Früh- und hochmittelalterliche Siedlung und Kommunikation im nordböhmischen Elbtal

The article is focused on the settlement and roads in the North-Bohemian part of the Elbe basin. The so-called Sorabian road was extremely important in this period from this point of view. Relationships between the area of the Czech basin and the Sorabian territory are treated in their complexity. Circumstances of historical, geographical and geomorphological character reflected in the progress of colonisation are also dealt with in the paper. The area between the rivers Elbe and Saale had been settled by the Slavs coming from the Czech basin since the 6th century. The types of place-names that are attested for this period are analysed from the point of view of word-formation and motivation.