Belarusia is a beautiful country in the heart of Europe, with pristine landscapes and surviving archaic traditions. Its population are Belarusians - one of the eastern Slavic groups. The first people came to this part of the eastern European plain approximately one hundred thousand years ago. Between the 8th and 9th centuries, the intermingling of Slavs with settled Celtic and Baltic tribes resulted in the creation of tribal unions - the Krivichi, Dregovichi, and Radimichi - which formed the basis of the Belarusian people. The first state entities - the duchies of Polotsk, Turov, Pinsk, and Smolensk - were established in Belarusia in the 9th century. Ancient chronicles mention the existence of the City of Polotsk, a major centre on a par with Kiev and Novgorod, in AD 862.