these the Bastarnae returned north, leaving some of their number (hence called Peucini) settled on Peuce, an island in the Danube. Their main body occupied the country between the eastern Carpathians and the Danube. As allies of Perseus and of Mithradates the Great, and lastly on their own account, they had hostile relations with the Romans who in the time of Augustus defeated them, and made a peace, which was disturbed by a series of incursions. They were eventually absorbed into the Goths. Polybius and the authors who copy him regard the Bastarnae as Galatae; Tacitus expressly declares their German origin but says that the race was degraded by intermarriage with Sarmatians. The descriptions of their bodily appearance, tribal divisions, manner of life and methods of warfare are such that they could apply to either race. No doubt they were an outpost of the Germans, and so had absorbed into themselves strong Getic (Thracian), Celtic (Galatian) and Sarmatian elements.

The Batavii or Batavians were either Germanic or possibly Celtic, and reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine River delta. They were originally part of the Chatti, but moved to the Rhine Delta following a civil war (date unknown). After the Third Century AD, the Batavians are no longer mentioned, and they are assumed to have merged with the neighboring Frisian and Frankish people. The Batavians became regarded as the eponymous ancestors of the Dutch people. Holland was briefly known as the Batavian Republic during the Napoleonic Era.

They were famous for their contributions to the Roman army as auxiliaries, particularly as cavalry. They formed the core of the original German guard cavalry that accompanied Julius Caesar and later the emperors starting with Augustus.

The Bavarians may have been a political name applied to all Germans who lived within the northern region of the Ostrogothic kingdom (Rhaetia, Noricum, etc.). They were possibly drawn from many tribes including Marcommani, Thuringi, Suevi, Alamanni, Quadi, Sciri, Rugi and others. Their name derives from Baiuoarii, Boiarii, Baioarii, Bajuvarii, or Bajjawarjos literally means "inhabitants of the Boiic land". The ancient Celtic name for Bohemia was Boja or Bojos from the Celtic tribal name Boii.

The Burgundians were an East Germanic people who most likely lived along the Vistula River and moved westwards during the Germanic migrations. Burgundians next lived in the Brandenburg-Berlin area (the area of the main tribe of the Semnoni) and gradually were pushed to the Rhineland. In the 5th Century, a large group became Roman foederati and settled in Lugdunensis, an area that grew to include much of the Rhineland area around the city of Worms. They also spread over southeastern Gaul. Here they rebelled against Roman authority and Aetius employed Huns to suppress the revolt (an event recorded in Germanic mythology as the Niebelung and made famous by Richard Wagner in his opera of the same name).

The Chamavi were located north of the Rhine and southeast of the Zuider Zee in the 1st Century AD. By the 4th Century, they had moved southward and joined with the Franks.

The Chatti inhabited the upper reaches of the Weser, Fulda and Werra Rivers in the Taunus Mountains, a district approximately corresponding to modern Hesse-Cassel, although likely more extensive. During the First Century AD, they were frequently in conflict with the Roman Army. The Chatti fought mainly around the area of Mogontiacum (Mainz), and were also participants in Arminius’s operation against Varus in 9 AD. During the Roman civil war in 69 AD, the Chatti laid siege to Mogontiacum. Emperor Domitian conducted a campaign against them in 83 AD with the aim of occupying their settlements in the Taunus Mountains, which were then incorporated into the Agri Decumates. The Chatti were known as ferocious infantry fighters by the Romans and would advance in solid ranks indicating a basic semblance of organization. By the Sixth Century, they were included amongst the Ripurian Franks.

The Cherusci occupied parts of north central Germany and are best known for their leader Arminius, who led a coalition of Germans against the Romans. His betrayal of Varus, the Roman governor of Germania, resulted in the Battle of Teutoburger Wald in 9 AD in which three legions, auxiliaries, and their servants and dependants were decimated. Along with the Chatti, the Cherusci were likely among the original groups to form the Frankish confederacy by the early Third Century AD.

The Cimbri inhabited the region in modern Denmark known as Himmerland from which they derived their name. The Celts referred to them as Cimbri rather than Himmer-boer as there was no H in the Celtic alphabet, and the Romans and Greeks changed the soft C to a hard C (in Latin) and so K in Greek. The Cimbri, along with the Teutones and Ambrones, appeared in Transalpine Gaul about 113 BC and defeated several Roman armies. Later they attempted to migrate to Italy and were defeated by Marius in 101 BC.

The Franks were a later confederation of Germans, although their origins are obscure. The main source is Gregory of Tours, who quotes from otherwise lost sources like Sulpicius Alexander and Frigeridus, and probably from oral sources of the Franks around him, the latter with healthy skepticism. Apart from this, there are some earlier Roman sources like Ammianus and Sidonius Apollinaris, the famous Fifth Century bishop of Clermont. The name is derived from word frank meaning "free" in their language or franci (bold, fierce or courageous) which identified the peoples living north of the Roman Empire. There were two main branches within the Franks, the Salian ("salty") and the Ripuarian ("river") Franks. Subdivisions included the Chamavi, Chattuarii, Bructeri, Amsivarii, Tubantes, and possibly Chauci and Frisians. Gregory states that the Franks originally lived in Pannonia, but settled on the banks of the Rhine. This probably refers to the lower Rhine from the Lippe along the Dutch coast. Alternatively, they were an amalgamation of earlier groups (Batavii, Chatti and Cherusci) dwelling along the Rhine River outside Roman territory. There is a region in northeastern Holland called Salland that may have been named after the Salians. The Chamavi may have been the original Franks with the others joining later in the Third and Fourth Centuries AD.

The Frisians, first mentioned by Tacitus, were among people he grouped together as the Ingvaeones. Their territory followed the coast of the North Sea from the mouth of the Rhine River up to that of the Ems, their eastern border according to Ptolemy's Geographica. Pliny states in Belgica that they were conquered by Drusus in 12 BC, and thereafter sank into historical obscurity, until coming into contact with the expanding Merovingian and Carolingian empires. In the 5th Century, during this period of historical silence, many of them no doubt joined the migration of the Anglo-Saxons who went through Frisian territory to invade Britain, while those who stayed on the continent expanded into the newly-emptied lands previously occupied by the Anglo-Saxons. By the end of the 6th Century, the Frisians occupied the coast all the way to the mouth of the Weser and spread farther still southward down to Bruges.

Gainbrivii appear only in Strabo (7. 1. 3), who lists them as one of the lesser Germanic tribes. Their name suggests a connection with the Sugambri: both are based on the same element, related to Old High German gambar, 'vigorous', augmented in the latter case by the intensive prefix su-. Both the Marsi and the Gambrivii thus have connections with the Sugambri, one of the most important Rhineland tribes in the time of Caesar and Augustus, whom the Romans finally dealt with by settling them on the right bank of the Rhine in 8 BC.

The Gepidae, a Gothic people, moved southward from the Baltic at Vistula into the Hungarian plain west of the Danube. Overwhelmed by the Huns, they survived only to be defeated in 489 by Theodoric the Great and in 566 by the Lombards and Avars. They disappeared soon after.

The Hermanduri were early inhabitants of Thuringia and about 420 AD they became known as Thuringians. The expansion of the Thuringians led to the incorporation of the remaining Cherusci and Harudi. In 531, the Franks overthrew the kingdom of the Thuringians, which at the beginning of the Sixth Century extended to the Danube. Gregory of Tours identifies some Thuringians by the name of Warni. Some Thuringians joined with the Lombards and migrated into Italy with them.

The Heruli, possibly stemming from Jutland, inhabited the shores of the Sea of Azov, east of the Don River, in the Third Century AD. They fought with the Goths against the Huns, but were absorbed into the Germanic tribes that were vassals of the Huns. They re-emerged following the break-up of the Hunnic empire. In the Sixth Century, the Lombards and the Avars destroyed their kingdom, and they disappeared as an independent group.

Jutes were people from what is now Jutland (the main peninsular forming Denmark). Some Jutes were among the Germanic peoples who went to England, though less famous than the Angles and Saxons.

The Lombards or Langobardi (possibly referring to their long beards or long axes) were first identified as living in northern Germany along the Baltic coast west of Jutland. By the First Century AD, the Lombards were settled along the lower Elbe River. After obscure migrations, they were allowed (547 AD) by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle in Pannonia and Noricum. Following the defeat of the Gepidae, the Lombards migrated to Italy rather than become the next victim of their erstwhile allies, the Avars.

The Marcomanni, probably originally part of the Suebi, lived north of the Danube in Germany in the First and Second Centuries AD. Originally from the upper Main valley or from the Elbe valley, they moved into Bohemia and expanded into Bavaria. The name Marcomanni literally means "men of the marches" or borders and refers to their geographic location in relation to the Roman Empire.

Marsi were mentioned by Tacitus several times in connection with the campaigns of Germanicus in AD 14-16, and associated them with the Cherusci and the Chatti (Ann. 1. 50. 4, 1. 56. 5, 2. 25. 1). They seem to have been a powerful tribe at that time. Strabo ( 7. 1. 3) reports that when the Romans transplanted some of the Germanic tribes near the Rhine to its western bank, other tribes like the Marsi migrated into the interior; he then adds that the remaining Marsi were few in number and were part of the Sugambri. Since no other author mentions them, they perhaps ceased to exist as a separate tribe after the early First Century AD.

The Rugi were originally from Ruegen, a large island on the German coast of the Baltic Sea, at least according to classical authors (Tacitus and others). They may have also occupied the mainland coastal regions. The most likely alternate home of the Rugians was in the Stavanger district of south-western Norway. The Rugi migrated south to the Theiss River where they were later incorporated into the Hunnic empire. Following the demise of the Huns, the Rugi formed an independent kingdom with its centre near the confluence of the Kamp and Danube rivers in modern Austria. The Rugi settled in Rhaetia and Noricum where they forced the evacuation of the Roman inhabitants, who were relocated by Odovacer to Italy. Odovacer's army destroyed the kingdom and some or most Rugians joined the Ostrogoths in their march to Italy. The Rugi reportedly were one of the main tribes that formed the Bavarians. The name Rugiland continued in the Bavarian duchy for a long time.

The Saxons were first mentioned by Ptolemy as a people of southern Jutland and present-day Schleswig-Holstein, whence they appear subsequently to have expanded to the south and west. Some Saxons, along with Angles, Jutes and Frisians, invaded Britain giving their names to the kingdoms of Essex, Sussex and Wessex (the lands respectively of the East, South and West Saxons). The majority remained in continental Europe and was decisively conquered by Charlemagne in a long series of annual campaigns (772-804). The continental Saxons consisted of the Nordluidi (northern Saxons in modern Schleswig-Holstein), the Wigmodi, the Transalbiani (north of the Elbe), Nordsuavi (northern Suebi), Harudi, and Bardongavenses (Saxons/Langobardic remainders of the Bardengo/Langobardicgau).

The first Germanic tribe mentioned by a classical author (Plin., n.h., IV,97) were the Sciri (possibly meaning the pure ones , while Bastarnae indicates a mixed group) who left their homeland somewhere near the mouth of the Weichsel River to emigrate to south-east Europe. Together with their allies, the Bastarnae, they invaded the northern region of the Black Sea and attacked Olbia in the Second Century BC. These were the first Germanic tribes who came under the influence of the Hellenistic culture. Finally both tribes became allies of the Goths, who arrived after them. They were defeated, like the latter, by the Huns.

Suebi was a name applied to a number of peoples in central Germany, the chief of whom appear to have been the Marcomanni, Quadi, Hermunduri, Semnones and Langobardi. From the earliest times these tribes inhabited the basin of the Elbe. Historians and archaeologists have theorised that the Suebi also included the Heruli. The Suebi lived near the Elbe c.650 BC; thence they spread south into Germany. Some kind of political union seems to have existed among all these tribes. By 100 BC, they no longer constituted a political unit, although Tacitus maintained that they retained cultural and religious unity. The Langobardic territories seem to have lain about the lower reaches of the river, while the Semnones lay south. The Semnones and Langobardi were at one time subject to the dominion of the Marcomannic king Maroboduus, and at a much later period we hear of Langobardic troops taking part against the Romans in the Marcomannic War. The Semnones claimed to be the chief of the Suebic peoples, and Tacitus describes a great religious festival held in their tribal sanctuary, at which legations were present from all the other tribes.

The Suebi, who joined the Vandals in their invasion of Gaul in 406/7 AD, and eventually founded a kingdom in north-west Spain, probably came from the Alamannic region. After the First Century, the term Suebi seems never to be applied to the Langobardi and seldom to the Baiouarii (Bavarians). After the Seventh Century the name is practically only applied to the Alamanni (Schwaben), and it remains a territorial designation in Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria (modern Swabia).

Tencteri were one of two tribes who originally lived in Westphalia or Hesse (the other was the Usipetes). Culturally, they belonged to the La Tène culture, which indicates their close ties with the Gauls. Caesar, however, defined the Rhine as the border between the German and Celtic regions, and therefore called them Germans. Usipetes means “good horsemen” in Celtic. These two tribes also contributed cavalry to the Roman army, although neither was as famous as the Batavians.

The Teutones or more correctly Tyboer occupied Ty, which lies geographically directly opposite Himerland (home of the Cimbri). The territorial name seems to be connected with Old Norse thjodh, 'people'. The ancient author, Mela, places them on the island of 'Codanouia' in the Codan Gulf, one of Ptolemy's Scandian islands, probably modern Zealand (Sjaelland), where there existed a medieval district Thiuth. This suggests that there were eastern Teutones on Zealand and western Teutones in Jutland. They joined in the migration of Cimbri and Ambrones and journeyed south to Gaul. The Teutones were defeated in 102 BC by Marius at Aquae Sextiae (now Aix-en-Provence). By an extension of the name, the Germanic peoples are sometimes called Teutonic.

The Tungri mentioned by the elder Pliny, who was the earliest writer to mention them, were included among the tribes of northeastern Gaul (NH 4. 106; cf. 31. 12). From the late first to the mid-second century AD they are attested in Roman military service: Tacitus refers to two cohorts during the civil war of AD 69 (Hist. 2. 14. 1 and 28. 1), while they appear in numerous inscriptions from Britain, the latest dating to 146 AD ( RIB i. 2401 no. 9). Their territory was just west of the Maas, where their name survives as modern Tongeren/ Tongres (Ptol. Geog. 2. 9. 5; cf. Amm. Marc. 17. 8. 3). Yet Caesar, who is the first to refer to Germani 'this side of the Rhine' (B. Gall. 2. 3. 4, 6. 2. 3), does not mention the Tungri but lists other peoples, for example the Condrusi and the Eburones, as the inhabitants of that same region (B. Gall. 2. 4. 10, 6. 32. 1). Caesar wiped out the Eburones after they had allegedly dealt with him in bad faith, and the other tribes are rarely heard of again. It is possible that the Tungri incorporated the remains of these earlier tribes; there is some confirmation in a dedication from Britain made by 'the canton Condrustis serving in the second cohort of Tungri' (RIB i. 2108; but cf. G. Neumann and B. H. Stoltz, "'Condrusi'", RGA2 v, 1984: 78-80). If this is true, it would not be surprising if Tacitus inserted this parenthesis to inform his readers that the tribes first known as Germani, and found in Caesar under different names, were in his day called Tungri.

The Ubians lived in Westphalia. In 19 BC, the emperor Augustus allowed them to live on the west bank of the Rhine, where they founded Cologne.

The Vandals may have been related to another Germanic tribe, Lugi (Lygier or Lugier). Several theories have been postulated that Lugiis were either an earlier name of the Vandals, or the Vandals were part of the Lugian federation. There is some probability that the Vandals originated in modern Poland, but suggested earlier homelands are regions in Norway (Hallingdal), Sweden (Vendel) or Denmark (Vendsyssel) (these theories are based usually on similarity of names). The Vandals are assumed to have crossed the Baltic to Poland somewhere in the Second Century BC, and had settled in Silesia about 120 BC. They had formerly lived between the Oder and Vistula Rivers according to Tacitus. In 330 AD, they were granted lands in Pannonia on the right bank of the Danube by Constantine the Great. There were two branches of the Vandal Confederacy: the Siling Vandals in the northwest and the Asding Vandals in the south. Both participated in the migration through France and Spain into North Africa in the Fifth century. It is uncertain as to what happened to those Vandals who did not join this migration.

All of the above information was collected from a variety of sources. Most of the data is based the theoretical writings of academics and interested amateurs of whom the author is not one. This article was created to give the readers some idea of the complexity involved in the identification of the Germans. Anyone interested in more information is recommended to join groups.yahoo.com/group/Heathenhistory.

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